Release Your Resentments

I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying, I will not forgive. Forgiveness ought to be like a canceled note - torn in two, and burned up, so that it never can be shown against one.
- Henry Ward Beecher (19th century Congregationalist clergyman and social reformer)

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
- The Buddha

Forgiveness ... is the finishing of old business that allows us to experience the present, free of contamination from the past.
- Joan Borysenko

To err is human, to forgive divine.
- Alexander Pope

Forgiving is not a gift to someone else - Forgiving is your gift to yourself - a great gift - the gift of happiness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Resentments are bad for your health and your disposition. Light a candle and say a prayer to affirm your love for all human beings and to release all your resentments.

Further reading: Stop Anger Before It Stops You

Why I Choose to Believe that Others are Never the Cause of My Unhappiness

Forgiveness is Essential to a Great Relationship

"Mother Teresa Prayer"

Never Let Anyone Get Your Goat

Quotes about Resentment

Quotes about Forgiveness

Quotes about Mistakes

Quotes about Moving On

Leap

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
- Robert F. Kennedy

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

It is not because life is difficult
that we do not dare.
Life is difficult
because we do not dare.
- Seneca

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

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: Live Courageously

Live Your Greatest Life

Take Action - Now

Be Unstoppable

The story behind "the jump is so frightening" - Mary Anne Radmacher

Being Happy

Happiness is a choice.
- Anonymous

Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions,
it is governed by our mental attitude.
- Dale Carnegie

Whoever is happy will make others happy, too.
- Anne Frank

Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you
shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
- Helen Keller

Laugh when you can,
apologize when you should,
and let go of what you can't change.
Life's too short to be anything... but happy.
- Anonymous

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

7 Secrets for a Happy Life

Joy is a Choice - but Not an Easy Choice

How to be Happy in Life by Breaking the Cycle of Self-Inflicted Suffering

Quotes about Being Happy

Quotes about Being Strong

Growing Up Quotes

Never Give Up Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

A Small Quiet Voice

The false can never grow into truth by growing in power.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Beware of false knowledge;
it is more dangerous than ignorance.
- George Bernard Shaw

A generous heart, kind speech,
and a life of service and compassion
are the things which renew humanity.
- The Buddha

The human voice can never reach the distance
that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Righteousness does not speak in the powerful voices blaring from your television. Righteousness speaks in a small quiet voice from deep within your own soul.

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Grant That I May Radiate (prayer)

Quotes about Conscience

Quotes about Compassion

Good Samaritan

Inner Voice Quotes

Quotes about Wealth and Power (caution, not inspirational)

Uplifting

As we light a path for others, we naturally light our own way. - Mary Anne Radmacher 

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

 Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less. - Marie Curie 

 The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. - Mitch Albom 

 It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. - Chinese proverb often quoted by Eleanor Roosevelt 

 May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie 

 Further reading: The Secret of Happiness 

  How to Choose Your Life Purpose 

  Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation

Being Strong

He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions. - Louisa May Alcott 

 Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world. - Helen Keller 

 Do not pray for an easier life. Pray to be a stronger person. - John F. Kennedy (paraphrase) 

 Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. - Mohandas Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) 

 Further reading: Gather Strength 

  A New Day 

  Storms

Thanksgiving

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, Thank you, that would suffice. - Meister Eckhart As we join hands in fellowship around this bountiful table, we give thanks for the blessings of this food and the love of these friends as a symbol of our gratitude for all the manifold blessings of this life. - Jonathan Lockwood Huie Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. - Melody Beattie A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues. - Cicero Give thanks for the rainbows, for the butterflies, for all God's creatures - large and small, for the bright blue sky and the soft fog and the gentle rain, for the tree veiled in the season's first frost, for the baby's laugh, for the touch of a hand and the whispered "I love you." - Jonathan Lockwood Huie Further reading: Let Each Day be a Thanksgiving A List of Gratitudes - a Thanksgiving

Show Your Gratitude

One thing I know: the only ones among you
who will be really happy are those
who will have sought and found how to serve.
- Albert Schweitzer

Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

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

Show your gratitude for life through your service - especially service to future generations.

