Quotes for life




“Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eyes fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.” Dag Hammarskjold

“To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate
 hope of survival.”  Wendell Berry

“Failure is often God’s own tool for carving some of the finest outlines in the character of His children; and, even in this life, bitter and crushing failures have often in them the germs of new and quite unimagined happiness, if we can but see it.”  T. Hodgkin

“Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterward carefully avoid.” Keats

“A total commitment is paramount to reaching the ultimate in performance.”  Tom Flores

“The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.” William Wordsworth

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”  Eleanor Roosevelt

“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”  Olive Wendell Holmes

“Well done is better than well said.”  Ben Franklin

“Many individuals have, like uncut diamonds, shining qualities beneath a rough exterior.”   Juvenal

“If there’s a way to do it better…find it.”   Thomas A. Edison

“Be assured, if you walk with Him and look to Him and expect help from Him, He will never fail you.”  George Mueller

“It is surely better to pardon too much than to condemn too much.”  George Elliot

“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while she knows something.”  Mizner

“Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciative heart.”  Henry Clay

“It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own.”  West

“Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.”  Faith Baldwin

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”  Mother Teresa

“Have a heart that never hardens and a temper that never tires and a touch that never hurts.”  Charles Dickens

“A friend hath the skill and observation of the best physician, the diligence and vigilance of the best nurse, and the tenderness and patience of the best mother.”  Clarendon

“As children bring their broken toys, with tears for us to mend, I brought my broken dreams to God, because He was my Friend.  At last I snatched them back and cried, “How can you be so slow?”  “My child,” He said, “What could I do?  You never did let go.”

“Salute the day with peaceful thoughts, and peace will fill your heart; begin the day with joyful soul, and joy will be your part.”  Frank B. Whitney

“Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.”  James M. Barrie

“Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese.”  Billie Burke

“As outward beauty disappears, one must hope it goes in!”  Tennessee Williams

"Talents are best nurtured in solitude; character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"You never see the stock called Happiness quoted on the exchange." Henry Van Dyke

“Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.” Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

“Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great.” Cher

“Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.” Og Mandino

“Progress always involves risk.  You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.” Frederick Wilcox

“Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so.” Doris Lessing

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”  Eleanor Roosevelt

“Progress begins with the belief that what is necessary is possible.” Norman Cousins

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”  Henry Ford

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The doors of wisdom are never shut.” Benjamin Franklin

“In this life we cannot always do great things. We can only do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

“All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles have strengthened me...you may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” Walt Disney

“The time is always right to do the right thing.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

“There is only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give everything. I do and I demand that my players do.” Vince Lombardi

“Recession is when a neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours.” Ronald Reagan

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” Henry Ford

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dream.” Eleanor Roosevelt

“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” Albert Schweitzer

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are” Theodore Roosevelt

“It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, it only matters where you are going.” Brian Tracy

“There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow.” Orison Swett Marden

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Sir Winston Churchill

“A man must make his opportunity as oft find it.”  Francis Bacon

“Each man is the smith of his own fortune.” Appius Claudius Caecus

“What we think, we become.” Buddha

“A sailor without a destination cannot hope for a favorable wind.” Leon Tec

“If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there.” Yogi Berra

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” Walt Disney

“We will either find a way or make a way.” Hannibal

“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” Publilius Syrus

“They are able because they think they are able.” Virgil

“Have the courage to live.  Anyone can die.” Robert Cody

“Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance.” Bruce Barton

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.” Tom Schulman

“If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.” Native American Proverb

“It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.  Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.”  Robert F. Kennedy

“A ship in the harbor is safe but that’s not what ships are built for.” William Thayer Shedd

“Your life is what your thoughts make it.” Marcus Aurelius

“Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.” Maori Proverb

“A man sooner or later discovers that he is the master gardener of his soul, the director of his life.” James Allen

“Do not lose heart.  The steeper the road, the faster it rises toward ever wider horizons.” Pope John Paul II

“Giving up is the ultimate tragedy.”  Robert J. Donovan

“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” African Proverb

“Use what talents you possess.  The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”  Henry Van Dyke

“Every man’s life ends the same way.  It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguishes one man from another.” Ernest Hemingway

“There are two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is.” Albert Einstein

“A light heart lives long.”  Shakespeare

“And those who were seen dancing were thought insane by those who could not hear the music.” Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship.” Aeschylus

“The wind that fills my sails propels, but I am the helmsman.” George Meredith

“One ship drives east and the other west while the same breezes blow.  Tis the set of the sails and not the gales that determines the way they go.  Like the birds of the air are the ways of fate as we journey along through life.  Tis the set of the soul that determines the goal and not the storm and the strife.” Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Seek to do good, and you will find that happiness will run after you.”  James Freeman Clarke

“Promise me you’ll always remember; You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”  A. A. Milne

“Today should always be our most wonderful day.” Thomas Dreier

“The heart is like a garden.  It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love.  What seeds will you plant there?” The Buddha

“Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never and opportunity.” Khalil Gibran

“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.  They must be felt with the heart.” Helen Keller

“Be yourself, not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” Henry David Thoreau

“Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” Aristotle 

"Mistakes are the portals of discovery." James Joyce

"Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance." George Bernard Shaw

"Life isn't about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself." George Bernard Shaw

"Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire." William Butler Yeats

"Ever tried.  Ever Failed.  No Matter.  Try Again.  Fail Again.  Fail Better." Samuel Beckett

"It's hard sometimes to see exactly what's in front of you until you get around to remembering." Hugo Hamilton

"We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars!" Oscar Wilde

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life doing nothing." George Bernard Shaw

"Just do what must be done.  This may not be happiness but it is greatness."George Bernard Shaw

"Be yourself; everyone else is taken." Oscar Wilde

"A person has to have love inside them to receive it; otherwise love would have no reason to come looking for you." Hugo Hamilton

“Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better be alone than in bad company.” Booker T. Washington

“It’s a simple formula; do your best and somebody might like it.”  Dorothy Baker

“Do that thing you think you cannot do."  Eleanor Roosevelt

“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking out potential.”  Liane Cordes

“Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it as it is, is the only way of being happy.”  Jennie Jerome Churchill

“There are really only two ways to approach life – as victim or as gallant fighter – and you must decide if you want to act or react, deal your own cards or play with a stacked deck.  And, if you don’t decide which was to play with life, it always plays with you.” Merle Shain

“All we are asked to bear, we can bear.  That is a law of the spiritual life.  The only hindrance to the working of this law is fear.”  Elizabeth Goudge

“Life is a patchwork -  here and there, scraps of pleasure and despair.  Joined together, hit or miss.”  Anne Bronaugh

“Treat your friends as you do you pictures, and place them in their best light.”  Jennie Jerome Churchill

“It only takes one person to change your life – you.”  Ruth Casey

“The change of one simple behavior can affect other behaviors and thus change many things.”  Jane Baer

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.  He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause and say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Only the mediocre man is always at his best.” Somerset Maugham

“Glory lies in the attempt to reach one's goal and not in reaching it.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Wisdom lies not in possessing knowledge — which quickly becomes outdated —
but in perpetually seeking it.” Paul Johnson

“Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.” Publilius Syrus

“You have brains in your head, and feet in your shoes.You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” Dr. Seuss

“Our strength grows out of our weaknesses.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If I had eight hours to cut down a big tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening the axe.” Abraham Lincoln

“The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.” Confucius

“Day by day, your choices, your thoughts, your actions fashion the person you become.” Heraclitus

“Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.” Benjamin Franklin

“A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.” Charles Schwab

“Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.” Samuel Johnson

“Out of difficulties grow miracles.” Jean de la Bruyere

“Little minds attain and are subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.” Washington Irving

“I haven’t failed.  I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” Thomas Edison

“The man who carefully advances step by step…persevering…and concentrating his thought upon it…is bound to succeed.” Alexander Graham Bell

“Perseverance…If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.” Plutarch

“When I have finally decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead on it and make trial after trial until it comes.” Thomas Edison

“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” Tommy Lasorda

“A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with – a man is what he makes of himself.” Alexander Graham Bell

“I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.” William Ernest Henley

“Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” Orison Swett Marden

“Success is not the key to happiness.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Albert Schweitzer

“It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.” Robert Schuller

“Our attitude toward life determines life’s attitude towards us.” Earl Nightingale

“Every man stamps his value on himself…man is made great or small by his own will.” Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult undertaking which, more than anything else, will determine its successful outcome.” William James

“They are able because they think they are able.” Virgil

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal.” Thomas Jefferson

“Believe you can and you are halfway there.” Theodore Roosevelt

“If you want confidence, act as if you already have it.” William James

“Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them.” Orison Swett Marden

“In life, as in chess, forethought wins.” Charles Buxton

“Progress always involves risks.  You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.” Frederick B. Wilcox

“What is more mortifying than to feel you’ve missed the plum for want of courage to shake the tree?” Logan Pearsall Smith

“When your every thought and your every action is directed to your ultimate life goals, you become unstoppable and assured of great success and happiness.” Robin S. Sharma

