Setting A Good Example

Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating. Youngsters need good models more than they need critics. It's one of a parent's greatest responsibilities and opportunities.
- John Wooden

The full measure of a man is
not to be found in the man himself,
but in the colors and textures that
come alive in others because of him.
- Albert Schweitzer

A good example is the best sermon.
- Benjamin Franklin 

Your example is far more influential and inspiring than any words of instruction, or threats, or even words of encouragement.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

It is important to set a good example for your children, your loved ones, your community, and future generations. Setting a good example becomes automatic if you always do your best. When you do your best, you never have to worry about having a negative impact on another.

Further reading: Pay It Forward

Plant Trees For Your Grandchildren

Jimmy Yen - My Personal Greatest Hero

 

Unhappiness

It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are,
or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy.
It is what you think about.
- Dale Carnegie

Simply put, you believe that things
or people make you unhappy,
but this is not accurate.
You make yourself unhappy.
- Wayne Dyer

I am determined to be cheerful and happy
in whatever situation I may find myself.
For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness
is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.
- Martha Washington

All unhappiness comes from either
having less than yesterday,
or from having less than one's neighbor.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Comparisons are odious

The Secret of Happiness

Joy is a Choice - but Not an Easy Choice

Quotes about Unhappiness

Quotes about Happiness

Quotes about Choice

Positive Thinking Quotes

Words of Encouragement

Be Strong Quotes

Inner Knowing

Your inner knowing is your only true compass.
- Joy Page

To know the whole world is nothing
when it is compared to knowing your own inner mystery of life.
- Osho

Stride forward with a firm, steady step knowing with a deep,
certain inner knowing that you will reach every goal you set yourselves,
that you will achieve every aim .
- Eileen Caddy

Today's affirmation: I follow my own star and my own inner compass.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Cope with Loneliness

Need For Approval

The important differences between self esteem and self confidence

Quotes about Inner Knowing

Compass Quote

Quotes about Mystery

Quotes about Life

Meaning of Life Quotes

Deep Quotes about Life

Risk

The trouble is,
if you don't risk anything,
you risk even more.
- Erica Jong

With courage you will dare to take risks,
have the strength to be compassionate,
and the wisdom to be humble.
Courage is the foundation of integrity.
- Keshavan Nair

I have accepted fear as a part of life -
specifically the fear of change...
I have gone ahead despite the pounding
in the heart that says: turn back.
- Erica Jong

Life is defined more by its risks than by its samenesses.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Further reading: The Jump is So Frightening - Mary Anne Radmacher

Risk a Little

How to Make a Decision You Won't Regret

Time

Time, like life itself, has no inherent meaning.
We give our own meaning to time as to life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

There is only one time that is important - NOW!
It is the most important time because
it is the only time that we have any power.
- Leo Tolstoy

You will never find time for anything.
If you want time you must make it.
- Charles Buxton

Today's affirmation: I choose never to be a prisoner of urgency.

Further reading:

Overwhelm

Time, Like Life Itself, Has No Inherent Meaning

Life and Death: Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005 (video)

Fully Alive

We can only be said to be truly alive in those moments
when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
- Thornton Wilder

Start living now.
Stop saving the good china
for that special occasion.
Stop withholding your love
until that special person materializes.
Every day you are alive is a special occasion.
Every minute, every breath, is a gift from God.
- Mary Manin Morrissey

Our lives are to be used and thus to be lived as fully as possible,
and truly it seems that we are never so alive as when
we concern ourselves with other people.
- Harry Chapin

Be curious; be adventurous; live life full-out.
Accept the challenge, and reach for the brass ring.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Living from Love or From Fear?

Play to win, but be a good loser

Break Old Patterns of Action

Self-Awareness Quotes

Innocence Quotes

Self-Worth Quotes

Quotes about Hearts

Quotes about Joy

Adventure Quotes

Curiosity Quotes

Morality

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

Aim above morality.
Be not simply good,
be good for something.
- Henry David Thoreau

A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences,
in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures -
and that is the basis of all human morality.
- John F. Kennedy - Profiles in Courage (1956)

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Live so that when your children think of fairness,
caring and integrity, they think of you.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Further reading: How to Choose Your Life Purpose

