Tending the Garden
--Archive Quotes
Bob Dylan
When you ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose.
If the point is sharp, and the arrow is swift, it can pierce through the dust no matter how thick.
Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet
What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.
When you feel in your gut what you are and then dynamically pursue it - don't back down and don't give up - then you're going to mystify a lot of folks.
...You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Everything passes. Everything changes. Just do what you think you should do.
The picture you have in your mind of what you're about will come true.
When you ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose.
I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom.
"He, who every morning
plans the
transactions of the day, and follows that plan
carries a thread that will guide him through
a labyrinth of the most busy life."
- Victor Hugo
Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.
Mark Twain
Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place.Mark Twain
A person without a
sense of humor is like a wagon without springs --jolted by every pebble in the
road.
-Henry
Ward Beecher
Who seeks
for heaven alone to save his soul,
May keep the path, but will not reach the goal;
While he who walks in love may wander far,
Yet God will bring him where the blessed are.
-Henry
Van Dyke
Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.
A man must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings.
Albert Einstein
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.
Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults.
I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons or your properties, but and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, I am a mischievous person.....Socrates
Socrates
Blessed are they who have the gift of making friends, for it is one of God's best gifts. It involves many things, but above all, the power of going out of one's self and appreciating whatever is noble and loving in another. - Thomas Hughes
"The indispensable first step to getting the
things you want out of life is this:
decide what you want."
-Ben Stein
As a leader, your word is only as good
as your last promise kept…or broken.
Barbara "BJ" Gallagher
I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don't think that's quite it; it's more like jazz. There is more improvisation. ~ Warren Bennis
The Best and most Beautiful Things
in the World cannot be Seen or even Touched.
They must be Felt with the Heart.
Helen Keller
"It is literally true that you can
succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed."
-- Napoleon Hill
"To get what we've never had, we must do what we've never done."
-- Anonymous
If you judge people, you have no time to love them." Mother Teresa
Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.
Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are
Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.
Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.
Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.
Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.
Only that day dawns to which we are awake.
Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.
Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are.
Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.
Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask. She has long ago taken her resolution.
Men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve.
Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another? Most of the
luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.
Henry David Thoreau
Look at the means which a man employs, consider his motives, observe his pleasures. A man simply cannot conceal himself!
Confucius
In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends. - J. Churton Collins
Confucius
No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.
Confucius
Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.
Confucius
In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.
Confucius
Heaven means to be one with God.
Confucius
Study the past, if you would divine the future.
Confucius
Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself.
Confucius
"You have
achieved success if you have lived
well, laughed often and loved much."
- Author Unknown
Deep doubts, deep wisdom; small doubts, little wisdom.
- Author Unknown
.
I may not
be better than other people,
but at least I'm different.
--
Our
comfort zones can be our greatest
enemy to our potential.
--
David Cottrell
ALL I HAVE SEEN
TEACHES ME TO TRUST THE CREATOR
FOR ALL I HAVE NOT SEEN
The ancestor of every action is a thought
Each man is a hero and an oracle to somebody.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I expect to pass through this life but once.
Therefore, if there be any kindness I can show,
or
any good thing I can do for another human being,
let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.
~William Penn
In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration. - Ansel Adams
The greatest
part of our happiness depends
on our dispositions, not our circumstances.
--
Martha Washington
King Solomon
Commit your way to the Lord;
Trust in Him and He will do this;
He will make your righteousness
Shine like the dawn
Justice of your cause
Like the noonday Sun
Psalm 37:5-6
And in the end
it's not the years in your life
that count. It's the life in your years."
- Abraham Lincoln
When the effective leader is finished with his work, the people say it happened naturally. ~ Lao Tse
The hours of folly are measured by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure. - William Blake
"The more you judge, the less you love. Anonymous Love is like pi - natural, irrational, and very important." Lisa Hoffman
I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure--which is: Try to please everybody. — Herbert Swope
Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not.
Vaclav Havel
Czech dissident, dramatist, & politician (1936 - )
Dreams
In Dreams, the perfect love
has a smile, a voice, a touch
that seem meant just for you.
