More Thoughts for the Day

"Life is the canvas

on which you paint the journey."

It's a pleasure to share one's memories.

Everything remembered is dear, endearing, touching, precious.

At least the past is safe, though we didn't know it at the time.

We know it now. Because it's in the past;

because we have survived.

~Susan Sontag

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill ...

  Great works are performed,

not by strength, but perseverance.

~Samuel Johnson

 Keep your faith in all beautiful things;

 in the sun when it is hidden,

in the Spring when it is gone.

~Roy R. Gilson

The greatest masterpiece of literature

 is only a dictionary out of order.

~Jean Cocteau (1889-1963)

"The view after 70 is breathtaking.

 What is lacking is someone, anyone, of the older generation to whom you can turn

 when you want to satisfy your curiosity about some detail

of the landscape of the past. There is no longer any older generation.

You have become it, while your mind was mostly on other matters."

~William Maxwell

"Everywhere is walking distance

 if you have the time."

- Stephen Wright

"There is no pleasure in having nothing to do;

the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it."

~Mary Wilson Little

People find life entirely too time-consuming.

~Stanislaw J. Lec 

May you have...

Enough happiness to keep you sweet,

Enough trials to keep you strong,

Enough sorrow to keep you human,

Enough hope to keep you happy,

Enough failure to keep you humble,

Enough success to keep you eager,

Enough friends to give you comfort,

Enough wealth to meet your needs,

Enough enthusiasm to look forward,

Enough faith to banish depression,

Enough determination to make each day

   better than yesterday!

- Anonymous

"No one is useless in this world

who lightens the burdens of another."

~Charles Dickens

The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing.

If you can fake that, you've got it made.

~Groucho Marx (1895-1977) 

 Treasures

It's so hard to find the perfect breeze,

One blowing none too hard nor soft,

Carrying a scent of wild flowers,

And moving clouds about aloft.

It's so hard to find the perfect sky,

One blue and deep and bright,

Carrying a sense of openness

With geese and wrens in flight.

It's so hard to find the perfect night,

One warm, quiet and unflawed,

Carrying a mood of solitude,

And a closeness to our God.

Yet no perfection's so hard to find

As that which you extend

And none I'll ever treasure more,

Than to simply be your friend.

by Ron Carnell

In order to enjoy life, one must learn to

think deeply,

feel deeply,

love deeply.

But in order to live,

 you must remember to breath deeply J

R.S.

Stop and consider! life is but a day;

A fragile dew-drop on its perilous way

~John Keats

"Live in such a way

 that you would not be ashamed

to sell your parrot

to the town gossip."

 ~Will Rogers

Courtesy while you're thinking what to say. It saves time.

~Lewis Carroll

THE TOWN OF DON'T- YOU -WORRY

There's a town called Don't-You-Worry,

  On the banks of River Smile,

Where the Cheer-up and Be-happy

  Blossom sweetly all the while.

Where the Never Grumble Flower

  Blooms beside the fragrant Try,

And the Ne'er-Give-Up and Patience

  Point their faces to the sky.

 ~Anonymous

"Life is a mixture of living and longing,

learning and growing,

with loving and laughing

 filling in the gaps in between."

-Megan

Good hours, excellent pay, fun place to work,

paid training, mean boss.

Oh well, four out of five isn't bad.

~Help Wanted Ad, PA newspaper, 1994

Action may not always bring happiness,

 but there is no happiness without action.

~Benjamin Disraeli 

"With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony,

and the deep power of joy,

 we see into the life of things."

- William Wordsworth

Never regard study as a duty,

but as the enviable opportunity to learn ...

 Albert Einstein (1879-1955) 

The day of the storm is not the time for thatching. ~Irish Proverb

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time,

which every day produces, and which most men throw away,

but which nevertheless will make at the end of it

 no small deduction for the life of man.

  ~C. C. Colton

THE DAY IS DONE by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The day is done, and the darkness

  Falls from the wings of Night,

As a feather is wafted downward

  From an eagle in his flight.

I see the lights of the village

  Gleam through the rain and the mist,

And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me

  That my soul cannot resist:

A feeling of sadness and longing,

  That is not akin to pain,

And resembles sorrow only

  As the mist resembles the rain.

Come, read to me some poem,

  Some simple and heartfelt lay,

That shall soothe this restless feeling,

  And banish the thoughts of day.

Not from the grand old masters,

  Not from the bards sublime,

Whose distant footsteps echo

  Through the corridors of Time.

