My feeling is that there is nothing in life but refraining from hurting others, and comforting those who are sad
-- Olive Schreiner

Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have. - Louis E. Boone

Hatred devours the hater as well as the hated. It is a cancer that grows from cell to cell

When you teach your child, you teach your childs' child
-- The Talmud

One's own misdirected thought can do one more harm than an enemy or an ill-wisher
-- Buddha

Love alone can unite living beings
so as to complete and fulfill them...
for it alone joins them
by what is deepest
in themselves.

All we need is to imagine
our ability to love developing
until it embraces
the totality of men / women
and of the earth
-- Teilhard De Chardin
French philosopher and theologian

Hatred devours the hater as well as the hated. It is a cancer that grows from cell to cell and spreads from you to all those you contact, contaminating the world, but none other as much as you, its source

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires (by living a good life)
-- William Arthur Ward

"Hold on to your dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken winged bird That cannot fly" --- Langston Hughes

“There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands”
--Illusions, by Richard Bach

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God"
-- Matthew 5:9

Anger is a condition in which
the tongue works faster than the mind,
and which causes you to say and
to do things to others
that ultimately end up hurting you
more than your adversary
--Corrine

You can't change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying over the future

The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself
-- Mark Caine

All people smile in the same language

I have an ex-friend who has made a "lifestyle" out of being mean and harassing, even to her own detriment. Friends ask how I endure the pain of this lovely friendship-gone-bad. Someone taught me to
“lower your expectations but not your standards. So, I’ve learned to endure the pain of this person’s attacks, expecting nothing more at this time. Yet, I won’t lower my standards and will not give in, now or ever, to her unnecessary and hurtful assaults. I will now and always use the Power that springs from my standards to stand up to … and resist … her attacks. For her, these attacks are who she IS. To me, they are outside me; they are only things in my outer environment and therefore don’t effect who I am, my Inner Being – my standards remain intact!
-- Tom Oie

"The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving -- and it should always be toward love, enduring friendship, peace-building, reconcilliation, good financial stewardship, in that order"
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Constitution gives each and every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of themselves and ruin their lives if they so wish. For me, I choose Life, friendship, love....
-- John Ciardi (1916 - 1986)

"You've only failed,
If you've failed to try"
-- Author Unknown

Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability, the friendship you should have developed, the enemies you should have forgiven, the kindnesses you should have granted, the professional accomplishments you should have completed
--John Wooden

Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing
--Harriet Braiker

Here's one that, with a tiny bit of effort, can be "adjusted" to fit both the office and our personal lives:
He that would make his own rights secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself
-- Thomas Paine

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
--Frank Outlaw

"Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend"
-- Albert Camus

When a person is doing something so stupid that he is ashamed of it, he always declares that it is his "duty"
--George Bernard Shaw

Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, no one can take it away --Unknown

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world"
--Mahatma Gandhi

Love, not time, heals all wounds
-- Andy Rooney

"Most people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy"
--Robert Anthony

Sometimes I find myself making love to my own misfortune. --Norma O. Abrego

May you live as long as you wish and love as long as you live
--Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love

We came to this planet to Live! That means to join with those who would travel with us, enhancing each other's earthly experience. There will be plenty of time to be dead, later on
-- Sister Mary Leonard

All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism
-- Anonymous

MOTHER'S DAY Hindsight shows us all our mistakes, the things we Moms wish we'd done differently and better. It is so easy to look at our kids' deficits and blame ourselves. Sigh. But, it's evenmore important to try, try REALLY hard, to remember the millions of things we did RIGHT...from powdering chapped little bottoms to kissing "owies" to worrying with genuine love and fear when they went out on their first date! Happy Mother's Day!

T.PATRICK'S DAY
May those who love us love us
And those who don't love us
May God turn their hearts,
And if He doesn't turn their hearts,
May He turn their ankles,
So we'll be forewarnede of danger by their limping
--Irish Prayer

When he reached the New World, Cortez burned his ships. As a result his crew was well motivated. --The Hunt For Red October

I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.
-- Former President "Give 'em Hell Harry, "Harry S Truman
(1884 - 1972)

"I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love"
-- Mother Teresa

If people are coming to work excited . . . if they're making mistakes freely and fearlessly . . . if they're having fun . . . if they're concentrating doing things, rather than preparing reports and going to meetings - then somewhere in your organization, you have leaders
--Robert Townsend

