The "Cite This" link takes you to WorldCat.org's awesomely comprehensive citation page.  Chicago Style and Turabian as distinct styles unto themselves!  Harvard style for cry-eye!  I love WorldCat.org.  I love citation links from the OPAC.

It almost makes being in the library on July 3 until 9:30pm okay.  Almost.

*apologies to Nicholson Baker (The Mezzanine)

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. --Colossians 3:23

Were some watcher or holy one from the bright world above to come among us for a time with the power to diagnose the spiritual ills of church people there is one entry which I am quite sure would appear on the vast majority of his reports: Definite evidence of chronic spiritual lassitude; level of moral enthusiasm extremely low....

It is true that there is a lot of religious activity among us. Inter- church basketball tournaments, religious splash parties followed by devotions, week-end camping trips with a Bible quiz around the fire, Sunday school picnics, building fund drives and ministerial breakfasts are with us in unbelievable numbers, and they are carried on with typical American gusto. It is when we enter the sacred precincts of the heart's personal religion that we suddenly lose all enthusiasm.

So we find this strange and contradictory situation: a world of noisy, headlong religious activity carried on without moral energy or spiritual fervor. Of God and Men, 3,4.

"In the busyness of spiritual leadership and church activity, keep me, Lord, from boredom or burn-out. Help me to stay personally fresh in my enthusiasm for You, so that in turn I can pass that genuine enthusiasm on to the people with whom I minister. Amen."

-A.W. Tozer 2008

Gen 41:4 (Geneva) And the ill favored and lean fleshed kine did eat up the seven well favored and fat kine: so Pharaoh awoke.

Pharaoh’s dream has too often been my waking experience. My days of sloth have ruinously destroyed all that I had achieved in times of zealous industry; my seasons of coldness have frozen all the genial glow of my periods of fervency and enthusiasm; and my fits of worldliness have thrown me back from my advances in the divine life. I had need to beware of lean prayers, lean praises, lean duties, and lean experiences, for these will eat up the fat of my comfort and peace. If I neglect prayer for never so short a time, I lose all the spirituality to which I had attained; if I draw no fresh supplies from heaven, the old corn in my granary is soon consumed by the famine which rages in my soul. When the caterpillars of indifference, the cankerworms of worldliness, and the palmerworms of self-indulgence, lay my heart completely desolate, and make my soul to languish, all my former fruitfulness and growth in grace avails me nothing whatever. How anxious should I be to have no lean-fleshed days, no ill-favoured hours! If every day I journeyed towards the goal of my desires I should soon reach it, but backsliding leaves me still far off from the prize of my high calling, and robs me of the advances which I had so laboriously made. The only way in which all my days can be as the “fat kine,” is to feed them in the right meadow, to spend them with the Lord, in His service, in His company, in His fear, and in His way. Why should not every year be richer than the past, in love, and usefulness, and joy?-I am nearer the celestial hills, I have had more experience of my Lord, and should be more like Him. O Lord, keep far from me the curse of leanness of soul; let me not have to cry, “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!” but may I be well-fed and nourished in thy house, that I may praise thy name.

*sigh*

Tried to sort out my glasto photos.. got as far as putting them on my computer, but don't have the enthusiasm for much more. It's one of those cliché depressive symptoms of losing interest in things you love. Definitely living the symptoms. bah.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. I should go spend some time with my bloke. I think he's fed up of me ignoring him, but I've just wanted to be alone this evening.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.621109&w=425&h=350&fv=]

P.S.  Have you noticed that "Favorites" has reverted to its dull Americanized spelling?  Did San Francisco successfully fend off the Canadian invasion?  Are we poorer for this, in the end?  If you have comments, I'll be on the chesterfield mulling it over.

Jon Gordon writes in The Energy Bus, "No one goes through life untested, and the answer to these tests is positive energy." Fortunately he is not referring to rah-rah kind of positive energy, instead he refers to "the kind of positive energy consisting of vision, trust, optimism, enthusiasm, purpose, and spirit that defines great leaders and their teams."

The Energy Bus is a well-executed fable that reveals 10 secrets for approaching life and work with the kind of positive, forward thinking that leads to true accomplishment - at work and at home. The story will resonate with anyone's life experience. The 10 rules are:

1. You're the Driver of the Bus.
2. Desire, Vision and Focus move your bus in the right direction.
3. Fuel your Ride with Positive Energy.
4. Invite People on Your Bus and Share your Vision for the Road Ahead.
5. Don't Waste Your Energy on those who don't get on your Bus.
6. Post a Sign that says "No Energy Vampires Allowed" on your Bus.
7. Enthusiasm attracts more Passengers and Energizes them during the Ride.
8. Love your Passengers.
9. Drive with Purpose.
10. Have Fun and Enjoy the Ride.

I love Jon Gordon's take on these rules! Visit your library to get a copy of his book, and The Energy Bus website, where there are even bus tickets available, which you can email or print out to invite people on your bus. How fun is that?

After reading The Energy Bus, I feel inspired by Jon's positive energy to drive my bus with purpose. So, I am reading my next book, The Purpose Driven Life. Won't you join me?

Here I am surrounded by trees filled with fruit, gardens filling up with ripening vegetables, flower beds in the prime of their life. This is my gift to those who embrace my warm, nurturing breath. I observe people basking in the radiant sunshine. They are enjoying the leisurely mood I have provided for them. As I become aware of their summer playfulness, I am content. I glory in the quality of life that has emerged from the abundance of my sun-saturated season. I have a passion for growth.