For, like strains of martial music,

  Their mighty thoughts suggest

Life's endless toil and endeavor;

  And to-night I long for rest.

Read from some humbler poet,

  Whose songs gushed from his heart,

As showers from the clouds of summer,

  Or tears from the eyelids start;

Who, through long days of labor,

  And nights devoid of ease,

Still heard in his soul the music

  Of wonderful melodies.

Such songs have power to quiet

  The restless pulse of care,

And come like the benediction

  That follows after prayer.

Then read from the treasured volume

  The poem of thy choice,

And lend to the rhyme of the poet

  The beauty of thy voice.

And the night shall be filled with music

  And the cares, that infest the day,

Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,

  And as silently steal away.

**********

For he lives twice who can at once employ

The present well, and e'en the past enjoy.

~Alexander Pope

The best memory is that which forgets nothing, but injuries.

 Write kindness in marble and write injuries in the dust.

 ~Persian Proverb

The bitterest tears shed over graves

 are for words left unsaid

 and deeds left undone.

~Harriet Beecher Stowe

Have a heart that never hardens,

a temper that never tries,

and a touch that never hurts.

~Charles Dickens

We are near waking

 when we dream

 we are dreaming.

~Friedrich Novalis

"To hear complaints with patience,

even when complaints are vain,

is one of the duties of friendship."

~Samuel Johnson

"This time, like all times, is a very good one,

 if we but know what to do with it."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dreams! who would give up the blessing?

 I would not care to sleep, if I could not dream.

~ Sarah Morgan

Happiness is inward, and not outward;

 and so, it does not depend

 on what we have,

but on what we are.

~Henry Van Dyke

"What is the hardest thing in the world? To think."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"To conceal anything from those to whom

 I am attached, is not in my nature.

I can never close my lips

where I have opened my heart."

~Charles Dickens

"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love."

~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832)

Thank God for dirty dishes; they have a tale to tell.

While other folk go hungry, we're eating pretty well.

With home and health and happiness, we shouldn't want to fuss;

For by this stack of evidence, God's very good to us.

~Anonymous

Communication is not only the essence of being human,

 but also a vital property of life.

~John A. Piece

The capacity for hope is the most significant fact of life.

 It provides human beings with a sense of destination

 and the energy to get started.

~Norman Cousins

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

Japanese Proverb

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness,

making everything in its vicinity

(or 3000 miles away :-)

 freshen into smiles.

~Washington Irving

The memory represents to us not what we choose

but what it pleases.

-- Michel Eyquem De Montaigne

"You will never find time for anything.

If you want time you must make it."

Charles Buxton

"What is a friend?

 I will tell you...

it is someone with whom

 you dare to be yourself."

 - Frank Crane

Our memories are an untidy family album

 crammed with images and dreams,

 scattered and uncatalogued,

 and their sudden recurrence

 is wholly unpredictable.

~Don Freeman (1799 - 1888)

May you look back on the past

 with as much pleasure

 as you look forward to the future.

~Paul Dickson

"If people never did silly things,

nothing intelligent would ever be done."

~Wittgenstein

For Yesterday is as but a Dream

and Tomorrow is but a Vision

But Today well lived makes Yesterday

A Dream of Happiness and a Vision of Hope.

Happy the man, and happy he alone,

He, who can call to-day his own,

He who, secure within, can say,

To-morrow do thy worst, for I have lived to-day.

~Dryden

As every thread of gold is valuable,

 so is every minute of time.

 ~Mason

See the descending sun,

Scatt'ring his beams about him as he sinks,

And gilding heaven above, and seas beneath,

With paint no mortal pencil can express.

~Hopkins

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.

 It will never fail you.

Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

Friends

by Katy

Friend: that one special person

who makes life a bit

easier by just being

there and listening to your

problems and difficulties.

Friendship: a special bond

between two people.

A bond that time

cannot break. It is strong

like a chain, with linking

hearts.

  "The doors we open and close each day

 decide the lives we live."

~Flora Whittemore

Friends are as companions on a journey,

who ought to aid each other

 to persevere in the road

 to a happier life.

~Pythagoras

Plant a seed of friendship;

 reap a bouquet of happiness.

~Lois L. Kaufman

Right now..