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

Speak when you are angry--and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret
-- Laurence J. Peter (1919 - 1988)

If anyone speaks badly of you,
live so none will believe it
-- Unknown

"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can still do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do"
--Helen Keller

"You have the capacity to choose what you think about. If you choose to think about past hurts, you will continue to feel bad. While it's true you can't change the effect past influences had on you once, you can change the effect they have on you now"
-- Gary McKay, PhD

Everything you can imagine is real. Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience. John Updike

It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society
--Krishnamurti

Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped
-- Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)

People prefer to follow those who help them, not those who intimidate them
--C. Gene Wilkes

"A mind is like a parachute, It only functions when it's opened"
-- James Dewar

"Our job is not to straighten each other out,
But to help each other up"
-- Neva Cole

"It's never too late,
In fiction or in life,
To revise our script to include forgiveness, reconcilliation, and a happy ending!"
-- Nancy Thayer

EASTER -- the time of rebirth, the time of rising from the ashes of the death of old dreams and old endeavors. Too often, we think that "rebirth" somehow means creating a totally new organism, a totally new life. Is that what Christ's rising from the dead truly meant? No! That would be Birth, not Re-Birth. He came back as HIM, still Jesus, although transformed. In using the term "rebirth," try to focus on the prefix, "re-" because the real lesson was to rise AGAIN from the old stuff, the old life, the old mistakes, the old pain, unsticking the old stuck relationships. Rebirth means starting afresh, forgiving old abuses, repaying old debts, and making a new start with the world, business, body, soul, and relationships that we already have. Resurrection is just that, rebirthing the old in a new, glorious way!

Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life. If you are holding old fear or old grudges, release it -- forgive your former enemy. You may or may not move forward together, but you will move forward in peace! --Mary Manin Morrissey author

If I had my life to live over, I would start going barefoot a little earlier in the spring and stay that way a little later in the fall. I would have more dogs. I would keep later hours. I would have more sweethearts. I would fish more. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. From, "If I had my life to live over, I'd pick more daisies" --- Don Herold

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now"
-- Goethe

"Although my enemies have tried to destroy me, I have not reciprocated to date, preferring to take the high road. Recently, however, I concluded that my very survival hinges on my willingness to fight back, aggressively. My heart was torn until I realized that I had offered negotiation and they chose instead to fight. The pain they will suffer during the ensuing battle will be, in the final analysis, self-inflicted. I prefer peace. It is not I who choose war"
--Henry Ford, industrialist

Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh at people when they demonstrate virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life
-- Joseph Addison

A SMILE costs nothing, but gives much. It enriches those who receive, without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. (Isn't that true?! You can remember a time 20-years ago when someone was grouchy to you...and you can remember a very special smile that someone gave you decades ago as well!)

"And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet And the winds long to play with your hair"
-- Kahlil Gibran

In the 60's people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal

He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice
---Mark Twain

Nurture your mind with great thoughts, BR> For you will never go any higher that you think..."
-- Benjamin Disraeli

I had a fast friend who betrayed my trust. I then dispised him. Over a period of time, he grew and changed, but I wouldn't acknowledge his rehabilitation. For four years, I reviled a man who no longer existed. The loss was mine...
-- Daryl LaRue, Motivational trainer

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME...
When Daylight Savings Time rolls around, I always feel as if we have somehow been given the 'gift' of more time in which to live. Obviously, it's bunk to think that our government can somehow add a single moment to our lives. The key, of course, is to embrace each moment of daylight and darkness, cherishing the hours that we have available to us, and not squandering them in the holding of grudges, pursuing battles that no one but me cares about, and watching mindless tv. Daylight Savings Time is, for me, a sort of a 'booster shot' for New Year's, a gentle inspiration to reawaken to the possibilities for savoring Life to its fullest!
-- Ron Aldaro, "Illusions That Are Real"

He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice
-- Mark Twain

Humans are the only animals that laughs and weeps; for we is the only animals that are struck with the difference between what things are and what they might of been

-- William Hazlitt

The morning cup of coffee has the exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan, 'Press on,' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race
--Calvin Coolidge

If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Knowing when to retreat is more important than knowing when to press ahead
-- Author Unknown

The true measure of a person is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

Harsh words break no bones
but they do break hearts
-- Unknown

Speak or act with a pure mind and happiness will follow you as your shadow, unshakeable"
-- Dhammapada

It is a bad outlook for the world if the spirit of violence takes hold of the mass mind. Ultimately it destroys the race.

Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our very being
--Ghandhi

All Fords of a certain model are exactly alike, but no two people are just alike. Every new life is a new thing under the sun; there has never been anything just like it before, never will be again. Young people ought to get that idea about themselves; they should look for the single spark of individuality that makes them different from other folks, and develop that for all they are worth. Society and schools may try to iron it out of them; their tendency is to put it all in the same mold, but I say don't let that spark be lost; it is your only real claim to succeed as an intact individual
-- Thoughts of
Henry Ford

Don't wait for your ship to come in.
Row out to meet it.

Life is too important to take seriously
--Corky Siegel

Knowing when to retreat is more important than knowing when to press ahead
-- Author Unknown

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.
--George Santayana (1863 - 1952),
Soliloquies in England, 1922, "War Shrines"

Hell, there are no rules here-- we're trying to accomplish something.
-- Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)

The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues
--Elizabeth Taylor (1932 - )

INCOME TAX The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. I know I can't figure it out Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

If God lived on earth, people would break his windows. (He wants us to do only good)
-- Jewish Proverb

VALENTINES DAY Imagine what would happen if everyone in the world choose to dedicate Valentine's Day as a day of reconciliation and healing. Imagine broken marriages reunited in love, stressful work environments transformed into places of mutual support and respect.... Life is as beautiful as your thoughts will let it be
-- Marty Dow, Tricia Sample

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock
-- Thomas Jefferson

The ethics of battle, and how to win and still sleep at night: Show mercy and gentleness and consideration commensurate to what your enemy is showing, and not an ounce more
-- Annonymous attorney, Florida

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding all the terrorist things, the Iraqui war, etc.).

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems
-- John W. Gardner (1912 - )

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. John Cage (1912 - 1992)

Anyone who has got a book collection, a garden and a loyal friend wants for nothing
-- Cicero

Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones. Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

Rudeness is the weak person's imitation of strength
-- Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but when you hurt others, your are abusing the the privilege
--Unknown

People are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds
--Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945)
Pan American Day address, April 15, 1939

Sharing Love leads to immortality. Hatred and negativity leads to death. Those who love will not die, while those who hate and divide are as good as dead already
-- Saint Laura

The only obstacle to my experiencing God's joy in my life is the unwillingness to feel love for someone or something
-- V.R. Beasley/A.M. Patent

Did someone do you an an injury, or say something mean about you, or treat you contemptously? It may be just the right time now to honestly consider forgiving him. Neither the mind nor the soul nor even the body can be fully healthy when the diseased attitudes of resentment, ill will, grudges, and hate take hold of your life. Forgive now. If not for the person who hurt you, then for your own well-being!
-- Normal Vincent Peale

"Tear her heart out," they told me. At first, I was reluctant to do so, to ruin her life, making her end up paying my client a huge chunk of her income forever, making her cry her eyes out at night, night after night. Then, I realized that she was, after all, the person who sued my client! It was HER suit and she was choosing her own poison as long as she opted to drag my guy into court. On that day, I became a good lawyer. Same rule applies to all adversaries in life, with snotty neighbors, the occasional vile co-worker.... They must be made to feel the pain that they are causing others or they'll never change their position and bring matters to a reasonable conclusion"
-- William Kunstler, notorious defense attorney

Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.
-- Erich Fromm

Where there is charity and loving friendship there is God
-- Luke 4

"It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get"
-- Morarji Desai

We must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means"
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Many great discoveries have been made just because people were curious enough to pursue them. The world can be changed by someone who asks what if or why not, or who sets out to see what's over the horizon
-- Ralph Marsten

Money may be the husk of many things, but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not the health; acquaintances, but not friends, servants but not faithfulness; days of joy, but not peace or happiness. For these, we need to reach out and embrace those who would embrace us; we need to build relationships based on love and commitment"
--Henrick Ibsen

No Peace lies in our future which is not hidden in this present instant. Take Peace
-- Fra Giovanni - 1513

"Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity we shall harness the energies of love. Then, for a second time in the history of the world man will have discovered fire"
--Theologian Teilhard de Chardin

"Harmony -- or lack of Harmony in your life is a gauge of the effectiveness of the way your think about others -- and treat them. If things are not harmonous or pleasant in your life, look to your thoughts, words, emotions and actions toward others. The Biblical saying, 'You Reap What You Sow' is an irrefutable Law of Nature. Violate this law to your own detriment"
--The Sage of Summerhaven