It has been a joy to watch you grow, also. From the moment you were conceived to the present moment, your life has been changing. Cycle upon cycle of growth has passed through your days- so much life, so much death. The cycle goes on. I long for you to embrace each new growing season. I want you to experience the passion of abundant life. Between the rising and the setting sun you live the seasons of your life.

Be attentive to my fruitfulness. Listen to my growing and continue to reflect on your own potential for growth. There is a fruitfulness about your life that you've not fully discovered. Implant your roots deep into your heart's good soil where a treasure of nourishment waits for you. The roots of all that grows and thrives in my season have gone down deep searching for streams of water to assist their growth. You must do the same if you are to ripen and mature. Reach for that which will help you develop into a mature summer person with purpose and strength.

Reflect on your roots. They keep you grounded. Give them an image and call them by name: hope, faith, patience, joy, enthusiasm, gratitude, determination, endurance. Add others to this list. Envision these good roots spreading through your good soil, enabling your summer-like growth.

Believe in your root system. You have growing power in you. Enjoy the process. Let the roots of your growth reach out to the world on lovely greening tendrils. Play a little each day in the fields of your life. Enter into the abundance of the summer within you and around you. Be attentive. Use your five senses to help you live fully.

Ponder these questions and live slowly into the answers.

• How would you describe the fruitfulness of your life?
• Who or what is a source of growth for you?
• When are you most able to acknowledge your fruitfulness and taste its truth?
• In this season of abundance what is ripening in you?
• As you sit in the lap of summer is there any piece of growing that needs your attention?
• What are the names you would give to your central root system?
• If you were to choose a scripture passage that would be a summer text for you, what would it be?

Taken from The Circle of Life 2005, by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr. Used by permission of Ave Maria Press. All rights reserved.

 I remember writing once, when I was in high school or college,

“Let me be a child forever. Then I’ll be ready.”

I remember when you wrote this. I remember feeling frustrated that I was being forced to grow up. I remember thinking that you would never lose your child-like wonder at the world and admiring you for it and being frustrated at the same time that Immaturity might go hand in hand with it.

A few years after I wrote that, I thought the statement was made out of my desire to remain immature and avoid responsibility, but I realize again the spirit in which I first wrote those words. I’m at a point in my life at which I am comfortable and confident in my abilities as an adult (which is not to say that I don’t have room for improvement) AND I’m not ashamed to wonder about the world as a child would, even if it makes people at the party wonder if I’m having a good time. I really am having a good time.

This weekend I found myself having fun catching fireflies with the seven and under crowd while the adults hung out inside and talked and drank and laughed.  Sometimes I find that I’m more comfortable with children than I am with people my own age.

See a previous post I wrote regarding how easy it is to be You around a child.

I think it may be that children aren’t afraid to ask certain questions about the world, and I don’t mind discussing those questions.  Adults seldom have the patience for conversations that start with “Which bugs like it when you scream?” or “…he’s half Thing, half Superman, half Human Torch, half Iron Man, half Hulk, half Invisible Woman, and half Spider-Man.”

Its so hard for me to see you ponder these things and wonder what life might have been like for my son if you had realized them earlier.  Since I can't really see the outcome of his life in the future, I just have to hope that your absence doesn't not become a black hole in his life. Your older brother, how did he fare without your dad? Thoughts of him hang over me like a black cloud.

I feel, at times, a Tug of War going inside of me. Pulling on my left arm is a desire to see the best for my child. That truly means that he knows his parents care about him. A ferocious desire, not to see him happy all the time, but to see him grown into a well balanced adult. My right arm is being tugged by Guilt. Guilt that I made the choice and you had to live with it. Not quite to the same extent that I live with it, but still... there was no ability on your part to make a choice. By my actions, your life was changed.

Do I speak up now? Do I let you continue to ponder life, children, responsibility, the things you wrote to me years ago? Do I show you what I've written here? Would it make a difference? Frozen in fear, much like in my dreams. I do not know if reading my posts might make you reconsider or if it would push you further away. And so I do nothing.

Just last night, my husband said, as my son did the 'worm' on the floor, even though he kept hitting his chin and it hurt... "Sometimes, I just don't get that boy." And I wonder, as I always have, if the person whose genetics have contributed to my sons animation and enthusiasm for life might understand him.

Connected: The Movie - Abilene Christian University

Sure, it's a bit campy. Sure, some features aren't available on the iPhone yet. But the basic concepts are pretty much what I had in mind.

Among things I like in the video:

• The very notion of student empowerment runs at the centre of it.
• Many of the class-related applications presented show an interest in the constructivist dimensions of learning.
• Material is made available before class. Face-to-face time is for engaging in the material, not rehashing it.
• The technology is presented as a way to ease the bureaucratic aspects of university life, relieving a burden on students (and, presumably, on everyone else involved).
• The "iPhone as ID" concept is simple yet powerful, in context.
• Social networks (namely Facebook and MySpace, in the video) are embedded in the campus experience.
• Blended learning (called "hybrid" in the video) is conceived as an option, not as an obligation.
• Use of the technology is specifically perceived as going beyond geek culture.
• The scenarios (use cases) are quite realistic in terms of typical campus life in the United States.
• While "getting an iPhone" is mentioned as a perk, it's perfectly possible to imagine technology as a levelling factor with educational institutions, lowering some costs while raising the bar for pedagogical standards.
• The shift from "eLearning" to "mLearning" is rather obvious.
• ACU already does iTunes U.
• The video is released under a Creative Commons license.