Somebody is very proud of you.
Somebody is thinking of you.
Somebody misses you.
Somebody wants you to be happy.
Somebody is celebrating your successes.
Somebody admires your strength.
Somebody is thinking of you and smiling.
Somebody wants to be your shoulder to cry on.
Somebody wants to protect you.
Somebody wants to be forgiven.
Somebody wants to laugh with you.
Somebody wants to share their dreams with you.
Somebody treasures your spirit.
Somebody praises God for your friendship and love.
Somebody can't wait to see you.
Somebody loves you for who you are.
Somebody loves the way you make them feel.
Somebody misses your guidance and/or advice.
Somebody has faith in you.
Somebody trusts you.
Somebody hears a song that reminds them of you.

Live in each season as it passes;
breathe the air, drink the drink,
taste the fruit, and resign yourself
  to the influences of each.    
~Henry David Thoreau

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade,
but in the sunshine of life;
and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things,
the greater part of life is sunshine.
  ~Thomas Jefferson   

We take care of our health, we lay up money,  
we make our roof tight and our clothing sufficient,
but who provides wisely that he shall not be wanting
the best property of all
-- friends?
Ralph Waldo Emerson    

I Wish For You...

Comfort on difficult days,
Smiles when sadness intrudes,
Rainbows to follow the clouds,
Laughter to kiss your lips,
Sunsets to warm your heart,
Gentle hugs when spirits sag,
Friendships to brighten your being,
Beauty for your eyes to see,
Confidence for when you doubt,
Faith so that you can believe,
Courage to know yourself,
Patience to accept the truth,
And love to complete your life.

~ Author Unknown

Life's precious moments don't have value,
unless they are shared.

Spring is just around the corner - ideas for your garden...

 FOR THE GARDEN OF YOUR DAILY LIVING

PLANT THREE ROWS OF PEAS:
 1.  Peas of mind
2.  Peas of heart
3.  Peas of soul

PLANT FOUR ROWS OF SQUASH:
1.  Squash gossip
2.  Squash indifference
3.  Squash grumbling
4.  Squash selfishness

 PLANT FOUR ROWS OF LETTUCE:
1.  Lettuce be faithful
2.  Lettuce be kind
3.  Lettuce be patient
4.  Lettuce really love one another

NO GARDEN WITHOUT TURNIPS:
1.  Turnip for meetings
2.  Turnip for service
3.  Turnip to help one another

TO CONCLUDE OUR GARDEN WE MUST HAVE THYME:
1.  Thyme for God
2.  Thyme for study
3.  Thyme for prayer
4.  Thyme for each other
5.  Thyme for family
6.  Thyme for friends

WATER FREELY WITH PATIENCE AND CULTIVATE WITH LOVE

THERE IS MUCH FRUIT IN YOUR GARDEN BECAUSE YOU
REAP WHAT YOU SOW.

I Dream’d in a Dream

I DREAM’D in a dream,
I saw a city invincible to the attacks
of the whole of the rest of the earth;        
I dream’d that was the new City of Friends;        
Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love
—it led the rest;        
It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city,        
And in all their looks and words.     
~Walt Whitman

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life,
and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die,
discover that I had not lived.
~Henry David Thoreau  

Everyday happiness means getting up in the morning,
and you can't wait to finish your breakfast.
You can't wait to do your exercises.
You can't wait to put on your clothes.  
You can't wait to get out--
and you can't wait to come home,
because the soup is hot.
~George Burns

So of cheerfulness,
or a good temper,
the more it is spent,
the more it remains."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

A photograph is a secret about a secret;
the more it tells you,
the less you know.
~ Diane Arbus

A word is dead when it is said, some say.
I say it just begins to live that day.
~Emily Dickinson

Some people ask the secret of our long marriage,
We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week.
A little candlelight dinner, soft music and dancing.
She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays.
Henny Youngman    

In our life there is a single color,
as on an artist's palette,
which provides the meaning of life and art.
It is the color of love.
-- Marc Chagall    

Our life is what our thoughts make it.
A man will find that as he alters his thoughts
toward things and other people,
things and other people will alter towards him.
James Allen  

  We cannot live only for ourselves.
A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men;
and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads,
our actions run as causes,
and they come back to us as effects.
Herman Melville

"Adventure is something you seek for pleasure...
but experience is what really happens to you in the long run;
the truth that finally overtakes you."
Katherine Anne Porter

Love all,  
trust a few,
do wrong to none.
~Shakespeare

"Never shall I forget the days I spent with you.
Continue to be my friend,
as you will always find me yours."
- Ludwig van Beethoven

Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years.
We grow old by deserting our ideals.  
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up
enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
Samuel Ullman

Laughter is, after speech,
the chief thing that holds society together.
~Max Eastman