“Live your heart’s passion.  Do whatever it is that excites your inner light and passion.  Live exuberantly with purpose and excitement.  Truly make your daily life an adventure.” Henry Leo Bolduc

“Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” Joseph Campbell

“Set your sights high, the higher the better.  Expect the most wonderful things to happen, not in the future but right now.  Realize that nothing is too good.  Allow absolutely nothing to hamper you or hold you up in any way.” Eileen Caddy

“It’s so important to believe in yourself.  Believe that you can do it, under any circumstances.  Because if you believe you can, then you really will.”  Wally “Famous” Amos

“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” Stephen R. Covey

“Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss it you will land among the stars.” Les Brown

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” Theodore Roosevelt

“Nothing is impossible.  The word itself says ‘I’m Possible.’” Audrey Hepburn

“If you put a small value on yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.”  Anonymous

“Good timber does not grow with ease; the stronger the wind the stronger the trees.” J. Willard Marriott

“The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others.” Hasidic Proverb

“Never be bullied into silence.  Never allow yourself to be made a victim.  Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.” Harvey Fierstein

“The pessimist sees difficult in every opportunity.  The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Winston Churchill

“Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out.” John Wooden

“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf!” Jon Kabat-Zinn

“Be miserable.  Or motivate yourself.  Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” Wayne Dyer

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Thomas Paine

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” Bill Cosby

“Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.” Mark Twain

“March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life’s path.” Khalil Gibran

“Life is a grindstone, and whether it grinds you down or polishes you up is for you and you alone to decide.” Cavett Robert

“The best way out is always through.” Robert Frost

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.” Dr. Denis Waitley

“The superior man is modest in his speech but superior in his actions.” Confucius

“There are so many people out there that will say that you can’t.  What you have to do is turn around and say, ‘Watch me.’” Layne Beachley

“You can’t wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club.” Jack London

“I haven’t failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  Thomas Edison

“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.” Sidney Greenberg

“Life is like riding a bicycle; you don’t fall off until you stop pedaling.” Claude Pepper

“Change your thoughts, and you change your world.”  Norman Vincent Peale

“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.” Author Unknown

“You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” Woodrow Wilson

“Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” Mary Anne Radmacher

“There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.” Andre Gide

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed unless it is faced.”  James Baldwin

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” John Wooden

“Life is what we make it.  Always has been, always will be.” Grandma Moses

“You can if you think you can.” Joseph Greenstein

“Sometimes we get so worn out with being useful that we get useless.”  Jan Karon

“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face, and show the world all the love in your heart, then people gonna treat you better.  You’re gonna find, yes, you will, that you’re beautiful as you feel.” Carole King

“What most of us want is to be heard, to communicate.”  Dory Previn

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”  Eleanor Roosevelt

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."  J. Wallace Hamilton

“There are two kinds of worries—those you can do something about and those you can’t. Don’t spend any time on the latter.” Duke Ellington





“Peace comes not by establishing a calm outward setting so much as by inwardly surrendering to whatever the setting.” Hubert van Zeller

"We are not responsible for the circumstances we are in, but we are responsible for the way we allow those circumstances to affect us; we can either allow them to get on top of us, or we can allow them to transform us into what God wants us to be." Oswald Chambers

“No one is listening until you make a mistake.” Anonymous
"It requires the eye of wisdom and bravery to see the radiance of a dark day, and impart its brightness to the world." Ella E. Dodson

“That which does not kill me, makes me stronger.” A SEAL Team saying

“Jesus said to Peter ‘Feed my sheep’ but He gave him nothing to feed them with.  The process of being broken bread and poured out wine means that you have to be the nourishment for other souls until they learn to feed on God.” Oswald Chambers

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all." Emily Dickinson

“The agony of your suffering can become the light of consciousness.  This is why the cross, and instrument of torture, represents salvation.” Amy McNeil

"Find ecstasy in life, the mere sense of living is joy enough."  Emily Dickinson

The Mustard Seed
The mustard seed cried out to God, "Lord, I am too small. The tiniest seed of every herb. I'll be defeated by them all." Fear not my friend, the Lord replied. The task is mine to do. Trust in me, then you shall see; what I can make of you. The beasts shall lie down in your shade, as you spread your limbs in praise. You'll be a home for many birds. And man will seek your ways. They'll marvel at the might contained, in such a tiny seed. But will they learn that faith in me, is all they really need? If man would trust in God alone, then I would see him through. And make of him what he should be, just as I did with you. The mustard seed then said to man, "Do you know what God has done? To show how much He loves you, He's given you his Son." "He's opened Heaven to you. Faith in his Son, the key. I trusted Him to keep his word. Look what became of me." If you wish to know him better, take heed to what I say. Submit your heart and mind to God, then take self out of the way. Then you shall see what God can do and it will amaze your soul. Just a tiny seed of faith, will grow until you're whole. Author unknown

“The secret of achievement is to hold a picture of a successful outcome in the mind.” Henry David Thoreau

 “Listen carefully, and don’t interrupt until you’ve really heard the other person.” Proverbs 18:13

“You don’t drown by falling in water; you only drown if you stay there.”  Zig Ziglar

"You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals." Booker T. Washington

“A wrong temper of mind about another soul will end in the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are.” Oswald Chambers

"Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted." David Bly

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

“Look for ways to encourage the other person.” 1 Thessolonians 5:11 (Sometimes, we have to encourage ourselves, too.)

“If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it.  Go out and get busy.”  Dale Carnegie

“Be at least as interested in what goes on inside you as what happens outside.  If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place.” Eckhart Tolle

"Never think that God's delays are denials. Hold on; hold on fast; hold out. Patience is genius" Comte de Buffon

“The first and the best victory is to conquer self.” Plato

“The surf that distresses the ordinary swimmer produces in the surf-rider the super-joy of going clean through it.  Apply that to our own circumstances, these very things – tribulation, distress, persecution, produce in us the super-joy; they are not things to fight.  We are more than conquerors through Him in all these things, not in spite of them, but in the midst of them.  The saint never knows the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it – ‘I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation,’ says Paul.” Oswald Chambers

“Time flies; it is up to you to be the navigator.” Robert Orben

“If you don’t climb the mountain, you can’t view the plain.” Anonymous

“Whenever we realize that we have not done that which we had a magnificent opportunity of doing, we are apt to sink into despair; and Jesus comes and says – ‘Sleep on now, that opportunity is lost forever, you cannot alter it, but arise and go to the next thing.’ Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ, and go out into the irresistible future with Him.”  Oswald Chambers

“Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.” Oprah Winfrey

“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 lived through this horror.  I can take the next thing that comes along.’  You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

“When we realize that Jesus has served us to the end of our meanness, our selfishness, and sin, nothing that we meet with from others can exhaust our determination to serve men for His sake.” Oswald Chambers

“It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.” Desiderius Erasmus

“Cast all your worries on Him because He cares for you.”  1 Peter 5:7

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

“If we are not heedful of the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites.  We see where other folks are failing, and we turn our discernment into the gibe of criticism instead of into intercession on their behalf.”  Oswald Chambers

“Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances.” Bruce Barton

“It’s not the situation, but whether we react (negative) or respond (positive) to the situation that’s important.” Zig Ziglar

“It’s not whether you get knocked down: it’s whether you get up.” Vince Lombardi

“The weeds keep multiplying in our garden, which is our mind ruled by fear.  Rip them out and call them by name.” Sylvia Browne

“God is in the commonplace things and people around us.  If we will do the duty that lies nearest, we shall see Him.”  Oswald Chambers

“Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them.  Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it.” Rabindranath Tagore

“When I tread on troubled waters
And my faith begins to wane,
With His help I’ll rise above it,
He is with me, praise His name.

He will hold my hand in trouble,
He will weep with me in sorrow
And He’ll promise that a brighter day
Is in store for me tomorrow.

There is no one I can go to
For the comfort He can give,
He will always be there with me
Till on earth I no more live.

