SECTION 1 - MY FAVORITES Quotes I Especially Like (Random order) 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. - Albert Einstein Desire, ask, and believe. - anonymous Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29 Time is nebulous. - Claire N. Streb (in an effort to capture the fact that time is but a concoction that God gave us to help us try to make sense out of the crazy world we live in) Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have. - Hyman J. Scharctel And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. - John 8:32 I have no special gift. I am only passionately curious. - Albert Einstein Gort: Klaatu Barada Nikto! - The Day the Earth Stood Still About the only value the story of my life may have," she wrote, "is to show that one can, even without any particular gifts, overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable if one is willing to face the fact that they must be overcome; that, in spite of timidity and fear, in spite of a lack of special talents, one can find a way to live widely and fully." - Eleanor Roosevelt Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein Nothing will benefit human health or increase the chances for survival of life on earth as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. - Albert Einstein The best way to predict the future is to create it. - Peter Drucker If I had more time I’d write a shorter letter. — Mark Twain Let's exercise the courage to uproot the hypocrisy in our lives. Our world is in desperate need of men of courage. A life of integrity can be influential only when it comes from passionate convictions firmly rooted in God's Word and the Holy Spirit's inspiration. - John Black, http://www.startel.net/atms/christian/hypocrisy In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. -Chuck Reid No matter where you go, there you are. - Buckaroo Banzai Directly related, but not my favorites: If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. --Lawrence J. Peter Now that I'm here, where am I? --Janis Joplin He's a real nowhere man Sitting in his nowhere land Making all his nowhere plans for nobody ... He's as blind as he can be Just sees what he wants to see Nowhere man, can you see me at all --Lennon/McCartney Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind!?! - Kramer (after Jerry asked him, "Are you crazy?!?") The concept is interesting and well -formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible. -A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.) People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, there may be jealousy; be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway. - Mother Teresa In all things pray, and never give up - Luke 18:1 Everything is possible for him who believes - Mk 9:23 My reaction doesn't define your intention. - Courtney Ann Streb ---------------------------------------------------------- When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying that, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return." It became very quiet in the room. ------------------------------------------------------------- Whatever women must do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult. -- Charlotte Whitton The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved, loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. -- Victor Hugo No matter how far you have gone down the wrong road, turn back. -- Turkish proverb Be the change you want to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi It is scientifically impossible for the genetic information of even the simplest self-reproducing single-cell organisms to have been generated from non-living chemicals by chance natural processes. The chances of life arising from a primordial soup by chance is the same as that of a tornado going through a junk yard and assembling a 747 jumbo jet. -- Professor Sir Fred Hoyle and Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe (http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2001/0320gc.asp) There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending. -- Abraham Lincoln I learned a long time ago that l didnt have to like every conversation for it to be worth having. -- Greg Cummins You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. -- C.S. Lewis The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny - it is the light that guides your way. -- Heraclitus If you go with your gut, then you have made the best decision you could. So, do not fear the future. Go with your gut, and you won't have any regrets since you made the bsst decision you could at the time. -- Courtney Lutz You see THAT girl, yeah her. She seems so invincible right. but just touch her & she'll flinch. She has secrets & she trusts no one. she's the perfect example of betrayal. cause everyone she trusted, broke her -- xanga I began to believe God loved me with the love beyond the telling of it. -- Kathy Bayes Humans wage war against each other and their own mother: Nature. Essentially war is the ferocious stupidity that insists on the application of brutality for problem solution, whether the brutality is directed at humans or mountaintops. -- Peter Schumann, founder of Bread and Puppets The story is not about making bad people good, it is about making dead people alive. -- David Wallace Crowder ----- SECTION 2 - THE SECRETS TO LIVING LIFE FULLY AND ABUNDANTLY: If we seek to manifest love by utilizing our inherent abilities to serve others in whatever we are doing, we find the greatest opportunity for development, for then we are giving expression to our love for our neighbors and ourselves. - David McArthur and Bruce McArthur The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings. - Buddha You are a person, beautiful and unique . . . express yourself, strengthen yourself, kick yourself, wet yourself with tears, dry yourself with confidence, be who you are, do what you want, say how you feel, love like its real, never let anyone suppress you, never let anything make you believe your life isn't worth living. - Anon What most people need to learn in life is to love people and use things, instead of using people and loving things. - Author unknown Real love is millions of miles past falling in love with anyone or anything. When you make that one effort to feel compassion instead of blame or self- blame, the heart opens again and continues opening. - Sara Paddison Love the heart that hurts you, but never hurt the heart that loves you. - Vipin Sharma Love is not automatic. It takes conscious practice and awareness, just like playing the piano or golf. However, you have ample opportunities to practice. Everyone you meet can be your practice session. - Doc Childre and Sara Paddison I have never met a person whose greatest need was anything other than real, unconditional love. You can find it in a simple act of kindness toward someone who needs help. There is no mistaking love. You feel it in your heart. It is the common fiber of life, the flame of that heats our soul, energizes our spirit and supplies passion to our lives. It is our connection to God and to each other. - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross If I am unaware of love, I live drably. If I become intoxicated with love, I live in dreamland. If I recognize love, and shake his hand then comfort, dreams, and sometimes intoxication become mine to drench in and give away as well. - Nellie Curtiss To fall in love is easy, even to remain in it is not difficult; our human loneliness is cause enough. But it is a hard quest worth making to find a comrade through whose steady presence one becomes steadily the person one desires to be. - Anna Louise Strong Love is not blind, it sees more not less; But because it sees more it chooses to see less. - Author unknown Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them? - Abraham Lincoln To be loved, be lovable. - Ovid The only way to have a friend is to be one. - Ralph Waldo Emerson The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him. - Ralph Waldo Emerson Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. - Sir Walter Scott The only remedy for love is to love more. - Henry David Thoreau ----- SECTION 3 - CELEBRATING LIFE INVOLVES WORTHWHILE RISKS, WHILE FALSE SECURITY ULTIMATELY INVOLVES THE BIGGER RISK Security is mostly superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. ~ Helen Keller Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. ~ Alex Lowe At some point in the future you are going to look back on all the things you wanted to do with your life and either say "I did it!" or "I wish I had..." If the first statement is the one you'll want to make, there's no time like the present for making those words come true. If you choose the latter, however, you need do nothing. Wishing is free. Everything else comes with a price. Then Jesus asked them, "Would anyone light a lamp and then put it under a basket or under a bed to shut out the light? Of course not! A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light will shine. (Mark 4:21) Mark 9:21 - 24 (Jesus asks incredulously, 'If you can'?!?!) 21 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. 22 “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” 23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Don't put your trust in walls, because walls will only crush you when they fall -- Ray LaMontagne The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live. – Leo F. Buscaglia ----- For more quotes, visit http://www.quotegarden.com/search.html