In Dreams, the perfect love
is tender and giving,
always knowing just what to say
to make you feel wanted,
just what to do
to make you feel loved...
In Dreams, the perfect love
is that one person
with whom you can let go
and be yourself,
the one who makes you feel
completely alive
just by being near...
I'm luckier than most people
because I don't have to dream anymore!
I found you.
Author Unknown
IF I KNEW
If I knew it would be the last time
That I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly
and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.
If I knew it would be the last time
that I see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss
and call you back for one more.
If I knew it would be the last time
I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would video tape each action and word,
so I could play them back day after day.
If I knew it would be the last time,
I could spare an extra minute
to stop and say "I love you,"
instead of assuming you would KNOW I do.
If I knew it would be the last time
I would be there to share your day,
Well I'm sure you'll have so many more,
so I can let just this one slip away.
For surely there's always tomorrow
to make up for an oversight,
and we always get a second chance
to make everything just right.
There will always be another day
to say "I love you,"
And certainly there's another chance
to say our "Anything I can do?"
But just in case I might be wrong,
and today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you
and I hope we never forget.
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
you get to hold your loved one tight.
So if you're waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you'll surely regret the day,
That you didn't take that extra time
for a smile, a hug, or a kiss
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.
So hold your loved ones close today,
and whisper in their ear,
Tell them how much you love them
and that you'll always hold them dear
Take time to say "I'm sorry,"
"Please forgive me," "Thank you," or "It's okay."
And if tomorrow never comes,
you'll have no regrets about today.
Author unknown
Simply trusting everyday,
Trusting Through a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small
Trusting Jesus, That is all.
Edgar Page Stites
Trust God for Great Things;
With your Five Loaves and Two
Fishes, He Will Show You A Way to Feed Thousands.
Horace Bushnell
"It is much to be wished that
slavery may be abolished. The honour
of the States, as well as justice and humanity, in my opinion,
loudly call upon them to emancipate these unhappy people.
To contend for our own liberty, and to deny that blessing to
others, involves an inconsistency not to be excused."
John Jay
God is in every tomorrow,
Life with its changes may come,
He is behind and before me,
While in the distance
Shines Home.
Author Unknown
Old Friends
Our friendship is not based on
Seeing each other every day,
Talking on the telephone,
Or writing letters to make it okay,
I can tell you everything
And not have to worry or pretend
That all is well with me that day,
You always understand,
You know all about me, and still love me, too.
Old friends are the best friends,
And my old friend is you.
Author Unknown
Find a
purpose in life so big it will challenge every capacity to be at your best.
David O. McKay
You may have the loftiest goals, the highest ideals, the noblest dreams, but remember this, nothing works unless you do.
Nido Qubein
The
three grand essentials of happiness are: something to do,
someone to love, and
something to hope for."
- ALEXANDER CHALMERS (1759-1834), Writer
Home is the definition of God
The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.
Author Unknown
AN IRISH FRIENDSHIP WISH
May there always be work for your hands to do;
May your purse always hold a coin or two;
May the sun always shine on your windowpane;
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;
May the hand of a friend always be near you;
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
Source Unknown
Seek joy in what you give
Not in what you get.
Author Unknown
There are seven characteristics of a wise person. He does not begin to speak before someone wiser than him; he does not interrupt the words of others; he does not answer impetuously; he asks relevant questions and he replies appropriately; he discusses first things first and last things last; he does not hesitate to admit he does not know something; and he acknowledges the truth.
(Ethics of the Fathers 5:9)
Source-Jewish World Review Inspiration for the Day
"Prayer for a day without stumbling"
"Grant
us, O, Lord, to pass this day
in gladness and peace, without stumbling and without stain
that, reaching the eventide victorious
over all temptation, we may praise Thee, the
Eternal God, who art blessed, and dost govern all things,
world without
end." Amen
Source---Mozarabic, before AD 700
Smallness in a great man seems smaller by its disproportion with all the rest.
"The supreme happiness of
life is
the conviction
that we are loved."
Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
"My tastes are simple, I am satisfied with the very best."