What do we need in our Todays?
Quiet where faith can grow,
songs that blossom hope,
reading that remembers love,
honest words to untangle a small length of knotty existence,
gifts offering service of the heart.
~Maren C. Tirabassi

I have enough money to last me the rest of my life,
unless I buy something J
Jackie Mason

   As a child, a library card takes you to exotic , faraway places. 
When you're grown up, a credit card does it. J 

Books are the quietest
and most constant of friends,
and the most patient of teachers.
~Charles W. Eliot

A Friend ABC

(A)ccepts you as you are
(B)elieves in "you"
(C)alls you just to say "HI"
(D)oesn't give up on you
(E)nvisions the whole of you (even the unfinished parts)
(F)orgives your mistakes
(G)ives unconditionally
(H)elps you
(I)nvites you over
(J)ust "be" with you
(K)eeps you close at heart
(L)oves you for who you are
(M)akes a difference in your life
(N)ever Judges
(O)ffers support
(P)icks you up
(Q)uiets your fears
(R)aises your spirits
(S)ays nice things about you
(T)ells you the truth when you need to hear it
(U)nderstands you
(V)alues you
(W)alks beside you
(X)-plain things you don't understand
(Y)ells when you won't listen and
(Z)aps you back to reality    

Family & Friends
by  Jill Wolf

We all have a cherished garden we tend -
It is planted with love of family and friends.
The memories and dreams we treasure and share
Are like beautiful roses found blooming there.
The comfort and care on which we depend
Is given with love between family and friends.
The sunshine of laughter and rain of a tear
Only make our love grow with each passing year.
We may all be ourselves with no need to pretend
Because of the love of family and friends;
They notice the rainbows and weather the showers.
They overlook weeds and praise all our flowers.
The most valuable thing is the time that we spend
Tending this garden with family and friends.
When counting our blessings, we know from the start
That family and friends come first in our heart

A musician must make music,
an artist must paint,
a poet must write,
if he is to be ultimately
at peace with himself.
What one can be,
one must be.
~Abraham Maslow

Each of us has a spark of life inside us,
and our highest endeavor ought to be
to set off that spark in one another.
~Kenny Ausubel

The Gift Of Friends
by Karin Schaefer

There are days when
bubbling from us comes
the innocent child within,
who giggles at the little things
and wears a silly grin.

There are days when
melancholy comes to
visit for a while;
the mind feels tired, the body weak;
we have no strength to smile.

There are days when
joy abundant
grabs a hold of you and me;
wraps us up in all it's splendor,
lifts us up and sets us free.

There are days when
sorrow wraps us
in its cloak of grief and fear,
'till our hearts ache to the breaking,
'till our eyes can't shed a tear.

There are days when
love bestows us
with its wonderment and light;
with its beauty and its mystery,
its power and its might.

And there are days when
life rewards us
and seems to make amends
by granting us a marvelous gift,
the precious gift of Friends.

All men whilst they are awake
are in one common world:
but each of them,
when he is asleep,
is in a world of his own.
-- Plutarch    

He who wants to do a great deal of good
at once will never do anything.
Life is made up of little things.
True greatness consists
in being great in little things.
-- Charles Simmons    

 Life is a succession of moments.
To live each one is to succeed.
-- Corita Kent    

Everyone seems normal
until you get to know them.
J

Asthma doesn't seem to bother me any more
unless I'm around cigars or dogs.
The thing that would bother me most
would be a dog smoking a cigar.
-- Steve Allen    

I thank my God always
upon every remembrance of you
Philippians 1:3

I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Joyce Kilmer    

The key to getting ahead is setting aside 8 hours a day
for work and 8 hours a day for sleep
- and making sure they're not the same hhhours.
Gene Brown   

There can be no rainbow
without a cloud and a storm.
~John Heyl Vincent    

Life is a grindstone:
whether it grinds you down
or polishes you up
depends on what you're made of.
~Jacob M. Braude    

I definitely am going to take a course on time management
. . . just as soon as I can work it into my schedule.
~Louis Boone    

"I have never taken any exercise except sleeping and resting."
~Mark Twain

The growing good of the world is partly dependent
on unhistorical acts; and that things are not so ill
with you and me as they might have been,
is half owing to the number who lived faithfully
a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.
George Eliot, an English author,
also known as Mary Ann Evans

The beginning and endings of all
human undertakings are untidy.
--John Galsworthy

Nothing is a waste of time
if you use the experience wisely.
~Rodin

You can do anything in life you set your mind to,
provided it is
powered by your heart.
- Doug Firebaugh

