Those who will not apply new
remedies must expect new evils.

Francis Bacon

  
Never stop learning and adapting.  The world will always be changing.  If you limit yourself to what you knew and what you were comfortable with earlier in your life, you will grow increasingly frustrated with your surroundings as you age.

David Niven

      
Minds are like parachutes.  They only function when they are open.

James Dewar



Only an open mind still has room for new knowledge.  What is outgrown and used up must be discarded to make room for what is yet to be learned.  And much of the best thinking is done alone--in deserts, on beaches, in bed, behind closed doors.  It is why we say we need to get away--to escape from clutter and busyness--to hear ourselves think.

Robert Fulghum
  

Keep your hands open, and all the sands of the desert can pass through them.  Close them, and all you can feel is a bit of grit.

Taisen Deshimaru

   

An open mind is all very well in its way, but it ought not to be so open that there is no keeping anything in or out of it.  It should be capable of shutting its doors sometimes, or it may be found a little draughty.

Samuel Butler

  

If people could regard the events of their own lives with more
open minds, they would frequently discover that they did not
really desire the things they failed to obtain.

Andre Maurois

   

quotations - contents - welcome page - obstacles
the people behind the words - our current e-zine - articles and excerpts
Daily Meditations, Year One - Year Two - Year Three - Year Four
     

Sign up for your free daily spiritual or general quotation
~ ~ Sign up for your free daily meditation

  

   

Merely having an open mind is nothing; the object of opening the
mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

  

Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it,
than to accept life unquestioningly.  Everything we shut our eyes
to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate,
or despise,  serves to defeat us in the end.  What seems nasty,
painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength,
if faced with an open mind.  Every moment is a golden one for
those who have the vision to recognize it as such.

Henry Miller

 

Dogmatism breeds intolerance. Like ideology, dogmatism puts blinders on what its adherents can see, disables their questioning faculties, and breeds fervor and fanaticism. . . . Having an open mind does not mean that one never comes to any convictions in life. It is perfectly possible to have an open mind and live a very principled life, without holding one's beliefs dogmatically. Having an open mind means being prepared to question even your most central beliefs if there is occasion to do so. It means being open, when the time comes, to having your mind changed by an argument better than one's own. It means being able to think both sides of an issue, both the side you think is true and the side you think is false. It also means being able to suspend your beliefs, to play devil's advocate, and to detach yourself somewhat from your own beliefs, actions and feelings. Only living with an open mind gives us a chance to grow and change, for change is inevitable, while growth, unfortunately, is not.

Jeff Mason

  

Many a person thinks he or she has an open mind, when it is merely vacant.

unattributed

  

Tolerance is understanding.  It is open to new light.
Those who are tolerant are always eager to explore
viewpoints other than their own.

Wilferd A. Peterson

  

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.
Anyone who keeps learning stays young.
The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.

Henry Ford

   
A closed mind is a dying mind.

Edna Ferber
   

The open mind never acts:  when we have done our utmost to arrive
at a reasonable conclusion, we still--must close our minds for
the moment with a snap, and act dogmatically on our conclusions
.

George Bernard Shaw

    

Above all, remember that the most important thing you can take
anywhere is not a Gucci bag or French-cut jeans; it's an open mind.

Gail Rubin Bereny

  

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that
people will insist on coming along and trying to put things into it.

Terry Pratchett

    

We have some inspiring and motivational books that may interest you.  Our main way of supporting this site is through the sale of books, either physical copies or digital copies for your Amazon Kindle (including the online reader).  All of the money that we earn through them comes back to the site in one way or another.  Just click on the picture to the left to visit our page of books, both fiction and non-fiction!

   

An open mind, like an open window, should be screened to keep the bugs out.

Virginia Hutchison

   

It's okay to disagree with the thoughts or opinions expressed by other
people. That doesn't give you the right to deny any sense they might
make. Nor does it give you a right to accuse someone of poorly
expressing their beliefs just because you don't like what they are saying.
Learn to recognize good writing when you read it, even if it means
overcoming your pride and opening your mind beyond what is comfortable.

Ashly Lorenzana

   

I'd always thought of myself as an open-minded person.  I had no patience
with anyone who put down other kids because of their race, religion, or
sexuality.  But that's just one kind of open-mindedness.  There's another kind,
too, the kind that's willing to see people for who they really are and admit
when you were wrong about them.  That's the part I still need to work on.