Of course, there are many directions things can go, from here. Not all of them are in line with the ACU dream scenario. But I'm quite hope judging from some apparently random facts: that Apple may sell iPhones through universities, that Apple has plans for iPhone use on campuses,  that many of the "enterprise features" of iPhone 2.0 could work in institutions of higher education, that the Steve Jobs keynote made several mentions of education, that Apple bundles iPod touch with Macs, that the OLPC XOXO is now conceived more as a touch handheld than as a laptop, that (although delayed) Google's Android platform can participate in the same usage scenarios, and that browser-based computing apparently has a bright future.

This is what we're working with (for August, mind you):  the theme/slogan/rallying point is "Connect with Us" and variations on that idea ("Your Place to Connect", etc.).  So "connect" in the plug-in and use the internet way, but also the "contact us, we're here for you" and "use our space to hang out with friends" way.  And, hey, why not the "let's understand each other on a level deeper than Patron:Librarian" way while we're at it?    Also, we'd like to take advantage of this opportunity to create some zonage and try to remedy some our Space Issues.

I'm all about riffing off an theme-- I think that's how I convinced a couple conference organizers to accept my paper/presentation proposals.  If I had a hackneyed Indian name it would be "Runs with Theme".  Maybe "Runs with Theme and Doesn't Return".  In a matter of minutes of learning about our Connect with Us idea, I've got it all figured out: each zone has a color, each color matches to an idea of connectivity-- "Connect with Friends" is blue and tells you "you're in a social area, have some fun"; "Connect with your Work" is red and when you see it you know "you're in a quiet area, shut up and get something accomplished".  Since we're wall-challenged here in my library, we've got table tents in bright colors.  You see red tents on the carrels and work areas, you know where you are and how to act.  Excellent, easy, cheap, fast.

And of course I can't resist playing with Picnik, SnagIt and Flickr.

neon version of Connected to the Library

I could have some fun with this.

Feeling a bit down and unsure how to get your smile back?

Remember the saying "Today is the first day of the rest of your life?"   Then let's apply the principle to today.  Can you recall the enthusiasm you had during your first week on the job?  Why did you have it then and not now?  What is it that's getting in your way?  Is it you?  Is it your co-worker?  Is it new company policies you disagree with?

Guess what?  The customer doesn't care, but your co-workers and managers do.  As should you.

So, figure out the problem - now.  The solution?  Act like today is the first day on the job, your customer is new to you, the products/services you're offering are valuable, your co-workers are people with problems too.

I have learned that starting my day over is possible.  It's all about perspective.  Where am I looking for satisfaction?  Am I lost in thinking about next week or next year?  Am I resentful that I haven't moved up in the company as quickly as I thought I would?  Is my manager being unfair?  Are my co-workers annoying?

Again, the customer doesn't care.  If your attitude reflects any of the above feelings, then take care of them now.  Your customer will suffer, not your co-workers, not your manager.  In the end, you will suffer because you're not living to your ideals and potential.

Sounds easy, right?  Actually it is.  The next time you're in the restroom, take a deep breath.  Remind yourself of why you took this job.  Remind yourself that you were hired because your skills were needed, and they're willing to pay you for those skills.  Remind yourself that being paid for a job is important, that you are responsible for being of value for that paycheck.  Remind yourself that your customers need you.

Okay, let's say the above doesn't work because you've been working 10 hours overtime every week, the dog has been sick, family members are vying for your attention and you're just pooped.  Talk to your manager.  How long with the mandatory overtime last?  Plan your day...take control.  You are not responsible for everyone, just yourself.  Do what you can and leave the rest to someone else.  Again, it is all about perspective.

Does this help?  Does this answer your question?  Leave me a note and let me know your thoughts.

Walking The Dog 3

The fields have been ploughed and scattered this week.   My memory tells me that the ploughing should take place in the depths of winter so that the frosts can break up the great clumps of soil but that’s not the way it’s done in Emsworth.

Instead the local farmer brings in contractors who arrive in huge leviathan beasts, each worth a brace of Aston Martins, that devour the stubble fields and transform them into finely graded seedbed.

Think of the effort of lifting one spade of compacted soil.  The plough carves down three spades deep and four spades wide with each of six blades.  The earth surrenders to its mighty force and is exposed rich red and raw.  Then a massive grader, its huge weight hauled at speed across the fields smashes the soil into powder.  Only then does the farmer drive out his John Deere, looking puny by comparison and sets it to seeding and raking.  In the space of three or four days the work is completed.

The new scenery brings out a burst of fresh exuberance from Capone.  He gallops across the fields, his energy enough to lift any mood.  His sheer joy at being perfectly expresses the purpose of a dog.  He and the intimate experience of a walk with my best friend is the most powerful of therapies requiring no theory or structure, just the doing of it.  Perhaps more like a meditation or prayer.

With age the individual senses diminish in power but I find that there is a greater discernment between them.  I hear birdsong now like I never used to.  The pleasure of the birds, the sea, the sky, the light and the breeze is all so much more intense and the unreserved, joyous companionship of my dog makes it all the more so.

The most extraordinary things happen every day to those of us that indulge in this most universal hobby of walking the dog.  Last week, and I kid you not, from behind an isolated cottage, flew a second world war US fighter plane at no more than 200 feet.   Breaking every civil aviation rule in the book, it sent Capone and me diving for the nearest slit trench convinced that we were its target.

Regularly the Chinooks fly over Chichester harbour, their massive thumping beat pulverising the air.  If you happen to be wading through a large area of eight foot tall bullrushes it is so easy to imagine the rattle of M16s and the threat of napalm descending from above.

