Archives for December 2009

Here is a poem for your reflection:

Whoso has tasted the honey-sweet fruit from the stems of the lotus,
Nevermore wishes to leave it, and never once longs to go homeward;
There would he stay if he could, content, with the eaters of lotus,
Plucking and eating the lotus, forgetting that he was returning.”
* Homer, in ‘Odyssey’ (Translation: Edwin Arnold, from ‘Poets of Greece’)

I wish you and yours a happy New Year 2010.

May you be happy and successful. May you enjoy the honey-sweet fruit of well-being and serenity alluded to in the above poem. May you be filled with generosity and compassion.

May there be peace!

Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.
—Abraham Lincoln (American Head of State)

If you believe you have a foolproof system, you’ve falied to take into consideration the creativity of fools.
—Frank Abagnale (American Fraudster)

You never conquer a mountain. You stand on the summit a few moments; then the wind blows your footprints away.
—Arlene Blum

He who waits to do a great deal of good at once, will never do anything.
—Samuel Johnson (British Essayist)

We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there.
—Charles F. Kettering (American Inventor)

Never frown because you never know who might be falling in love with your smile.
—Unknown

You are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are.
—Norman Vincent Peale (American Clergyman, Self-Help Author)

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
—Unknown

To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious.
—Samuel Butler

Spend time daily doing something you enjoy.|Do those things that bring inner peace.|Learn to laugh heartily and frequently.|Cultivate an attitude of hope.|Fill each day with as much love as it can possibly hold.
—Steve Goodier

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.
—Cynthia Ozick

The spirit of a person’s life is ever shedding some power, just as a flower is steadily bestowing fragrance upon the air.
—Thomas Starr King (American Unitarian Minister)

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Philosopher)

Selfishness is one of the qualities apt to inspire love.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (American Novelist)

If you can’t state your position in eight words or less, you don’t have a position.
—Seth Godin (American Entrepreneur)

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
—Oscar Wilde (Irish Poet)

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (American First Lady)

Sleep is the golden chain that ties health and our bodies together.
—Thomas Dekker

It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.
—Henry David Thoreau (American Philosopher)

Don’t let the bozos grind you down.
—Guy Kawasaki (American Investor)

The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you free.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic)

Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear.
—The Upanishads

Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.
—James Freeman Clarke (American Unitarian Clergyman)

Ignorance is not bliss—it is oblivion.
—Philip Wylie (American Dramatist)

The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.
—Thomas Edison (American Inventor)

The power of God is with you at all times; through the activities of mind, senses, breathing, and emotions; and is constantly doing all the work using you as a mere instrument.
—The Bhagavad Gita (Hindu Scripture)

We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone, and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something.
—Sandra Day O’Connor

It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them – the character, the heart, generous qualities, progressive ideas.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russian Novelist)

If you have the same ideas as everybody else but have them one week earlier than everyone else then you will be hailed as a visionary. But if you have them five years earlier you will be named a lunatic.
—Unknown

If you think about disaster, you will get it. Brood about death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.
—Eddie Rickenbacker (American Military Leader)

The most gifted members of the human species are at their creative best when they cannot have their way, and most compensate for what they miss by realizing and cultivating their capabilities and talents.
—Eric Hoffer (American Philosopher)

Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try.
—Mary Kay Ash (American Entrepreneur)

I can’t do it never yet accomplished anything: I will try” has accomplished wonders.”
—George P. Putnam

An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field.
—Niels Bohr (Danish Physicist)

Diligence is the mother of good luck, and God gives all things to industry. Work while it is called today, for you know not how much you may be hindered tomorrow. One today is worth two tomorrows; never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
—Benjamin Franklin (American Political leader)

The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterwards.
—Arthur Koestler

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness; no laziness; no procrastination; never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.
—Earl of Chesterfield

An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field.
—Niels Bohr (Danish Physicist)

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy,
in whatever situation I may be; for I have also
learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness
or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.
—Martha Washington (American First Lady)

You cannot be a creator and a victim.
—Unknown