Welcome to my Daily Inspiration - Daily Quote. See today's daily inspirational quotes below.
May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Thursday, September 30, 2010

VOTE Election Day 2010

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
- Thomas Jefferson

We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.
- Thomas Jefferson

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- Thomas Jefferson [Declaration of Independence, and inscribed in the Jefferson Memorial]

The interests of a nation, when well understood, will be found to coincide with their moral duties.
- Thomas Jefferson


Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.
- Thomas Jefferson


VOTE Election Day 2010

The American elections of 2010 are crucially important to the well-being of all Americans - to our families, to our careers, to our values, and to our future and the future of those yet unborn.

The balance of power in the United States Senate, the House of Representatives, a number of Governorships, and other critical offices will all be determined on November 2nd by YOUR vote. Choose wisely.

Consider carefully all the social issues at stake, and consider them along with your analysis of the current and longer term economic issues. Do your homework, and vote from your conscience and consciousness as well as from your pocketbook. Vote to build up, not to tear down. Vote from optimism and a belief in a great future. Don't cast your vote out of fear or desperation.

Whatever your sincere and reasoned beliefs about this election, choose wisely and VOTE.

VOTE on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. ... and ask your friends to vote too.

While I attempt to keep my political opinions separate from my Daily Inspiration blog and email, that doesn't mean that I don't have opinions. Actually, I have very strong political beliefs. If you want to read how I am voting, and why, see
http://blog.jonathanlockwoodhuie.com/

Further reading: We are free only if we do the work of freedom

In matters of principle, stand like a rock. Thomas Jefferson

Inspirational Quotes

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Love is the ultimate truth at the heart of creation - Rabindranath Tagore


Love is the ultimate truth at the heart of creation.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Love is saying "I feel differently," instead of "You're wrong."
- Anonymous

The magic words for a great relationship are, "I love you just the way you are."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Let today be a day to gain a new appreciation of your partner, friends and family.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Life is a song - sing it - Sai Baba


Life is a song - sing it.
Life is a game - play it.
Life is a challenge - meet it.
Life is a dream - realize it.
Life is a sacrifice - offer it.
Life is love - enjoy it.
- Sai Baba

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.
- Helen Keller

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.
- John Lennon


Appreciate all of life. Play to win, but be a good loser and come back to play your best the next day.

Monday, September 27, 2010

The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one - Oscar Wilde


The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.
- Oscar Wilde (Irish writer, poet, and playwright)

If you have a job without any aggravations, you don't have a job.
- Malcolm Forbes (wealthy publisher)

The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.
- Vince Lombardi (football coach)

It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.
- Muhammad Ali (world champion boxer)

If you don't enjoy your career, today is the day to begin a long-term plan for creating a career that interests and excites you. In the short term, even if you hate your job, look for small joys at work each day, perhaps in your interactions with customers and co-workers.

Further reading: De-Stress at Work

Finding Balance in Life

Albert Schweitzer: Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.

Tips for Surviving Your Job

The Silver Lining of Losing Your Job

Sunday, September 26, 2010

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks - John Muir

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. - John Muir 

 All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. - Friedrich Nietzsche 

 Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Let today be a day to spend time alone in nature. Take a walk as far from the hustle and bustle of society as you can. Walk near trees or water if it is possible. 

Friday, September 24, 2010

A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing. -William James


Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. 
A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.
- William James

A sense of humor... is needed armor. 
Joy in one's heart and some laughter on one's lips 
is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.
- Hugh Sidey

A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps 
as you walk the tightrope of life.
- William Arthur Ward

Some days are simply meant for playing.
- Mary Anne Radmacher


Let today be a day to take life less seriously. Kick back, smile, laugh, watch the busyness of the world from a quiet corner and find humor in everything around you.

Further reading: 12 Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Thursday, September 23, 2010

The fog comes on little cat feet - Carl Sandburg


The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking over
harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
- Carl Sandburg

The mountain remains unmoved at seeming defeat by the mist.
- Rabindranath Tagore


Fog sneaks in, "on little cat feet," as Carl Sandburg says. A gentle mist creeping across a quiet pond or softening the base of an imposing mountain can inspire one to brew a cup of hot chocolate, settle into a comfortable chair and contemplate life.

However, fog is dangerous for ships, and mind fog is even more hazardous to your mental health. Overly comfortable habits and unthinking repetition can allow mind fog to set in and cobwebs to form in the corners of your mind.

Is today the day to clean your mental gears and blow away the mind fog?

Further reading: Knowledge is soon changed - Gene Wolfe

Be Here Now - Ram Dass

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A thing of beauty is a joy forever - John Keats


A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
its loveliness increases;
it will never pass into nothingness.
- John Keats

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
- Khalil Gibran

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

- Franz Kafka

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread.
- John Muir


Pause to appreciate the beauty around you. Whether rainbow or butterfly, mountain or tree, painting or poem - whether crafted by nature or by a human hand - beauty adds a magical element to life that surpasses logic and science.