There is an electric fire in human nature tending to purify
-- so that among these human creatures ttthere is
continually some birth of new heroism.
The pity is that we must wonder at it,
as we should at finding a pearl in rubbish.
John Keats    

In the world through which I travel,
I am endlessly creating myself.
-- Frantz Fannon

    Make sure you have someone in your life
from whom you can get reflective feedback.
Warren Bennis    

"Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding. Do not forget
and do not turn aside from the sayings of my mouth.
Do not leave it, and it will keep you.
Love it, and it will safeguard you.
Wisdom is the prime thing. Acquire wisdom;
and with all you acquire, acquire understanding.
Highly esteem it, and it will exalt you. It will glorify you,
because you embrace it. To your head, it will give
a wreath of charm; a crown of beauty, it will bestow on you."
Proverbs 4:5-9

Great symphonies begin with just one note.    
--Priscilla Young Pratt
 

There are moments in life when you
miss someone so much that you
just want to pick them
from your dreams
and hug them.

When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning,
by dreams that need completion,
by pure love that needs expressing,
then we truly live life.
Greg Anderson    

We look into mirrors but we only see
the effects of our times on us
-- not our effects on others.
~Pearl Bailey

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards;
they try to have more things, or more money,
in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier.
The way it actually works is the reverse.
You must first be who you really are,
then do what you need to do,
in order to have what you want."
~Margaret Young

"Dreams are renewable.
No matter what our age or condition,
there are still untapped possibilities within us
and new beauty waiting to be born."
~Dr. Dale E. Turner

Have regular hours for work and play;
make each day both useful and pleasant,
and prove that you understand
the worth of time by employing it well.
Then youth will be delightful,
old age will bring few regrets,
and life will become a beautiful success.
~Louisa May Alcott    

Live in each season as it passes;
breathe the air, drink the drink,
taste the fruit, and resign yourself
to the influences of each.
~Henry David Thoreau  

The future is not something we enter.
The future is something we create.
--Leonard I. Sweet

"Nothing is better than the unintended humor of reality."
~Steve Allen  

 You must learn day by day, year by year,
to broaden your horizons.
The more things you love,
the more you are interested in,
the more you enjoy,
the more you are indignant about.
~Ethel Barrymore    

There is nothing better than the encouragement of a good friend.
Katharine Butler Hathaway    

Reflections of Yesterday
by BSC

As the sun is slowly setting
And the evening shadows grow
I think back on days gone by
To a place I'd like to go.

Back to a place in my childhood
When days were so carefree
Back to the days when my Mama's lap
Was my favorite place to be.

Those days of slides and swing sets
Of playing out in the yard
Those days when we were growing up
And nothing seemed too hard.

All too soon we turn around
And find ourselves all grown
With adult responsibilities
And children of our own.

The memories of yesterday
Come quickly to mind
When as an adult I'm searching
For answers I cannot find.

We struggle through our losses
Gain strength from each hurdle crossed
And learn that we are not truly alone
Especially when we feel most lost.

Now the shadows have faded to darkness
The days warmth is now growing cold
I look up to the stars in heaven
And wonder what tomorrow will hold.

The stars are shining down brightly
Almost as if to say
Sleep well my dear and don't be afraid
For tomorrow's a brand new day.

 
A sense of humor can help you overlook the unattractive,
tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected,
and smile through the unbearable.
~Moshe Waldoks
     

 All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget.
In this -- as in other ways -- they are the opposite of paintings.
Paintings record what the painter remembers.
~John Berger   

"Family faces are magic mirrors.
Looking at people who belong to us,
we see the past, present and future."
~Gail Lumet Buckley
    

 "A photograph never grows old.
You and I change, people change
all through the months and years
but a photograph always remains the same.
How nice to look at a photograph
of mother or father taken many years ago.
You see them as you remember them.
But as people live on, they change completely.
That is why I think a photograph can be kind."
-- Albert Einstein
 

 Overcoming fear and worry
can be accomplished by living a day at a time
or even a moment at a time.
~Robert Anthony   

  Life is just a short walk from the cradle to the grave
-- and it sure behooves us to be kind tooo one another along the way.
Alice Childress
     

Of all the diversions of life,
there is none so proper
to fill up its empty spaces
as the reading of useful
and entertaining authors.
~Joseph Addison
 

 To see a hillside white with dogwood bloom
is to know a particular ecstasy of beauty,
but to walk the gray Winter woods
and find the buds which will resurrect that beauty
in another May is to partake of continuity.
~Hal Borland
 

 The family fireside is the best of schools.
Arnold Glasow

The difference between the almost right word
and the right word is really a large matter
-- 'tis the difference between the lightttning bug
and the lightning.
~Mark Twain
 

Risks

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams, before a crowd
is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the great hazard in life,
is to risk nothing.

