Machiavelli

There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.

Hellen Keller

Be of good cheer.
Do not think of today's failures,
but of the success that may come tomorrow.
You have set yourselves a difficult task,
but you will succeed if you persevere;
and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles.
Remember, no effort that we make
to attain something beautiful is ever lost.

Helen Keller

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.

Many people know so little about what is beyond their short range of experience. They look within themselves - and find nothing! Therefore they conclude that there is nothing outside themselves either.

People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.

Leo Buscaglia

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Leo Buscaglia

What love we've given, we'll have forever. What love we fail to give, will be lost for all eternity.

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.

A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.

Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations.

Henry David Thoreau

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.

Henry David Thoreau

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.

Those whom we can love, we can hate; to others we are indifferent.

The heart is forever inexperienced.

It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear.

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

The 90/10 principle - by Stephan Covey

10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react.

What this mean is that we really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%. How? By your reaction. You cannot control things happening but you can control your reaction.

November Rain

When I look into your eyes

I can see a love restrained
But darlin' when I hold you
Don't you know I feel the same
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain.

Guns N' Roses

November

"November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.

With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
And frost by the gate.

The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring."

Elizabeth Coatsworth

Autumn

"How silently they tumble down
And come to rest upon the ground
To lay a carpet, rich and rare,
Beneath the trees without a care,
Content to sleep, their work well done,
Colors gleaming in the sun.

At other times, they wildly fly
Until they nearly reach the sky.
Twisting, turning through the air
Till all the trees stand stark and bare.
Exhausted, drop to earth below
To wait, like children, for the snow."
Elsie N. Brady, Leaves

Ode to Autumn

"When the trees their summer splendor
Change to raiment red and gold,
When the summer moon turns mellow,
And the nights are getting cold;
When the squirrels hide their acorns,
And the woodchucks disappear;
Then we know that it is autumn,
Loveliest season of the year."

Carol L. Riser, Autumn

Who makes these changes?

I shoot an arrow to the right.

It lands left.

I ride after a deer and find myself

chased by a hog.

I plot to get what I want

and end up in prison.

I dig pits to trap others

and fall in.

I should be suspicious

of what I want.

The bird three pieces of wisdom

A man caught a bird in a trap. The bird says to the man, "Sir, you have eaten many cows and sheep in your life, and you're still hungry. The little meat on my bones won't satisfy you either. If you let me go, I'll will give you three pieces of wisdom. One I'll say standing in your hand. One on your roof. And one I'll will speak from the branches of that tree."

The man was interested. He freed the bird and let it stand on his hand. "Number One: Do not believe an absurdity, no matters who say it."

The bird flew to the man's roof. "Number two: Do not grieve over what is past. It's over. Never regret what has happened.

"By the way, " the bird continue, "................

The bird three pieces of wisdom

"By the way, " the bird continued, "in my body there's a very huge pearl. It was meant to be the inheritance for you and your children, but now you have lost it. You could have owned the largest pearl in existence, but evidently it was not meant to be."

The man started wailing and crying. The bird, "Didn't I just say don't grieve for what's in the past and don't believe in absurdity. How can my small body have a big heavy pearl inside it."

The man come to his senses. "All right. tell me Number Three." The bird flew to the tree and said "Yes. You've made such good use of the first two."

Solomon crooked crown

Solomon was busy judging others, when it was his personal thoughts that were disrupting the community.

His crown slid crooked on his head. He put it straight, but the crown went awry again. Eight times this happened. Finally he talk to his crown, "Why do you keep tilting over my eyes."

"I have to. When your power loses compassion, I have to show what such a condition looks like." Immediately Solomon recognized the truth and seek forgiveness. The crown centered itself on his crown.

When something goes wrong, accuse yourself first. Even the wisdom of Solomon can wobble and go blind. Listen when your crown remind you of what makes you cold toward others.

The nightingale

A bird delegation came to Solomon complaining, "Why is it you never citicize the nightingale?"

"Because my way, " the nightingale explained "is different. Mid-March to mid-June I sing. The other nine months, while you continue chirping, I'm silent."

The frog and the ocean

To a frog that's never left his pond the ocean seems like a gamble. Look what he's giving up: security, mastery of his world, recognition.

The ocean frog just shakes his head. "I can't really explain what it's like where I live, but someday I'll take you there."

rumi

Alvin Toffler

The Law of Raspberry Jam: the wider any culture is spread, the thinner it gets.

One of the definitions of sanity is the ability to tell real from unreal. Soon we'll need a new definition.
 
The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.

You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.

It is better to err on the side of daring than the side of caution. 

Solomon Gabirol

A wise man's question contains half the answer.

I am better able to retract what I did not say than what I did.

Your secret is your prisoner; once you reveal it, you become its slave.

T S Elliot

Every experience is a paradox in that it means to be absolute, and yet is relative; in that it somehow always goes beyond itself and yet never escapes itself.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.

T S Elliot

Our difficulties of the moment must always be dealt with somehow, but our permanent difficulties are difficulties of every moment.

People to whom nothing has ever happened cannot understand the unimportance of events.

Men tighten the knot of confusion into perfect misunderstanding.

All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance.

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.

T S Elliot

Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

We know too much, and are convinced of too little.

There is no absolute point of view from which real and ideal can be finally separated and labelled.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Music is the voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows.

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.

The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.

Napoleon Bonaparte

If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.

If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.

Imagination rules the world.

Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.

In politics stupidity is not a handicap.

In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake.

It requires more courage to suffer than to die.

Martin Luther

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.

Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.

Sa'adi

The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together.

Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.

A little and a little, collected together, becomes a great deal; the heap in the barn consists of single grains.

Whenever you argue with another wiser than yourself in order that others may admire your wisdom, they will discover your ignorance.

The best loved by God are those that are rich, yet have the humility of the poor, and those that are poor and have the magnanimity of the rich.

Meditation

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.


Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under our observation in life.

Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.

Anything in any way beautiful derives its beauty from itself and asks nothing beyond itself. Praise is no part of it, for nothing is made worse or better by praise.

Marcus Aurelius

Maya Angelou

One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.

My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done.

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

There's a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth.

Nothing will work unless you do.

Sioux Prayer

O, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds
Whose breath gives life to the world, hear me
I come to you as one of your many children
I am small and weak
I need your strength and wisdom

May I walk in beauty
Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
And my ears sharp to your voice.
Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught your children.

The lessons you have written in every leaf and rock
Make me strong--------!
Not to be superior to my brothers, but to fight my greatest enemy....myself

Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes,
So that when life fades as the fading sunset,

May my spirit come to you without shame.