Further reading: What I Know - What I Dont Know

Beauty is whatever gives joy - Edna St. Vincent Millay

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

I will close my eyes and leap - Mary Anne Radmacher


The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be.
Because of all I may become, I will close my eyes and leap.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.
- old proverb often attributed to David Lloyd George

Do or do not, there is no try.
- Yoda (Star Wars movie)


Many important things shouldn't be done half-way. Think of getting married, having children, starting a business, changing your career. There are times to gather your courage and make the leap, the whole leap.

Further reading: The jump is so frightening - Mary Anne Radmacher Take inspiration from Mary Anne's own story about the origin of her famous quote.

Monday, September 20, 2010

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves - Edmund Hillary


It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
- Edmund Hillary

It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out; it's the grain of sand in your shoe.
- Robert W. Service


One must see the mountains to know the purpose of one's life, but the joy or the suffering of life is found in the smallest details of daily living.

Further reading: The Paradox Of Living In The Moment

Where does your path lead?

Life is a journey - enjoy the journey - jlh

Sunday, September 19, 2010

A thankful heart is the greatest virtue - Cicero


A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.
- Cicero

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.
- Confucius

He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.
- Socrates

A good life isn't measured in material goods. There is no quicker path to misery than coveting your neighbors' stuff.

Further reading: How to Save Money while Living Well

How to Sleep Better Tonight

Finding Balance in Life

Learning Gratitude

The Key to Great Relationships

Happiness Secrets

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Good things come in small packages

Good things come in small packages. - old proverb 

 Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. - C.S. Lewis 

 Play with life, laugh with life, dance lightly with life, and smile at the riddles of life, knowing that life’s only true lessons are writ small in the margin. - jlh 

 A coincidence is a small miracle in which God chooses to remain anonymous. - Anonymous 

 Is a small rainbow any less a miracle than a large rainbow?

Friday, September 17, 2010

Listen to the compass of your heart - Mary Anne Radmacher


Listen to the compass of your heart.
All you need lies within you.
- Mary Anne Radmacher


You are perfect. You are complete. Your inner voice always knows what to do, but it is a quiet voice. You can only hear the whisperings of your inner voice - your inner compass - when you turn down the volume of your fears, your regrets, your resentments, and the fear-based advice your neighbors are so willing to give you.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Be optimistic, dream and take action


The golden age is before us, not behind us.
- William Shakespeare

Re-examine all that you have been told... dismiss that which insults your soul.
- Walt Whitman

There is a great future in front of you, you can leave your past behind.
- Joel Osteen


Focus on the future, rather than the past. You can mold a future you choose. Be optimistic, dream and take action.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Let the depths of nature become a part of your innermost being


And as he spoke of understanding, I looked up and saw the rainbow leap with flames of many colors over me.
- Black Elk

May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that's always blue.
And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.
- Irish Blessing

Today is your day to dance lightly with life,
sing wild songs of adventure,
invite rainbows and butterflies out to play,
soar your spirit, and unfurl your joy. - jlh

The soul would have no rainbow,
Had the eyes no tears.
- John Vance Cheney


There is something about a rainbow that just can't be ignored. Whether spectacle of nature or covenant, no two rainbows are ever the same, and each one is always breath-taking.

Pay attention to rainbows, and snowflakes, butterflies and the songs of birds, the crash of storm-driven waves and the mirror-surface of a quiet pond. Let the depths of nature become a part of your innermost being.

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Choose Inner Peace and a Less Stressful Life


Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.
- Dalai Lama

Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.
- Saint Francis de Sales

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.
- Lao Tzu

The outer world will always attempt to pull you this way and push you that. There will always be external pressures from financial issues, career issues, health issues, relationship issues and more. Further, the TV news will always attempt to manipulate your emotions to increase your upset and anger at the seemingly rampant injustices of the world.

Nonetheless, you do always have the ability to resist these external stressors, and to live in inner peace and happiness. You can choose how you prefer to respond to external events, and you can train yourself to minimize your stress and maximize the joy you receive from life.

Stop! Breathe deeply. Begin bringing peace to the outer world by regaining your own inner peace. Choose love, choose gratitude, choose forgiveness, choose peace. Begin with your own inner peace. Then use that inner peace as a platform from which to approach the outer world with perspective, understanding, and patience.

Monday, September 13, 2010

A life of happiness requires a plan and it requires action


Joy is a choice, but it isn't an easy choice.
- jlh

This above all, to thine own self be true.
- William Shakespeare

The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase: if you pursue happiness you'll never find it.
- C.P. Snow

Happiness depends upon ourselves.
- Aristotle


You can't "find" happiness. You can't successfully "pursue" happiness. You create a joyful life of great happiness by finding your purpose, by moving forward according to your purpose, by maintaining a positive perspective on everything and everyone around you.

Happiness is a choice, as the old saying goes, but not just by declaring, "I choose happiness." A life of happiness requires a plan and it requires action.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week. - Joseph Addison


Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.
- Joseph Addison

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
- Old Saying

Do not let Sunday be taken from you.
If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.

- Albert Schweitzer

Further reading: Honor your being

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Hero

Some days call for courage, and ask those who would otherwise lead ordinary lives to become heroes.

  Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day, saying, "I will try again tomorrow." - Mary Anne Radmacher 

 I honor you, Hero, for you do not play to the crowd. You play to your own soul. An audience of one fills the house with its appreciation and applause. Others follow you, and may attempt to emulate you, but that is not why you are a hero. Fame may smile upon you, or it may not. The world may cheer your name, or you may be the unknown warrior who rescued comrades in battle, or taught a young girl how to shed tears of joy. Whatever you did, you did not do for fame. If you had, you would not be a Hero. You are a Hero for your bold courageous inspired action. - jlh 


Friday, September 10, 2010

If you don't know what you want, you aren't going to get it.


If you don't know what you want, you aren't going to get it.

Be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them.
- W. Clement Stone

Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility.
- Oprah Winfrey

If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.
- Yogi Berra

As you sow, so shall you reap.
- Galatians 6:7

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

If I choose to bless another person, I will always end up feeling more blessed.
- Marianne Williamson


Affirmation: Today I choose the higher road - the path of charity, acceptance, love, selflessness, kindness.

Further reading: In matters of principle, stand like a rock. Thomas Jefferson

Alexander Hamilton: Those who stand for nothing fall for anything

If you dont know where you are going, any road will get you there. - Lewis Carroll

Thursday, September 9, 2010

You cant be everything to everyone.


You can't be everything to everyone.
- Anonymous

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone.
- Bill Cosby

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.
- William Shakespeare


In overreaching, one fails even in the basics.

Further reading: Aesop's Fables: The Miller, His Son, and the Ass

Positive Attitude: How to be Positive Around Negative People

A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. Henry Ward Beecher

Behind that social mask is a personal truth. Phil McGraw

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Inspirational Quotes Collection

Have you browsed through my collection of Inspirational Quotes lately?

Valley of Death


Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

To say that authority, whether secular or religious, supplies no ground for morality is not to deny the obvious fact that it supplies a sanction.
- Joseph Addison

What is the proper balance between individual responsibility and blindly following the orders of an authority? When has the time come to say, enough is enough?

Tennyson's poem The Charge of the Light Brigade, from which the "valley of death" lines come, describes a fatal and futile 1854 cavalry charge during the forgettable Crimean War. You can read the whole poem at www.dancelightly.com/valley-death.php

Further reading: Half Reveal and Half Conceal
          

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

You are defined by your habits.


We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.
- John Dryden

Correcting bad habits cannot be done by forbidding or punishment.
- Robert Baden-Powell (the founder of scouting)

It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.
- Benjamin Franklin

Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
- Mark Twain (humorist)

Successful people are simply those with successful habits.
- Brian Tracy


You are defined by your habits - choose well.

Further reading: 5 Secrets For Breaking Your Bad Habits

Monday, September 6, 2010

A time for work, a time for play - balance in all things.


Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.
- Horace

The end of labor is to gain leisure.
- Aristotle

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.
- Anne Frank


A time for work, a time for play - balance in all things.

Further reading: How to Save Money while Living Well

How to Sleep Better Tonight

Finding Balance in Life

Conscious Breathing to Relieve Stress

Sunday, September 5, 2010

It is not the easy or convenient life for which I search, but life lived to the edge of all that I may be. - Mary Anne Radmacher


It is not the easy or convenient life for which I search,
but life lived to the edge of all that I may be.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Begin each day as if it were on purpose.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Choose with no regret.
- Mary Anne Radmacher


Further reading: Take Charge of Your Life

Saturday, September 4, 2010

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin - William Shakespeare

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. - William Shakespeare 

 To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival. - Wendell Berry 

  Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents,it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. - Native American traditional

Friday, September 3, 2010

I will move with the wind - Mary Anne Radmacher

I will dance a little. I will move with the wind. - Mary Anne Radmacher 

 I was born on the prairies where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures. - Geronimo 

 We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. - Bertha Calloway (attributed) 

  Live to experience something new each day - to learn something new, to meet a new friend, to bring joy into someone's life, to feel the wind newly on your skin, to touch a new fear and a new anger, and with focused intent and good fortune, to find an ample measure of your own joy. - jlh 

Thursday, September 2, 2010

What is your goal? What guides you and maintains your direction?


Follow what you are genuinely passionate about 
and let that guide you to your destination.
- Diane Sawyer

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
- Henry David Thoreau

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
- John F. Kennedy

If we would guide by the light of reason we must let our minds be bold.
- Louis D. Brandeis

The heart, not the head, must be the guide.
- Arthur Erickson

We each have a sixth sense that is attuned to the oneness dimension in life, 
providing a means for us to guide our lives in accord with our ideas.
- Henry Reed


Wise men and women have suggested that your life should be guided by your head, your heart, your passion, your purpose, your intuition, your God, your dreams, and more. 

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Money has never made man happy - Benjamin Franklin

Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants. - Benjamin Franklin 

  Money won't make you happy... but everybody wants to find out for themselves. - Zig Ziglar 

Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching. - Satchel Paige 

 If you have money, great, be happy. If you don't have money, be happy anyway. Happiness is always a choice.
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