How to Make a Decision You Won't Regret

Jimmy Yen - My Personal Greatest Hero

Love Your Life

I have found that if you love life,
life will love you back.
- Arthur Rubinstein

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

This is my wish for you:
Comfort on difficult days,
Smiles when sadness intrudes,
Rainbows to follow the clouds,
Laughter to kiss your lips,
Sunsets to warm your heart,
Hugs when spirits sag,
Beauty for your eyes to see,
Friendships to brighten your being,
Faith so that you can believe,
Confidence for when you doubt,
Courage to know yourself,
Patience to accept the truth,
Love to complete your life.
- Anonymous

Live life with no regrets and no resentments.
Whatever happened in the past,
forgive yourself and others. Choose love.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Secret of Happiness

Happy Friends, Happy You

How to Think Positive

Thanksgiving

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

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

If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.
- W. Clement Stone

I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

Further reading: A List of Gratitudes

Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Zero-Based Gratitude

Thanksgiving Quotes

Gratitude Quotes

Blessings

Quotes about Being Thankful

Quotes about Sharing

Quotes about Celebration

Choosing a Path

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ...
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference.
- Robert Frost

In the midst of the flurry - clarity.
In the midst of the storm - calm.
In the midst of divided interests - certainty.
In the many roads - a certain choice.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness.
Just because they're not on your road
doesn't mean they've gotten lost.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
- the character Morpheus in the movie The Matrix

Further reading: Dream Big Dreams

How to Choose Your Life Purpose

Follow Your Dreams

Path Quotes

Beginnings

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
- Anonymous

From small beginnings come great things.
- Anonymous

Do the difficult things while they are easy
and do the great things while they are small.
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
- Lao Tzu

With every rising of the sun
Think of your life as just begun.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Further reading: Actions Speak Louder Than Words
 
It is never too late to begin
 
Declare Victory

Quotes about Beginnings

Quotes about Today

Empowering Quotes

New Beginning Quotes

Encouraging Quotes

Lao Tzu Quotes

Simple Good Things

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

All the great things are simple,
and many can be expressed in a single word:
freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
- Winston Churchill

It is of the small joys and little pleasures
that the greatest of our days are built.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

May a thread of comfort be woven through your difficult days.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

Love Your Neighbor

When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop,
striped and dotted with continents and islands,
flying through space with other stars
all singing and shining together as one,
the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.
- John Muir

Be kind whenever possible; and it is always possible.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
- Mother Teresa

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it:
'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
- Matthew 22:36-40

Give to your relatives, and to the needy, and to travelers.
Do not squander your wealth in wantonness.
- Quran 17:26

Compassion is the basis of morality.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

Flatter not thyself in thy faith in God if thou hast
not charity for thy neighbor.
- Francis Quarles

We are all neighbors on this small planet we share.

Further reading: The Brick - a story of brotherly love

The Nature of Belief

Unity (with Spirit and All Creation)

Quotes about Compassion

Love Your Neighbor Quotes

Quotes about Unity

Quotes about Charity

Bible Quotes on Love

Kindness Quotes

Making a Difference

Act as if what you do makes a difference.
It does.
- William James

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?
- George Eliot

We must remember that one determined person can make
a significant difference,
and that a small group of determined people
can change the course of history.
- Sonia Johnson

Almost nothing you worry about today
will matter in a hundred years.
Think carefully about what you can focus on today.
Choose tasks that will actually make a positive difference
to your great-grandchildren.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Life Purpose - another look

Eight Rules for Living Your Greatest Life

Plant Trees For Your Grandchildren

Helping Others Quotes

The Future Quotes

Quotes about Making a Difference

Goals Quotes

Meaning of Life Quotes

Cooperation Quotes

Enjoying Life

Life is not about perfection -
or a quest for perfection.
Life is about enjoying what we have -
for as long as we have it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

No man is a failure who is enjoying life.
- William Feather

If we like what we do, if we always do our best,
then we are really enjoying life.
We are having fun, we don't get bored,
we don't have frustrations.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day;
live life to the fullest;
make the most of what you have.
It is later than you think.
- Horace

Further reading: Great Truths

Overcome Being Negative

Transformation

Quotes about Enjoying Life

Live Life to the Fullest Quotes

Life Is Beautiful Quotes

Carpe Diem Quotes (seize the day)

Mottos to Live By

Quotes That Make You Think Twice

Confidence

Trust your own inner guidance.
Have faith that your steps are
carrying you toward your dreams.
Keep your eyes on the heavens
and believe that your feet will carry you well.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When I let go of what I am,
I become what I might be.
- Lao Tzu

When I'm trusting and being myself...
everything in my life reflects this
by falling into place easily, often miraculously.
- Shakti Gawain

