Defending the Rights of Others

I disapprove of what you say,
but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
- Unknown, but commonly attributed to Voltaire

To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains,
but to live in a way that respects
and enhances the freedom of others.
- Nelson Mandela

Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech.
Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.
- Neal Boortz

Without free speech, no search for truth is possible.
- Charles Bradlaugh

The whole point of Freedom-of-Speech
is supporting the right of others
to say things you find personally offensive.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
- Abraham Lincoln

Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game.
Free speech is life itself.
- Salman Rushdie

It is easy to believe in freedom of speech for those with whom we agree.
- Leo McKern

We should silence anyone who opposes the right to freedom of speech.
- Boyle Roche (hopefully said satirically)

One of the surest ways to cause
yourself great suffering
is to insist upon being right -
to demand that all others view life
exactly as you view it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Independence - Liberty - Freedom

Point of View

Our Bond of Humanity
         

Your Eagle Wings

 

Let today be a day to soar -
soar your spirits, soar your joy,
soar your belief in yourself.
Let all aspects of your life soar.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Protect your vision.
Prevail over adversity.
Persevere in the midst of turmoil.
Passionately act upon your convictions.
Purposely walk into the day.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

We are strange beings, we seem
to go free, but we go in chains -
chains of training, custom, convention,
association, environment -
in a word, Circumstance -
and against these bonds
the strongest of us struggle in vain.
- Mark Twain

Today's affirmation:
I soar on eagle wings,
high above the madness of the world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Soar, It's Your Natural State

Fly Life on Free Wings

No Limits on Your Life
     

National Voter Registration Day 2021

 

National Voter Registration Day is an American National Holiday celebrating our democracy, and reminding ALL citizens to register and to vote. It is celebrated each fourth Tuesday of September - in 2021, on September 28.

PLEASE: Register to Vote - and Vote!

Voting for the kind of America you believe in
is one of the greatest gifts you can give your grandchildren.
In many ways, our future is determined as much by local school boards and city councils as by federal officials.

Make a difference.

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

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.
- R. Buckminster Fuller

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

- Thomas Jefferson

Bad politicians are sent to Washington [and state and local government] by good people who don't vote.
- William E. Simon

Voting is an expression of three key life principles -
CHOICE, INTENT, and ACTION.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: You Are What You Do

Either Accept It, or Change It

Walk Your Path

True Measure of a Successful Life

    

Do What You Know Is Right

 

Value your own opinion more, and others' opinions less.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To free us from the expectations of others,
to give us back to ourselves -
there lies the great singular power of self-respect.
- Joan Didion

That you may retain your self-respect, it is better
to displease the people by doing what you know is right,
than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong.
- William J. H. Boetcker

Celebration wears a lot of different outfits but always wears the same old, beautiful dancing shoes.
- Mary Anne Radmacher 

Everyone should carefully observe
which way his heart draws him,
and then choose that way with all his strength.
- Hasidic Proverb

To know what you prefer
instead of humbly saying Amen
to what the world tells you you ought to prefer,
is to have kept your soul alive.
- Robert Louis Stevenson

Resilience is about believing in yourself,
and trusting your own wisdom
rather than being swayed by the opinions of others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words and their actions are truly about themselves. Don't take it personally when they rant, even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.

While I appreciate how unpleasant it is to have others making unreasonable demands of you, it may help to remind yourself that it's not personal. Others are often 100% focused on their own issues and their own perceived needs. They project their frustration out into the mirror of life. When they look into that mirror, they think they are seeing your face, but in reality, they are seeing their own emotions.

Each of us is responsible for the consequences of our choices. When we choose for others rather than for ourselves, we suffer. Make all your choices from the longing of your own heart.

Gather all the facts.
Listen respectfully to others.
Be charitable to all.
And then make your own decisions.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Remember to love yourself and to take time for yourself.

Say NO to the demands of the world.
Say YES to the longings of your own heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Make Your Own Choices

Your Intuition is Your Guide

At the Center of Your Being

Experts and Authorities

How to Be Yourself

Personal Boundaries
       

You are Unlimited

What is real is beyond all reach.
- Julian Green

We know nothing at all.
All our knowledge is but the knowledge of schoolchildren.
The real nature of things we shall never know.
- Albert Einstein

Each one has to find his peace from within.
And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Dispassionate objectivity is itself a passion,
for the real and for the truth.
- Abraham Maslow

The wise man looks into space,
and does not regard the small as too little,
nor the great as too much;
for he knows that there is no limit to dimensions.
- Lao Tzu

True religion is real living;
living with all one's soul,
with all one's goodness and righteousness.
- Albert Einstein

Know that you are unlimited.