Kelley Armstrong
The Calling

   

    

Despite my firm convictions, I have been always a man who tries
to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and
new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which
is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand
with every form of intelligent search for truth.

Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Malcolm X

   

You can have such an open mind that it is too porous to hold a conviction.

George W. Crane

   

If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will
happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly
harmed.  It is the person who continues in his self-deception
and ignorance who is harmed.

Marcus Aurelius
Meditations

   

quotations - contents - welcome page - obstacles
the people behind the words - our current e-zine - articles and excerpts
Daily Meditations, Year One - Year Two - Year Three - Year Four
     

Sign up for your free daily spiritual or general quotation
~ ~ Sign up for your free daily meditation

   
Kids think with their brains cracked wide open; becoming
an adult, I've decided, is only a slow sewing shut.

Jodi Picoult
My Sister's Keeper
   

Open your mind to the world and the many different ways that can
be found in it, before making hasty judgments of others.  After all,
the very same thing that you judge from where you are— may very
well be something totally different in meaning on the other side of
the world.  The problem with making hasty judgments is that it
will emphasize your ignorance at the end of the day.

C. JoyBell C.

  

It does take great maturity to understand that the opinion we are arguing for
is merely the hypothesis we favor, necessarily imperfect, probably transitory,
which only very limited minds can declare to be a certainty or a truth.

Milan Kundera
Encounter

   

        

Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.

    
   

       

Explore all of our quotations pages--these links will take you to the first page of each topic, and those pages will contain links to any additional pages on the same topic (there are five pages on adversity, for example).

HOME - contents - Daily Meditations - abundance - acceptance - achievement - action - adversity
advertising - aging - ambition- anger - anticipation - anxiety - apathy - appreciation - arrogance
art - attitude - authenticity - awakening - awareness - awe - balance - beauty - being yourself
beliefs - body - brooding - busyness - caring - celebration - challenges -
change - character
charity - children -
choices - Christianity - coincidence - commitment - common sense - community
comparison
- compassion - competition - complaining - compliments - compromise - confidence
conformity - conscience - contentment - control - cooperation - courage -
covetousness
creativity - crisis - criticism - cruelty -  death - decisions - desire - determination - disappointment
discipline - discouragement - diversity - doubt - dreams - earth - education - ego - emotions
encouragement - enlightenment - enthusiasm - envy - eternity - ethics - example - exercise
experience - failure - faith - fame - family - fate - fathers - fault-finding - fear - feelings - finances
flowers - forgiveness - freedom - friendship - frustration - fun - the future - garden of life - gardening
generosity - gentleness - giving - goals - God - goodness - grace - gratitude - greatness - greed - grief
growing up - guilt - habit - happiness - hatred - healing - health - heart - helpfulness - home
honesty - hope - hospitality - humility - hurry - ideals - identity - idleness  - idolatry - ignorance
illusion - imagination - impatience - individuality - the inner child - inspiration - integrity - intimacy
introspection - intuition - jealousy - journey of life - joy - judgment - karma - kindness - knowledge
language - laughter - laziness - leadership - learning - letting go - life - listening - loneliness
love - lying - magic - marriage - materialism - meanness - meditation - mindfulness - miracles
mistakes - mistrust - moderation - money - mothers - motivation - music - mystery - nature
negative attitude - now - oneness - open-mindedness - opportunity - optimism - pain - parenting
passion - the past - patience - peace - perfectionism - perseverance - perspective - pessimism
play - poetry - positive thoughts - possessions - potential - poverty - power - praise - prayer
prejudice - pride - principle - problems - progress - prosperity - purpose - racism - reading - recreation
reflection - relationships - religion - reputation - resentment - respect - responsibility - rest
revenge - risk - role models - running - ruts - sadness - safety - seasons of life - self - self-love
self-pity - self-reliance - self-respect selfishness - serving others - shame - silence - simplicity
slowing down - smiles -solitude - sorrow - spirit - stories - strength - stress - stupidity - success
suffering - talent - the tapestry of life - teachers - thoughts - time - today - tolerance - traditions
trees - trust - truth - unfulfilled dreams - values - vanity - virtue - vulnerability - walking - war
wealth - weight issues - wisdom - women - wonder - work - worry - worship - youth

spring
- summer - fall - winter
Christmas - Thanksgiving - New Year - America - The Tao - Zen sayings
Native American wisdom - The Law of Attraction - Buddhist wisdom
obstacles to living life fully - e-zine archives - quotations contents
our most recent e-zine - Great Thinkers - the people behind the words - articles & excerpts