For every minute that you are angry with someone, you lose 60-seconds of happiness in your life that you can never get back!
-- Anonymous

"For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul." -Judy Garland

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive
-- Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder

To be aware of a single shortcoming within oneself is more useful than to be aware of a thousand in somebody else
-- The Dalai Lama

"Be who you are
and say how you feel
because those who mind
don't matter
and those who matter
don't mind"
-- Dr. Suess

It is my opinion that many really good lovers-of-others do not come from households where all was easy. They come from a place of much pain and suffering, and they've worked through the layers to reach the place where they can now help others to be free. Most good lovers-of-others are continually working to release even more, to remove ever-deeper layers of limitation. This becomes a lifetime occupation, this loving of Selt, and Others! -- Louise L. Hay, 'YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE'

"We must not only give what we have; we must also give what we are"
--Desire-Joseph Mercier

If it’s hurtful and untrue, don’t say it. If it’s helpful and untrue, don’t say it. It it’s hurtful and true, don’t say it. If it’s helpful and true, find the right time.
-- Author Unknown

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense"
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see"
--John Burroughs

The Past is history, the Future is a mystery and Now is a gift. That’s why we call it the Present. -- Author Unknown

"Integrity in our dealings with others is one of several paths. It distinguishes itself from the others because it is the right path and the only one upon which you will never get lost"
-- M.H. McKee

"The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed and you are at last alive on this planet. You will be open to giving, receiving, forgiving, you will dance and sing mirthfully as an innocent little child!" -J. Krishnamurti

"If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand,if the ability to give those who fail you second chances, rejoice, for your soul is alive!"
--Eleonora Duse

"This is courage… to bear unflinchingly those whom heaven sends and determine means of converting them into lifelong friends" -- Euripedes

When it comes to peace and reconcilliation, never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on, Hold fast, Hold out. Patience is genius"
-- Comte Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon

Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience
-- Elbert Hubbard
American editor, publisher and writer, 1856-1915

"Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right"
-- Ezra Taft Benson

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.
-- Jeff Valdez

Hope . . . is one of the ways in which what is merely future and potential is made vividly present and actual to us. Hope is the positive, as anxiety is the negative, mode of awaiting the future
-- Emil Brunner
Eternal Hope Meaning sharing ideas, respecting space, sharing the glory of each day's triumphs and amazing discoveries!
-- Henry David Thoreau American essayist, poet and philosopher, 1817-1862 How many things which served us yesterday as articles of faith, are fables for us today! You must stand ready to abandon the things you so dearly hold as true today and surrender to the Possibility that the Truth of the matter is quite different than that which you now believe
-- From Thoughts of Michel de Montaigne Man needs his difficulties because they are apparently necessary to enjoy success -- however, always strive for success, for closeness with others, for peace and tranquility. Difficulties can act as a springboard to move forward, but do not linger in the Difficulties!
-- Abdul Kalam
President of India, b.1931 "A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same."
-- Elbert Hubbard "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"
-- Albert Einstein The art of love ... is largely the art of persistence. If you love someone, keep loving, and keep loving, and keep loving. It'll be sensed first in the heart and then, who knows? Offering love always brings some form of good results, for the recipient, even if not so obviously for the giver!
--Albert Ellis When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest
--Henry David Thoreau
American essayist, poet and philosopher, 1817-1862

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
--(1 Corinthians 13:1-8, 13)
The Bible It seems to be a law of nature, inflexible and inexorable, that those who will not risk cannot win

vers: It seems to be a law of nature, inflexible and inexorable, that those who will not risk forging strong relationships cannot win -->
--John Paul Jones
Scottish-born American naval hero in the U.S. War of Independence, 1747-1792

"Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; true love is a growing up"
--James Baldwin Ah, you who are virtuous and give love! Giving is easy for the would-be saint! It is offered on our timetable, at our convenience. Much harder, though, is receiving the love that is offered to us out of hours, by inconvenient people at inconvenient times
Philosophy of St. Laura A lively, disinterested, persistent liking for truth is extraordinarily rare. We ignore the small voice of Truth in order not to be troubled or inconvenienced by reflection, criticism or doubt. Hiding the Truth inside us also makes it possible for us to continue refusing to do the right thing From Thoughts of Henri Frédéric Amiel "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones"
-- Einstein Faith makes all things possible.... love makes all things easy
-- Anonymous I wasted time and now does time waste me
--Shakespeare NEW YEAR'S -- May the best day of your past year be the worst day of the New Year!
-- Mara, "Peaceful Transitions" NEW YEAR'S is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a joyful abandon suited to the greatness of the occasion
-- Thoughts of Mark Twain
Letter to Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, Jan. 1863 I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education. Do the right thing by acting on the small voice of faith within, and your life will consequently be serene. Ignore that voice and persist in doing the wrong thing and you will suffer unnecessary pain. Ultimately, though, when you are ground into the muck by clinging to your wrong choice, you will learn the lesson that the Faithful Voice offered you at the outset -- serenity awaits you!
--From Thoughts of Wilson Mizner There can be no forgiveness without renewal of life, from which the fruits of Living may grow. If you have sinned and if you have healed and been renewed and if the person you wronged does not then forgive you, in that moment, your roles have changed: you have become the righteous and he has become the sinner
-- From the thoughts of Martin Luther If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it. However, you cannot truly live without offering Love in return to those who would love you. And forgiveness. And offers of cooperation. And smiles.
-- from Thoughts from the Dalai Lama Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy for anyone who will use it
-- Leonardo da Vinci
Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect and engineer, 1452-1519 A Christmas Thought...
Faith is to believe what you do not see;
the reward of this faith is to see what you believe
-- St. Augustine It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself
--Charles Dickens
British novelist, 1812-1870 At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year
-- Thomas Tusser
English farmer and writer, 1524-1580 Food, improperly taken, not only produces original diseases, but affords those that are already engendered both matter and sustenance; so that, let the father of disease be what it may, Intemperance is certainly its mother
-- Burton Laughter is the shortest
distance between two people

-- Victor Borge
Danish-born American pianist and comedian,1909-2000 A humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grows. A proud person is seldom a grateful person. They never thinks they get as much as they deserve
--Henry Ward Beecher, Elmira, NY (1813-1887) The person who fears no truth
has nothing to fear from lies
-- Thomas Jefferson
3rd US president, author of the Declaration of Independence, 1743-1826 “Tell me the weight of a snowflake,” a coal-mouse asked a wild dove. ---”Nothing more than nothing,” was the answer.

“In that case, I must tell you a story,” the coal-mouse said.

“I sat on a branch of a fir, close to its trunk , when it began to snow---not heavily, not a raging blizzard--no, just like in a dream, without a wound and without any violence. Since I did not have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch...........Their number was exactly 3, 741, 952.

When the 3,741, 753rd dropped onto the branch, nothing more than nothing, as you say, the branch broke off.”

Having said that, the coal-mouse scampered away.

The dove, since Noah’s time an authority on the matter, thought about the story for a while and finally said to herself...