Then He’ll gently lift me upwards
Onto His Father’s throne,
Where pain and heartaches are behind me
In my eternal home.”
Albert N. Theel

“Empty pockets never held anyone back.  Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.” Norman Vincent Peale

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” Marcus Aurelius

“’Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.’ Not witnesses to what Jesus can do – that is an elementary witness – but ‘witnesses unto Me.’  We will take everything that happens as happening to Him, whether it be praise or blame, persecution or commendation.  No one can stand like that for Jesus Christ who is not constrained by the majesty of His personal power. It is the only thing that matters.”  Oswald Chambers

"Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons." Ruth Ann Schabacker

“The kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21 (“It is informing us that God our Creator has laid up within our minds and personalities all the potential powers and ability we need for constructive living.  It remains for us to tap and develop these powers” Norman Vincent Peale)

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.
I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty,
believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."
Louis May Alcott

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
Unknown

"We have to maintain ourselves in the place of beholding keeping the life absolutely spiritual all through.  Let other things come and go as they may, let other people criticize as they will, but never allow anything to obscure the life that is hid with Christ in God." Oswald Chambers

“Your most important sale in life is to sell yourself to yourself.” Maxwell Maltz

"When the Christian praises and gives thanks to God, this not only pleases God, but it enriches the Christian's life with joy. It is a reciprocating transaction between God and man." Rick Warren

“You control your future, your destiny.  What you think about comes about.  By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be.  Put your future in good hands – your own.” Mark Victor Hansen

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” Lao-tzu

"A faithful friend is the medicine of life."  Ecclesiastes 6:6

“Do not pray for easy lives.  Pray to be stronger men!  Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers.  Pray for power equal to your tasks.” Phillips Brooks

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” John Wooden

“I find that when we really love and accept and approve of ourselves exactly as we are, then everything in life works." Louise Hay

"We have received too much from God to allow ourselves opportunities for unbelief. We have received too many gifts and privileges to allow a grumbling, murmuring heart to disqualify us of our destiny. In contrast, the thankful heart sees the best part of every situation. It sees problems and weaknesses as opportunities, struggles as refining tools, and sinners as saints in progress." Francis Frangipane

“The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it.  Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.” Epictetus

“Don’t wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy.” Thich Nhat Hanh

“Kindness is contagious.  It’s an antacid for living in a toxic world.  It’s the tool God has given us to change the world by influencing others – one heart at a time.” Dr. Mike Bechtle

“Believe in yourself!  Have faith in your abilities!  Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” Norman Vincent Peale

"If you suffer, thank God! It is a sure sign that you are alive." Elbert Hubbard

"The optimist says, the cup is half full. The pessimist says, the cup is half empty. The child of God says; My cup runneth over." Anonymous

"My life has been filled with problems; most of which never occurred."  Norman Vincent Peale

"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?" Henry David Thoreau

“If we don’t change we don’t grow. It we don’t grow we are not really living.” Gail Sheehy

“You have to be committed to chasing your dream…You can blame circumstances or whatever you want to, but it’s your life.  You’ve got to be the one who is determined to make it succeed.  No one else can do that for you.” Michael Oher

The light of God surrounds me;
The love of God enfolds me;
The power of God protects me;
The presence of God watches over me;
Wherever I am, God is.
James Dillet Freeman

“One cannot have wisdom without living life.” Dorothy McCall 

“Living life means responding, wholly, to our joys and our pitfalls.  It means not avoiding the experiences or activities that we fear we can’t handle.  Only through our survival of them do we come to know who we really are; we come to understand the strength available to us at every moment.  And that is wisdom.

"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm"  Paul Boese

"Dance like no one is watching.  Sing like no one is listening.  Love like you've never been hurt and live like its heaven on earth." William Purkey

“If we continually practice filling our minds with thoughts of faith, hope and gratitude, it will eventually crowd out our fears.” Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

“Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.” Henry Kaiser

“Regardless of your lot in life, you can build something beautiful on it.” Zig Ziglar

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you.  If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up.  Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”  Michael Jordon

“In fluency as in many other things, perfectionism is a self-defeating goal.” Joseph Sheehan
"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone." Audrey Hepburn
“It is not about finding the right person, but about being the right person.  By becoming the type of person you would like to spend a lifetime with, you can give that gift to your spouse.”  Barbara Peters

"You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration." James Allen

“Marriage depends on the FACTS, an acronym which stands for forgiveness, acceptance, compassion, trust, and spirituality.  These are further extended by another acronym FAITH which stands for friendship, affection, intimacy, time, and happiness.” Barbara Peters

“A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind” Elly Roselle

“It doesn’t matter what you drive as long as you’re on the right track.” Kathryn Green

“No evil can befall a good man in this life or in the next.”  Socrates

“Beware of what you want for you will get it.”  Emerson

"Attitude is the mind's paintbrush. It can color a situation gloomy or gray, or cheerful.  In fact, attitudes are more important than facts." Mary C. Crowley

“Character is power.”  Booker T. Washington

“Nothing happens….but first a dream.” Carl Sandburg

“See everything.  Overlook a great deal. Improve a little.”  Pope John  XXIII
 
"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." -Margaret Atwood

 “An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.” - Plutarch

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy.

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”  John F. Kennedy

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us." Albert Schweitzer



“A year from now, you may wish you had started today.”  Karen Lamb

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”  Martin Luther King

“If we always say ‘yes,’ we run a greater danger of severing relationships than if we refuse right away.”  Vicki Hitzges

"Happiness is impossible without gratitude." Dennis Prager

“When you become frustrated with your inability to serve, it is often because you are trying to do too much.  You just may be trying to heal the whole crowd instead of concentrating on that one person.  So lower your sights, not in order to do less, but to focus on what you can effectively do for those close by.”  Ray Hoo

"Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart." Shakespeare

"A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside." Denis Waitley

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” George Eliot

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. —Abraham Lincoln

"To not know is bad. To not want to know is worse. To not hope, unthinkable. To not care, unforgivable." -- Nigerian Proverb

 “The greatest fault is to be conscious of none.”  Thomas Carlyle

“For beautiful lips, speak kind words.” Audrey Hepburn

"There is only one way in the world to be distinguished. Follow your instinct! Be yourself, and you'll be somebody." Bliss Carman

“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.” John F. Kennedy

 “It’s never too late – in fiction or in life – to revise.” Nancy Thayer

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



"There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." Desderius Erasmus

“Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

 “Don’t look at me in that tone of voice.” David Farber
            
“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him your friend.” Abraham Lincoln

“It’s better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly.”  Robert Schuller

"This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will.
You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind...let it be something good." Unknown

“Success is never certain, and failure is never final.”  Robert Schuller

"It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny."  Jean Nidetch

“When you have laid all things at His feet,
When you have placed all things in His Hands,
When you have entrusted all things to His keeping,
When you have released all things into His care,
When you trust Him no matter what-
Then the peace that passes all understanding will rule in your heart.” Roy Lessin

“The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.” C. H. Spurgeon

"A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more." Rosabeth Moss Kanter

"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm"  Paul Boese

“It requires the eye of wisdom and bravery to see the radiance of a dark day, and impart its brightness to the world.” Ella E. Dodson

“Great people are not affected by each puff of wind that blows ill. Like great ships, they sail serenely on, in a calm sea or a great tempest.” George Washington

“If you fail to pilot your own ship, don’t be surprised at what inappropriate port you find yourself docked.” Tom Robbins

“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.” Helen Keller

“Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.” Samuel Smiles

“It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.” John Steinbeck

With money you can buy a house, but not a home.
With money you can buy a clock, but not time.
With money you can buy a bed, but not sleep.
With money you can buy a book, but not knowledge.
With money you can buy a doctor, but not good health.
With money you can buy a position, but not respect.
With money you can buy blood, but not life.
With money you can buy sex, but not love.
Chinese Proverb

“Circumstances do not make a man; they reveal him.” Dr. Wayne Dyer

"When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable." Walt Disney

"The currents that determine our dreams and shape our lives flow from the attitudes we nurture every day" Author Unknown

“Opportunity often comes in disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.” Napoleon Hill

“It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities.” Eric Hoffer

"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success." Norman Vincent Peale  

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” Nelson Mandela

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, What! You too?
I thought I was the only one!" C.S. Lewis

“Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty...they merely move it from their faces into their hearts.”- Martin Buxbaum

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” Maya Angelou

“When you stop comparing what is right here and now with what you wish were, you can begin to enjoy what is.” Cheri Huber

“With my God I can scale a wall.” Psalm 18:29

Forever Proud
Believe in yourself
and you will always prevail.
Expect the very best
and you will not fail.
Although you may encounter
a great deal of pain,
Anything worth achieving
will require some strain.
So look beyond your struggle
and see success in your endeavor,
For the pain will go away
and your pride will stay forever.
Charlie Remiggio

“The ‘kingdom of Heaven’ is a condition of the heart – not something that comes ‘upon the earth’ or ‘after death.’” Friedrich Nietzsche

“Time flies.  It’s up to you to be the navigator. Robert Orben

"Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way." Les Brown

“Life is a series of experiences, each of which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this.  For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and griefs which we endure help us in our marching forward.” Henry Ford

“You carry on no matter what are the obstacles.  You simply refuse to give up – and, when the going gets tough, you get tougher.  And, you win.” Vince Lombardi

"A generous man will himself be blessed." Proverbs 22:9
"Fate is a future you didn't try hard enough to change." Joe Konrath

"Success is not measured by what you do compared to what others do, it is measured by what you do with the ability God gave you."  Zig Ziglar

"When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude." G.K. Chesterton

"One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful." Sigmund Freud
 
"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch.  Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit." E. E. Cummings

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

"Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have." Thomas A. Edison

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

"Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness." Napoleon Hill

"Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience" Eleanor Hibbert

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”  Walt Disney

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing; It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." Voltaire

“Leap and the net will appear.”  John Burroughs

"You've got to get up every morning with a smile on your face, and show the world all the love in your heart, then people gonna treat you better.  You're gonna find, yes, you will, that you are beautiful as you feel."  Carole King

“I was motivated to be different in part, because I was different.” Donna Brazile

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it's about learning to dance in the rain." Vivian Greene

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past." Thomas Jefferson

“Change what goes into your mind and you will change what goes on in your mind.” Will Bowen

"Many things will catch your eye, but only a few will catch your heart; pursue them." Author Unknown

“Thoughts are powerful forms of energy.  They are the magical property of those who know how to use them.”  Carlos Castaneda

“What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.” Wayne Dyer

“Our sub-conscious minds have no sense of humor, play no jokes, and cannot tell  the difference between reality and an imagined thought or image.  What we continually think about eventually will manifest in our lives.” Sidney Madwed

"A true commitment is a heart-felt promise to yourself from which you will not back down." David McNally

"Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves, to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by outperforming today" Stuart B. Johnson

"Prayer...is the opening of a channel from my emptiness into His fullness."

