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The Bible
To everything there is
a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.....
~Ecclesiastes 3:1
Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and the door shall be opened to you. ~Matthew
7:7-9
The Qur'an
Believers, Jews, Sabaeans or Christians - whoever believes
in God and the Last Day and does what is right - shall have
nothing to fear or regret.
And mankind is naught but a single nation.
Lao Tzu
He who knows others is
wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.
I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience,
compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.
A journey of a thousand leagues must
begin with a single step.
Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things
are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the
world belongs to you
Life is a series of natural and
spontaneous changes. Don't resist them -- that only
creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow
naturally forward in whatever way they like.
Confucius
Even when walking in a party of no more than three I can
always be certain of learning from those I am with.
There will be good qualities that I can select for
imitation and bad ones that will teach me what requires
correction in myself.
Only the supremely wise and the ignorant do not alter.
Find
a job you love and you'll never work
a day in your life.
Sun Tzu
It does not take sharp eyes to see the sun and the moon,
nor does it take sharp ears to hear the thunderclap.
Wisdom is not obvious. You must see the subtle and
notice the hidden to be victorious.
Hippocrates
Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a
matter of opportunity.
Epictetus
Learn to wish that
everything should come to pass exactly as it does.
The
Buddha
There is
only one moment in time when it is essential to awaken.
That moment is now.
Cultivate compassion for those who are suffering, joy
for those who have happiness, and a feeling of
equanimity towards all beings.
To understand everything is to forgive
everything
When you realize how perfect everything
is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky
The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.
Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart,
kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are
the things which renew humanity.
Hatred does not
cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through
love. This is an unalterable law.
Whatever words
we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear
them and be influenced by them for good or ill.
Just as
treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue
appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure
and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of
human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the
guidance of virtue.
Aristotle
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not
an act, but a habit.
Cato the
Elder
Wise
men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.
Katha Upanishad
When all the knots which strangle the heart are
loosened, the mortal becomes immortal.
The Talmud
A quotation at the
right moment is like
bread to the famished.
Every blade of
grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers,
'Grow, grow.'”
The end result
of wisdom is... good deeds.
Loving kindness is greater
than laws; and the charities of life are more than all
ceremonies.
The highest form of wisdom is kindness
To live in harmony with himself a man must labor to
untie the knots which bind his soul, and this is a
personal matter between man and himself; then he must
seek through contemplation an understanding of the Name
of God which is the timeless relationship between man
and God. ~attributed to Rabbi Abulafia, Kabbalah Master
b. 1240 CE, by James Michener in The Source
Jalal
ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
There is no reality but
God.
Only from the heart can you touch the
sky.
I died a mineral, and became a plant. I
died a plant and rose an animal. I died an animal and I
was man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Sell your
cleverness and buy bewilderment.
Silence
is the language of God, all else is poor translation.
Who could
be so lucky? Who comes to a lake for water and sees the
reflection of moon.
Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman, Zoroastrian, stone,
ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being
with the mystery, unique and not to be judged.
When
you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in
you, a joy.
Everyone is so afraid of death, but the real sufis just
laugh: nothing tyrannizes their hearts. What strikes the
oyster shell does not damage the pearl.
Close both eyes to see with the other eye.
I
was a tiny bug. Now a mountain. I was left behind. Now
honored at the head. You healed my wounded hunger and
anger, and made me a poet who sings about joy.
No
mirror ever became iron again; No bread ever became
wheat; No ripened grape ever became sour fruit. Mature
yourself and be secure from a change for the worse.
Become the light.
Thirst drove me down to the water where I drank the
moon's reflection.
Everyone
sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his
heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished
it. Whoever has polished it more sees more - more unseen
forms become manifest to him.
We
rarely hear the inward music, but we're all dancing to
it nevertheless.
Zen
Proverbs and
Stories
After ecstasy, the laundry.
They came to a stream. There stood a girl unable to
cross for fear of ruining her dress. The first monk
picked her up and carried her across. The monks
continued their journey in silence. After a few hours
the second monk turned and asked, "How could you pick
her up when we have made vows not to even look at a
woman?" The first monk replied, "I left her back at the
stream but you seem to be still carrying her."
How
can we ever lose interest in life?
Spring has come again
And cherry trees bloom in the mountains.
~Ryokan
Move and the way will open.
Do not seek the truth, only
cease to cherish your opinions.
If you understand, things
are just as they are; if you do not understand, things
are just as they are.
The obstacle is the path.
To follow the path, look to
the master, follow the master,
walk with the master, see
through the master, become
the master.
Knock on the sky and
listen to the sound.
Before enlightenment; chop
wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry
water.
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the
grass grows by itself.
William Shakespeare
...man,
proud man
Drest in a little brief authority....
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep. - Measure for
Measure
Baal Shem Tov
Alas! The world is full of enormous lights and
mysteries, and man shuts them from himself with one
small hand!
Matsuo Bashō
The temple bell stops but I
still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.
