The Inner Man

Beauty depends on simplicity--I mean the true simplicity

of a rightly and nobly ordered mind and character.

He is a fool who seriously inclines to weigh the beautiful by

any other standard than that of the good.

The good is beautiful.

Grant me to be beautiful in the inner man.

Living

To touch the cup with eager lips and taste, not to drain it;
To woo and tempt and court a bliss--and not attain it;
To fondle and caress a joy, yet hold it lightly,
Lest it become necessity and cling too tightly;
To watch the sun set in the west without regretting;
To hail its advent in the east--the night forgetting;
To smother care in happiness and grief in laughter;
To hold the present close--not questioning it hereafter;
To have enough to share--to know the joy of giving;
To thrill with all the sweets of life--is living.

To Know All Is To Forgive All

If I knew you and you knew me--
If both of us could clearly see,
And with an inner sight divine
The meaning of you heart and mine--
I'm sue that we would differ less
And clasp our hands in friendliness;
Our thoughts would pleasantly agree
If I knew you, and you knew me.

If I knew you and you knew me,
As each one knows his own self, we
Could look each other in the face
And see therein a truer grace.
Life has so many hidden woes,
So many thorns for every rose;
The "why" of things our hears would see,
If I knew you and you knew me.

a quote by George Herbert

Storms make oaks

take deeper root.

by Comte De Buffon

Hold on;

Hold fast;

Hold out.

Patience is genius.

quote by Ruth Westheimer

our way is not soft grass,
it's a mountain path
with lots of rocks.
but it goes upswards, forward,
toward the sun.

by Eileen Caddy

You can transcend all negativity
when you realize that the only power
it has over you is your belief in it.
As you experience this truth
about yourself you are free..

by Rabbi Harold Kushner

When you carry out
acts of kindness
you get
a wonderful feeling
inside.
It is as though
something inside your body
repsonds
and says, Yes,
this is how
I ought to feel.

by Anna Freud

I was always looking outside myself
for strength and confidence          
but it comes from within.
It is there all the time.

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

i compared notes
with one of my friends
who expects everything
of the universe,
and is disappointed
when anything
is less than the best,
and i found that i begin
at the other extreme,
expecting nothing,
and am always
full of thanks
for moderate goods.

A quote by Beverly Sills

I had found a kind of serenity, a new maturity....
I didn't feel better or stronger than anyone else
but it seemd no longer important
whether everyone loved me or not --
more important now was for me to love them.
Feeling that way turns your whole life around;
living becomes the act of giving.

 

Living

To touch the cup with eager lips and taste, not drain it;
To woo and tempt and court a bliss--and not attain it;
To fondle and caress a joy, yet hold it lightly;
Lest it become neessity and clig too tightly;
To watch the sun set in the west without regretting;
To hail its advent in the sast--the night forgetting;
To smother care in happiness and grief in laughter;
To hold the present close--not questioning hereafter;
To have enough to share--to konw the joy of giving;
To thrill with all the sweets of life--is living.

a quote by Jesse Jackson

Hold your head high, 

Stick your chest out. 

You can make it. 

It gets hard sometimes

 but morning comes...... 

Keep Hope Alive.

Try Smiling

When the weather suits you not,

Try smiling.

When your coffee isn't hot,

Try smiling.

When your neighbors don't do right,

Or your relatives all fight,

Sure 'tis hard, but then you might,

Try smiling.  

                                                                    

Doesn't change the things, of course--

Just smiling.

But it cannot make them worse--

Just smiling.

And it seems to help your case,

Brightens up a gloomy place,

Then, it sort o' rests your face--

Just smiling.

 

a quote by Leo Rosten

The purpose of life

is not to be happy

but to matter,

to be productive,

to be useful,

to have it make a difference

that you lived at all.

The Call

 Joy stands on the hilltops,

Beckoning to me,

Urging me to journey

Up where I can see

Blue skies ever smiling,

Cool green fields below,

Hear the songs of children

Still untouched by woe. 

Joy stands on the hilltops,

Urging me to stay,

Spite of toil and trouble,

To life's rugged way,

Holding out a promise

Of a life serene

When the steeps I've mastered

Lying now between. 

Joy stands on the hilltops,

Smiling down at me,

Urging me to clamber

Up where I can see

Over toil and trouble

Far beyond despair,

And I answer smiling:

Some day I'll be there.