"High expectations are the key to everything." Sam Walton

 “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” Gandhi

"Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can." Lowell Thomas

"Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know was open." John Barrymore

“Man only likes to count his troubles; he doesn’t calculate his happiness.”  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“It’s always too early to quit.”  Norman Vincent Peale

“The dog that trots about finds a bone.”  Golda Meir

“Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.” William James

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities!  Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” Norman Vincent Peale

“Expect problems and eat them for breakfast.” Alfred Montapert

“Our words reveal our thoughts; our manners mirror our self-esteem; our actions reflect our character; our habits predict the future.” William Arthur Ward

“You can do anything you wish to do, have anything you wish to have, be anything you wish to be.” Robert Collier

"If you limit your actions in life to things that nobody could possibly find fault with, you will not do much." Charles Dodson

“Happiness is acceptance.” Anonymous

“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Abraham Lincoln

“A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.” Max Lucado

“Resolve to be thyself; and know that he who finds himself loses his misery.” Mathew Arnold

“I have had more trouble with myself than with any man I have ever met!” Dwight Moody

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." Albert Pike

“Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.” Dr. Samuel Johnson

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” Edith Wharton

“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You grow up the day you have your first real laugh – at yourself.” Ethel Barrymore

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Albert Einstein
  “Strength does not come from physical capacity, it comes from an indomitable will.” Mahatma Gandhi

“If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” Jim Rohn

“You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.” Dale Carnegie

“Your future depends on many things, but mostly yourself.” Frank Tyger

"All the water in the world cannot sink a ship - unless the water starts getting inside...All the troubles in the world can't sink a human being -unless those troubles invade his inner life." Vera Werblo

 “Do the best you can do and wait the results in peace.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

“If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together, there is something you must always remember; you’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.  But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart, I’ll always be with you.” Christopher Robin to Pooh

“Deep listening is miraculour for both listener and speaker.  When someone receives us with open-hearted, non-judging, intensely interested listening, our spirits expand.” Sue Patton Thoele

“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force.  The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward.  When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.” Karl A Menninger

“The first duty of love is to listen.” Paul Tillich

“The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of the interested listener.”  Anonymous

“Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.” Vince Lombardi
 
“Don’t bring up issues that have been dealt with in the past.” Proverbs 17.9 

“Let the dawn fall softly on my shoulders, Lord, as I prepare to meet the day,
Let the sunshine wrap its warmth ‘round me, as I go along my way.
Let me feel Your presence near me, as the gentle breezes play
through blades of grass, and in the trees, causing leaves to sway.
Let me show some kindness to each person that I meet,
Let me see Your image in each person that I greet.” Joycelyn Zaiontz

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued is always just beyond your grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly will light upon you."  Nathaniel Hawthorn 

“Watch carefully what you say so you don’t get yourself in trouble.” Proverbs 21:23

“Think before you respond to someone.” Proverbs 15:28 

"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time." Abraham Lincoln

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." Mother Teresa

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." Winston Churchill

"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination." Nelson Mandela

"Leaders aren't born, they are made. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal which is worthwhile." Vince Lombardi

"Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble." George Washington

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face...we must do that which we think we cannot." Eleanor Roosevelt

"A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes." Mahatma Gandhi

"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been kindness, beauty, and truth." Albert Einstein

"Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort." Franklin Roosevelt

"Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust and hostility to evaporate." Albert Schweitzer

"I believe the unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality." Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved." Helen Keller

 “Time flies.  It’s up to you to be the navigator. Robert Orben

"Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way." Les Brown

“Circumstances do not make a man; they reveal him.” Dr. Wayne Dyer

"When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable." Walt Disney

"The currents that determine our dreams and shape our lives flow from the attitudes we nurture every day" Author Unknown

“Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.” Napoleon Hill

“It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities.” Eric Hoffer

“Trouble is only opportunity in work clothes.” Henry Kaiser

“Regardless of your lot in life, you can build something beautiful on it.” Zig Ziglar

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you.  If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up.  Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”  Michael Jordon

“In fluency as in many other things, perfectionism is a self-defeating goal.” Joseph Sheehan
 
“They say I'm old-fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!”  Dr. Seuss

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone." Audrey Hepburn

“It is not about finding the right person, but about being the right person.  By becoming the type of person you would like to spend a lifetime with, you can give that gift to your spouse.”  Barbara Peters

"You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration." James Allen

“Marriage depends on the FACTS, an acronym which stands for forgiveness, acceptance, compassion, trust, and spirituality.  These are further extended by another acronym FAITH which stands for friendship, affection, intimacy, time, and happiness.” Barbara Peters

“The more closely we rub shoulders with or against evil, the more likely it is that we may become evil ourselves.”  M. Scott Peck, MD

“A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind” Elly Roselle

“It doesn’t matter what you drive as long as you’re on the right track.” Kathryn Green

“No evil can befall a good man in this life or in the next.”  Socrates

“Beware of what you want for you will get it.”  Emerson

"Attitude is the mind's paintbrush. It can color a situation gloomy or gray, or cheerful.  In fact, attitudes are more important than facts." Mary C. Crowley

“Character is power.”  Booker T. Washington

“Nothing happens….but first a dream.” Carl Sandburg

“See everything.  Overlook a great deal. Improve a little.”  Pope John  XXIII

"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." -Margaret Atwood
 
 "Ignore those who say it can't be done."
 
"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." John F. Kennedy.
 
"You can tell the size of a man by the size of the thing that makes him mad."

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”  John F. Kennedy

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us." Albert Schweitzer

“A year from now, you may wish you had started today.”  Karen Lamb

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”  Martin Luther King

“If we always say ‘yes,’ we run a greater danger of severing relationships than if we refuse right away.”  Vicki Hitzges

"Happiness is impossible without gratitude." Dennis Prager

“When you become frustrated with your inability to serve, it is often because you are trying to do too much.  You just may be trying to heal the whole crowd instead of concentrating on that one person.  So lower your sights, not in order to do less, but to focus on what you can effectively do for those close by.”  Ray Hoo

"Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart." Shakespeare

"A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside." Denis Waitley

 “It is never too late to be what you might have been." George Eliot

"Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm." Abraham Lincoln

"To not know is bad. To not want to know is worse. To not hope, unthinkable. To not care, unforgivable." Nigerian Proverb

 “The greatest fault is to be conscious of none.”  Thomas Carlyle

"There is only one way in the world to be distinguished. Follow your instinct! Be yourself, and you'll be somebody." Bliss Carman

 “It’s never too late – in fiction or in life – to revise.” Nancy Thayer

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

"There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." Desderius Erasmus

“Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

 “Don’t look at me in that tone of voice.” David Farber
                  
“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him your friend.” Abraham Lincoln

“It’s better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly.”  Robert Schuller

"This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind...let it be something good." Unknown

“Success is never certain, and failure is never final.”  Robert Schuller

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4

"I thank God for my handicaps, for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God." Helen Keller

“It’s in the silence of the soul,
Where peace and wisdom stay,
To guide us through the din and strife,
Confronting us each day.

God placed this gift within us,
With His loving Grace,
Knowing that we need His love,
When trials of life we face.

This strength will gently guide us,
His love will see us through,
Releasing gifts of faith and hope,
To bear what we must do.”