Mizuta Masahide
My barn having burned to
the ground, I can now see the moon.
While I walk on
the moon keeps pace beside me:
friend in the water.
William Blake
For everything that lives is holy. Life delights in
life.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
It is working within limits that the craftsman reveals
himself.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
With stammering lips and insufficient sounds, I strive
and struggle to deliver right the music of my nature....
Henry David Thoreau
It is not that we love to be
alone, but that we love to soar, and when we do soar,
the company grows thinner & thinner till there is none
at all…. We are not the less to aim at the summits,
though the multitude does not ascend them.
Charles DuBois
The important thing is this: To be ready at any moment
to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The greatest delight the
fields and woods minister is the suggestion of an occult
relation between man and the vegetable. I am not
alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me and I to
them.
Rev. Samuel Reynolds Hole
He who would have beautiful roses in his garden must
have beautiful roses in his heart.
William
James
Man
alone is the architect of his destiny. The greatest
revolution in our generation is that human beings, by
changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change
the other aspects of their lives.
John Burroughs
How beautifully the leaves
grow old. How full of light and color are their last
days.
Marcel Proust
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new
landscapes, but in having new eyes.
Rainer Maria Rilke
If I
don’t manage to fly, someone else will. Spirit wants
only that there be flying.
For one human being to love another;
that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the
ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which
all other work is but preparation.
Kahlil Gibran
I have learnt silence from
the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and
kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful
to these teachers.
Attributed to Peter Pan by Sir James Barrie
If you
can't teach me to fly, teach me to sing.
Rabindranath Tagore
I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw
that life was service. I acted and behold, service was
joy.
I have become my own version of an
optimist. If I can't make it through one door, I'll go
through another door - or I'll make a door. Something
terrific will come no matter how dark the present.
Every child comes with the message that God is not yet
discouraged of man.
Mahatma Gandhi
Action expresses priorities.
Whenever you are confronted
with an opponent, conquer him with love.
We must become the change
we want to see.
What do I think of Western
civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea.
God has no religion.
When I admire the wonder of
a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in
worship of the Creator.
Always
aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed.
Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything
will be well.
Andre Gide
Seize from every moment its
unique novelty and do not prepare your joys
Paramahansa Yogananda
Change yourself and you have done your part in changing
the world.
The beauty of the sky and of all Nature makes a proper
altar for the worship of the Infinite.
Albert Einstein
There are only two ways to
live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.
Carl Gustav Jung
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.
Who looks outside dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.
The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of
two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both
are transformed.
Isak Dinesen
The cure for anything is salt water-- sweat, tears, or
the sea.
W.E.B DuBois
Believe in life! Always
human beings will live and progress to greater, broader, and
fuller life.
Coco
Chanel
If you were born without wings, no nothing to prevent
their growth.
Anaïs Nin
The enemy of love is never outside… it’s what we lack in
ourselves.
I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by
risking, by giving, by losing.
We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
Mary Pickford
If you have made mistakes... there is always another
chance for you... you may have a fresh start any moment
you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the
falling down, but the staying down.
Henry Miller
The moment one gives close
attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes
a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world
in itself.
William Arthur Ward
Gratitude can transform
common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into
joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.
Viktor Frankl
What is to give light must endure burning...
The
salvation of man is through love and in love.
Mother Teresa
We can do no great things- only small things with great
love.
Marilyn Ferguson
Uncertainty is the necessary companion of all explorers.
John A. Shedd
A ship is safe in harbor- but that’s not what ships are
for.
Doris Lessing (winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature
2007)
We are all creatures of the stars and their forces, they make us,
we make them, we are part of a dance from which we by no
means and not ever may consider ourselves separate.
...two [partners] would chose each other, because they
were complementary,
and this was judged
always by how they stood in relation to stars,
planets, the dance of the
heavens, the forces of the earth,
the moon, our sun...
being together
was a sacrament,
in the sense that everything contributed to the
harmony...
through them flowed the lives of stars,
and through them
flowed the substance of the earth to the stars....
Maya
Angelou
My
great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work
done and try to love somebody and have the courage to
accept the love in return.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama
... we can reject everything else: religion, ideology,
all received wisdom. But we cannot escape the necessity
of love and compassion.... This, then is my true
religion, my simple faith. In this sense, there is no
need for temple or church, for mosque or synagogue, no
need for complicated philosophy, doctrine or dogma. Our
own heart, own mind, is the temple. The doctrine is
compassion. Love for others and respect for their rights
and dignity, no matter who or what they are: ultimately
these are all we need. So long as we practice these in
our daily lives, then no matter if we are learned or
unlearned, whether we believe in Buddha or God, or
follow some other religion or none at all, as long as we
have compassion for others and conduct ourselves with
restraint out of a sense of responsibility, there is no
doubt we will be happy.
When I see beings of wicked nature,
oppressed by violent misdeeds and afflictions,
may I hold them dear as if I had found a rare and
precious treasure.
Be kind whenever possible. It is
always possible.
“I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy.