Fear is the cheapest room in the house.
I would like to see you living
In better conditions.
- Hafiz

Further reading: How to Gain Self Confidence

7 Secrets of Happy Couples

How to be Successful in Business

Confidence Quotes

Fear Quotes

Quotes about Trust

Positive Attitude Quotes

Quotes to Live By

Self-Confidence Quotes

Grace and Gratitude

Grace has been defined as the outward expression
of the inward harmony of the soul.
- William Hazlitt

Life is a gift, and I try to respond with grace and courtesy.
- Maya Angelou

Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that God
gives us to control our fears,
not to oust them.
- Vincent McNabb

Your worst days are never so bad
that you are beyond the reach of God's grace.
And your best days are never so good
that you are beyond the need of God's grace.
- Anonymous

Play to win, but be a good loser.
Have a plan for your life,
but accept whatever comes your way
with grace and gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be Gentle with Yourself

How to Stay Young 

Aging With Grace

Serenity Prayer

Quotes about Grace

Quotes about Harmony

Quotes about Courtesy

Thanksgiving Quotes

Words of Encouragement

Diversity

Try a new perspective on diversity.
Across the country and around the world,
we are all one.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity
are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note.
- Doug Floyd

Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common.
Celebrate it every day.
- Anonymous

You never really understand a person
until you consider things from his point of view.
- Harper Lee

Today, as I wish great happiness to our Hindu and Jain friends celebrating the first of 5 days of Diwali - (the Festival of Lights), I am again reminded of the diversity and wonderful spirit of so many people around our world.  Approximately 30% of the 80,000 subscribers to these Daily Inspirations live outside the United States. There are readers in 197 of the world's 203 countries, and Daily Inspiration readers represent a wide spectrum of belief systems. Yet there is something in these encouraging daily messages that unites us all.

Further reading: Spirit transcends all cultural differences

Perspective on Belief

We Are One

Diversity Quotes

Celebrate Life Quotes

Quotes about Differences

Quotes about Gentleness

Quotes about Perspective

Quotes about Harmony

Rainy Day

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to Dance in the Rain.
- Vivian Greene

Some people are making such thorough preparation for
rainy days that they aren't enjoying today's sunshine.
- William Feather

Give thanks for the rain in your life
which waters the flowers of your soul.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

This is the day which the Lord has made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalms 118:24

Further reading: Gratitude for All of Life

Perspective

What a Wonderful World

Rainy Day Quotes

Have A Good Day Quotes

Rain Quotes

Life is Beautiful Quotes

Rainbow Quotes

Uplifting Quotes

Thank You

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was,
Thank you, that would suffice.
- Meister Eckhart

Thank you, God, for this good life
and forgive us if we do not love it enough.
- Garrison Keillor

Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves
to recognize how good things really are.
- Marianne Williamson

I thank you God for this most amazing day,
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and for the blue dream of sky
and for everything which is natural,
which is infinite, which is yes.
- e. e. cummings

Further reading: Unanswered Prayers

Zero-Based Gratitude

How God Works (humorous story)

Thank You Quotes

Nature Quotes

Quotes about Being Thankful

Words of Comfort

Appreciation Quotes

Giving Thanks Quotes

Your Gift

Your life is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be opened.
- Wayne Muller

Let us not look back in anger
or forward in fear,
but around in awareness.
- James Thurber

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
- Lao Tzu

Happiness is not the absence of problems,
but the willingness to deal with them joyfully.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Expectations - Demands

Overcome Being Negative

Break Old Patterns of Action

Gift Quotes

Life Changes Quotes

Quotes about Problems

Gratitude Quotes

Positive Quotes

Never Look Back Quotes

Live Gently

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

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

I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize.
The first is gentleness;
the second is frugality;
the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others.
Be gentle and you can be bold;
be frugal and you can be generous;
avoid putting yourself before others
and you can become a leader among men.
- Lao Tzu

Smile.
Today would be a wonderful day
not to take life so seriously.
Today may end up the way you prefer -
and it may not.
Happiness is not about being a winner -
it's about being gentle with life -
being gentle with yourself.
Let life be a dance,
and choose the kind of
dance you want for today -
perhaps a gentle loving dance.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Depressed? Laugh!

Tending the Garden of Our Lives

Is There Virtue In Avoiding Battles?