Winston Churchill
It is a strange desire,
to seek power and to lose liberty;
or to seek power over others,
and to lose power over man's self.
Anonymous
"Some day, after we have
mastered the winds, the waves,
the tides and gravity we
will harnessed for
God the energies of Love;
and
for then, for the second time in the
history of the world, man
will have discovered fire."
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
“Listen, my child, to the mussar --
ethical teachings -- of your father,
and do not forsake the teachings of your
mother.”
— Proverbs (1:8)
When
you make a world tolerable for yourself,
you make a world tolerable for others.
ANAIS NIN (1903-1977) Writer
"It's not the work of life but the worry of life
that robs us of strength and breaks down our faith."
Author Unknown
Wisdom:
Having a lot to
say
Knowing when to say it
Author unknown
To
know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is
understanding in
spite of distances or thoughts expressed ~
That can make life a garden."
-Goethe
RULES TO LIVE BY
1. Throw out nonessential numbers.
This includes age, weight and height.
Let the doctor worry about them.
That is why you pay him/her.
2. Keep only cheerful friends.
The
grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about
the computer,
crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle.
"An
idle mind is the devil's workshop,"
and the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things. When the
children are young,
that is all that you can afford.
When they are in college that is all that you can afford.
When
you are on retirement that is all that you can afford!
5. Laugh often, long and loud.
Laugh
until you gasp for breath.
Laugh so much that you can be tracked
in the store by your distinctive laughter.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve,
and move on.
The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves.
Be alive while you are alive, don't put
out a mailbox on the
highway of death and just wait in residence for your mail.
7. Surround yourself with what you
love, whether it is family,
pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.
Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health. If it is
good, preserve it.
If it is unstable, improve it.
If it is beyond what you can
improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Go to the
mall, the next county,
a foreign country, but not to guilt country.
10. Tell the people you love, that
you love them,
at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER Life is not
measured by
the number of breaths we take, but
by the moments that take our breath away.
Author Unknown
Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.
ANNIE DILLARD Writer
Courage
is the ladder on which all other virtues mount.
CLARE BOOTH LUCE
Playwright and congresswoman
"Dear Lord", please help me be the kind of person my dog thinks I am."
Author Unknown Quoted by Cavett Robert
It is during difficult times that true friends become apparent.
Author Unknown
Thy
Burning
Love
Give
us a fresh revelation of Thy Holy Sprit. Purge us of all jealousy, all
evil desire, so that we may receive the great blessing of the Holy Ghost,
and feel its power among us.
We
want the power of he Thy Son to be felt among us;
we want the spirit of love and faith to appear to us here to-day.
O
lord, our cry to-day is that Thou may help us,
that the sprit of evil may be put
far from us to-day.
O
God, help us to do great things for Christ.
May that be the prominent thing in
our hearts-how we shall glorify Him;
how we shall bring glory to the blessed
name of Him who gave Himself for us.
Take
out the want of love; take out the coldness of our hearts, and may they be
ever
filled with a burning love. May Christ reign in every corner of our
hearts.
Dwight
L. Moody
Always ask, "Is there a better
way"?
Author Unknown
There is more self-esteem
generated in honest and noble failure than
there is in cowardly retreat from
great opportunity!
"So I'd rather attempt to
do something great and fail,
than attempt to do nothing and succeed."
Author Unknown
Forgiveness
I'm
obliged to exercise unlimited forgiveness because,
if I did not forgive, I should thus act as if I were
not guilty in
the same way as the other has been guilty with regard to me.
I must forgive the lies directed
against myself,
because my own life has been so many times blotted by lies.
I must forgive the loveless ness,
the hatred,
the slander, the fraud, the arrogance,
which I encounter, since I
myself have so often lacked love,
hated, slandered, defrauded, and been
arrogant.
I must forgive without noise or
fuss.
Albert Schweitzer (1877-1965), Medical missionary
When you come to the edge of all
the light you know, and are
about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is
knowing one of two things will happen: There will be something
solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.
