Quotes of Note

A list of quotes that I find thought provoking. Compiled here for easy personal reference.

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A COLLECTION OF FORTUNE COOKIES: - Have a vision. Be demanding - It is more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. - A true friend walks in when the rest of the world walks out. - He who waits to do a great deal of good all at once, will never do anything. - As one grows to understand life less and less, one learns to live it more and more. Either you will go through this door or you will not go through. If you go through there is always the risk of remembering your name. Things look at you doubly as you must look back and let them happen. If you do not go through it is possible to live worthily to maintain your attitudes to hold your position to die bravely but much will blind you, much will evade you, at what cost who knows? The door itself makes no promises. It is only a door. - Adrienne Rich Promise Yourself To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble. To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words but great deeds. To live in faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you. Christian D. Larson "Remember the mouse on the riverbank? There's a love-string stretching into the water hoping for the frog. Suddenly a raven grips the mouse and flies off. The frog too, from the riverbottom, with one foot entangled in the invisible string, follows, suspended in the air. Amazed faces ask, "When did a raven ever go underwater and catch a frog?" The frog answers, "This is the force of Friendship." What draws friends together does not conform to Laws of Nature. Form doesn't know about spiritual closeness. If a grain of barley approaches a grain of wheat, an ant must be carrying it. A black ant on black felt. You can't see it, but if grains go toward each other, it's there." -Rumi "Thirty spokes join in one hub In its emptiness, there is the function of a vehicle Mix clay to create a container In its emptiness, there is the function of a container Cut open doors and windows to create a room In its emptiness, there is the function of a room Therefore, that which exists is used to create benefit That which is empty is used to create functionality" –Lao Tzu, Chapter 11, Tao Te Ching, ~600 BCE, translation by Derek Lin "Carpe Diem" Age saw two quiet children Go loving by at twilight, He knew not whether homeward, Or outward from the village, Or (chimes were ringing) churchward, He waited, (they were strangers) Till they were out of hearing To bid them both be happy. 'Be happy, happy, happy, And seize the day of pleasure.' The age-long theme is Age's. 'Twas Age imposed on poems Their gather-roses burden To warn against the danger That overtaken lovers From being overflooded With happiness should have it. And yet not know they have it. But bid life seize the present? It lives less in the present Than in the future always, And less in both together Than in the past. The present Is too much for the senses, Too crowding, too confusing- Too present to imagine. - Robert Frost If— BY RUDYARD KIPLING (‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies) If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’ If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son! "The truth is like a lion" - St. Augustine Trust begins to emerge when we have a sense that another person or organization is driven by things other than their own self-gain. - Simon Sinek Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise. - Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolken CHIEF SEATTLE'S 1854 ORATION It matters little where we pass the remnant of our days. They will not be many. A few more moons; a few more winters--and not one of the descendants of the mighty hosts that once moved over this broad land or lived in happy homes, protected by the Great Spirit, will remain to mourn over the graves of a people once more powerful and hopeful than yours. But why should I mourn at the untimely fate of my people? Tribe follows tribe, nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. Your time of decay may be distant, but it will surely come, for even the White Man whose God walked and talked with him as friend with friend, cannot be exempted from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see. - Chief Seattle http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/chiefsea.html