Colette Fedor

”Has that trial in your life been going on so long
That everything in you screams, "This is so wrong."
You can't understand, it seems God is far away
As with tears you cry out to Him everyday,
If you read God's Word His truth you will see
That He has a job for you and a job for me,
ONLY BELIEVE! is what He has to say
At His feet this problem you must lay,
In His time and in His way
An answer to your problem will be there one day,
Keep on believing, don't lose hope
He'll give you His grace enabling you to cope,
Keep your eyes on Him as to Him you cleave
He has promised He will never forsake you or leave,
Give Him time to work it all out
The devil just wants you to worry and doubt,
Praising Him is one thing He's looking for
To bless you is what He has in store,
So no matter what, even when you don't understand
ONLY BELIEVE! that's what moves His hand.”
Beverly Shaffer

"It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny."  Jean Nidetch

"Fill your mind to overflowing with faith. Develop a tremendous faith in God and that will give you a humble yet soundly realistic faith in yourself." Norman Vincent Peale

“God will give you the strength you need minute by minute.  He never gives it a minute before we need it, but always in time.” from Lighthouse by Eugenia Price

“The Christian’s suffering throws him upon God more than any other experience.  Suffering is necessary for the decentralization of self and a deeper development of love toward God Who is the source of all comfort.”  A. Wetherell Johnson 

“Practice prayer breathing.  Take a brisk walk, breathing deeply in and out.  Say, "I breathe out ill health, ill will, ill attitudes; I breathe in good health, goodwill, good attitudes.  I breath out staleness; I breathe in vitality.  I breath out godlessness; I breathe in godliness."  Open your lungs, your heart, your mind, and your soul, and receive the gifts of vigor and energy.  Let your whole being come alive to life.” from How to Have a Good Day Every Day by Norman Vincent Peale

“When you have laid all things at His feet,
When you have placed all things in His Hands,
When you have entrusted all things to His keeping,
When you have released all things into His care,
When you trust Him no matter what-
Then the peace that passes all understanding will rule in your heart.” Roy Lessin

“The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.” C. H. Spurgeon

“Not a sigh is breathed, not a pain felt, not a grief pierces the soul, but the throb vibrates to the Father’s heart.” Author unknown

“Ever striving to be like Him,
I’ll do the best I can
to follow in His footsteps
and serve my fellow man.

Ever striving to be like Him,
I’ll comfort those in need
by a daily word of kindness
or by a loving deed.

Ever striving to be like Him,
I’ll love my neighbor more
and share His living Presence with
the man who lives next door.”

Joan Hardin

"A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more." Rosabeth Moss Kanter

“When somber clouds of steely grey
Cast shadows o’ver your heart and way,
Look up, beyond the darkened sky,
Where tints of blue will soon drift by.

Look up and know that in God’s plan
No sparrow falls nor, too, a man
Without His watch, without His love.
Have faith, believe, trust Him, above.

For from the dark is born the light,
A ray of hope, a beacon bright
To warm your heart and help you through.
Rejoice and know God’s there with you.”

Vi B. Chevalier

"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm"  Paul Boese

“Don’t stretch the truth, but be honest in your conversation.” Ephesians 4.25

“Don’t bring up issues that have been dealt with in the past.” Proverbs 17.9

“Let the dawn fall softly on my shoulders, Lord, as I prepare to meet the day,
Let the sunshine wrap its warmth ‘round me, as I go along my way.
Let me feel Your presence near me, as the gentle breezes play
through blades of grass, and in the trees, causing leaves to sway.
Let me show some kindness to each person that I meet,
Let me see Your image in each person that I greet.”
Joycelyn Zaiontz

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued is always just beyond your grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly will light upon you."  Nathaniel Hawthorne

“Watch carefully what you say so you don’t get yourself in trouble.” Proverbs 21:23

“Think before you respond to someone.” Proverbs 15:28

"The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time." Abraham Lincoln

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." Mother Teresa

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." Winston Churchill

"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination." Nelson Mandela

"Leaders aren't born, they are made. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal which is worthwhile." Vince Lombardi

"Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble."
George Washington

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face...we must do that which we think we cannot." Eleanor Roosevelt

"A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes." Mahatma Gandhi

"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been kindness, beauty, and truth." Albert Einstein

"Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort." Franklin Roosevelt

"Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust and hostility to evaporate." Albert Schweitzer

"I believe the unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality." Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved."
Helen Keller
 
"Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God, do you learn."  C.S. Lewis
 
"If you can't be content with what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped." Author Unknown

“Persist no matter what. Endure discomfort. Request help. Steadfastly hold on to your beliefs and values. Envision triumph. Very consistently keep at it. Embrace adversity as your teacher. Refuse to give up. Enjoy and celebrate every tiny bit of progress! BJ Gallagher

“The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.”   John C. Maxwell

"Never take someone for granted. Hold every person close to your heart. Because you might wake up one day and realize that you've lost a diamond...while you were too busy collecting stones." (Author Unknown)

“The need for approval can be a source of personal stress. Get a warm glow from dishing it out rather than seeking it.”  Dr Sabina Dosani

“If you try to push people ahead, it leads to frustration.  The only way to motivate others is to go in front and provide an example, and they will often follow.”  Dwight Eisenhower

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has." Epictetus

“It’s so important to know that you can choose to feel good.  Most people don’t think they have that choice.”  Neil Simons

"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." Eric Hoffer

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.” William James

“The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.” Chinese proverb

"I asked for strength, and God gave me difficulties to make me strong. I asked for wisdom, and God gave me problems to solve. I asked for prosperity, and God gave me a brain and brawn to work. I asked for courage, and God gave me dangers to overcome. I asked for love, and God gave me opportunities. I received nothing I wanted, I received everything I needed. My prayer has been answered." Michael Job

“Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like trying to satisfy hunger by taping sandwiches all over your body.”  George Carlin

“The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others, and the moment you are unafraid of the crowd, you are no longer a sheep; you become a lion.  A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom.” Osho

“You cannot afford to wait for perfect conditions.  Goal setting is often a matter of balancing timing against available resources.  Opportunities are easily lost while waiting for perfect conditions.” Gary Ryan Blair

“The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune.” Plutarch

“God does not take away trials or carry us over them, but strengthens us through them.” Pusey

"By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before."  Edwin Elliot

"I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there can be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again." William Penn

"Seek to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life." -Alexander Maclaren

“Life…It tends to respond to our outlook, to shape itself to meet our expectations.” Richard CeVos

“If you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard.  But if you are willing to do what’s hard, life will be easy.” T. Harv Eker

“You never will be the person you can be if pressure, tension, and discipline are taken out of your life.” Dr. James Bilkey

“Decision is the spark that ignites action.  Until a decision is made nothing happens.”  Wilfred A. Peterson

"Cultivate a thankful spirit! It will be to thee a perpetual feast. There is, or ought to be, with us no such thing as small mercies; all are great, because the least are undeserved. Indeed a really thankful heart will extract motive for gratitude from everything, making the most even of scanty blessings." J. R. MacDuff

“People often manufacture their own unhappiness by the negative manner in which they think about things.  Work with your mind, exercise disciplinary control, and re-slant your thoughts for happier living.  Drain the mind, by consciously conceiving of yourself as dropping out every destructive thought, every fear, every inferiority feeling.  Picture your mind as completely empty.  Then start filling it with thoughts about good and pleasant things.  Happy thoughts will transform you.”  Norman Vincent Peale

“Accept responsibility for your life.  Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” Les Brown

“Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”  Napoleon Hill

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.  The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison

“Be thine own palace, or the world’s thy jail.” John Donne

“High expectations are the key to everything.”  Sam Walton

“Unless you have courage, a courage that keeps you going, always going, no matter what happens, there is no certainty of success.  It is really an endurance race.” Henry Ford

“Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” John Wooden

“Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.” Victor Kiam

“When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

“There is nothing deep down inside us except what we have put there ourselves.” Richard Rorty

“Be miserable.  Or motivate yourself.  Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” Wayne Dyer

"The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen."  Frank Lloyd Wright
 
“The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.” Confucius

“Success is not measured by what you accomplish but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” Orison Swett Marden

“If you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view—until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” From To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

“Let me do my work each day with joy and with hope; and if dark hours of despair overcome me, may I not forget the strength that comforted me in the desolation of other times.  May I still remember the bright hours which found me walking over the silent hills of my childhood, or dreaming on the edge of a quiet river when a light glowed within me, as I promised God I’d have courage amid the tempests of the changing years.  Spare me from the bitterness and the sharp passions of unguarded moments.  May I not forget that both poverty and riches are of the spirit.  Lift my eyes from the earth, that I may see the grandeur of the stars.   Let me not judge others, lest I condemn myself.  Let me not follow the clamor of the world, but walk calmly in my own path.  Give me a few friends who will love me for what I am, and keep ever burning before my vagrant steps the kindly light of faith.  And though age and infirmity overtake me, and I come not within reach of the goal of my dreams, teach me still to be thankful for life, and for time’s golden memories that are good and sweet.  And may the evening’s twilight find me gentle still.”  Author Unknown

“The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.” Epictetus

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Thomas Paine

“Set your sights high, the higher the better.  Expect the most wonderful things to happen, not in the future but right now.  Realize that nothing is too good.  Allow absolutely nothing to hamper you or hold you up in any way.” Eileen Caddy

“I don’t believe you have to be better than everybody else.  I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.” Ken Venturi

“Problems are not stop signs; they are guidelines.” Robert Schuller

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” Art Linkletter

“Surround yourself with positive people.  Find people who will challenge you, believe in you, and inspire you to improve.”  Vicki Hitzges