Encouraging Thoughts

Gather strength from life's storms.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.
- Bill Cosby

All things at first appear difficult.
- Chinese proverb

Nothing in life is to be feared.
It is only to be understood.
- Marie Curie

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Further reading: How to Cope With Life

Coping with the Impossible

How to Forgive and Move On

Encouraging Quotes

Be Strong Quotes

Quotes about Being Happy 

Inspirational Quotes To Live By

Moving On Quotes

Relationship Quotes

Cooperation

The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.
- Bertrand Russell

If you want to be incrementally better: Be competitive.
If you want to be exponentially better: Be cooperative.
- Anonymous

We must all hang together,
or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
- Benjamin Franklin

Alone we can do so little;
together we can do so much.
- Helen Keller

The choice is to work alone to be a little
more successful than the next person,
or to work together for the great betterment of humanity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Happy Friends, Happy You

How to Keep a Positive Attitude Around Negative People

Overcome Being Negative

Is There Virtue In Avoiding Battles?

Cooperation Quotes

Competition Quotes

Determination Quotes

Teamwork Quotes

Working Together Quotes

Community Service Quotes

Vote

Please remind your family and friends to vote today.

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone,
and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
- John Quincy Adams

Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.
- William E. Simon

Voting is the foundational act that breathes life into
the principle of the consent of the governed.
- DeForest Soaries

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
- Native American Proverb

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold
is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
- Thomas Jefferson

Don't follow any advice, no matter how good,
until you feel as deeply in your spirit
as you think in your mind
that the counsel is wise.
- Joan Rivers

Further reading: What is Your Dream

Tending the Garden of Our Lives

Overcome Being Negative

Leadership Quotes

Winnie The Pooh Quotes

Unity Quotes

Strong Women Quotes

Self Esteem Quotes

Respect Quotes

Climb Every Mountain

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

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere,
and many of us will have to pass
through the valley of the shadow of death
again and again before we reach
the mountaintop of our desires.
- Nelson Mandela

I just want to do God's will.
And he's allowed me to go to the mountain.
And I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land!
I may not get there with you,
but I want you to know tonight that
we as a people will get to the promised land.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

Further reading: Why be Reasonable?

Love or Fear?

Daily Renewal

Mountain Quotes

Shadow Quotes

Promise Quotes

Freedom Quotes

Words of Encouragement

Inspirational Quotes

Love One Another

Where there is great love there are always miracles.
- Willa Cather

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

As selfishness and complaint
pervert and cloud the mind,
so love with its joy
clears and sharpens the vision.
- Helen Keller

A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
- Jesus of Nazareth (John 13:34)

Do to others as you would have them do to you.
- Luke 6:31 (the "Golden Rule")

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need
but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?
- 1 John 3:17

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

The Brick - a story of brotherly love

Regarding gratitude and life

Quotes about Love

Bible Quotes on Love

Quotes about Generosity

Compassion Quotes

Quotes about Gratitude

Mother Teresa Quotes

Overcoming Fear

Know that the greatest fear is fear of the unknown.
Seek to meet the unknown with courage and a sense of adventure.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

In this world there is always danger
for those who are afraid of it.
- George Bernard Shaw

Fear makes strangers of people
who would otherwise be friends.
- Shirley MacLaine

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Fear defeats more people than
any other one thing in the world.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Further reading: Eight Rules for Living Your Greatest Life

Depressed? Laugh!

Is Hope Futile?

Quotes about Fear

Overcoming Obstacles Quotes

Quotes about Worry

Quotes about Trouble

Living Life to the Fullest Quotes

Quotes about The Unknown

Let Your Light Shine

As we let our light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence actually liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson

The brightest stars are those who
shine for the benefit of others.
- Anonymous

Your success will shine as a light of hope
and inspire numbers you cannot total.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Affirmation:
I shine my light of happiness into the darkness of negativity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Fulfill the promise that is within you

Action

Grant That I May Radiate

Light Quotes

Shine Quotes

Darkness Quotes

Quotes about the Stars

Quotes about Hope

Quotes to Encourage You

Seeking

There is beauty and adventure in the commonplace
for those with eyes to see beyond.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

Believe those who are seeking the truth.
Doubt those who find it.
- Andre Gide

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness.
Just because they're not on your road
doesn't mean they've gotten lost.
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.


Further reading:  Become Your Own Greatest Hero

Boldly Sail the Storms of Life

The Jump is So Frightening - Mary Anne Radmacher

Seeking Quotes

Beauty Quotes

Adventure Quotes

Quotes about Discovery

Quotes about Eyes

Seek Quotes