But the real dangers that lurk here are of a more rural nature.  The most marmalade orange, malevolent cat saunters along the church wall, a half dead rat clamped in its teeth.  The nasty fat corgi, its belly dragging on the ground and while Capone ambles by it leaps up and bites him on the back of the neck!

Spring is accelerating towards summer now.  The grasses and nettles in the hedgerows are lush.  The trees are turning a deeper green and filling out their magnificent silhouettes but the earliest crop in Emsworth is the forest of masts that’s sprouting everywhere you look.

Peter Reynolds 14-05-08

An Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith

Entry #20 in the Raising Great Americans Project! Click Here to learn More!

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ENTHUSIASM

MEMORY GEMS

Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.

--Bulwer

Enthusiasm is the fundamental quality of strong souls.

--Carlyle

The only conclusive evidence of a man's
sincerity is that he gives himself for a principle.

--Phillips Brooks

Enthusiasm is the romance of the boy that becomes the heroism of the man.

--A. Bronson Alcott

Every great and commanding movement in the
annals of the world is the triumph of some enthusiasm.

--Emerson

In the course of every life there are sure to be obstacles and difficulties to be met. Prudence hesitates and examines them; intelligence usually suggests some ingenious way of getting around them; patience and perseverance deliberately go to work to dig under them; but enthusiasm is the quality that boldly faces and leaps lightly over them. By the power of enthusiasm the most extraordinary undertakings, that seemed impossible of accomplishment, have been successfully carried out. Enthusiasm makes weak men strong, and timid women courageous. Almost all the great works of art have been produced when the artist was intoxicated with a passion for beauty and form, which would not let him rest until his thought was expressed in marble or on canvas.

A recent writer has said: "Enthusiasm is life lit up and shining. It is the passion of the spirit pushing forward toward some noble activity. It is one of the most powerful forces that go to the making of a noble and heroic character."

In the Gallery of Fine Arts, in Paris, is a beautiful statue conceived by a sculptor who was so poor that he lived and worked in a small garret. When his clay model was nearly done, a heavy frost fell upon the city. He knew that if the water in the interstices of the clay should freeze, the beautiful lines would be distorted. So he wrapped his bedclothes around the clay image to preserve it from destruction. In the morning he was found dead; but his idea was saved, and other hands gave it enduring form in marble.

Another instance of rare consecration to a great enterprise is found in the work of the late Francis Parkman. While a student at Harvard, he determined to write the history of the French and English in North America. With a steadiness and devotion seldom equaled, he gave his life, his fortune, his all, to this one great object. Although he had ruined his health while among the Dakota Indians, collecting material for his history, and could not use his eyes more than five minutes at a time for fifty years, he did not swerve a hair's breadth from the high purpose formed in his youth, until he gave to the world the best history upon this subject ever written.

What a power there is in an enthusiastic adherence to an ideal! What are hardships, ridicule, persecution, toil, or sickness, to a soul throbbing with an overmastering purpose? Gladstone says that "what is really wanted, is to light up the spirit that is within a boy." In some sense, and in some degree, there is in every boy the material for doing good work in the world; not only in those who are brilliant and quick, but even in those who are stolid and dull.

A real enthusiasm makes men happy, keeps them fresh, hopeful, joyous. Life never stagnates with them. They always keep sweet, anticipate a "good time coming," and help to make it come.

Enthusiasm has been well called the "lever of the world"; for it sets in motion, if it does not control, the grandest revolutions! Its influence is immense. History bears frequent record of its contagiousness, showing how vast multitudes have been roused into emotion by the enthusiasm of one man; as was the case when the crowd of knights, and squires, and men-at-arms, and quiet peasants, entered, at the bidding of St. Bernard, upon the great Crusade.

The simple, innocent Maid of Orleans,--with her sacred sword, her consecrated banner, and her belief in her great mission,--sent a thrill of enthusiasm through the whole French army such as neither king nor statesman could produce. Her zeal carried everything before it.

Enthusiasm makes men strong. It wakes them up, brings out their latent powers, keeps up incessant action, impels to tasks requiring strength, and then carries them to completion. Many are born to be giants, yet, from lack of enthusiasm, few grow above common men. They need to be set on fire by some eager impulse, inspired by some grand resolve, and they would then quickly rise head and shoulders above their fellows.

Enthusiasm is the element of success in everything. It is the light that leads, and the strength that lifts men on and up in the great struggles of scientific pursuits and of professional labors. It robs endurance of difficulty, and makes a pleasure of duty.

Enthusiasm gives to man a power that is irresistible. It is that secret and harmonious spirit which hovers over the production of genius, throwing the reader of a book, or the spectator of a statue, into the presence of those with whom these works have originated. A great work always leaves us in a state of lofty contemplation, if we are in sympathy with it.

The most irresistible charm of youth is its bubbling enthusiasm. The youth who comes fully under its control sees no darkness ahead. He forgets that there is such a thing as failure in the world, and believes that mankind has been waiting all these centuries for him to come and be the liberator of truth and energy and beauty.

The boy Bach copied whole books of musical studies by moonlight, for want of a candle churlishly denied. Nor was he disheartened when these copies were taken from him. The boy painter West, began his work in a garret, and cut hairs from the tail of the family cat for bristles to make his brushes. Gerster, an unknown Hungarian singer, made fame and fortune sure the first night she appeared in opera. Her enthusiasm almost mesmerized her auditors. In less than a week she had become popular and independent. Her soul was smitten with a passion for growth, and all the powers of heart and mind were devoted to self-improvement.