 Music washes away from the soul
the dust of everyday life.
~Red Auerbach
     

Reading this for the first time, in all these many years,
I wish to bear record that God never failed me,
through stranger vicissitudes than I ever dared record.
Whatever the anguish, whatever the extremity,
in His own good time He ever delivered me.
So that I bless Him to-day for all of life's joys and sorrows
- for all He gave - for all He has takennn -
and I bear witness that it was all Very Good.
~SARAH MORGAN DAWSON , her diary July 23d, 1896
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
 

A man finds room
in the few square inches of the face
for the traits of all his ancestors;
for the expression of all his history,
and his wants.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

 A great book should leave you with many experiences,
and slightly exhausted at the end.
You live several lives while reading it.
~William Styron
 

 "For a long time it had seemed to me
that life was about to begin--real life.
But there was always some obstacle in the way.
Something to be got through first,
some unfinished business,
time still to be served,
a debt to be paid.
Then life would begin.
At last it dawned on me
that these obstacles
were my life."
~Alfred D'Souza
 

 Poetry is the language in which man
explores his own amazement
. . . says heaven and earth in one word.
. . . speaks of himself and his predicament
as though for the first time.
It has the virtue of being able to say
twice as much as prose in half the time.
~Christopher Fry
 

 The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship.
To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment,
is a secret which but few discover.
~Joseph Addison
 

 Aspects of life here, civility, courtesy, coziness
have always bound Britons to their country
. . . They are part of the British myth,
along with lovely countryside,
dogs and horses, rose gardens,
the Armada, the Battle of Britain.
~R. W. Apple, Jr.
     

 "The happiest people I have known
have been those who gave themselves
no concern about their own souls,
but did their uttermost to mitigate
the miseries of others."
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton 

Sickness tells us what we are.
Traditional Scottish Proverb

The Eskimos had 52 names for snow
because it was important to them;
there ought to be as many for love.
~Margaret Atwood   

Our deeds follow us,
and what we have been
makes us what we are.
~John Dykes
 

No fine work can be done without concentration
and self-sacrifice and toil and doubt.
-- Max Beerbohm
   

As every thread of gold is valuable,
so is every minute of time.
~Mason

See the descending sun,
Scatt'ring his beams about him as he sinks,
And gilding heaven above, and seas beneath,
With paint no mortal pencil can express.
~Hopkins

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.
It will never fail you.
Frank Lloyd Wright (1868-1959)

Friends
by Katy

Friend: that one special person
who makes life a bit
easier by just being
there and listening to your
problems and difficulties.

Friendship: a special bond
between two people.
A bond that time
cannot break. It is strong
like a chain, with linking
hearts.

"The doors we open and close each day
decide the lives we live."
~Flora Whittemore

 Books are not made for furniture,
but there is nothing else
that so beautifully furnishes a house.
Henry Ward Beecher
 

Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter.

Who would think that those branches
would turn green again and blossom,
but we hope it, we know it.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 

 In reality, serendipity accounts for one percent

of the blessings we receive in life, work and love.
The other 99 percent is due to our efforts.
~Peter McWilliams
 

 There are three ingredients in the good life:
learning, earning, & yearning.
~Christopher Morley
 

"A new idea is delicate.
It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn;
it can be stabbed to death by a joke
or worried to death by a frown
on the right person's brow."
~Charles Brower
 

 "Goodness
is the only investment
that never fails."
~Henry David Thoreau
 

 "They are ill discoverers that think there is no land,
when they can see nothing but sea."
   Francis Bacon
 

 "The happiest business in all the world is that of making friends,
And no investment on the street pays larger dividends,
For life is more than stocks and bonds, and love than rate percent,
And he who gives in friendship's name shall reap what he has spent."
~Anne S. Eaton

The Business of Friendship  

 "The Sussex lanes were very lovely in the autumn
... spendthrift gold and glory of the year-end
... earth scents and the sky winds
and all the magic of the countryside
which is ordained for the healing of the soul."
~Monica Baldwin, on the English countryside
 

"The world is full of willing people,
some willing to work,
the rest willing to let them."
-- Robert Frost
   

