Contemplations........

From The Lord of the Rings , Gandalf speaking:

It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.

“No matter what business you’re in, you can’t run in place or someone will pass you by. It doesn’t matter how many games you’ve won.”

- Jim Valvano

"Failure Is The Opportunity

To Begin Again, More Intelligently"

................Henry Ford

Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't, you're probably right.

Don't stumble over something behind you.

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Be the change that you wish to see in the world.

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I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

― Maya Angelou

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Your level of success in life can be measured by your tolerance.

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Be kind to one another. Life is a gift!

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You must care about others, before they'll care about you.

"Kindness is a gift that everyone can afford to give"......Author Unknown

My nephew posted this

Thank you for starting this thread, Annie.

Rusty

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.

-- Steven Wright

"It's a poor day in which one doesn't learn sumthin' "

- a certain 93 year old denizen of the KT.

And offer appreciation to others for gracing/enriching one's life.

ole joyfuelled

When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.Malala Yousafzai

DD posted this one. It was actually for her start up business students that she teaches, but I thought it applied across the board.

Rusty

Rusty

"The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice." M.L. King.

" The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. " Edmund Burke.

"For the honest man, reality, no matter how bitter, can never be traded for an illusion, no matter how redemptive." A. Camus.

Lovely, OJ! How did you already reach 93 years??

I agree OJ. You are a delight!

Little things.....smile, say hi; let someone go first, hold the door open, take a garbage bin off the street, compliment someone.....all these things take so little time, yet mean so much.

This is kind of long, but I love it. It's a quotation about why the little things matter, from page 197 of the novel We are Called to Rise by Laura McBride.

It all matters. That someone turns out the lamp, picks up the wind-blown wrapper, says hello to the invalid, pays at the unattended lot, listens to the repeated tale, folds the abandoned laundry, plays the game fairly, tells the story honestly, acknowledges help, gives credit, says good night, resists temptation, wipes the counter, waits at the yellow, makes the bed, tips the maid, remembers the illness, congratulates the victor, accepts the consequences, takes a stand, steps up, offers a hand, goes first, goes last, chooses the small portion, teaches the child, tends to the dying, comforts the grieving, removes the splinter, wipes the tear, directs the lost, touches the lonely, is the whole thing.

Some great ones here. About the very first one, Ive read that's why, when being introduced, its hard to remember their name afterward : we are too busy prepping ourselves for a proper response. I think thats often true.

Rusty

“Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.”

- Muhammad Ali

Rusty

From a fortune cookie:

"Don't let what you fear might happen keep you from pursuing what you hope will happen."

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. M.L. King.

If someone tells you who they are; believe them. Maya Angelou.

“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.”

- Amelia Earhart

Rusty

This one has popped up in a few tv shows/movies recently.

In a world where you can be anything, be kind.

As to how I made the 93 years - I think it's mainly genes.

Some in our family appear to have some weakness of lungs. When I was about 16 I began to smoke ... stayed at it about 6 mos. or so, didn't like the taste and, learning from paternal Grandma who lived with us, and Dad, who did also (Mom had been in psych hosp from when I almost 6, died when I 13) to be somewhat frugal, the cost of the cigs - I quit them.

Sometimes when someone and I approach a store door at the same time, I often motion them to go first, or hold the door for them, "You go first, please: I'm retired - I have more time than you do!" ... usually results in a nod of thanks and a smile.

ole joyfuelled

Hi Annie, interesting that the Kahlil Gibran quote refers to carrying pain as in childbirth rather than bearing a load.

And Olychick, one needs to look back when, walking with the traffic while hitchhiking and a vehicle approaches facing you in the opposite lane, you need to look back to see whether a vehicle is coming up behind you, to move over to give that driver lots of room to go by you while staying in his/her and your lane.

Not only is it the legal, neighbourly, considerate thing to do ... it may well preclude your getting run over!

In a dispute between a chunk of a ciuple of tons of metal and a mere human ... guess which wins?

ole joyful

no one can make you feel inferior without your consent

- eleanor roosevelt

so many inspirational & true 'contemplations'.....thanks Annie for starting this thread!!

Rusty

Rusty

I am really going to try.......

Learn to… be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not.”

- Henri Frederic Amiel

Rusty

And: Character is who you are when no one is looking.

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

‘I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.’

- Michael Jordan

Rusty

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."

--Guillaume Apollinaire

Rusty

Rusty

Just one more.