"Fear of some things is the beginning of wisdom" J. Wallace Hamilton

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” Mother Teresa

“You must love yourself before you love another.  By accepting yourself and fully being what you are…your simple presence can make others happy.”  Jane Roberts

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell

“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you.”  Henry Ward Beecher

“The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” Wayne Dyer

“Dream what you dare to dream.  Go where you want to go.  Be what you want to be.”  Calvin Coolidge 30th U.S. President

“It’s not what happens to you that matters, it’s how you choose to respond that does.”  Dan Green

“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen”
Reinhold Niebuhr

“It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, it only matters where you’re going.” Brian Tracy

“God doesn’t want you to drag through life defeated and depressed.  God wants to restore your broken dreams.”  Joel Osteen

“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.” Eckhart Tolle

“The only thing that stands between a person and what they want in life is the will to try and the faith to believe it possible.”  Rich DeVos

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start now and make a brand new ending.”  Carl Bard

“Happiness is an inside job.  Everyone has the choice to decide to be happy or sad.  It is not dependent on anyone else.  No one owes us; no one is responsible for us.  We are the author of our lives.  In this role we can certainly make many choices.  We get to choose our every thought and action, much like the playwright, creating the script for the actors to follow.  What an opportunity!”  Barbara Peters

“The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.”  Dee Hock

"If you would excel, excel in goodness. If you want to be first, be first in moral excellence." J. Wallace Hamilton

"Information and truth are powerful tools. Armed with them, there's almost nothing we can't do. But for a lot of reasons, information can be hidden, or distorted. That can make it hard to see the truth, even though it's always still right there in front of us." Josh Nelson

“Enjoy the little things and one day you will look back and realize they were the big things.”   Robert Brault

“If I can lighten someone’s load
As they travel down life’s road,
My heart would oh, so happy be
To lessen someone’s misery.

If I can fill someone with hope,
Give them courage with which to cope,
Replace their sadness with a smile,
I’d feel such gladness all the while.

If I can brighten someone’s day
And chase their dreary cares away,
Morning, night, and afternoon
My heart would sing a happy tune.”
Nora M. Bozeman

“Keep your face to the sunshine and you will not see the shadows.” Helen Keller

“You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.  If you focus on your problems, you’re going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.  But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.”  Rick Warren

“The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.” Henry Ward Beecher

“I regard no man as poor who has a godly mother.” Abraham Lincoln
 
"The important thing about your lot in life is whether you use it for building or parking." Author unknown

“The only things that stand between a person and what they want in life are the will to try it, and the faith to believe it’s possible.”  Rich Devos

“Laughter is an instant vacation.”  Milton Berle

“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” David Viscott

"Every good thought you're thinking is contributing to the rest of your life."

“Courage does not always roar.  Sometimes it is a quiet voice at the end of the day, saying…’I will try again tomorrow.’”  Mary Anne Radmacher

“Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.” Jefferson (That means go at a job or at your difficulty by the use of a method that will encounter the least resistance.  The positive approach is the “smooth handle” technique.” Norman Vincent Peale)

“Burn brightly without burning out.” Richard Biggs

“Change your thoughts and change your world.” Norman Vincent Peale

“It’s choice – not chance – that determines your destiny.”   Jean Nidetch

“The heart that gives, gathers.”  Marianne Moore

“When you look in the mirror, you are looking at the problem, but remember, you are also looking at the solution.” Unknown

“If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”  Romans 12:18

“When the day is over, let it go.  Don’t dwell on what you could’ve or should’ve done.  Tomorrow is another day and another chance.”  Mandy Hale

“A genius is someone who shoots at a target no one else sees and hits it.” Anonymous

“Character, not circumstances, makes the man.”  Booker T. Washington

“The first thing of importance is to have confidence in yourself, in your abilities.”  Katharine Gibbs (1863-1934 Educator)

“The greatest factor in any undertaking is one’s belief about it.” William James
“Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.  Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.”  Washington Irving

“Growing older only means the spirit grows serene, and we behold things with our souls that our eyes have never seen.”  Author unknown

“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.” Author unknown

“The secret of achievement is to hold a picture of a successful outcome in mind.” Thoreau

“If in this life we would know the serene peace of Paradise, we must school ourselves in familiar, humble, and loving converse with God.”  Brother Lawrence

“In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins – not through strength, but through perseverance.” H. Jackson Brown

“If you don’t know where you’re going, when you get there you’ll be lost.”  Yogi Berra baseball player and manager

“Mid the clamor and the turmoil,
When the world would have its way,
Tap indwelling wells of quietness
That will feed me through the day.

Be my source of inspiration;
Be my inner poise and calm;
At the altar of my being
Send sweet harmonies of balm.

When I feel distraught and burdened
And there seems no listening ear,
Filter through my veins the order
That controls and conquers fear.

When annoy disrupts the silence
And confusion prompts dismay,
Let my spirit rise to meet Thee,
On the strains of peace, I pray.”
Roxie Lusk Smith

“Just stand up to it, that’s all, and don’t give way under it, and it will finally break.  You will break it.  Something has to break, and it won’t be you, it will be the obstacle.”  British General Tudor

“Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.” Anonymous

“A man is what he thinks about all day long.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A man’s life is what his thoughts make it.”  Marcus Aurelius

“Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves.” Thomas Carlyle

"My greatest fear has always been that I would be afraid - afraid physically or mentally or morally and allow myself to be influenced by fear instead of by my honest conviction." leanor Roosevelt

“Never forget that God tests his real friends more severely than the lukewarm ones.” Kathryn Hulme

“Other people and things can stop you temporarily.  You’re the only one who can do it permanently.”  Zig Ziglar

"Practice resting yourself in God. Practice depending upon Him for His support and power. Believe He is giving it to you now and don't get out of touch with that power. Yield yourself to it - let it flow through you." Norman Vincent Peale
“An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth."  Bonnie Friedman

“I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.”  Booker T. Washington

"The sun's gonna shine on your back door someday."  Andy Griffith
 
"Our highest desire should be to please God - not ourselves or anyone else. With that as our goal, others will be pleased with us - at least those who are willing to let God do as He chooses and who have patience with us as we grow and make mistakes." Evie Tornquist Karlsson
 
“Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile.” Sir Winfred Grenfell

“Stress isn’t what happens, but how we respond to what happens.” Steven Alper

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1
"Each one has to find peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances." Gandhi
 
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”  Zig Ziglar

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”  William Arthur Ward

“Our words reveal our thoughts; our manners mirror our self-esteem; our actions reflect our character; our habits predict the future.” William Arthur Ward

"God never promises to remove us from our struggles. He does promise, however, to change the way we look at them." Max Lucado

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” Edith Wharton

“There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his” Helen Keller
 
“Perfection belongs to the Gods; the most that we can hope for is excellence.” Carl Jung

“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”  Henry Van Dyke

“Regardless of your lot in life, you can build something beautiful on it.”  Zig Ziglar

“We mount to heaven mostly on the ruins of our cherished schemes, finding that our failures were successes.”  A.B. Alcott

"I hate to see things done by halves.  If it be right, do it with boldness and vigor.  If it be wrong, then leave it undone." Gilpin

“After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning and company doesn’t mean security,
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts and presents aren’t promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes open, with the grace of an adult, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans.
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure…
That you really are strong and you really do have worth.”
Veronica Shoffstall

Did you know –
            That only you know what is right for you?
            That you have an inner guide that tells you what is right for you?
            That you have the right to follow your own inner guide?
            That you won’t be happy until you do follow your own inner guide?
            That you are a beautiful, wonderful, special individual?
            That no one else can take your place?
            That you are truly great?
-Copied

“Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him.  It’s something we call heart power.  Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.” Vince Lombardi

“They conquer who believe they can. Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain. Practice confidence and faith and your fears and insecurities will soon have no power over you” Emerson

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” Booker T. Washington

“Focus, concentrate: stick to what you’ve started. That will cut your stress levels instantly.”  Dr Sabina Dosani

“If you continue to do what you’ve always done, you’ll continue to get what you’ve always gotten.” Author unknown
 
“Staying in a bad situation without any plan for change is like constantly putting air in a leaky tire without patching the hole.”  Dr. Mike Bechtle

“There is only one way to bring up a child in the way he should go, and that is to travel that way yourself.”  Abraham Lincoln

“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow or its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength.”  Charles Spurgeon

Give me a road away from the crowd,
Away from the noise and the race
And let me wander the quiet trail
To a different time and place.

Where miles are measured in valleys,
And birches point the way
To somewhere we miss so dearly -
We call it yesterday.

All cares are soon forgotten
On the path of no intent;
The beauty of the countryside
Is surely Heaven sent.