 

quote by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing

with feathers

that perches in the soul

and sings the tune                           

without the words,

and never stops at all......                                                                  

various quotes

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?  --  George Eliot

Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.  --  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Empathy is your pain in my heart.  --  unknown

We have enough people who tell it like it is --  now we could use a few who tell it like it can be.  --  Robert Orben

When you have gone so far that you can't manage one more step, then you've gone just half the distance that you're capable of.  --  Greenland Proverb

I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.  --  Anne Frank

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.  --  Beverly Sills

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.  --  Theodore Roosevelt

 

Patience

To him who waits all things will come,

But patience is not sitting down

Upon the curbstones of the town

When skies are overcast and glum,

Nor is it watching day by day,

Indifferent to the tasks at hand,

Content in idleness to stand

Till something better comes your way.

 

The truly patient man is one

Who, checked and hindered by the fates,

Still barvely works the while he waits,

And holding fast unto his dream

Though halted now, still plays the man

And does whatever task he can,

However humble it may seem.

 

Day after day and week by week,

Against the odds must patience fight,

Clinging forever to the right.

"Tis not a virtue, pale and meek,

That merely sits beside the road

And waits for luck to come along;

But it's alive, alert and strong

And bravely bears a heavy load!

too cute

Then Laugh

Build for yourself a strong box,

Fashion each part with care;

When it's strong as your hand can make it,

Put all your troubles there;

Hide there all thought of your failures,

And each bitter cup that you quaff;

Lock all your heartaches within it,

Then sit on the lid and laugh.     

                   

 

Tell no one else its contents,

Never its secrets share;

When you've dropped in your care and worry

Keep them forever there;

Hide them from sight so completely

That the world will never dream half;

Fasten the strong box securely -

Then sit on the lid and laugh.

a quote by Henry Thoreau

However mean your life is,

meeet it and live it;

do not shun it and call it hard names. 

It is not so bad as you are. 

 

It looks poorest when you are richest. 

The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. 

Love your life.

Doan't you be what you ain't

De sunflower ain't de daisy,

And de melon ain't de rose.

Why is dey all so crazy

To be sumpin' else dat grows?

Jes' stick to the place you's planted, and do de bes' you knows,

Be de sunflower or de daisy,

Be de melon or de rose.

 

De song thrush ain't de robin,

And de catbird ain't de jay.

Why is dey all a-throbbin' to outdo each other's lay?

Jes' sing de song God gave you, and let your heart be gay.

Be de song thrush or de robin,

Be de catbird or de jay.

 

chorus:

 

Doan't ye be what you ain't,

Jes' you be what you is.

Ef a main is what he isn't,

Den he isn't what he is.

Ef you's jes' a little tadpole,

Doan't you try to be de frog.

Ef you's de tail doan't you try to wag de dog.

Jes' pass de plate ef you can't exhort and preach;

Ef you's jes' a little pebble,

Doan't ye try to be de beach.

Ef a man is what he isn't, den he isn't what he am,

And as sure as I'm a-talkin' he isn't wortha a ---

Doan't ye be what you ain't,

Jes' you be what you is.

Ef a man is what he isn't,

Den he isn't what he is;

And as sure as I'm a-talkin'

He's gwyne to git his.

 

 

 

just another quote?

I long to accomplish a great and noble task,

but it is my chief duty to accomplish

small task and if they were

great and noble tasks.                             

just some quotes

Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom  --  Theodore Isaac Rubin

Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.  --  William Feather

Stand through life firm as a rock in the sea, undisturbed and unmoved by its ever-rising waves.  --  Hazrat Inayat Khan

You can have anything you want if you want it desperately enough.  You must want it with an exuberance that erupts through the skin and joins the energy that created the world.  --  Sheila Graham

There is no such thing as a great talent without great will-power.  --  Honore De Balzac

Don't hurry, Don't worry, you're only here for a short visit.  So be sure to stop and smell the flowers.  --  Walter Hagen

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.  --  Dalai Lama

It Couldn't Be Done

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,

But he with a chuckle replied

That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one

Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

On his face.  If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn't be done, and he did it.

 

Somebody scoffed:  "Oh, you'll never do that;

At least no one ever has done it";

But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,

And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,

Without any doubting or quiddit,

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn't be done, and he did it.

 

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,

There are thousands to prophesy failure;

Ther are thousands to point out to you, one by one,

The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,

Just take off your coat and go to it;

Just start to sing as you tackle the thing

That "cannot be done," and you'll do it.

 

A Farewell

My fairest child, I have no song to give you;

No lark could pipe to skies so dull and gray;

Yet, ere we part, one lesson I can leave you

For every day.