Barbara J. Winter
A little onward lend thy guiding
hand
To these dark steps, a little further on.
John Milton, (1608 - 1674)
English poet.
Who you are today, you will be
five years from now,
except for the people you meet, and the books you read."
Author Unknown
"Our own heart,
and not others'
opinions of us, forms
our true honor."
In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start,
In the prison of his days
Teach the free man how to praise.
'In Memory of W. B. Yeats'
W. H. Auden
Women and men in the crowd meet
and mingle,
Yet with itself every soul standeth single.
Alice Carey
Strength and struggle go
together. The supreme reward of
struggle is strength. Life is a battle and the greatest joy is to
overcome. The pursuit of easy things makes men weak. Do not
equip yourselves with superior power and hope to escape the
responsibility and work. It cannot be done. It is following the
lines of least resistance that makes rivers and men crooked.
Ralph Parlette No person in the world ever attempted to
wrong another without being injured in
return-some way, somehow, sometime.
William George Jordan
One often learns more from ten
days of
agony than from ten years of contentment. --Merle Shain
This Day?
Is
anybody happier because you passed their way today?
Does anyone remember that
you spoke to them today?
The day is almost over, and toiling time is through;
is there anyone to utter
now a kindly word of you?
Can you say tonight, in parting with the day that's slipping fast,
that you
helped a single brother of the many that you have passed?
Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said;
does the man whose hopes
were fading, now with courage look ahead?
Did you waste the day or lose it? Was it well or sorely spent?
Did you leave a
trail of kindness, or a scar of discontent?
As you close your eyes in slumber, do you think that God will say,
You earned
one more tomorrow, by the work you did today?"
John Hall
"Don't judge each day
by the harvest you reap
but by the seeds you plant." Robert Louis Stevenson
CANCER IS SO LIMITED
It cannot cripple love;
It cannot shatter hope;
It cannot corrode faith;
It cannot eat away peace;
It cannot destroy friendship;
It cannot kill confidence;
It cannot shut out memories;
It cannot silence courage;
It cannot invade the soul;
It cannot reduce eternal life;
It cannot quench God's spirit;
It cannot lessen the power
of the resurrection.
Author Unknown
What must I do to be
damned? Nothing. That's all.--You're damned--condemned--
if you just sit
still. That is the law of this physical world.
If you sit still long enough,
you'll never get up again.
If you never lift your arm. you'll soon be unable to
raise it at all.
if you remain in darkness and never use your eyes, you'll
soon become blind.
It is the law in the mental
world. If you never exercise your brain-- never read,
study, nor talk to
anyone, never permit anyone to talk to you,
your mind will become blank-- maybe
you'll become insane.
The most horrible punishment
that could be inflicted upon
you is not twenty years of hard labor, but twenty
years of solitary confinement.
It's the law in the
spiritual world. Simply shut your heart to all truth,
and after a while you
won't be able to believe anything--
that is the severest penalty for not
accepting the truth.
The process of disintegration
and death begins when a man
shuts himself out from the forces that make for
life.
The body and mind and spirit are kept alive through constant constructive use.
Charles Steizle.
"Lord grant that I may
always desire more than I can
accomplish."
Michelangelo
The Grand Essentials To
Happiness In this Life Are:
Something to do,
Something to Love,
And Something to Hope for.
Joseph Addison
You can still hear His Voice in
the breathe of a brambling brook, in the
smallest of heart beats, in the hungry stomach's of people all over the
world. Stop, be still, listen, and open your eyes to His ways. They are not
our ways.
Richard McFetters
"All that I have seen
Teaches me to trust
the Creator for all I have not seen."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Every man dies, not every man really lives..."
William Wallace, Scottish Patriot and Guardian --1305
God doesn't call the equipped. He equips those who are called.
Author Unknown
"Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its
hands and goes to work."
Carl Sandburg
Tact is the ability to see
others as they wish to be seen.
Author Unknown
Pain is never permanent.
Saint Theresa of Avila
Imagination is more important
than knowledge.
Albert Einstein
"Our way is not soft grass,
it's a mountain path with lots of rocks. But
it goes upward, forward, toward the sun."