Rusty

Rusty

Love this thread, Annie. Thank you.

"Let your curiosity be greater than your fear."

- Pema Chödrön

"We can make ourselves miserable or we can make ourselves strong. The amount of effort is the same."

- Pema Chödrön

Rusty

10 Guideposts for Wholehearted Living From Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and

Lead by Brene Brown

1. Cultivating Authenticity: Letting Go of What People Think

2. Cultivating Self‐Compassion: Letting Go of Perfectionism

3. Cultivating a Resilient Spirit: Letting Go of Numbing and Powerlessness

4. Cultivating Gratitude and Joy: Letting Go of Scarcity and Fear of the Dark

5. Cultivating Intuition and Trusting Faith: Letting Go of the Need for

Certainty

6. Cultivating Creativity: Letting Go of Comparison

7. Cultivating Play and Rest: Letting Go of Exhaustion as a Status Symbol and

Productivity as Self‐Worth

8. Cultivating Calm and Stillness: Letting Go of Anxiety as a Lifestyle

9. Cultivating Meaningful Work: Letting Go of Self‐Doubt and “SupposedTo”

10. Cultivating Laughter, Song, and Dance: Letting Go of Being Cool and

“Always in Control”

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

How beautiful is it to find someone who asks for nothing but your company. – Brigitte Nicole

I love this one....

Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love you.

“If a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favorable to him.”

- Seneca the Younger

This one really got me today.

We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one we have waiting for us.

-- Joseph Campbell

Rusty

I love that, Rusty. That especially resonates when I think of my reaction when I heard that a former customer had died, unfortunately self-inflicted. Even though my interaction with him was very minor, I felt (rightly or wrongly) that he left a hole in my life by "removing" himself. I was likely just one of the many insignificant contacts in his life, yet he formed a valued part of my identity.

“Happiness is a state of inner fulfillment, not the gratification of inexhaustible desires for outward things.”
― Matthieu Ricard

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

"Never throw mud: you can miss the target, but your hands will remain dirty."

- Dorothy Parker.

“You never really learn much from hearing yourself talk.”

- George Clooney

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."

-- Flannery O'Connor

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending."

--Maria Robinson

“To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.”

- Samuel Johnson

Rusty

“One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”

― John F. Kennedy

Rusty

“One ship sails East,
And another West,
By the self-same winds that blow,
Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales,
That tells the way we go.”

- Emma Wheeler Wilcox

I'm loving reading these- lots of quotes for reflection. I'm glad you started this, Annie.

“If you need something from somebody always give that person a way to hand it to you.”
― Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

Rusty

“I met an old lady once, almost a hundred years old, and she told me, 'There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all through history. How much do you love me? And Who's in charge?”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

Rusty

Rusty

Thank you, again for this wonderful thread, Annie.

I really enjoy reading these quotations.

Rusty's Fitzgerald quotation upthread, brought one of my favorite quotations of all-time to mind.

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

Something to think about....as you sow...

Rusty

^^^ Love that one!

Rusty

"Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart do no know how to laugh either"

--Golda Meir

‘If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present’.

Ludwig Wittgenstein

“Your soul is too expansive to ever be able to fit into anybody’s expectations.”

Rusty

I am pretty sure someone here has already posted this Fitzgerald quotation, but it is so good, I thought I would repeat it anyway.

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

eld, thanks! I needed that. When my child was a little one, we loved to watch Winnie the Pooh. And we loved to play Pooh Sticks. Thanks for reminding me our younger days playing in the water, watching twigs carry our worries away.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GIumSUZNVd4

Another,

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.

-- Jack Kornfield

Rusty

Rusty

This was probably already shared but I need it for today

Rusty

So true of so many things...reading about something isn't doing that something.

Rusty

"You're Braver Than You Believe,

Stronger Than You Seem,

And Smarter Than You Think."

....Winnie the Pooh

"How Do You Spell 'Love", asked Piglet'

You Don't Spell It...You Feel It", said Pooh"

Uptown Gal, you reminded me of what my GF said she learned from my Mom: Children spell love T*I*M*E

So true of so many things...reading about something isn't doing that something.

Why are you attacking me??

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

Rusty

It is our essential nature to be compassionate. From the moment we're born our mother takes care of us. Without this care we would not survive. This experience is our first opportunity to learn that compassion is the root of all happiness. However, this natural appreciation of compassion seems to fade once we go to school. We need to be reminded that good health and a peaceful state of mind are founded on love and compassion.