Today's affirmation: I have ready access to a power beyond my wildest imagination.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Go Beyond

Abundance

Beauty and Adventure

The time has come

FEAR
       

Our Task is to Generate Beauty and Happiness

 

In these times of health, political, social, and economic challenge,
it is our task to generate beauty and happiness for ourselves
rather than hoping to "find" them.

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us or we find it not.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The beauty does not live out there; the beauty's in my eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The sculptor produces the beautiful statue
by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed -
it is a process of elimination.
- Elbert Hubbard

Perspective. Point-of-view. Is something ugly, or beautiful?
Noble or insensitive? There are six billion ways of seeing life.
Trust your own inner eye for beauty.

Outer show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
- Aesop

Further reading: How to Build Self Esteem

How to Love Yourself

How to Feel Good About Yourself          

Gain Strength by Overcoming Obstacles

 

One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles
possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.

- Albert Schweitzer

Real obstacles don't take you in circles.

They can be overcome.
Invented ones are like a maze.
- Barbara Sher

Obstacles are like wild animals.
They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can.
If they see you are afraid of them...
they are liable to spring upon you;
but if you look them squarely in the eye,
they will slink out of sight.
- Orison Swett Marden

Press on.
Obstacles are seldom the same size tomorrow as they are today.
- Robert H. Schuller

Further reading: Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life

Later is Never

Learn to Motivate Yourself
       

Focus on Progress, Not on Blame

 

All the world is full of suffering.
It is also full of overcoming.
- Helen Keller

When you are offended at any man's fault,
turn to yourself and study your own failings.
Then you will forget your anger.
- Epictetus

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

Ninety-nine percent of the failures
come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
- George Washington Carver

Where there is no accusation of "fault,"
there can be no anger.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
- Japanese Proverb

Sometimes "bad" things just happen. Try to avoid lashing out at whoever is handiest - your spouse, your family, your friend, the government, God.

Direct your attention to finding a way forward,
rather than on assigning blame.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How to Deal with Anger

Revenge is Never the Answer

When You Have Been Wronged
      

Fear No Evil

 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me

- Psalm 23

Faith has to do with things that are not seen
and hope with things that are not at hand.
- Saint Thomas Aquinas

Faith is the bird that feels the light
and sings when the dawn is still dark.
- Rabindranath Tagore

The antidotes for worry are gratitude, action, service, and faith.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There is nothing that wastes the body like worry,
and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed
to worry about anything whatsoever.
- Mohandas Gandhi

Further reading: Edge of All You Know

Harmony of the Soul

Don't Worry about Tomorrow

Don't Let One Cloud
     

Let Your Spirit Soar

 

The only limits in our life are those we impose on ourselves.
- Bob Proctor

May your mind whirl joyful cartwheels of creativity.
May your heart sing sweet lullabies of timelessness.
May your spirit soar throughout the vast cathedral of your being.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There are no great limits to growth because there are
no limits of human intelligence,
imagination, and wonder.
- Ronald Reagan

Further reading: Soar Your Spirit

How to Regain Your Dreams

Choose Your Life Purpose

The Edge

     

Be Flexible in Your Tactics

 

Be resolute in your goals,
but flexible in your tactics.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution.
If you don't have any problems, you don't get any seeds.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman,
before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.
- John Quincy Adams

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

Where there's a will, there's a way.
- old English proverb

Sometimes the way to the pot of gold on the other side of the mountain is to keep fighting up the steep slippery slope, but often it is better to walk around the mountain. Also consider refocusing your attention on another pot of gold that is even larger, shinier, and virtually at hand.

How often we keep banging our head into the same wall, or to use the phrase derived from Cervantes Don Quixote, "tilting at windmills." When a problem seems unsolvable, or a question appears unanswerable, consider that you may not be asking the best question.

In their own way, problems can be blessings.
They can be the prod to get us out of our complacency and into action.

Problems create an opportunity for us to exercise our ingenuity,
to plan, to persevere, to interact with our social network,
and to feel a sense of accomplishment when we finally overcome the unexpected roadblock.