Further reading: Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Plant Trees For Your Grandchildren

Be of Service

Quotes about Service

Quotes about Purpose

Quotes about Values

Quotes about Morality

Right Path Quotes

Thanks for Life Itself

It is neither wealth nor splendor;
but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness.
- Thomas Jefferson

With gratitude, all life appears as a blessing -
without gratitude, all of life
is perceived as a burden.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Appreciate again and again, freshly and naively,
the basic goods of life, with awe,
pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy,
however stale these experiences may have become to others.
- Abraham Maslow

The way to happiness is what I call Zero-Based Gratitude.
Each day be happy and grateful for what you have,
independent of yesterday and of other people.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Zero-Based Gratitude

Regarding gratitude and life
     

Urgency

Don't hurry. Don't worry.
You're only here for a short visit.
So don't forget to stop and smell the roses.
- Walter Hagen

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.
Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever,
even if your whole world seems upset.
- Saint Francis de Sales

Who forces time is pushed back by time;
who yields to time finds time on his side.
- The Talmud

When you feel the need to hurry,
remember that everything in life is a CHOICE.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

Further reading: Quotes about Urgency

Quotes about Balance

Quotes about Gratitude

Quotes about Simplicity

Quotes about Time

Quotes about Walking

Know Thyself - Then Trust Thyself

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it,
or who said it, no matter if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
- The Buddha

Remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
- Confucius

A 'No' uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater
than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please,
or what is worse, to avoid trouble.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

It all depends on how we look at things,
and not how they are in themselves.
- Carl Jung

Know Thyself - Then Trust Thyself.

Further reading: How to Make a Decision You Won't Regret

How to Gain Self Confidence

Life is All in the Perspective We Take on It

Quotes that Make You Think

Words of Wisdom

Insightful Quotes

Quotes about Knowledge

Funny Quotes to Live By

Often wise advice is easier to accept when it is presented with humor. Mark Twain and Oscar Wilde were masters of telling a cute story that embodied great wisdom about life. 

Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest. - Mark Twain 

 Always listen to the experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it. - Robert Heinlein

 The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself. - Oscar Wilde 

 A remark generally hurts in proportion to its truth. - Will Rogers 

 Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. - the movie Forrest Gump 

 The most difficult phase of life is not when no one understands you, it is when you don't understand yourself. - Anonymous 

 Further reading: Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life 

  How to Get Un-Stuck 

  How to Choose Your Life Purpose

The Commonplace

Look at everything as though you were seeing it
either for the first or last time.
Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.
- Betty Smith

A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin;
what else does a man need to be happy?
- Albert Einstein

In all my ways of seeing - may I use new glasses,
a telescope and a microscope.
And may I always allow myself to see a circumstance
through the tender hearts of my friends.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
- Henry David Thoreau

Allow yourself to truly appreciate the pleasures of the commonplace - a comfortable chair, a good book, a bowl of homemade soup, conversation with your best friend.

Further reading: Contented Living

Simplification

Simple Joys

Choose Inner Peace and a Less Stressful Life

Commonplace Quotes

Quotes about Simplicity

Quotes about Seeing

Quotes about Appreciation

Believe in Yourself

Whatever your work and whatever its worth,
No matter how strong or clever,
Some one will sneer if you pause to hear,
And scoff at your best endeavor.
For the target art has a broad expanse,
And wherever you chance to hit it,
Though close be your aim to the bull’s-eye fame,
There are those who will never admit it.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Many people allow their need
for other people's approval to control their lives.
They spend their lives worrying about what others think of them.
- Rick Warren

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation.
- John Wooden

Do not look for approval
except for the consciousness of doing your best.
- Andrew Carnegie

Further reading: How To Not Care What Others Think

Need For Approval

How to Deal with Rejection

Self Confidence

How to Be Yourself

Approval Quotes

Reputation Quotes

Quotes about Character

Quotes about Honor

I Can Endure

You must do the things you think you cannot do.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

We cannot choose our external circumstances,
but we can always choose how to respond to them.
- Epictetus

If patience is worth anything,
it must endure to the end of time.
And a living faith will last
in the midst of the blackest storm.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Hopefully, you are healthy and joyful on most of your days. On those other days, understand that there are days to take action, and there are days to simply endure what seems that it cannot be endured - whether physical pain, the loss of a loved one, or some other severe hardship.