 

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;

Do noble things, not dream them, all day long:

And so make life, death, and that vast forever

One grand, sweet song.

Outwitted

He drew a circle that shut me out--

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.

But Love and I had the wit to win:

We drew a circle that took him in!

Optimism

Talk Happiness.  The world is sad enough

Without your woes.  Not path is wholly rough;

Look for the places that are smooth and clear,

And speak of those, to rest the weary ear.

Of Earth, so hurt by one continuous strain

Of human discontent and grief and pain.

 

Talk Faith.  The world is better off without

Your uttered ignorance and morbid doubt.

If you have faith in God, or man, or self,

Say so.  If not push back upon the shelf

Of silence all your thoughts, till faith shall come;

No one will grieve because your lips are dumb.

 

Talk Health.  The dreary, never-changing tale

Of mortal maladies is worn and stale.

You cannot charm, or interest, or please

By harping on that minor chord, disease.

Say you are well, or all is well with you,

And God shall hear your words and make them true.

Works of Love

If I can sprinkle seeds of joy

On someone's barren plot

And bring to light some cause for hope

That he has long forgot;

 

If I can lighten someone's load

That seems too great to bear,

Assuring him his fellow man

Is not too rushed to care;

 

If I can help renew one faith---

Restoring someone's smile,

My life will be enriched to seem

A little more worthwhile.

                                                                         

part of an e-mail I received

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.

2. Free your mind from worries.

3. Live simply.

4.. Give more.

5. Expect less.

Myself

I have to live with myself, and so

I want to be fit for myself to know,

I want to be able, as days go by,

Always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don't want to stand, with the setting sun,

And hate myself for things I have done.

 

I don't want to keep on a closet shelf

A lot ot secrets about myself,

And fool myself, as I come and go,

Into thinking that nobody else will know

The kind of a man I really am;

I don't want to dress up myself in sham.

 

I want to go out with my head erect,

I want to deserve all men's respect;

But here in the struggle for fame and pelf

I want to be able to like myself.

I don't want to look at myself and know

That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.

 

I can never hide myself from me;

I see what others may never see;

I know what others may never know,

I never can fool myself, and so,

Whatever happens, I want to be

Self-respecting and conscience free.

Rainbow Trail

Walk on a rainbow trail;

Walk on a trail of song,

And all about you will be beauty.

There is a way out of every dark mist,

Over a rainbow trail.

 

Epigram on Morn

Once more a perfect morn!  With feet that trod

Earth's green, and sun-kissed hair that swept heaven's blue

Affable, smiling, aweless--I met God,

Delighted with His work as when it was new.

quotes

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.  --  Goldsmith

Laughter is a gift from heaven.  --  Orison Swett Marden

Human improvement is from within outward.  --  Froude

A thing of beauty is a joy forever.  --  Keats

Children have more need of models than of critics.  --  Joubert

Faith is the force of life.  --  Tolstoy

The great end of life is not knowledge but action.  --  Thomas Henry Huxley

The comfort of having a friend may be taken away, but not that of having had one.  -- Seneca

Probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.  --  Smiles

Let us make haste to live, since every day to a wise man is a new life.  --  Seneca

 

A Winter Haiku

                          It's winter and cold.

                     Why does it last so darn long?

                          But small beauty waits.  

                                                                  

this haiku comes to you courtesy of montaukny, please visit her journal Aunt Nub's Empty Head

You Never Can Tell

You never can tell when you send a word

Like an arrow shot from a bow

By an archer blind, be it cruel or kind,

Just where it may chance to go.

It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend,

Tipped with its poison or balm,

To a stranger's heart in life's great mart

It may carry its pain or its calm. 

 

You never can tell when you do an act

Just what the result will be,

But with every deed you are sowing a seed,

Thought the harvest you may not see.

Each kindly act is an acorn dropped

In God's productive soil;

You may not know, but the tree shall grow

With shelter for those who toil. 

 

You never can tell what your thoughts will do

In bringing you hate or love,

For thoughts are things, and their airy wings

Are swifter than carrier doves.They follow the law of the universe--

Each thing must create its kind,

And they speed o'er the track to bring you back

Whatever went out from your mind.

Get A Transfer

If you are on the Gloomy Line,

Get a transfer.

If you're inclined to fret and pine,

Get a transfer.

Get off the track of doubt and gloom,

Get on the Sunshine Track --there's room--

Get a transfer.

 

If you're on the Worry Train,

Get a transfer.