Enthusiasm is purified and ennobled by self-denial. As the traveler, who would ascend a lofty mountain summit, to enjoy the sunset there, leaves the quiet of the lowly vale, and climbs the difficult path, so the true enthusiast, in his aspiration after the highest good, allows himself to be stopped by no wish for wealth and pleasure, and every step he takes forward is connected with self-denial, but is a step nearer to success.

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THOMAS A. EDISON

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If one were to ask what individual best typifies the industrial progress of this nation, it would be easy to answer, Thomas Alva Edison. Looking at him as a newspaper boy, at the age of fifteen, one would hardly have been led to predict that this young fellow would be responsible for the industrial transformation of this continent.

At that early age he had already begun to dabble in chemistry, and had fitted up a small traveling laboratory. One day, as he was performing an experiment, the train rounded a curve and the bottles of chemicals were dashed to the floor. There followed a series of unearthly odors and unnatural complications. The conductor, who had suffered long and patiently, now ejected the youthful enthusiast; and, it is said, accompanied the expulsion with a resounding box upon the ear. This did not dampen Edison's ardor, in the least. He passed through one dramatic situation after another, mastering each and all; but his advancement was due to patient, persevering work.

Not long ago a reporter asked him if he had regular hours for work. "Oh!" he answered, "I do not work hard now. I come to the laboratory about eight o'clock every day, and go home to tea at six; and then I study and work on some problem until eleven, which is my hour for bed." When it was suggested that fourteen or fifteen hours' work per day could scarcely be called loafing, he replied, "Well, for fifteen years I have worked on an average twenty hours a day."

Nothing but a rare devotion to an interesting subject could keep any man so diligently employed. So enthusiastically did he pursue his researches, that, when he had once started to solve a difficult problem, he has been known to work at it for sixty consecutive hours.

In describing his Boston experiences, Edison relates that he bought Faraday's works on electricity, and beginning to read them at three o'clock in the morning, continued until his room-mate arose, when they started on their long walk for breakfast. Breakfast, however, was of small account in Edison's mind compared with his love for Faraday; and he suddenly remarked to his friend, "Adams, I have so much to do, and life is so short, that I must hustle;" and with that he started off on a dead run for the boarding-house.

Edison has shown that he cares nothing for money, and has no particular enthusiasm for fame. "What makes you work so hard?" asked a friend. "I like it," he answered, after a moment's puzzled expression; and then repeated several times, "I like it. I do not know any other reason. You know how some people like to collect stamps. Anything I have begun is always on my mind, and I am not easy while away from it until it is finished."

Electrical science is still in its infancy, but the enthusiasm of Edison has done much for its advancement. The subject indeed is a fascinating one, and Edison's devotion to it, and the discoveries and practical applications he has made in his researches, have placed him in the front rank of America's greatest inventors.
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This Article is an Excerpt from You Can Be a Great American! 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness (a Growing Up Great Guide for American Boys and for the Parents and Teachers Who Love Them), by W. F. Markwick and W. A. Smith, which is available from Better Days Books in quality hardbound, sturdy trade paperback and convenient .PDF e-book editions starting at just $4.95.

Industry, Ambition, Self Control, Self-Respect, Courtesy, Faithfulness, Courage, Duty, Honesty, Enthusiasm, Humility, Patriotism… In every era of our Nation's history, the true alchemy by which ordinary boys have been transformed into Great American Men has always and only occurred where these indispensible moral principles have been successfully applied. In an age like our own, where such manly ideals are openly mocked and derided by our popular culture, it's time to turn to the past to recapture a clear vision of what it takes to be a Great American, and the true moral and ethical ladder that leads reliably to its attainment.

You Can Be a Great American: 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness was first published in 1900, under the title The True Citizen, How to Become One, and contains 39 essential lessons in manhood tailored to each age and transition in a boy's life, from infancy to adulthood. It is the clearest roadmap to American Greatness ever compiled for the youth of our Nation, and remains as life-changing today as it was when first published, over 100 years ago.

Whether you are an adult raising boys in a Traditional family setting, the single parent of a son, or a boy abandoned to no or poor parenting, left to grab your own bootstraps and lift yourself up to a life of achievement, success and All-American Greatness (or an adult who knows a boy in such sad straits), You Can Be a Great American!: 39 Steps to True and Lasting Greatness is the only guidebook you'll ever need.

Also available through Amazon.com in quality trade paperback and Kindle e-book download editions.

By identifying winds of our christian walk, we could find ways to deal with them.  Winds such as worldly influences, doubts, temptations, peer pressure, seeing others blown over and not getting up, media, consumerism and other discouragements.

These winds can destroy our roots in Christ, namely our faith.  We need to be mindful of our doctrine. ("Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming."-Ephesians 4:14)  We are constantly bombarded with information, theories and ideas.  We need to sift through what is true.  ("So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." - Colossians 2:6-8 )

What can i do to become more rooted and established in the faith??  I can excersize applying what i believe.  I can know my Bible, grow in knowledge of God's word.  I can spend time with other christians.  I can be watchful, be careful who teaches me, what i read, and go back to the standard of God's word.  I can learn from mistakes.  I can read and pray.

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. -James 1:6

es muss auch ab und zu der Himmel weinen...

It was a german song by a german folk singer Heintje.  It was all about how we can't enjoy the sunshine if we never experience rain.  This gave me some answers to why i often wonder why i don't 'feel' saved, and why sometimes i feel as though i could burst with love for my Saviour.