In the midst of crisis, boldly seize opportunity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Problem-Solving Abilities

Be Flexible

Another Door Opens

Rising Again
    

Balance Service and Play, Both are Essential

 

Be Satisfied With Enough,
Work Enough (but not too much),
and Play Enough (but not too much).

Balance Service and Play, Both are Essential.
Take some time in a quiet place to contemplate
the balance between being of service -
both to this generation and to generations yet unborn -
and renewing your vitality with play and celebration.
Without play, one becomes old and dry.
Without service, life becomes meaningless.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little.
- Epicurus

It isn't enough to talk about peace.
One must believe in it.
And it isn't enough to believe in it.
One must work at it.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

He who can give thanks for little
will always find he has enough.
- Anonymous

We can do anything we want to
if we stick to it long enough.
- Helen Keller

Further reading: Abundance or Scarcity?

A List of Gratitudes

How to Balance Your Life

Comparisons are Odious
         

It Takes a Creative Mind to Ask the Right Questions

 

The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers,
but it takes a very creative mind to spot wrong questions.
- Antony Jay

The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.
- Albert Einstein

Make an empty space in any corner of your mind,
and creativity will instantly fill it.
- Dee Hock

To live a creative life
we must lose our fear of being wrong.
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement
and the thrill of creative effort.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority
has made the world better.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Creativity has more to do with the elimination of the
inessential than with inventing something new.
- Helmut Jahn

May your mind whirl joyful cartwheels of creativity.
Asking "What IF" is the essence of creativity.
It Takes a Creative Mind to Ask the Right Questions.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Discovery through New Eyes

Seek Your Own Wisdom

Welcome Inquiry, Discovery, and New Vistas

Scientific Thinking
        

Spend Time Alone in Nature

 

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.

- Henry David Thoreau

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.
If you can, walk near trees or water.

There is sanctuary in being alone with nature.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife...
- Thomas Gray

If a person walks in the woods and listens carefully,
he can learn more than what is in books,
for they speak with the voice of God.
- George Washington Carver

Further reading: Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now

What To Do When Your Whole World Is Falling Apart?

Renew Yourself

    

God is Found in Stillness

 

Find stillness and you find God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We need to find God,
and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness.
God is the friend of silence.
See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence;
see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...
We need silence to be able to touch souls.

- Mother Teresa

God is found in stillness.

To know God is to stop and be still.

Listen to the spirit within you.

Communion with God happens internally.

You will never meet God in the hustle and bustle of life.

Learn to be silent. It is here that you will find God.

- Tanya Guerrier

The style of God venerated in the church, mosque, or synagogue
seems completely different from the style of the natural universe.
- Alan Watts

In prayerful silence you must look into your own heart.
No one can tell you better than yourself
what comes between you and God.
Ask yourself.
Then listen!
- Johannes Tauler

There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery
that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it,
and fills it with noble inclinations.
- Washington Irving

If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet,
you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything.
- Alan Watts

Today's affirmation:
I am a Unique Expression
of the Universal Fabric of Creation.
I celebrate both my uniqueness
and my connection with all that is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stillness of the Mind

Have a Conversation with God, Today

Quiet Time

Breath by Breath
     

Don't Criticize, Condemn, Or Complain

 

If you are patient in one moment of anger,
you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

- Chinese Proverb

When restraint and courtesy are added to strength,

the latter becomes irresistible.

- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

When angry, count to ten before you speak.
If very angry, count to one hundred.
- Thomas Jefferson

Don't Criticize, Condemn, Or Complain.
- Dale Carnegie

It takes years to build up trust,
and only seconds to destroy it.

- Anonymous

Further reading: Speak with Kindness

Listen, Really Listen

Be Kind

The Golden Rule 

    

Open Your Eyes to the Unfamiliar and the Hidden

 

Let today be a day to open your eyes to the unfamiliar and the hidden.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

There are many answers you have received but have not yet heard.

- A Course In Miracles

God is not what you imagine
or what you think you understand.
If you understand you have failed.

- Saint Augustine

Who rises from prayer a better man, his prayer is answered.
- George Meredith

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

As long as one keeps searching, the answers come.
- Joan Baez

It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.
- Epictetus

When the solution is simple, God is answering.

- Albert Einstein

The best way to obtain truth and wisdom is not to ask from books,
but to go to God in prayer, and obtain divine teaching.
- Joseph Smith, Jr.