From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In
my own limited experience I have found that the more we care
for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of
well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for
others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove
whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the
strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the
principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely
material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes
for happiness on external development alone. The key is to
develop inner peace.” Dalai Lama
I find hope in the darkest of days, and
focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.
If you want others to be happy, practice
compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy
is the best teacher.
Remember that not getting what you
want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Ely Fuller
If you enter into healing, be prepared to lose everything.
Healing is a ravaging force to which nothing seems sacred or
inviolate. As my original pain releases itself in healing,
it rips to shreds the structures and foundations I built in
weakness and ignorance. Ironically and unjustly, only I can
pay the price of having lived a lie. I am experiencing the
bizarre miracle of reincarnating, more lucidly than at
birth, in the same lifetime.
Gary
Zukav
If
you choose unconsciously, you evolve unconsciously. If
you choose consciously, you evolve consciously.
A
conscious lifetime… is a treasure beyond value.
The illusion holds power over you when you are not able
to remember that you are a powerful spirit that has
taken on the physical experience for the purpose of
learning.
The
Universe backs the part of you that is of clearest
intention.
The
place to begin the task of eliminating evil is within
yourself.
What
is behind your eyes holds more power than what is in
front of them.
Knowledge is power, and for each level of knowledge, you
are held responsible for how you use it.
With
each choice that you make to align yourself with the
energy of your soul, you empower yourself. Authentic
power is built up step by step, choice by choice. It
cannot be meditated or prayed into being. It must be
earned.
Prayer is moving into a personal relationship with
Divine Intelligence.
Humble spirits are free to love and to be who they are.
They have no artificial standards to live up to.
Choice is the engine of our evolution.
Attributed
to Don Juan Matus by Carlos Casteneda
To be
angry at people means that one considers their acts to
be important. It is imperative to cease to feel that
way. The acts of men cannot be important enough to
offset our only viable alternative: our unchangeable
encounter with infinity.
Feeling
important makes one heavy, clumsy and vain. To be a
warrior one needs to be light and fluid.
Everybody has enough personal power for something. The
trick for the warrior is to pull his personal power away
from his weaknesses to his warrior’s purpose.
Self-importance is man’s greatest enemy. What weakens
him is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of his
fellow men. Self-importance requires that one spend most
of one’s life offended by something or someone.
Shamans
have unmasked self-importance and found that it is
self-pity masquerading as something else.
Carol
Pearson, PhD
Maturity comes with that curious mixture of taking
responsibility for one’s prior choices while being as
imaginative as possible in finding ways to continue
one’s journey.
Heroism is…. Not only moving mountains but knowing
mountains; being fully oneself and seeing, without
denial, what is, and being open to learning the lessons
life offers us.
When people have integrated most of their Shadows, they
spend less energy repressing and denying their internal
reality..... They spend less time fighting external
battles because they don't so often project their
Shadows onto others.
Attribute to peaceful warrior Socrates, by Dan Millman
Know yourself; prepare yourself; develop the clarity,
the courage, and the sensitivity to exert the right
leverage, in the right place, at the right time. Then
act.
Daily Word
I no longer try to change outer things. They are simply
a reflection. I change my inner perception and the outer
reveals the beauty so long obscured by my own attitude.
I concentrate on my inner vision and find my outer view
transformed. I find myself attuned to the grandeur of
life and in unison with the perfect order of the
universe.
Adam Smith
In terms of a learning process, unless a mistake is
fatal, it isn’t fatal.
Richard Wolkomir
The possibility for evil requires no more than ignorance
of another's pain.
Sylvia Boorstein
Just don’t do something, sit there.
Robert Hand
Wisdom (is) knowing what is true for oneself and the
world and operating so as to give everything its due and
no more. The wise are not constantly overwhelmed by
inner signals urging them to actions that are
inappropriate as judged by the results.
Joseph Campbell
Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure
alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us;
the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to
follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had
thought to find an abomination, we shall find a God;
where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay
ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we
shall come to the center of our own existence; where we
had though to be alone, we shall be with all the world.
Florence Griffith Joyner
You never fail until you stop trying.
Billy Joel
Out of respect for the things that I was never destined
to do, I have learned that my strengths are a result of
my weaknesses, my success is due to my failures, and my
style is directly related to my limitations.
Ganga White
What If?
What if religion was each other?
If
our practice was our life?
If prayer was our words?
What if the Temple was the Earth?
If forests were our
church?
If holy water—the rivers, lakes and oceans?
What if meditation was our relationships?
If the
Teacher was life?
If wisdom was self-knowledge?
If
love was the center of our being
What if God was
oneself, and all?
Attributed to Gildor Inglorien by J.R.R. Tolkien
Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the
wise, and all courses may run ill.
Unknown
The only way out is in.......
If God had forgotten the rocks, how
would the brook ever sing?
Joy is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of
God.
Indeed we are running away all the time to avoid coming
face to face with our real selves.
Blessed
are those that can give without remembering and receive
without forgetting.
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