 Imagine if birds were tickled by feathers.
You'd see a flock of birds come by,
laughing hysterically!
~Steven Wright
   
:-)

"I am not afraid of tomorrow,
for I have seen yesterday
and I love today."
~William Allen White
 

"Great works are performed
not by strength
but by perserverance."
~Samuel Johnson
 

 "The difference between a successful person
and others is not a lack of strength,
not a lack of knowledge,
but rather in a lack of will."
   - Vincent T. Lombardi
     

 Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you
as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop off
like autumn leaves.
--John Muir
 

 Put even the plainest woman into a beautiful dress
and unconsciously she will try to live up to it.
~Lady Duff-Gordon
 

 "If your efforts are sometimes greeted
with indifference, don't lose heart.
The sun puts on a wonderful show at daybreak,

 yet most of the people in the audience go on sleeping."
~ Ada Teixeira

" Take time to enjoy
the beauties of nature.
This costs little
and would do much
to lighten your burdens."
  ~Lori Hard    

Knowledge is like a garden;
if it is not cultivated,
it cannot be harvested.

Know the true value of time;
snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it.
No idleness; no laziness; no procrastination;
never put off till tomorrow
what you can do today.
~Lord Chesterfield

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.
Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living,
it's a way of looking at life
through the wrong end of a telescope.
Which is what I do,
and that enables you
to laugh at life's realities."
(Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, 1904-1991)

We must learn to live together as brothers
or perish together as fools.

A friend told me he earns a seven figure salary.
"Unfortunately," he said,  
"there's a decimal point involved."
 

"There comes that mysterious meeting in life
when someone acknowledges who we are
and what we can be,
igniting the circuits
of our highest potential."
- Rusty Berkus

"From every negative aspect in your life,
there is always a positive lesson to be learned."

You are only what you are
when no one is looking.

Everyone sees who you seem to be,
but very few understand
who you really are

"Life moves pretty fast,
if you dont stop
to look around once in a while,
you could miss it."
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off

"It's true that we don't know
what we've got till its gone,
but its also true we don't know
what were missing until it arrives."

After a while you learn
that what you really are
is all the experiences
and all the thoughts
you've ever had
and all the people
who have touched your life,
no matter how briefly.

Every day I get up
and look through the Forbes list
of the richest people in America.
If I'm not there,
I go to work.

Winning is something that builds,
physically and mentally,
every day you train,
and every night that you dream.
~Emmitt Smith
 

Better to get up late and be wide awake
than to get up early and be asleep all day
:-)
 

Happiness is an attitude of mind,
born of the simple determination
to be happy under all outward circumstances.
~J. Donald Walters

We don't receive wisdom;
we must discover it for ourselves
after a journey
that no one can take for us
or spare us.
~Marcel Proust
 

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

Do  not think  of  today's  failures,     
but of the success that may come tomorrow
~Helen Keller     

Happiness is
when what you think,
what you say,
and what you do
are in harmony.
~Mahatma Gandhi
 

In quiet moments when you think about it,
you recognize what is
critically important in life
and what isn't.
Be wise and don't let good things
crowd out those that are essential.
~R.G. Scott
 

Mountains cannot be surmounted
except by winding paths.
~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Hope...is the companion of power,
and the mother of success;
for who so hopes
has within him
the gift of miracles.
~Samuel Smiles
 

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved
except by those who dared believe
that something inside them
was superior to circumstance.
~Bruce Barton
 

It is not enough to have knowledge,
one must also apply it.
It is not enough to have wishes,
one must also accomplish.

~JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

I want to know how God created this world.

I am not interested in this or that phenomenon,
in the spectrum of this or that element.
I want to know His thoughts;
the rest are details.
~Albert Einstein

The tragedy of life
doesn't lie in not reaching your goal.
The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.
It isn't a calamity to die
with dreams unfilled,
but it is a calamity not to dream.
It is not disgrace to reach the stars,
but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for.
Not failure, but low aim, is a sin.
   ~Benjamin Mays

All truly wise thoughts
have been thought already thousands of times;
but to make them truly ours,
we must think them over again honestly,
till they take root in our personal experience.
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

History is the witness that testifies
to the passing of time;
it illumines reality,
vitalizes memory,
provides guidance in daily life,
and brings us tidings of antiquity.
~Marcus Tullius Cicero

Just when I was getting used to yesterday,
along came today

Get happiness out of your work
or you may never know
what happiness is.
~Elbert Hubbard

All growth depends upon activity.
There is no development physically
or intellectually
without effort,
and effort means work.
~Calvin Coolidge

Get this in mind early:
We never grow up.
~Richard Bach

Life is not meant to be easy, my child;
but take courage
-- it can be delightful.
~George Bernard Shaw

Life is made up of small pleasures.
Happiness is made up of those tiny successes.
The big ones come too infrequently.
And if you don't collect all these tiny successes,
the big ones don't really mean anything.

