As summer draws down into fall and many of us prepare to get back to business as usual, I’d like to share with you some words of wisdom from writers, poets and spiritual leaders across time and the world. If one or more of these speak to you, tuck them into your pocket to carry you into the weeks ahead.
“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt, This is My Story
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
― Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who!
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” ― Maya Angelou
“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” ― Dalai Lama XIV
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
“I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
“I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, (he) will not ask, ‘How many good things have you done in your life?’ rather (he) will ask, ‘How much love did you put into what you did?”
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
― St. Francis of Assisi, The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.” ― Gautama Buddha
“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” ― H. Jackson Brown Jr.
“You’re off to Great Places!/Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,/So… get on your way!”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.”
“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” ― Dalai Lama XIV
“Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”
“In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.” ― Leo Tolstoy
~ ~ ~ ~
And finally, from the poem GOING TO WALDEN by Mary Oliver, her reflection following a visit to Walden pond.
Going to Walden is not so easy a thing as a green visit.
It is the slow and difficult trick of living, and finding it where you are.
I loved this……
What an awesome collection of wise words! These are some of my all time favorites and it’s cool to see them all in one place. Thank you for collecting and sharing this wisdom.
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