-- Dalai Lama

Rusty

Interesting, Rusty...of course one reveals the other, no?

“We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that except the Lord build the House they labor in vain who build it. I firmly believe this, — and I also believe that without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel.”

——Benjamin Franklin

Rusty

Speak when you're angry, and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret

--Laurence Peter

When someone tells you to calm down, channel Walter Sobchak

The Big Lebowski offers endless life lessons. Rugs really tie the room together, for instance; it's totally acceptable to pay for milk by check; most problems can be solved by bowling; and it's never a good idea to fight a stranger in the Alps. And the Coen brothers' finest cinematic offering doesn't skimp on providing a great comeback to "calm down." Tell your offender, "I'm perfectly calm, Dude," and if that doesn't suffice, add, "Calmer than you are, Dude." If it doesn't get them off your back, at least they'll probably laugh.

Six ways to respond when someone tells you to calm down

Well HU-998551058, that's not very nice...

I know, not nice.

But it was a wholly appropriate quote.

I guess it depends on how you define 'successful'.

Rusty

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living in someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And, most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

~Steve Jobs

I spent a lot of years trying to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by making things certain and definite, black and white, good and bad. My inability to lean into the discomfort of vulnerability limited the fullness of those important experiences that are wrought with uncertainty: Love, belonging, trust, joy, and creativity to name a few.

-Brene Brown

It is easy to love people in memory; the hard thing is to love when they are there in front of you.

~ John Updike

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

~ Robert Brault

You can never please a person who does not believe in you.

Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable.

~ John Wooden (1910 - 2010)

The bad news is that reality is the cause of all stress.

The good news is that most of us aren't in touch with it.

~ Esther Oriole

The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Choosing responsibility over irresponsibility, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity...these are the choices that measure your life. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

(attributed to two unrelated people)

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would be indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

~ Albert Einstein

Rusty

To judge a man by his weakest link or deed is like judging the ocean by one wave.

......Elvis

DO YOUR BEST

Always do your best, what you sow you reap.

Always do your best, efforts are rewarded proportionately.

Always do your best, you will have continuous growth.

Always do your best, you will be respected and looked up to.

Always do your best, no matter what the situation.

Always do your best, success follows actions.

Always do your best, you will be filled with confidence.

Always do your best, think today is your best day.

Always do your best, the sky is your limit.

Always do your best, everything will turn out for your best.

Rusty

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others' to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have live. This is to have succeeded.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Individual commitment to a group effort; that is what a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

~ Vince Lombardi

“There are three things that are important to every man in this locker room. His God, his family, and the Green Bay Packers. In that order.” -Vince Lombardi

tj

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.

Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

Do not believe in traditions because that have been handed down for may generations.

But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

~ Buddha

Rusty

Express yourself completely.

Then keep quiet.

Be like the forces of nature;

When it blows, there is only wind;

When it rains, there is only rain;

When the clouds pass, the sun shines through.

~ Laozi

You may think your actions are meaningless and that they won't help, but that is no excuse, you must act.

~ Mohandas Gandhi

Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.

~ Thomas Carlyle

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world; indeed it's the only that that ever has!

~ Margaret Meade

I love agitation and investigation, and glory in defending unpopular truth against popular error.

~ Pres. James A. Garfield

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.

~ Jimmy Johnson

Each of us is given a bit of the raw material of life with which to work. We can shape it any way we wish. The time in which we live, our inheritance of traits, etc., all have something to do with what we become, but after that it in our hands to do much with what we have. Physically and mentally, we can shape it any way we desire.

~ Louis L'Amour

Rusty

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the hear, you'll know when you find it.

~ Steve Jobs

The hottest seats in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crises, choose to do nothing.

~ Dante Aligheiri

Rusty

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.

~ Indian Proverb

Trust is the confidence one instills in others based on character and competence.

~ Stephen Covey

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And, you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.

~ Dr. Seuss

"When deeds speak, words are nothing."

---Pierre-Joseph-Proudhon

Get disciplined to get things done. Be determined to make it happen and that nothing is going to stand in your way. And then drive yourself forward, refusing to stop.

~ Manny Nowak

People who go the gym generally attract each other. They've got similar values.

People who smoke generally attract each other. They've got similar values.

People who are overweight generally stay together. They've got similar values.

How about respect? Are you attracted to those who have similar values?

Think about it!