I came to the conclusion that the reason i have mountain top experiences is because i spend time in the valleys.  If i never had hard times, then i couldn't truly feel so complete at other times.  I used to wonder why, but now i know.  Praise God!

Do you want to promote your business, but lack the million dollar advertising budget of IBM?  Well, thanks to the Internet, owners can promote their business without having a multimillion dollar ad budget.  There are creative ways to promote your business, if you know how and are willing to experiment with Web and traditional marketing activities. 
Below are 10 innovative ways to get more visibility for your organization:

1. Give Valuable Content –Traditional advertising required you to spend lots of money to get noticed. Companies pleaded with journalists to write about their products, services and the company. A more effective option today is to publish valuable information on your website and get the media to read it.  The best way to get noticed today is to publish great content online.

2. Focus on Benefits not Features - Don't talk about what your products and services do. Rather, emphasize the benefits of your products and services.  Discuss how you can solve customer problems.

3. Enthusiasm is Contagious - You and your staff should be enthusiastic and have fun. People want to do business with people who enjoy their work.  As the owner, you should be the main cheerleader for your company.

4. Spamming the Media Doesn’t Work – Journalists hate receiving spam e-mails as much as you do.  You should contact the media via e-mail and the telephone, but don’t send irrelevant e-mails (spam).  Junk e-mails will hurt your organization and should be avoided.

 5. Press Releases are Good for Customers – Press releases aren’t just for the media.  Both your target audience and your customers will find value in your press releases.  Consequently, you leverage your time and money.

6. Spread the Word on the Internet – There are a myriad of blogs, chat rooms and electronic forums that you can use to your advantage.  You can post responses to questions submitted on the Web.  You can post answers which describe how your products or services can solve your buyers’ problems.  Over time you will be viewed as an expert in your industry.  However, avoid turning your comments into an online commercial.

7. Become an Industry Critic and Expert - Read the popular books in your market and write a review on Amazon. Use your real name, website address and affiliation. You can also become an expert in your industry by answering questions posted on such websites as LinkedIn.com. 

8. Become a Movie Producer – You can create a video about your company and products.  Then you can post the video on your website and video sites such as YouTube.com or Blip.tv.  These videos can be seen by thousands of potential customers.

9. Advertise on Search Engines - Know what search terms people are using to find products and services like yours.  Then you can go to Google.com, MSN.com or Yahoo.com and enroll in their advertising programs.  In essence, you will create ads for your company that will be displayed when people type in the keywords associated with your company.

10. Don't be Egotistical - Potential buyers don’t specifically care about you and your products. Your customers care about themselves and solving their problems.  Be sure to craft marketing and PR articles that focus on your customer and how your products will solve their business problems.  By doing a good job solving their problems, you will attract positive attention for your company.

So what are positive dog training techniques? Various people will describe them in a different way, but as a rule of thumb they are methods that let you to teach your dog without causing it physical hurt. As a result these techniques add to your dogs' innate faith and enthusiasm. Dr. Ian Dunbar, Karen Pryor, Silvia Kent, Linda Tellington-Jones, and others have to a great extent stretched out the reputation of this ground in current years. Teaching dogs can be a deal for both humans and dogs!

The rules that are behind these techniques are resulting from logical technical study - proper backing up is a vital part of this method. Clicker training dogs is possibly the best identified instance, but there are other techniques too. In clicker training, a tiny noisemaker is clicked at the very instant that the dog does just what you want it to. It is more specific than saying "Good!" or something else. Then a goody is given, at a small amount of the time.

There are considerate people who support the cautious use of procedures that do cause hurt in teaching dogs, in particular when the trouble seems difficult. I consider that in teaching dogs, many techniques will work. But it is inspiring that many dog owners and instructors have traversed over to using only pain free, constructive techniques of dog training.

“The men (and women) who build the future are those who know that greater things are yet to come, and that they themselves will help bring them about. Their minds are illumined by the blazing sun of hope. They never stop to doubt. They haven’t time." - Melvin J. Evans

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I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. - Mother Teresa

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Neither my Ivy League degree nor the successful career that followed ever made me happy... The only thing that has worked is taking care of other people -- wondering what would make them happy and doing my best to make it happen.
-PostSecret 4/15/08

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Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
-M. Kathleen Casey

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"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."
– Marie Curie

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Flattery is all right if you don't inhale.
- Adlai E. Stevenson

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"Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity."
– Gilda Radner

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"I searched through rebellion, drugs, diet, mysticism, religion, intellectualism, and much more, only to find that truth is basically simple and feels good, clear and right."
– Armando "Chick" Corea

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We are now at a point where we must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday, and prepare our schools for what no one knows yet. - Margaret Mead, 1901-1978, American Cultural Anthropologist

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Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to the understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.
-Unknown

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The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.
- Stephen King

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There is something terrible yet soothing about returning to a place where you once lived. You are one of your own memories.
-Mary Morris

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There are chapters in every life which are seldom read and certainly not aloud.
Carol Shields

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Good people, belonging as they do to the normal, and so, commonplace, type, are artistically uninteresting. Bad people are, from the point of view of art, fascinating studies. They represent colour, variety, and strangeness. Good people exasperate one's reason; bad people stir one's imagination.
-Oscar Wilde

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Everything in life is based on daring
-Martin Buber

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Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the small, quite voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow."
Unknown

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To be nobody but myself - In a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make me somebody else - means to fight the hardest battle any human can fight, and never stop fighting.
- EE Cummings

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What is it that you lost that you are grieving for? What is it that you brought into this world, that you have lost? Whatever you gained, you gained from this world. Whatever you lost, you lost to this world. What Belongs to you today, Belonged to someone else yesterday and will belong to someone else tomorrow.
-The Hindu Scripture - Bhagavad Gita