“Perhaps there is only one person’s voice lacking for peace to come to the world.”
-- New Fables-Thus Spoke by Kurt Kauter Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons
--- Woody Allen Fear less, hope more,
eat less, chew more,
whine less, breathe more,
talk less, say more,
hate less, love more,
and all good things will be yours
-- Swedish proverb FORGIVENESS It is easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own
-- Jessamyn West Ever notice that some people seem to almost revel in pain and keep creating painful situiations in their lives? Check this out:
How much better is it to weep at joy than to joy at weeping!
--William Shakespeare The best way to keep your friends is not to give them away
-- Wilson Mizner (1876-1933) Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!
-- Anne Frank "Our bombs are smarter than the average American high school student. At least our bombs can locate Iraq on a map"
-- A. Whitney Brown You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however
-- Richard Bach I forgave not, so to stone within I grew
-- Thoughts from Dante LOVE:
Loves conquers all things except poverty and toothache. Well, if you combine financial efforts with your Love, you can conquer poverty!
-- Mae West The best way to show my gratitude to God is to accept everything, even my problems, with joy. I must forgive those who have injured me and find within true gratitude for the good things they have contributed
-- Thoughts inspired by Mother Teresa of Calcutta "Most of the things we decide are not what we know to be the best. We say yes, merely because we are driven into a corner and must say something"
-- Frank Crane, Essays If you get up one more time than you fall you will make it through
-- Chinese Proverb "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away" The person who asks may appear to be a fool for five minutes, but the person who does not ask remains a fool forever
-- Chinese Proverb If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow
-- Chinese Proverb THANKSGIVING: Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day
-- Robert Caspar Lintner The person who asks may appear to be a fool for five minutes, but the person who does not ask remains a fool forever
-- Chinese Proverb THANKSGIVING: For all that has been good between us, thanks!
For all the good that we can still create between us, yes!
Thoughts of Dag Hammarskjöld
Secretary-General of the UN
(1905-1961) THANKSGIVING: Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every kindness done to us divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along....
-- John Henry Jowett (1864-1923) THANKSGIVING WEEK: There is as much greatness of mind in acknowledging a good turn, as in doing it
-- Lucius Annaeus Seneca (C. 4 B.C.-A.D. 65) "We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them"
--Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam THANKSGIVING WEEK: Gratitude is the sign of noble souls
--Aesop (Fl. C. 550 B.C.) THANKSGIVING WEEK: A thankless person never does a thankful deed
Danish Proverb “Love cannot be real unless it is offered by someone who wishes to know us deeply, to plumb the depths of our soul, to make it safe for us to reveal our innermost secrets, someone who truly (truly!) wants to hear the 'stories' of our day’s adventures. Love dances excitedly with your sharing tales of the blooming flowers you have seen today, the purring kittens, the traffic jams, the cranky co-worker, the beauty of the sun peering from behind a billowing cloud; Love wants to know us, dream with us, share with us our thoughts and experiences, accept us, and cherish us!”
-- T.A. Summerhaven Ingratitude is always a form of weakness. I have never known a person of real ability to be ungrateful
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) "As to diseases, make a habit of two things - to help, or at least, to do no harm."
--Hippocrates, Epidemics We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing
-- Author Unknown "Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way" -Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) Fear is a question: What are you afraid of, and why? Just as the seed of health is in illness, because illness contains information, your fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if you explore them. Find them, heal them, and your outer relationships will begin to shine!
--Marilyn Ferguson What people do not understand, they fear; and what they fear, they tend to destroy. (Ever kill a snake? Try to get a co-worker fired because she/he was "troublesome?"
--Author Unknown Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate
-- John F. Kennedy The world we live in is old-fashioned. It still judges you by what you do, not by what you say
--Anonymous "You cannot hold a person down without putting yourself in the very same place"
--Booker T. Washington "I think we have the best senators that money can buy"
-- Humorist Will ROgers You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do -- and that thing should always be to create peace whenever and wherever possible
--Eleanor Roosevelt Fear of the unknown, of suspected danger, or fear that someone may have more than you, or get more than you, is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
--Bertrand Russell You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
-- Eric Hoffer Forgiveness clears a space in the mind so there is room for planning and creating a happy future
-- Tamara Robinson Love builds bridges where there are none. Interestingly, it also rejuvenates old bridges that have fallen into disrepair, restoring them to brightness and making them able to once again bear a load
--R. H. Delaney "What power has love but to offer forgiveness?
In other words
by its intervention
what has been done
can be undone.
What good is Love otherwise?"
--William Carlos Williams, Pictures from Brueghel, 1962 "Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away"
--Sir Arthur Helps We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow humans. When we mentally deny this reality, we actually live less, in essence contribute to our own spiritual and even physical deaths
-- Thoughts of Herman Melville "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."
--Dwight D Eisenhower "The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, 'We did it ourselves'"
--Lao-Tzu It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend
-- William Blake A woman who can't forgive should never have more than a nodding acquaintance with a man.
-- Ed Howe Any intelligent fool can make situations -- and things -- bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction
-- E. F. Schumacher Ever notice that people who spend money on beer, cigarettes, and lottery tickets are always complaining about being broke and not feeling well?
-- Author unknown Never mistake motion for action. People tend to "go through the motions" with much gesticulating, endless passionate words, often accompanied by the expenditure of great sums of money. This is a bar fight. It is not action
