life 2 - life
3 - life 4 - life 5
- life 6
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It is not death that
we
should fear, but we
should fear never
beginning to live.
Marcus Aurelius
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No
one imagines that a symphony is supposed to improve in
quality as it goes
along,
or that the whole object of
playing it is to reach the finale. The point
of music is
discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it. It is the
same, I feel, with the greater part of our
lives,
and if we are unduly absorbed
in improving them
we
may forget altogether to live them.
Alan Watts
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Life is either a daring
adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and
behave
like free spirits in the presence
of fate is
strength undefeatable.
Helen Keller
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Affirmation
of life is the spiritual act by which people cease
to live
unreflectively and begin to devote themselves to
their lives with reverence in order to raise
them to their
true value. To
affirm life is to deepen, to make more inward,
and to
exalt the will-to-live.
Albert Schweitzer
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It
matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley
People
living deeply have no fear of death.
Anais Nin
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O
beautiful human life! Tears come to my eyes as I think
of
it. So beautiful,
so inexpressibly beautiful! The song
should never be silent, the dance never still,
the laugh
should sound like water which runs forever.
Richard
Jeffries |
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Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is.
In the
boredom
and pain of it no less than in the excitement
and
gladness: touch, taste, smell your way
to the holy
and
hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all
moments
are key moments, and life itself is grace.
Frederick Buechner |
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If
you have known how
to compose your life,
you have done a
great
deal more
than the
person who knows how
to compose a
book.
You have done more
than
the one who has
taken
cities and empires.
Michel de Montaigne
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Three
versions of a similar passage: there's a passage on
success that's usually attributed to Emerson, but that very
probably is a misattribution. Unfortunately, over the
years the various versions have changed, and it's pretty hard
to tell where these ideas came from originally. We won't
attempt to answer the question of source definitively--we'll
just give you the three versions as they're written. |
To
laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent
people and the affection of children; to earn the
appreciation of honest criticism and endure the betrayal
of false friends; to appreciate beauty and find the best
in others; to leave this world a bit better whether by a
healthy child, a garden patch, a redeemed social
condition; to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived--this is to have succeeded.
Ralph
Waldo Emerson |
Success
They
have achieved success
who have lived well,
laughed often, and loved much;
who have enjoyed the trust of
pure men and women,
the respect of intelligent people and
the love of little children;
who have filled their niche and accomplished their tasks;
who have left the world better than they found it
whether by an improved poppy,
a perfect poem or a rescued soul;
who have never lacked appreciation of Earth's beauty
or failed to express it;
who have always looked for the best in others and
given them the best they had;
whose lives were an inspiration;
whose memory a benediction.
--Bessie Anderson Stanley, 1904
("Success"
was written as the winning entry in a contest run by Brown
Book Magazine in 1904. Bessie won a cash prize of $250 which
paid off the mortgage on the house, among other things. It was
included in Bartlett's Book of Quotations for decades, and if
you can find an old edition from the 30's or 40's, it should
be in there. They dropped it, I think in the 60's, but I don't
know why.
The family isn't sure how the poem got mangled and attributed
to Emerson, but it was further confused by Ann Landers and her
sister Abby. Ann Landers used to (mis)quote it all the time
and cite Emerson as the source. My great-uncle Art, a retired
federal judge who died last March, and she had a decade-long
correspondence as he argued for a public correction. She
finally conceded and in her book, The Ann Landers
Encyclopedia, prints the whole story.
~~Bethanne
Larson, a granddaughter of Bessie Stanley)
Thanks to robinsweb.com for this info. |
That Person is a Success
Who has lived well,
laughed often and loved much;
Who has gained the respect of intelligent people
and the love of children;
Who has filled his or her niche
and accomplished his or her task;
Who leaves the world better than he or she found it,
whether by improved poppy, a perfect poem,
or a rescued soul;
Who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty
or failed to express it.
Who looked for the best in others
and gave the best he or she had.
Robert Louis Stevenson |
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life 2 - life
3 - life 4 - life 5
- life 6
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Life is difficult. This is a great
truth,
one of the greatest truths.
It is
a great truth
because once we truly
see this truth,
we transcend it. Once
we truly know that life is difficult--once
we
truly
understand and accept it--then life is
no longer
difficult.
Because once
it is accepted, the fact that
life is
difficult no longer matters.
M. Scott Peck
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Time is a
flowing river. Happy those who allow themselves
to be
carried, unresisting, with the current. They float
through
easy days. They live, unquestioning, in the
moment.
Christopher Morley |
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There are loyal hearts, there are
spirits brave,
There are souls that are pure and true;
Then give to the world the best you have,
And the best will come back to you.
Madeleine Bridges |
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If our lives shall be such
that
we shall receive the
glad welcome of
"Well done, good and faithful servant,"
we shall then know that
we have not lived in vain.
Peter Cooper |
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I wish you humor and
a twinkle in the eye.
I wish you glory and the strength to bear its burdens.
I wish you sunshine on your path and storms to season your journey.
I wish you peace--in the world in which you live and in the smallest
corner
of the heart where truth is kept.
I wish you faith--to help define your living and your life.
More I cannot wish you--except perhaps love--to make all the rest
worthwhile.
Robert A. Ward |
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It is
only in exceptional moods that we realize how wonderful
are
the commonest experiences of life. It seems to
me sometimes that
these experiences have an "inner"
side, as well as the outer side
we normally perceive.
At such moments one suddenly sees everything
with
new eyes; one feels on the brink of some great revelation.
It is as if
we caught a glimpse of some incredibly
beautiful world
that lies silently about us all the time.
J.W.N.