We cannot really love anybody
with whom we never laugh.
~ Agnes Replier

The greatest sweetener
of human life
is friendship.
To raise this
to the highest
pitch of enjoyment,
is a secret
which but few discover.
~Joseph Addison

I started out with nothing,
and I still have most of it.

The people who make a difference in your life
are not the ones with the most credentials,
the most money, or the most awards.
They are the ones who care

Reading is to the mind
what exercise is to the body.
~Joseph Addison

" A dream,
given a deadline,
becomes a goal."
~C. Fifield    

Be like the turtle;
He only progresses
when he sticks his neck out

You are only wise if
you can learn something from everybody.
You are only rich
if you are happy with what you already have.

The world belongs to the energetic    
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 "To be capable of steady friendship
or lasting love,
are the two greatest proofs,
not only of goodness of heart,
but of strength of mind."
~Paul Aubuchon

 " A kind heart is a fountain of gladness,
Making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles."
~Washington Irving    

" The secret of getting ahead is getting started."
--- Sally Berger    

Enthusiasm finds the opportunities.
Energy makes the most of them

" If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And counting find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard;
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went-
Then you may count that day well spent."
--- Georg Eliot    

" The moment we attach the word "TRY" to an action
we have given ourselves an excuse not to succeed
simply because no commitment
was ever given to accomplishing that action."
~ Charles Elizondo    

Enthusiasm
is the optimism
that fuels life

To dream anything that you want to dream,
That is the beauty of the human mind.
To do anything that you want to do,
That is the strength of the human will.
To trust yourself, to test your limits,
That is the courage to succeed.
~Bernard Edmonds

" Alone we can do so little;
together we can do so much. "
~Helen Keller    

some voices come
some voices go
some things dwindle
others remain whole
futures are untold
waiting to be shed from depths

the mind sleeps
while resting the head
tomorrow is another day
to read from the chapter
written on the journey we take

~Peter Barrett    

Every person you meet
knows something you don't,
Learn from them."
~H. Jackson Brown    

Look around and find some wonder in the world today.
It's easy, we're surrounded by amazing things.
All you have to do is open yourself up to them...
See what's already there."
~Chad O. King

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don't try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present."
~Tao Te Ching    


" That which we persist in doing
becomes easier for us to do;
Not that the nature of the thing is changed,
But that our power to do is increased."
  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
   

If we did all the things we were capable of doing,
We would literally astound ourselves.
~Thomas Edison

There are no short cuts

to any place worth going.

If you sit down at set of sun

and count the acts that you have done

and counting find

one self-denying deed, one word

that eased the heart of him who heard;

one glance most kind

that fell like sunshine where it went-

Then you may count that day well spent.

~George Elliot

 

Making a change is difficult.

Having confidence in the change

Will make the change seem easy.

~Dennis A. Pulchinski

Life is all about choices.

When you cut away all the junk,

every situation is a choice.

You choose how to react to situations.

You choose how people will affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or a bad mood.

The bottom line is:

it's your choice how you live life.

There is a little difference in people,

But that little difference makes a big difference.

The little difference is attitude.

The big difference is whether is it

positive or negative.

Don't Ever

Don't ever be reluctant
to show your feelings
when you're happy, give in to it...
When you're not, live with it.

Don't ever be afraid to try to
make things better
you might be surprised at the results.

Don't ever take the weight of the world
on your shoulders.

Don't ever feel threatened by the future
take life one day at a time.

Don't ever feel guilty about the past
what's done is done.
Learn from any mistakes you might have made.

Don't ever feel that you are alone
there is always somebody there
for you to reach out to.

Don't ever forget that you can achieve
so many of the things you can imagine.
It's not as hard as it seems.

Don't ever stop loving
Don't ever stop believing,
Don't ever stop Dreaming your Dreams.

~Author Unknown    

" ..and remember, my sentimental friend,
that a heart is not judged by how much you love,
but by how much you are loved by others."    
The Wizard of Oz to the Tin Man

Enjoy the little things in life,  
for one day you may look back
and realize they were the big things.

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