You must not stay there and complain,

Get a transfer.

The Cheerful Cars are passing through,

And there's lots of room for you --

Get a transfer.

 

If you're on the Grouchy Track,

Get a transfer.

Just take a Happy Special back,

Get a transfer.

Jump on the train and pull the rope,

That lands you at the station Hope--

Get a transfer.

 

A Smile

Let others cheer the winning man,

There's one I hold worth while;

'Tis he who does the best he can,

Then loses with a smile.

Beaten he is, but not to stay

Down with the rank and file;

That man will win some other day,

Who loses with a smile.                                      

from "Life's Little Instruction Book"

Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.

Never take action when you're angry.

Learn to recognize the inconsequential, then ignore it.

Commit yourself to constant self-improvement.

Don't allow the phone to interrupt important moments.  It's there for your convenience, not the caller's.

Don't waste time grieving over past mistakes.  Learn from them and move on.

Seek out the good in people.

Don't be decieved by first impressions.

Lie on your back and look at the stars.

Don't whine.

Seek opportunity, not security.  A boat in a harbor is safe, but in time its bottom will rot out.

When you arrive at your job in the morning, let the first thing you say brighten everyone's day.

Live your life as an exclemation, not an explanation.

Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.

 

Tell Him So

If you hear a kind word spoken

Of some worthy soul you know,

It may fill his heart with sunshine

If you only tell him so.

 

If a deed, however humble,

Helps you on your way to go,

Seek the one whose hand has helped you,

Seek him out and tell him so!

 

If your heart is touched and tender

Toward a sinner, lost and low,

It might help him to do better

If you'd only tell him so!

 

Oh, my sisters, oh, my brothers,

As o'er life's rough path you go,

If Gods's love has saved and kept you,

Do not fail to tell men so!

really important stuff my kids have taught me

Try not to forget your dreams.

The fewer promises you make, the more you keep.

Turn over rocks to see what's under them.

You can sit around and wait for a ride, or you can start walking.

Remember to say thank you.

Don't wait to be discovered.

Carry your own flashlight when you walk down a dark path.

Chasing the cat is more fun than catching it.

Sometimes the biggest fights are over the smallest things.

Wearing a halo can give you a headache after awhile.

It's hard to unlearn a bad word.

You can make your crystal ball say whatever you want it to.

 

Wish

I am not dainty as a flower,

Magnificent as the sea,

Or full of carols as a bird;                      

But I should like to be.                              

Bed Is Too Small

Bed is too small to rest my tiredness,

I'll take a hill for pillow, soft with trees.

 

Now draw the clouds up tight beneath my chin,

God, blow the moon out, please.

thought for today

 who i am, is who i want to be  --  reba mcentire   

Four-Leaf Clovers

I know a place where the sun is like gold,

And the cherry blooms burst with snow;

And down underneath is the loveliest nook,

Where the four-leaf clovers grow.

 

One leaf is for hope, and one for faith,

And one is for love, you know;

But God put another in for luck --

If you search, you will find where they grow.

 

But you must have hope, and you must have faith;

You must love and be strong; and so,

If you work, if you wait, you will find the place

Where the four-leaf clovers grow.

Leisure

 What is this life, if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare,

 

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

 

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

 

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

 

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

 

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

 

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

 

having a bad day?

If you are having a bad day then you need to check out this card.  This poor dude is REALLY having a bad day.

really important stuff my kids have taught me

Just because you can't spell doesn't mean you can't write a good story.

Don't laugh if you don't get the joke.

Make up a reason to have a party.

Picking your nose when no one is looking is still picking your nose.

Even Popeye didn't eat spinach until he absolutely had to.

Usually you learn your lesson, but you don't always remember it.

Nobody notices it when your zipper is up, but everyone notices when it's down.

Be silly.                                                                

Ask for sprinkles.

Enjoy the ride.

If you wait until you're really sure, you'll never take off the training wheels.

Don't nod on the phone.

Trust people.                                             

Who cares what happened last week?

You think your book bag is the heaviest until you pick up someone else's by mistake.

Don't expect a stranger to wipe your nose.

Ask why until you understand.

Where you're going is more important than where you stand.

I meant to do my work today

I meant to do my work today

But a brown bird sang in the apple-tree,

And a butterfly flitted across the field,

And all the leaves were calling me.

 

And the wind went sighing over the land,  

Tossing the grasses to and fro,                                                                  

And a rainbow held out its shining hand --          

So what could I do but laugh and go?