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"I was not looking for my dreams to interpret my life, but rather for my life to interpret my dreams."
- Susan Sontag
Contributed by Reenie Miller at http://followyourdreams.com

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"We love those who know the worst of us and don't turn their faces away."
- Walker Percy

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"Hear you laughing and my soul is saved
- Chris Cornell

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"To me, fair friend, you never can be old. For as you were when first your eye I eyed. Such seems your beauty still.
- William Shakespeare

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If you love life, life will love you back.
-Artur Rubinstein

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For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.
- Alfred D. Souza

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Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is the special occasion.
-Unknown

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Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
– Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931, Lebanese Poet and Novelist

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The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.
- Robert Hughes

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Nothing is going to change so much that you're not going to be my best friend.
-Unknown

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Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.
- GB Shaw

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Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would rather have talked.
- Mark Twain

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You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction. - George Horace Lorimer, 1867-1937, American Editor and Writer

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The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. - Socrates, 470-399 B.C., Greek Philosopher

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"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials." -Lin Yutang

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I have accepted fear as part of life--specifically the fear of change. I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says turn back.
-Erica Jong (submitted by Jillin2001)

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Age is all imagination. Ignore years and they'll ignore you.
-Ella Wheeler-Wilcox

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Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.
– William S. Burroughs, 1914-1997, American Novelist and Philosopher

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With some people solitariness is an escape not from others but from themselves. For they see in the eyes of others only a reflection of themselves. – Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983, American Social Writer

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"One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility."
Eleanor Roosevelt
1884-1962, American First Lady, Columnist and Lecturer

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"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
– Mark Twain

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One of the most valuable things we can do to heal one another is listen to each other's stories.
-Rebecca Falls

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i would write something inspirational in this signature, but you should find inspiration in yourself.. and not a signature.

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Music is the key to my soul and it is what I live for. If it weren't for music I would be completely lost. It saved my life

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I came to hear and be heard.
To befriend and be befriended.
To trust and be trusted.
To help and be helped.
To love and be loved.

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Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' Why We Can't Wait 1963

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A man's greatest strength develops at the point where he overcomes his greatest weakness.
- Elmer G. Letterman

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There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place.
- Washington Irving

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"Being taken for granted can be a compliment. It means that you've become a comfortable, trusted element in another person's life."
 -Dr. Joyce Brothers

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"The greatest assassin of life is haste, the desire to reach things before the right time - which means overreaching them." -Juan Ramon Jimenez

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"the only people u need n life r the ones that prove they need u in theirs"

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"Use soft words in hard arguments." -H.G. Bohn, 1955

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There is a wide difference between speaking to deceive, and being silent to be impenetrable.
-Voltaire

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What distinguishes the majority of men from the few is their inability to act according to their beliefs.
- John Stuart Mill

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Some of us learn from other peoples mistakes. The rest of us are the other people.
- Unknown

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In seeking wisdom, the first step is silence, the second listening, the third remembering, the fourth practicing, the fifth - - teaching others.
- Ibn Gabirol, poet and philosopher ( c. 1022-1058 )

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Fight and you may die. Run and you'll live, at least for a while. And, dying in your beds, manyyears from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance - - just one chance - - to come back here and tell your enemies, that they may take our lieves, but they'll never take our freedom!
- William Wallace

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Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.
- Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband, 1893, Act I

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Relationships of all kinds are like sand held in your hand. Held loosely, with an open hand, the sand remians where it is. The minute you close your hand and squeeze tightly to hold on, the sand trickles through your fingers. You may hold onto some of it, but most will be spilled. A relationship is like that. Held loosely, with respect and freedom for the other person, it is likely to remian intact. But hold too tightly, too possessively, and the relationship slips away and is lost.
- Kaleel Jamison

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The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with lontging for the things it has forbidden to itself.
- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

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"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
- Scott Adams

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"Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em, 'certainly I can!' - and get busy and find out how to do it."
Theodore Roosevelt
1858-1919, Twenty-Sixth U.S. President

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It takes a real storm in the average person's life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over the squalls.
-Unknown

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"Become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid."
– Lady Bird Johnson

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Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.
-Unknown ( submitted by lynneking1178 )

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Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.
-Voltaire

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It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

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"Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own instead of someone else's."
– Billy Wilder

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The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
– Aristotle, 384-322 B.C., Greek Philosopher

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"We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us."
Virginia Satir
Family Therapist, Lecturer, Trainer and Author

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"Far away in the sunshine are my highest inspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead."
– Louisa May Alcott

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"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open."
Jawaharlal Nehru
1889-1964, Indian Nationalist, Statesman

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People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.
-Daily Bread (submitted by Joanne6030)

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And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
-Abraham Lincoln

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I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish. – Michelangelo, 1475-1564, Italian Renaissance Sculptor and Painter

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Some people succeed because they are destined to, but most people succeed because they are determined to.
-Anonymous

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"We taste and feel and see the truth. We do not reason ourselves into it."
– William Butler Yeats

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"Loyalty is something you give regardless of what you get back, and in giving loyalty, you're getting more loyalty; and out of loyalty flow other great qualities."
Charles "Tremendous" Jones
Speaker and Author

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No smile is more beautiful than the one that struggles through tears.
- Unknown

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You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.
- GB Shaw

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When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
- Colson's law

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"The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture, the amphitheatres, for wild beasts to fight in." - Voltaire