Further reading: Grace

Attitude is Everything

Zero-Based Gratitude

The Serenity Prayer

Cope With Loss, Grief and the Fear of Your Own Mortality

Quotes about Being Strong

Endure Quotes

Quotes about Strength

Quotes about Suffering

Life Journey

When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor.
It's to enjoy each step along the way.
- Wayne Dyer

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
- Lao Tzu

Happiness isn't at the end of the rainbow.
Happiness is at the beginning of the rainbow.
Following the rainbow is happiness,
not getting to the end of it.
- Werner Erhard

It is good to have an end to journey towards;
but it is the journey that matters in the end.
- Ursula K. Le Guin

Life is a journey. It is not a race to test who can finish first or who can end up with the most loot. Rather, life is best enjoyed as a meander - watching the view to left and right - above and below - as the days slowly move past in dress review.

Further reading: What If Every Day Were Your Day

Go With the Flow

Time, Like Life Itself, Has No Inherent Meaning

Follow Your Dreams

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

The secret of making dreams come true can be summarized in four C's.
They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy;
and the greatest of these is Confidence.
- Walt Disney

The resources we need to turn our dreams into reality are within us,
merely waiting for the day when we decide to wake up and claim our birthright.
- Anthony Robbins

Live a Life of Bold and Courageous Action Inspired by Powerful Dreams.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You can put my free Daily Inspirational Quote widget (with a new quote each day) on your own blog, website, email signature, or anywhere else that accepts html.

<a href="http://www.jlhuie.com/"><img src="http://www.inspirational-wisdom-quotes.com/diq/" alt="" /></a>

Further reading: The Secret of Happiness

How to Think Positive

How to Build Self Esteem

How to Motivate Yourself

Follow Your Dreams Quotes

Quotes about Helping Others

Attitude Quotes

Mottos

Values

Honor, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Choice,
Vision, Action, Celebration, Unity -
The Values of an Inspired Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There are only four questions of value in life...
What is sacred?
Of what is the spirit made?
What is worth living for,
and what is worth dying for?
The answer to each is the same: only love.
- Johnny Depp as Don Juan in the movie Don Juan De Marco

To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Meaningful and joyful lives are lived by adhering to one's personal value system - one's principles. Today, write your six to eight most important values on an index card, and refer to that card as you go about your life today.

Further reading: Eight Points of An Inspired Life - Keys to Happiness

Daily Journaling - How to Begin a Rewarding Journaling Practice

Where There is Love, Nothing is Missing - a Parable

Choose Inner Peace

My own Quotes about Values

Affirmations

Quotes about Attitude

Blessings

Quotes about Faith

Inspired Living

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. - George Bernard Shaw Whatever you can do, or dream you can, Begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it, Begin it now. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe When you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance. - Lee Ann Womack Living an inspired life comes from the living of it - the taking action - and not from the wanting, or the hoping, or even from the dreaming and the planing, unless the dreams and plans are followed by bold action. Further reading: Living Your Inspired Life (video) Create yourself Don't Wait! Bad habits Inspiring Others

Patriotism (Veterans Day)

On this Veterans Day, let us honor both those who served their country, and the values they fought to protect.

Government of the people,
by the people,
for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.
- Abraham Lincoln - Gettysburg, Pennsylvania - November 19, 1863

My fellow Americans,
ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country.
- John F. Kennedy

Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
- written on the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor

A Bill of Rights is what the people are
entitled to against every government,
and what no just government should refuse.
- Thomas Jefferson

Further reading: Hero

Remember

Difficult Choices

Abraham Lincoln Quotes

Thomas Jefferson Quotes

John F. Kennedy Quotes

Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes

Have Big Goals

Talk not of the river or lake
To those who have looked on the sea.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Life is a great big canvas,
and you should throw all the paint you can on it.
- Danny Kaye

The big question is whether you are going to be able
to say a hearty yes to your adventure.
- Joseph Campbell

Believe in yourself. Dream big dreams.
Set important goals. Take action on those goals.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Boldly Sail the Storms of Life

Dare to Dream of Your Great Success - Mary Anne Radmacher

Vision (Life Purpose)

How to Succeed in Business

Quotes about Dreams

Quotes about Goals

Quotes about Purpose

Learning Through Observation

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. - Marcel Proust 

From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own. - Publilius Syrus 

 Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so is he. - Publilius Syrus 

Be aware of what is going on around you today - truly conscious. Don't make assumptions. Focus on looking behind the obvious. 