Further reading: Have a Conversation With God, Today

Find A Way

The Power of Asking the Right Questions

A Fire to be Kindled

Beyond Answers
 

Do Your Best, Accept the Rest

 

Things turn out best for the people
who make the best of the way things turn out.

- Art Linkletter

Do your best, accept the rest.
Stop demanding joy, attention and friends.
Allow people to disregard you, it's fine.
Who you are should never depend on externalities like your image or possessions.
Every externality can fade (looks, fame, power, money, etc.)
Become ZEN!
- afcpoop on Reddit

Success seems to be connected with action.
Successful people keep moving.
They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
- Conrad Hilton

Some decisions don't turn out well,
but if you did your best,
you have nothing to be ashamed of.
Never second guess your decisions.
Keep learning, keep trying,
and always do your best.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Do you remember the things you were worrying about a year ago?
Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy
on account of most of them?
Didn't most of them turn out all right after all?
- Dale Carnegie

Further reading: Let It Go - Zen

Maybe So, Maybe Not. - Ancient Taoist Proverb

Fear of Striking Out

How to get over regrets and resentments

Forgive Yourself

       

Take Nothing Personally

 

The dream you are living is your creation.
It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time.

- don Miguel Ruiz

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words
and their actions are truly about themselves.
Don't take it personally when they rant,
even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.
Their negativity is basically selfishness,
and their selfishness is about them, not about you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; ...
Forgive them anyway.
- Kent Keith
(often attributed to Mother Teresa, who kept a copy on the wall of her orphanage)

We are to take nothing personally,
least of all ourselves, for the moment we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
- Hopi Proverb

What you think of me is none of my business.
- Terry Cole-Whittaker

Don't Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you.
What others say and do is a projection of their own reality.
- Miguel Angel Ruiz (don Miguel Ruiz)

If you want reality to be different than it is,
you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.
- Byron Katie

Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.
- Henry Miller

You can't get mad at weather because weather's not about you.

Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life.
- Doug Coupland

Further reading: Don't Take Rejection Personally

How to Not Care What People Think about You

How to be Positive Around Negative People

Don Miguel Ruiz' Four Agreements

Families and Social Expectations
      

September 11th 2021

 

This world of ours... must avoid becoming
a community of dreadful fear and hate,
and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

We must build dikes of courage
to hold back the flood of fear.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself
the means of inspiration and survival.
- Winston Churchill

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

A life lived in fear is a life half lived.

- Anonymous

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

Photo was taken in the aftermath of 9/11 2001 in New York City

Further reading: Draw from Suffering

Gather Strength

Hard Times

To Overcome Fear
    

Life's Provocations

 

Equanimity (or composure) is the state of being calm, balanced,
and in control of one's emotions, even under stress or in the midst of difficulty.

Affirmation:
I choose to respond to life's provocations,
not with anger, resentment, or regret,
but with equanimity and a focus on positive action.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

I know, to banish anger altogether
from one's breast is a difficult task.
It cannot be achieved through pure personal effort.
It can be done only by God's grace.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity
opinions which differ from
the prejudices of their social environment.
Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.
- Albert Einstein

Without accepting the fact that everything changes,
we cannot find perfect composure.
But unfortunately, although it is true,
it is difficult for us to accept it.
Because we cannot accept the truth of transience,
we suffer.
- Shunryu Suzuki

Further reading: Complaining Creates Unhappiness

Stillness

Ancient Wisdom about Uncertain Times

Restraint

Stay Positive
     

Meet Life with Joy

 

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

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Take control of your consistent emotions
and begin to consciously and deliberately
reshape your daily experience of life.
- Tony Robbins

If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labor.
If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent I will think of past success.
If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.
Today I will be the master of my emotions.
- Og Mandino

Further reading: Release the Struggle

Serenity in Times of Crisis

The Storm of Life
     

Be Unstoppable

 

Those who believe they can do something
and those who believe they can't
are both right.
- Henry Ford
[As always, quotes are selected for the text of the quote, rather than the lives of those quoted.]

The most difficult thing is the decision to act,
the rest is merely tenacity.
The fears are paper tigers.
You can do anything you decide to do.
You can act to change and control your life;
and the procedure, the process is its own reward.
- Amelia Earhart

The only way to discover the limits of the possible
is to go beyond them into the impossible.
- Arthur C. Clarke

Whether the challenge is reaching the moon, sailing around the world, hitting a home run, acing a job interview, or walking again after a stroke, we can usually accomplish what we believe we can. But once we doubt ourselves, success slips beyond our grasp.