Sullivan
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Life
is best lived by being bold and daring. People tend to grow
fearful when they taste failure, face a daunting challenge or fall
ill. Yet that is precisely the time to become even bolder.
Those
who are victors at heart are the greatest of all champions.
Daisaku Ikeda
Buddhism
Day by Day |
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fragments
what shall i tell a child if she asks me what is life?
will i recount the pain and hurt and focus on the strife?
or shall i paint a picture of the beauty that is found
in sailing ships and chocolate chips and bugs beneath the
ground?
i'd like to think i'd give her hope of all that is to
come
but if she reads some poems of mine, her hope shall be
undone
i cannot bear to think that i may dim a child's eyes
present to her a world of just confusion, pain, and lies
for if i am to tell her early on of mountain streams
and help her build the pillars that will hold up all her
dreams
i'd paint the birds that fill the trees with beauty and
with song
a sanctuary in her mind to help when things go wrong
and in that place in her mind's eye the flowers would
grow free
in meadows under blue skies by the mighty loving sea
she'd have a place for comfort, have a place to be alone
amidst tomorrow's challenges, no matter how she's grown
i pray to learn my lessons from the children whom i meet
i dream of sowing sunshine on a crowded city street
i pray my words shall never hurt the child here inside
i pray that never shall i fear the child in me has died
i must reject some words of mine if i'm to feel i'm free
embracing hope, i must hold on to how good life can be
that i may treat the children with respect that they
deserve
for i shan't live for self alone--i give my life to serve
tom walsh |
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To
become what we are capable of becoming is the only end in
life.
Robert Louis Stevenson
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Life can only be understood
backwards,
but it must be lived forwards.
Søren Kierkegaard |
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Don't let
life discourage you; everyone who got
where they are had to
begin where they were.
Richard L. Evans |
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To live is like to
love--all reason is against it,
and all healthy instinct
is for it.
Samuel Butler
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You are present in your life on
earth at this moment for the purposes
of living, loving, learning, and growing. Be assured that life
can
reliably provide a wide variety of adventures, experiences, and
situations that may require you to draw from the depths of your being.
Your level of self-awareness and manner of expression can determine
the quality of living you experience. Why?
Because you get back what you give out.
John Marks
Templeton
Worldwide
Laws of Life
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You don't
get to choose how you're going to die, or when.
You can only
decide how you're going to live. Now!
Joan Baez
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Here
is the test to find whether
your mission on earth is
finished:
If you're alive, it isn't.
Richard
Bach
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Life is
a great big canvas, and you should
throw all the paint on it you
can.
Danny
Kaye
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I would like to
live. . . open to time and death painlessly,
noticing everything,
remembering nothing,
choosing the given with a fierce and pointed
will.
Annie
Dillard
How
we spend our days is, of course,
how we spend our lives. |
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People permit life to slide
past them like a deft pickpocket, their
purse--not yet missed and now too late--in his hand.
Edna Ferber |
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Perhaps
we clutch at life only when we have never lived or
trusted it. Then death seems the last and greatest
defeat, the end of something
never felt.
Dorothy Gilman |
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The first thing that I can record concerning myself
is, that I was born. . . .
These are wonderful words. This life, to which neither time nor
eternity
can bring diminution--this everlasting soul, began.
My mind loses itself in these depths.
Margaret Oliphant |
life 2 - life
3 - life 4 - life 5
- life 6
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A tree has
both straight and crooked branches; the symmetry of the tree,
however,
is perfect. Life is balanced like a tree. When you
consider
the struggles, difficulties, and sorrows as a part of it,
then you see it as beautiful and perfect.
George
M. Lamsa
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Living
consciously reflects the conviction that sight is preferable
to blindness; that respecting the facts of reality is more satisfying
than denying them; that evasion does not make the unreal real
or the real unreal; that it is better to correct your mistakes that
to pretend they do not exist; and that the more conscious you
are of facts bearing on your life and goals, the more
wisely and effectively you can act.
Nathaniel
Branden
Self-Esteem Every Day |
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I
don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just
the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.
Diane Ackerman |
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Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your
one wild and precious life?
Mary Oliver |
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Don't
be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin.
Grace Hansen |
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I
do not want to arrive at the end of life and then be asked what I made
of it and have to answer: "I acted." I want to
be able to say: "I loved
and I was mystified. It was a joy sometimes, and I knew grief.
And I would like to do it all again."
Liv Ullman |
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What is the use of living if
not to strive for noble causes and to
make this muddled world a better place for those
who will live in it after we are gone?
Winston Churchill |
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Life is so full of meaning and
purpose, so full of beauty--beneath its
covering--that you will find that earth but cloaks your heaven.
Fra Giovanni |
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We should take it for granted that no life can be entirely free
from vexations, trials, troubles, sorrows, and disappointments;
but we should resolve that these things shall not be allowed to
disturb our peace of mind, or to destroy our happiness. It is as
amazing as it is sad, that we go about largely burdening ourselves
with strivings that are of no consequence, and miss the gladness
and exhilaration of living. No life is successful until it is
radiant with happiness.
Orison Swett
Marden
The Joys of Living |
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When we are embedded in life there is simply seeing, hearing, smelling,
touching, thinking (and I don’t mean self-centered thinking). When we
live this way there is no problem; there couldn’t be. We are just that.
There is life and we are embedded in it; we are not separate from life.
We just are what life is because we are being what life is; we hear, we
think, we see, we smell, and so on. We are embedded in life and there
is no problem; life flows along. There is nothing to realize because when
we are life itself, we have no questions about life. But that isn’t the way
our lives are—and so we have plenty of questions.
Charlotte Joko Beck
Everyday Zen: Love and Work |
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