--Ernest Hemingway In mining for Today's Booster, we ran into the one pasted here. It pertains to something that happens so often in our lives...a crisis of some sort erupts...the opportunity to head it off passes...and the whole matter becomes obscured and everyone puts horrific energy into the matter...but without making any headway toward a solution. I'm sure this has happened in your life, as it has in mine. Here's hoping on this Saturday morning that lingering yuck in your life will resolve itself wonderfully today! --Tom http://www.jobscout.org TODAY'S BOOSTER: The time for action is past! Now is the time for senseless bickering!
-- Ashleigh Brilliant The most essential factor is persistence, the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come
-- James Whitcomb Riley Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations.
--Ralph Charell Sound travels slowly. Sometimes the things you say when your kids are teenagers don't reach them till they're in their 40s
-- Author unknown When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it. Always.
-- Mahatma Ghandi "Ninety eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them"
--Lily Tommlin Courage is always greatest when blended with meekness; intellectual ability is most admired when it sparkles in the setting of modestly admitting one's own responsibility; and never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge and dares to forgive any injury
-- C. Theodore Riley "The most wasted day of all is that during which we have not laughed."
--Sebastian R. N. Chamfort If you haven't admitted that you have done wrong, and forgiven yourself, how can you forgive others?
—-Dolores Huerta "We say that, when one door to happiness closes, another opens. This can be true. But, we often look so longingly for the new door, the one that is supposed to await us, that we do not notice that the formerly closed door has squeeked open a crack and now holds for us untold new opportunitiy"
-- Liv Edelskog "Work hard, of course, but most importantly, open your heart. Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value. In my life, I strive to do both"
--Albert Einstein "To fear the love others offer us is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead"
-Bertrand Russell If you spend your days judging people by their past actions instead of by their current intentions, you have no time to love them and, slowly, your own world will begin to suffer
-- from the writings of Mother Theresa "The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas."
--Linus Pauling When we blame others for the unpleasant circumstances in our lives, we give away our power to actually resolve them. Our focus is on "the bad guy" rather than on a creative solution, which often even requires sucking it up and dealing productively with the source of the problem
-- Jeremy Taylor "I have only two chairs in my meeting room. One for me, and one for whomever among the invited throng arrives first. For the rest, they must stand, usually awkwardly. I find that this results in vastly-abridged meetings that tend to come rather quickly to the point and even more expeditiously to conclusion"
-- Henry David Thoreau Talk not of wasted affection; affection never was wasted
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizen in a Republic" "The greatest (and saddest!) abnormality is the inability to love and to accept the love others offer us"
--Anais Nin "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
-Mahatma Gandhi Smiles and Laughter are the shortest distance between two people
--Victor Borge A friend is like new wine; when it has aged you will drink it with pleasure
-- Ecclesiastes 9:10 "Here is the test to find whether your mission to bring love, forgiveness, and achievement to Planet Earth is finished: if you're alive, it isn't"
--Richard Bach "Fear less, hope more;
Whine less, breathe more;
Talk less, say more;
Hate less, love more;
And all good things are yours"
-Swedish Proverb "The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live." -Joan Borysenko "Right in the very middle of the biggest of difficulties lies an incredible opportunity for a happy discovery!"
--Albert Einstein "Enjoy life. There's plenty of time to be dead"
--Anonymous "You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love and forgiveness"
--Henry Drummond "If you judge people, you have no time to love them -- or yourself!"
--Mother Theresa "Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning and personal benefits of friendship, you really haven't learned anything at all"
--Muhammad Ali "The hardest of all is learning to be a WELL of affection, and not a FOUNTAIN; to show them we love them not when we feel like it, but when they do. As we give the love, deeply and steadily, we find that it is returned to us copiously"
--Nan Fairbrother "Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within."
--James Baldwin The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams
-- Eleanor Roosevelt "Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be fish"
--Ovid "The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn. Too often, we burn those we should not"
--David Russell "Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself -- enter when you are ready to grow and enhance your life"
--Chinese Proverb The quieter we become, the more we hear
--Unknown What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. And, we find out what lies within us be observing how we treat others, how helpful, how attentive, and how forgiving we are
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. To truly think, we must see old things in new ways, redefine old prejudices, see the good in people and events that we think of as bad
-- William James Thought for the day:
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic
-- Dave Barry A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails)
-- Author unknown Today, I am going to depart a bit from our regular booster format and share something that just happened in my life....
I have four kitties, Angel, Sophie-2, Kiki, and Redsie. My wife, Melody, and I adopted them over time and they became such important parts of our lives. They are sweet, adorable, kind cats. Well, this morning, I was walking past their food area and noticed something odd. They were sitting around the water bowl, heads cocked to one side, looking at something or another.
I stopped to see what was going on and, there in the middle of the kittie's water bowl was a big green frog! The frog was sitting shoulder deep in the water, happy as can be, with his new friends watching!
How the frog got into the house, I couldn't say!
Now, these cats could have attacked the frog. Or, the frog could have bounded out of the bowl and ducked under a couch and raised a ruckus all night tonight, croaking away. Instead, the cats sat there, gently, amazed at this