Today's affirmation:
I believe in myself.
I am unstoppable.

Further reading: Power of Thought

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing
     

Success and Happiness

 

The key to success, and to happiness,
is being fully engaged in life -
leading yourself with inspiration and committed action -
setting your own fine and honorable example.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Success is not the key to happiness.

Happiness is the key to success.
If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
- Albert Schweitzer

Success is getting and achieving what you want.
Happiness is wanting and being content with what you get.
- Bernard Meltzer

"Success" isn't about money or fame.
Success is living a life you feel proud of.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Doing Your Best

Wanting is Not Enough

Small Pleasures

Childlike Wonder
    

Labor Day 2021

 

Labor Day in the United States is a public holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American Labor Movement (Labor Unions) and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws and well-being of the country.

A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor
and the fact that honor lies in honest toil.
- Grover Cleveland

The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes,
but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.
- Helen Keller

The labor movement means just this: it is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth.
 - Wendell Phillips

There is no hope for the workingman outside of organization.
- Peter J. McGuire, co-founder of the American Federation of Labor
        and reported "father" of the American Labor Day holiday

There is magic in respecting others.
Respect customers, vendors, bosses, employees, co-workers.
Respect parents, spouses, sons, daughters.
Respect the trash collector, the mayor, the bank teller, the truck driver.
 - Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: What You Do Makes a Difference

Working Together

Labor Day 2017

Cooperation
            

Obstacles Create Opportunities

 

Your success and happiness lies in you.
Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you
shall form an invincible host against difficulties.

- Helen Keller

Only when life is difficult, are we challenged to become our greatest selves.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When It’s Darkest, Men See the Stars.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life,
your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Further reading: Nothing to look forward to?

Is Hope Futile?

Every Day, a New Day
       

Bring Your Own Sunshine

 

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

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.
And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
- Irish Blessing

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather,
always bring your own sunshine.
- Anthony J. D'Angelo

Your life within God's arms,
Your dance within God's arms,
Is already Perfect!
- Hafiz

Know that to find comfort, relax into the arms of Spirit.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Ten Little Tips To Feel Happier Right Now

Comfort on Difficult Days

The Secret of Happiness

Give Thanks for the Small Miracles

Beyond Your Worries
     

Success is Measured in Lives Bettered

 

Believe in yourself,
in your vision for your future,
and in your ability to take a small step
each day toward achieving your vision.

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To leave the world a bit better ...

to know that one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
- Bessie A. Stanley (commonly attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Anyone who proposes to do good
must not expect people to roll stones out of his way,
but must accept his lot calmly,
even if they roll a few stones upon it.

- Albert Schweitzer

True success is bringing joy to yourself and to others.
Success is measured in lives bettered, not in money or power.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We do not need to proselytize
either by our speech or by our writing.
We can only do so really with our lives.
Let our lives be open books for all to study.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

Further reading: March On

Pay It Forward

Turn Crisis into Progress

Stand Together
    

Not Everyone Who Claims To Speak For God Is Righteous

 

What does it profit, my brethren,
if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can faith save him?

- James 2:14

Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want.
It is the belief that God will do what is right.

- Max Lucado

Trust in God's goodness.

Be wary of what humans do in God's name.

Not everyone who claims to speak for God is righteous.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The faith that stands on authority is not faith.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A person who is fanatic in matters of religion,
and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe,
becomes a person who has no faith at all.

- Alan Watts

I don't doubt God. I have firm faith absolutely in God.
It's religion I'm doubting.
- Bono

To know a person's religion
we need not listen to his profession of faith
but must find his brand of intolerance.

- Eric Hoffer

Nothing is so firmly believed as what is least known.
- Michel de Montaigne

Further reading: Where there is Great Love

Know that You have been Blessed

Heaven on Earth

Thank You Prayer
    

Act Decisively

 

When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt.

- Honore De Balzac

Action is our greatest weapon against fear.
Left to molder, fear grows upon itself,
but in the face of action,
fear is left in the dust.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

Make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences.
No good is ever done in this world by hesitation.

- Thomas Huxley

Live without certainty, and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation.
- Bertrand Russell

Further reading: Be an Instrument of Change

Action Beats Inaction

Gain Self Confidence

Feel Your Power