Ruth Westheimer
" I wonder if the world is
full of other secrets beautiful,
As little guessed, as hard to see, As this
sweet, starry mystery?
Do Angels veil themselves in space, And make the sun their hiding-place?
Do white wings flash as spirits go On heavenly errands to and fro.
While we, down-looking, never guess How near our lives they crowd and press?
If so, at life's set we may see Into the dusk steal noiselessly.
Sweet faces that we used to
know, Dear Eyes like stars that softly glo,
Dear hands stretched out to point
the way--And deem the night more fair than day."
Author Unknown
A Morning Prayer
Let me today do something
that will take a little sadness
from the world's vast store,
And may I be so favored
as to make of joy's too
scanty sum a little more.
Let me not hurt, by any
selfish deed or thoughtless word,
the heart of a foe or friend,
Nor would I pass unseeing a worthy need,
Or sin by silence when I should
defend.
Author Unknown
"There is guidance
for each of us, and by lowly listening,
we shall hear the right word.
__Ralph Waldo Emerson
"We shall find peace. We
shall hear angels,
we shall see the sky
sparkling with diamonds."
"The finest gift you can
give anyone is encouragement. Yet, almost no
one gets the encouragement they need to grow to their full potential. If
everyone received the encouragement they need to grow, the genius in
most everyone would blossom and the world would produce abundance
beyond our wildest dreams."
Sidney Madwed
Look at the trees, look at the
birds, look at the clouds, look at the
stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole
existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no
reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and
they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank
balance. Look at the flowers - for no reason. It is simply unbelievable
how happy flowers are."
Osho
"Don't spend your precious time asking 'Why isn't the world a better
place?' It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is 'How can I
make it better?' To that there is an answer."
Leo F. Buscaglia
"Meditate. Live purely. Be
quiet.
Do your work with mastery.
Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds!
Shine."
Buddha
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not
born until they arrive.
-- Anais Nin
"The Longer I Serve
Him"
The longer I serve Him the sweeter He Grows,
The more that I love Him, more love he bestows;
Each day is like heaven, my heart overflows,
The longer I serve Him the sweeter He grows.
Author Unknown
There is a road from the eye to
the heart that does not go through the intellect.
--G. K. Chesterton
We are not human beings having
spiritual experiences;
we are spiritual beings having human experiences.
Pierre Teillhard De Chardin
The real danger is not that
machines will begin to think like
men, but that men will begin to think like machines.
-- Sydney J. Harris
"The day will come when,
after harnessing space, the winds,
the tides and gravitation, we shall harness
for God the energies of love.
And on that day, for the second time in the
history of the world,
we shall have discovered fire."
Pierre Tielhard de Chardin, 1881-1955
French Paleontologist and Philosopher
Life is a great surprise. I do
not see why death
should not bean even greater one.
Vladimir Nabokov
"Every difficulty contains the seed of an equivalent opportunity."
"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
-Pablo Picasso
A loving person lives in a
loving world. A hostile person
lives in a hostile world: everyone you meet is your mirror.
-- Ken Keyes, Jr.
"Only as high as I reach
can I grow,
Only as far as I seek can I go,
Only as deep as I look can I see,
Only as much as I dream can I be."
Karen Ravn, Author
"The most blessed thing in
the world is to live
by faith without imputation of guilt; having the
kingdom within."
Paul Goodman
Do not let your fire go out,
spark by irreplaceable spark,
in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the
not-quite, the not-yet,
the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul
perish,
in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been
able to reach.
Check your road and the nature of your battle.
The world you desired can be won.
It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is
yours.
Ayn Rand
"Every
worthwhile accomplishment, big or little,
has its stages of drudgery and
triumph; a beginning,
a struggle, and a victory.