 Further reading: The Brick - a story of brotherly love 

  Awareness and Assumptions Releasing Expectations 

  Perspective on Tradition: An Open Mind 

  Life is All in the Perspective We Take on It

Ways to live your life

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

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
- Helen Keller

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 choice - choose wisely.
- jlh

Further reading: Be Yourself

Live Your Greatest Life

Difficulty

How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Truth

Use the power of your word
in the direction of truth and love.
- don Miguel Ruiz

An error does not become truth
by reason of multiplied propagation,
nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie,
deliberate, contrived and dishonest,
but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.
- John F. Kennedy

The problem with making assumptions
is that we believe they are the truth
- don Miguel Ruiz

Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters
cannot be trusted in large ones either.
- Albert Einstein

Truth - real objective truth, without assumptions, without easy answers - is a very important thing.

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose How To Not Care What Others Think Don Miguel Ruiz: The Four Agreements

Endings and New Beginnings

To everything there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1

Just when the caterpillar thought
the world was over, it became a butterfly.
- Anonymous

The winds of grace are always blowing;
all we need to do is raise our sails.
- Anonymous

Accept endings cheerfully, for they clear the way for new beginnings.

Further reading: Unanswered Prayers

Renewal and Rebirth - The Great Cycle

Life is All in the Perspective We Take on It
            

Keep Smiling

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy. - Thich Nhat Hanh It is easy enough to be pleasant When life flows by like a song, But the man worth while is the one who will smile When everything goes dead wrong. - Ella Wheeler Wilcox Just smiling goes a long way toward making you feel better about life. And when you feel better about life, your life is better. - Art Linkletter Smile and the world smiles with you. - Anonymous Further reading: Choose Joy Feel Happier Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat Staying Cheerful

Stay Positive

We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within. - Earl Nightingale 

 Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. - Zig Ziglar 

 When life gives you lemons, Make Lemonade. - Anonymous saying 

 What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 Every day is a day to have a positive attitude. Smile and keep positive regardless of the circumstances that attempt to beat you down. 

 Further reading: How to Think Positive 

  Get Un-Stuck 

  Staying Positive Around Negative People 

  Not disabilities at all - more Abilities. - Patrick Henry Hughes 

  Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor 

  Love of Golf - DJ Gregory

Keep Your Head

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you... - Rudyard Kipling When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible. - Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now How to Think Positive How to Make a Decision You Won't Regret

Sharing

Live boldly. Laugh Loudly. Love Truly.
Play as often as you can
Work as smart as you are able.
Share your heart as deeply as you can reach.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

No one has ever become poor by giving.
- Anne Frank

You can't live a perfect day without doing something
for someone who will never be able to repay you.
- John Wooden

We all share unity with each other
and with the one Creator Spirit.
We are one.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today, share the goodness of your life with someone you don't yet know.

Further reading: The Secret of Happiness

Plant Trees For Your Grandchildren

Unity (with Spirit and All Creation)

How to Share Your Thoughts With the World

Quotes about Sharing

Quotes about Kindness

Quotes about Compassion

Quotes about Forgiveness

Quotes about Gratitude

Friendship

A true friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself.
- Anonymous

Friends share our pain and touch our wounds
with a gentle and tender hand.
- Henri Nouwen

Friendship must dare to risk, or it's not friendship.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation

Friends are helpful not only because they will listen to us,
but because they will laugh at us;
Through them we learn a little objectivity,
a little modesty, a little courtesy;
We learn the rules of life and become better players of the game.
- Will Durant

Be thankful for, and respectful of, old friends and new friends, good friends and great friends.

Further reading: Happy Friends, Happy You

Feeling Used and Left Out

Comparisons are Odious