And when this journey’s over
The memories shall remain
Of daydream trips into the past
And down a country lane.
By C. David Hay

“The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.”   John C. Maxwell

"I've Got Confidence"
(words and music by Andrea Crouch Sung by Elvis Presley)

When trouble is in my way
I can't tell the night from day
I toss from side to side
Like a ship on a raging tide
I don't worry and I don't fret
God has never failed me yet
Troubles comin' from time to time
But that's all right, 'cause I'm not the worrying kind

Because I, I've got confidence,
God is gonna see me through
No matter what the case may be
I know He's gonna fix it for me

Job was so sick so long
Till the flesh fell from his bones
His wife, cattle and children,
Everything that he had was gone
But Job he never despaired
He knew that God still cared
Sleepless days and sleepless nights
Job said honey that's all right

'Cause I've got confidence
God is gonna see me through
No matter what the case may be
I know He's gonna fix it for me

Some folks wonder how I smile
Even though I'm going to trial
How can I have song
Everything is going wrong
I don't worry and I don't fret
God has never failed me yet
Trouble's coming from time to time
That's all right, I'm not the worrying kind

'Cause I've got confidence
God is gonna see me through
No matter what the case may be
I know He's gonna fix it for me

 “Trusting in God cancels the anxiety that tomorrow is something to be feared.”  Weavings.org

“In the middle of adversity, lies opportunity.”  Albert Einstein

“Time equals life. Therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life.”  Alan Lakein

“Whenever we get on our feet,
Life knocks us down once more.
At times we’d rather stay in bed,
Afraid of what’s in store.

Yet we struggle through our tears,
Stand up each day and fight,
And ask the Lord for patience
When we go to sleep at night.

We know life would be easier
If God divulged our plan;
Then we’d expend our energies
In doing the best we can.

And so we pray for courage
To keep us brave and strong,
To let us start each morning with
A promise and a song.”
Angie Monnens

“When molehills become mountains
You think you cannot climb,
Remember Everest was conquered
One step at a time.

If you keep your sense of humor,
You can endure the pain,
And when you reach the summit,
Your losses will be gains.

You can linger at the bottom
With multitudes of men,
But you may stay there forever
And wonder what might have been.

Life always offers choices
When troubles come our way,
And molehills become mountains
That will not pass away.

Each time our faith is tested
By mountains we must climb,
Our mountains become molehills
One step at a time.”
Clay Harrison

“So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains.” Dr. Seuss
 
"Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind."  Henry James
 
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you have imagined.”  Henry David Thoreau

“There is absolutely nothing in the world that has the power to ruin your day. If you are upset, it is because you have directed your mind to be so.”  From “Smile for No Good Reason” by Dr. Lee Jampolsky

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom..”  Marcel Proust

“What is someone gave you $1,440 every day and deposited it into your bank account but told you there was only one criterion that needed to be met: you had to spend it all or you would not receive the $1,440 the next day.  What would you do?  You do have such a bank account: only it is not money.  It is time.  Every day you have 1,440 minutes given to you.  How you choose to spend those 1,440 minutes is up to you.  If you do not spend them in a positive way, they are gone.  You cannot decide that you want to repeat them; so wouldn’t it be prudent to use them with the very best intentions?”  Barbara Peters

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu

“The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.”  Dee Hock

"If you would excel, excel in goodness. If you want to be first, be first in moral excellence." J. Wallace Hamilton

"Information and truth are powerful tools. Armed with them, there's almost nothing we can't do. But for a lot of reasons, information can be hidden, or distorted. That can make it hard to see the truth, even though it's always still right there in front of us." Josh Nelson

“Enjoy the little things and one day you will look back and realize they were the big things.”   Robert Brault

"Let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings." Henry Ward Beecher

“One of the most misunderstood words in the Bible is meekness.  Biblical meekness is best described as an attitude that submits to God’s dealings without rebellion, and to man’s injustices without retaliation.” Jim White

"People who live the most fulfilling lives are the ones who are always rejoicing at what they have." Richard Carlson

“There are vast undamaged areas in every human life.  These undamaged areas must be discovered, then used as the base for a new beginning.”  Robert Schuller

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily." Gerald Good

“I’d rather attempt something great and fail than attempt nothing and succeed.”  Robert Schuller

"Oh what a happy soul am I although I cannot see, I am resolved that in this world contented I shall be. How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't. To weep and sigh, because I'm blind? I cannot and I won't." Fanny Crosby

“We can choose not to spend our money; we can save it, set it aside, or invest it.  But we can’t do that with time.  We’re going to spend every minute we have.  Whatever we choose to spend it on, that’s the value it has for us.  That also means we’re not spending it on anyone or anything else.  Once it’s spent, it’s gone.”  Dr. Mike Bechtle

“You can outdistance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you.”  Rwandan proverb

“‘Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself.” William Shakespeare, King Henry VIII

"So often we dwell on the things that seem impossible rather than on the things that are possible. So often we are depressed by what remains to be done and forget to be thankful for all that has been done." Marian Wright Edelman

"The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you." Robert Louis Stevenson

"It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment." Naomi Williams

"The careless soul receives the Father's gifts as if it were a way things had of dropping into his hand... yet he is ever complaining, as if someone were accountable for the problems which meet him at every turn. For the good that comes to him, he gives no thanks—who is there to thank? At the disappointments that befall him he grumbles--there must be someone to blame!" George Macdonald

"It is a rare person who, when his cup frequently runs over, can thank God instead of complaining about the limited size of his mug!" Bob Russell

“Try some free therapy. Writing a diary can be an oasis of serenity in your life and help you see what really matters.”  Dr Sabina Dosani

“Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best."  Theodore I. Rubin, psychiatrist and author

“He who every morning plans the transactions of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But when no plan is laid, when the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of coincidence, chaos will soon reign.”  Victor Hugo

“A bell is no bell til you ring it.
A song is no song til you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasn’t put there to stay –
Love isn’t love
Til you give it away.” Oscar Hammerstein Sound of Music

“Live your life in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.”  Will Rogers

“Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to Bach’s B Minor Mass?”  Michael Torke, composer

“Two people can be stuck in the same traffic jam and be late for the same appointment, but one person is upset while the other one isn’t.  The event isn’t the problem; it’s our response to the event.” Dr. Mike Bechtle

“I can shake off everything if I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” Anne Frank

“Happiness is having a hand to hold, having a heart to heal, leaning into tomorrow with love.”  Robert Schuller

“Happiness not in another place, but this place, not in another hour, but this hour.”  Walt Whitman

“The things we hate about ourselves aren’t more real than things we like about ourselves.”  Ellen Goodman

“Make sure you’re putting time and effort into the people and activities that make your heart sing and it really is very difficult to buckle under the effect of stress.”  Dr Sabina Dosani 

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places." Ernest Hemingway 

“Genius is immediate, but talent takes time.” Janet Flanner 

“Our discomfort with a situation varies depending on how much control we have. If we can do something about it, we tend to be OK.” Dr. Mike Bechtle 

“Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.”  Confucius

“Love is my deciding to make your problem my problem.” Robert Schuller

“When we can no longer change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” Viktor Frankl (concentration camp survivor)

“People can’t drive you crazy if you don’t give them the keys.”  Dr. Mike Bechtle

“Before we build walls, we should make sure we know what we’re walling out and what we’re walling in.”  Robert Frost

“It’s never too late to be who you might have been.”  George Elliot 

"Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light." Albert Schweitzer

“There is a road that runs straight through your heart. Walk on it.” Sister Macrina Wiederkehr

“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.”  Booker T. Washington

“May you always find
blue skies above your head,
shamrocks beneath your feet,
laughter and joy aplenty,
kindness from all you meet,
good friends and kin to miss you
if ever you choose to roam,
and a path that’s been cleared
by the angels themselves
to carry you safely home.”
Author unknown

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”  Goethe

“One of the main qualities it take to be successful is energy…it may be the only thing.”  Katherine Hepburn 

"Quiet your mind so that inspirations may rise from its depths. Believe that God is helping you. Visualize achievement. Hold firmly in your mind a picture of success." Norman Vincent Peale 

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”  Abraham Lincoln

We’re on this earth together, and if we would be brothers, fight-not on your own behalf but for the sake of others.

I could have wealth beyond my dreams, but where is joy in that? And I could travel the seven seas, but I would always come back.  Everyone could know my name, and there would be no peace.  I could have undying love, and heartaches still increase.  No, if I were wealthy beyond my dreams (and where is joy in that?) it wouldn’t buy friendship such as yours and there is the you in that!

May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past!

Always remember to forget the things that made you sad, but never forget to remember the things that made you glad.  Always remember to forget the troubles that passed away but never forget to remember the blessings that come each day.

“When you are upset remind yourself the cause of your discomfort is your own attitude.” by Dr. Lee Jampolsky

“Joy is not in things; it is in us.”  Richard Wagner 

"If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul." Rabbi Harold Kushner

Always remember to forget the things that made you sad, but never forget to remember the things that made you glad.  Always remember to forget the troubles that passed away but never forget to remember the blessings that come each day.