"
Anonymous
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost
Nature is very un-American. Nature never hurries. Every phrase of her working shows plan, calmness, reliability, and the absence of hurry. Hurry always implies lack of definite method, confusion, impatience of slow growth. The Tower of Babel, the world's first skyscraper, was a failure because of hurry. The workers mistook their arrogant ambition for inspiration. They had too many builders and no architect. They thought to make up the lack of a head by a superfluity of hands. This is a characteristic of hurry. It seeks ever to make energy a substitute for a clearly defined plan; the result is as hopeless as trying to transform a hobbyhorse into real steed by brisk riding."
"The greatest possession we have costs nothing; it's known as love." Anonymous.
New ideas and visions will be useless in the coming millennium if they do not lead to change. The Dalai Lama
From the Majesty of Calmness
By
William George Jordan
The Majesty of Calmness
"Calmness is the rarest quality in human life. It is the poise of a great nature, in harmony with itself and its ideals. It is the moral atmosphere of a life self-centered, self reliant, and self controlled. Calmness is singleness of purpose, absolute confidence, and conscious power, ready to be focused in an instant to meet any crisis."
Hurry, the Scourge of America
The Power of Personal Influence
"The only responsibility that a man cannot evade in this life is the one he thinks of least, his personal influence. Man's conscious influence, when he is on dress parade, when he is posing to impress those around him, is woefully small. But his unconscious influence, the silent, subtle radiation of his personality, the effect of his words and acts, the trifles he never considers, is tremendous. Every moment of life he is changing to a degree the life of the whole world. Every man has an atmosphere, which is affecting every other. So silent and unconsciously is this influence working, that man may forget that it exists."
The Dignity of Self-Reliance
"Self-confidence, without self-reliance, is as useless as a cooking recipe without food."
The man who is self-reliant says 'No one can realize my possibilities for me, but me; no one can make me good or evil but myself.' He works out his own salivation, financially, socially, mentally, physically, and morally. Life is an individual problem that man must solve for himself. Nature accepts no vicarious sacrifice, no vicarious service. Nature never recognizes a proxy vote. She has nothing to do with middlemen; she deals only with the individual. Nature is constantly seeking to show man that he is his own best friend, or his own worst enemy. Nature gives man the option which he will be to himself."
Failure as a Success
"It oftimes requires heroic courage to face fruitless effort, to take up the broken strands of a lifework, to look bravely toward the future, and proceed undaunted on our way. But what, to our eyes, may seem hopeless failure is often but the dawning of a greater success. It may contain in its debris the foundation material of a mighty purpose, or the revelation new and higher purpose, or the revelation of a new and higher possibilities."
Doing Our Best at All Times
"I will found my life on the impregnable rock of a simple truth: 'This glorious creation with its millions of wondrous phenomena pulsing ever in harmony with eternal law must have a creator; that Creator must be omniscient and omnipotent. But that Creator Himself cannot, in justice, demand of any creature more than the best that that individual can give." I will do each day, in every moment, the best I can by the light I have; I will ever seek more light, more perfect illumination of truth, and live as best I can in harmony with truth as I see it. If failure comes I will meet it bravely; if my pathway the lies in the shadow of trial, sorrow and suffering, I shall have the restful peace and the calm strength of one who has done his best, who can look back upon the past with no pang of regret, and who has heroic courage in facing the results, whatever they be, knowing that he could not make them different.' "
The Royal Road to Happiness
"Happiness is the greatest paradox in Nature. It can grow in any soil, live under any conditions. It defies environment. It comes from within; it is the revelation of the depths of the inner life as light and heat proclaim the sun from which they radiate. Happiness consists not of having, but of being; not of possessing, but of enjoying. It is the warm glow of a heart at peace with itself. A martyr at the stake may have happiness that a king on his throne might envy. Man is the creator of his happiness; it is the aroma of a life lived in harmony with high ideals, For what a man has, he may be dependent on others; what he is, rests with him alone. What he obtains in life is but acquisition; what he attains is growth. Happiness is the soul's joy in the possession of the intangible. …Happiness is paradoxical because it may coexist with trial, sorrow and poverty. It is the gladness of the heart, rising superior to all conditions."
Organic
Farming's
Quiet Health
Revolution
© 2008 Tending the Garden, All Rights Reserved. Founded 10-1-1994
08/02/2008