“Turn your scars into stars by turning your hurts into halos, by using your pain to help ease somebody else’s.”  Robert Schuller

“Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.” Henri Bergson,  French philosopher

“We can’t control the choices and attitudes of others.  The only thing we really have control over is our own choices and attitudes.  When we take responsibility for our own choices, we gain greater influence in other people’s lives.  When we focus on things we can’t do anything about, we lose influence with others.  We give away our joy and our sense of self to their weaknesses.”  Dr. Mike Bechtle 

“Imagine going to an orchestra and finding that the only instruments being played were violins.  No brass, no percussion, no woodwinds – only violins.  While a violin can produce a mesmerizing sound, we would quickly grow tired of a concert with no other instruments. 

The reason we enjoy a concert is the variety of sounds that blend together.  As a group, an orchestra produces a combined sound that no individual instrument can make.  But in that process, you can still hear the individual instruments.  It’s unity in diversity; it’s difference by design.

The people in our lives are like an orchestra.  They’re all unique, and together they provide richness to the music of our lives.  Some of those people seem crazy, while others bring energy.  Each makes their own ‘sound’ and they blend together to create a symphony.”  Dr. Mike Bechtle

“Although you may not be able to change what has happened, you can control how you react to what has happened.  Remember that you will never again be the person you were before you experienced any trauma.”  Robert Schuller 

“We must approach life, people, circumstances and situations with the attitude of ‘I am going to serve someone here!’  It is amazing how that kind of attitude releases us from our fears.  Many of us are all up-tight inside; we’re not sure we’ll be successful; we’re not sure we’ll be accepted; we have a feeling we might be offending someone; we’re afraid of this, that, and another petty thing.  But when a person’s mind is preoccupied with serving another person, it releases him from many of his anxieties.  So take the initiative and serve somebody.”  Ray Hoo

“The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for.”  Joseph Addison

“No matter what the other person does, it’s our perspective that determines how we feel and respond.”  Dr. Mike Bechtle

“When a man is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package.” John Ruskin

“What we look like or sound like has nothing to do with what we are able to do.” Robert Schuller
 

“You can be somebody special! In fact, you are somebody special! It’s up to you to find out what it is you’re especially good at, and then do it the very best you can.” Robert Schuller 

“In the end, our mind and spirit are the real gifts we have to share.”  Tina Weber 

"Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it." Pablo Casals 

“Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.” Thomas A. Kempis

“The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend.” Aristotle 

“I can learn from my weaknesses. I can learn something about other people or, if nothing more, I can learn patience, compassion, and humility.” Robert Schuller

“Your freedom to choose a positive attitude is a treasure no one can take from you.”  Robert Schuller

“When hit hard by events, don’t say, ‘Why me?’  The answer to the why me question is ‘Why not me? Am I so special that bad things shouldn’t happen to me?’ Ask instead, ‘What do I do next?’”  Lynne Namka 

“The human race has one only really effective weapon, and that is laughter” Mark Twain 

“It's your road...and yours alone....Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. No matter what path you choose, really walk it."  Gautama Buddha

“How happy a person is depends on the depth of his gratitude.” John Miller 

“A man’s mind stretched by a new experience can never go back to his old dimensions.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Junior

“Every excuse I ever heard made perfect sense to the person who made it.” Dr. Daniel Drubin

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”  Mark Twain

“Our job is to learn to embrace both the beauty and the beast within our nature.” Angeles Arrien
 

“If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it.” Jonathan Winters 

“No man ever sank under the burden of the day.  It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear.  Never load yourself so.” George MacDonald

“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” C.H. Spurgeon

“No one can develop freely in this world and find a full life without feeling understood by at least one person.” Paul Tournier 

“No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking.” Voltaire

“I am always doing things I can’t do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”  Pablo Picasso

“We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do.” Ethel Barrett

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” Jimmy Dean

“Our stress isn’t a result of the event but of the view we take of it.  If the event is seen as negative then we set ourselves up to experience stress.”  Ellen Langer

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King

“The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others.” Sonya Friedman

“Don’t ever say we have no opportunity to reach people.  It is not that the chances are missing, but we are missing the chances.”  Charles Guillot

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." Thornton Wilder

"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues."  Cicero

"No longer forward or behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here."
~ John Greenleaf Whittier

“Begin using what you have and it comes back to you in greater measure.”  Charles Allen 

“I ran and ran every day, and I acquired a sense of determination, this sense of spirit that I would never, never, give up, no matter what else happened.” Wilma Rudolph, US track star

“Life is not the way it’s supposed to be, it’s the way it is.  The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.”  Virginia Satir

“It takes great daring to dare to be oneself.” Eugene Delacroix

“Know that although in the eternal scheme of things you are small, you are also unique and irreplaceable.”  Margaret Laurence, writer 

“He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg.” Chinese Proverb
 

“The real measure of our wealth is how much we’d be worth if we lost all our money.” John Henry Jowett 

“You can fight with confidence where you are sure of victory.” St. Bernard of Clairvaux

“It is only by thinking about great and good things that we come to love them, and it is only by loving them that we come to long for them, and it is only by longing for them that we are impelled to seek after them; and it is only by seeking after them that they become ours.” Henry Van Dyke

“Readiness and ability for any work is not given before the work, but only through the work.” Andres Murray

“At the heart of every action, whether large or small, is a series of tiny, tiny steps that will have to be made to complete the task.” Jackee Holder

“Faith is not shelter against difficulties, but belief in the face of all contradictions.” Paul Tournier

“When we are unable to find tranquillity within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.”  Francois De La Rochefoucauld 

“Someone’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.” Les Brown, author of Live Your Dreams 

"The greatest discovery of this generation is that a human being can alter their life by altering their attitude." William James

“Most of us don’t value what we have.  Instead we focus on what we lack.” Paul McKenna

“The world  breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” Ernest Hemingway 

“Disapproval is an instrument of control that society uses to create conformist behavior.” David Tuffley 

“This is the secret weapon of all wise men and women.  Know your strengths.  Know your weakness.  Then conquer your weakness with your strengths and in the end embrace that one thing which became the cause for the strength and weakness in you.” Sri Vishwanath 

“If you can live through a childhood of stuttering, you can live through anything. And if you go into adulthood still stuttering, you can handle anything… You have been tempered by the fire."David Seidler (scriptwriter - The King's Speech)

"There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” Susan Cain

“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.” Helen Keller

"What you read or listen to the first ten minutes of your day will affect you the rest of the day. Read something positive." Unknown

“When you’ve exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t!” Robert Schuller

 "Don't surrender to faces. Lots of people do that. You read an audience. You see an eyebrow raise or hear a throat being cleared. Through body language, someone suggests that he may not support you. You read on his face that he's going to criticize you. He's not going to back you. He's against you. Before you know it, you have been intimidated by body language into silence and retreat. At that point you have surrendered leadership to a face." Robert Schuller

"When in doubt, just take the next small step. " Regina Brett (90 years old)

 “Sometimes in a defeat, you can set the stage for future victory.” Mike Krzyzewski

 "There is only one real failure in life that is possible, and that is, not to be true to the very best one knows." Farrar

“An hour of classical music a day has been shown to ease arthritis pain and depression.” WebMD

"A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road." Henry Ward Beecher

"Most people rush after pleasure so fast that they rush right past it." Soren Kierkegaard

“Laugh often and it will cleanse your mind. Laugh often at yourself and it will cleanse your heart.” Goldberg

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.” Hawking

"Always try to keep a patch of sky above your life." Marcel Proust

"If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you’d like to win, but think you can’t,
It’s almost a cinch you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost,
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow’s will;
It’s all in the state of mind.
Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can." Col. Robert J. Philpott

“Maturity is perseverance, the ability to sweat out a project or a situation in spite of opposition and discouraging setbacks.” Author unknown

"He only is exempt from failures who makes no efforts." Whately

“Do the thing you fear the most and the death of fear is certain.” Thoreau

“Sometimes a noble failure serves the world as faithfully as a distinguished success.” Dowden

“He that can heroically endure adversity will bear prosperity with equal greatness of soul; for the mind that cannot be dejected by the former is not likely to be transported with the later.” Henry Fielding
"Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift." Regina Brett

“Happiness is the result of what we think and do. Happiness is not a target to aim to, nor a place to reach and blissfully sit there forever.” Frank Ra

“Be impeccable with your words. Speak with integrity. Avoid using words to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your words in the direction of truth and love.” Don Miguel Ruiz

"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." J. Wallace Hamiton

“Never let someone’s opinion become your reality. Never sacrifice who you are because someone else has a problem with it. Love who you are inside and out.” Les Brown

"Have you seen those geese fly? Do you know how far they fly? Hundreds of miles. And they’re always making those noises at each other; they’re encouraging each other when they get weary. Those are the types of friends you want." Mama Chung

“People who ridicule others for things we have little or no control over typically will do so to cover up their own mistakes and faults.”

“A person may break your heart and damage your pride, but never ever give them the power to break your spirit.” Susan Gale

“Problems are to the mind what exercise is to the muscles, they toughen and make strong.” Norman Vincent Peale