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What chance has made yours is not really yours. (Non est tuum, fortuna quod fecit tuum.)
- Lucilius

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Some books leave us fee and some books make us free.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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A good book is the purest essence of a human soul.
- Thomas Carlyle

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"It is what we learn after we know it all that really counts." -John Wooden

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"Offerings of food have been breaking down barriers for centuries." -Estee Lauder

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We act as though comfort and luxurty were the chief requirements in life, when all we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
- Charles Kingsley

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Sadness flies away on the wings of time.
- Jean de La Fontaine

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Through our character is formed by circumstances, our own desires can do much to shape those circumstances; and what is really inspiriting and ennobling in the doctrine of free will is the conviction that we have real power over the formation of our o..."
John Stuart Mill

'Though our character is formed by circumstances, our own desires can do much to shape those circumstances; and that what is really inspiriting and ennobling in the doctrine of free-will, is the conviction that we have real power over the formation of our own character; that our will, by influencing some of our circumstances, can modify our future habits or capabilities of willing.' (Mill J. S., Autobiography, 1873)

http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/Ockham/y6403.html
http://www.thatreligiousstudieswebsite.com/Articles/Ethics/Determinism_and_Freewill/freewill_resolutions.html

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You are educated when you have the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or self-confidence.
–Robert Frost

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"Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them." -Adlai Stevenson

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"The absolute fundamental aim is to make money out of satisfying customers.
- Sir John Egan

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"When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge."
– Tuli Kupferberg

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Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.
-Dodie Smith

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Every time we open our mouths, men look into our minds.
-Anonymous

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The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express. – Francis Bacon, 1561-1626, English Philosopher/Essayist/Statesman

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Some pursue happiness, others create it.
-Anonymous

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If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.
-Buddha

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"Let there be nothing within thee that is not very beautiful and very gentle, and there will be nothing without thee that is not beautiful and softened by the spell of thy presence."
James Allen
1864-1912, Author of As A Man Thinketh

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"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored."
Earl Nightingale
1921-1989, Radio Announcer, Author and Speaker

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"In things pertaining to enthusiasm, no man is sane who does not know how to be insane on proper occasions."
– Henry Ward Beecher

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[Some people] have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy.
-A.H. Maslow

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"The great man is he who does not lose his childlike heart."
– Mencius

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What I am doing today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
-Unknown (submitted by blacat)

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These then are my last words to you. Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create that fact.
- William James

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Only a mediocre person is always at his best.
- Maugham's Thought

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"You can achieve anything you want in life if you have the courage to dream it, the intelligence to make a realistic plan, and the will to see that plan through to the end."
Sidney A. Friedman
Entrepreneur, Speaker and Author

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He who postpones the hour of living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.
-Horace

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All kids are gifted; some just open their packages earlier than others.
-Michael Carr

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People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live... [We] never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.
- Albert Einstein in a letter to Otto Juliusburger

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Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale.
- Unknown

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"Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted." -Unknown

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If you are good, be better.

-Anonymous

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A room without books is like a body without a soul. – Marcus T. Cicero, 106-43 B.C., Roman Orator and Politician

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"The man or woman who treasures his friends is usually solid gold himself."
Marjorie Holmes
Author

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Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life
- Sophia Loren

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Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
-Philo

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"Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit."
– e. e. cummings

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The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid. – Source Unknown

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"The simple step of writing down your ideal scene can lead you to discover the unfailing natural laws of manifestation."
Marc Allen, Author of The Greatest Secret of All: Moving Beyond Abundance to a Life of True Fulfillment

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"You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind. Your mind gets bored and therefore tired of doing nothing. Get interested in something! Get absolutely enthralled in something! Get out of yourself! Be somebody! Do something! The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have."
Norman Vincent Peale
1898-1993, Pastor, Speaker and Author

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"Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth."
– Benjamin Disraeli

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Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.
-Frank Leahy

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"We strain to renew our capacity for wonder, to shock ourselves into astonishment once again."
– Shana Alexander

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You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.
- Friedrich Nietsche

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The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.
 - Denis Watley

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Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.
- Alan Alda

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Forgiveness is having the courage to take down the walls that we think are there to protect us.
-Suztes40

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Every blade of grass has an angel that bends over it and whispers, "Grow! Grow!"
-The Talmud

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"No one can really pull you up very high — you lose your grip on the rope. But on your own two feet you can climb mountains."
– Louis Brandeis

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I am too blessed to be stressed!
-Anonymous

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"One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful."
– Sigmund Freud

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The whole worth of a kind deed is in the love that inspires it.
-The Talmud

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"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him."
Sidney Greenberg

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“Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.”
Charles Richards

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'In every person who comes near you look for what is good and strong; honor that; try to imitate it, and your faults will drop off like dead leaves when their time comes.'
– John Ruskin

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Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved.
– Victor Hugo, 1802-1885, French Poet/Dramatist/Novelist

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I hated every minute of training, but I said, "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."
– Muhammad Ali, Legendary American Boxer

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"To have that sense of one's intrinsic worth which constitutes self-respect is potentially to have everything."
– Joan Didion

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The future lies before you, like paths of pure white snow. Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show.
-Unknown

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The sweetest of all sounds is that of the voice of the woman we love.
– Jean de La Bruyère, 1645-1696, French Essayist

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"Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision."
– Peter Drucker
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Speak when you're angry, and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.
-Lawrence J. Peter

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"Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you."
- Zig Ziglar, Author and Speaker

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"When you speak of someone or about someone, you should speak as though they were in the room with you. The ears that you speak to today are attached to the mouth that could relay the message tomorrow."
- William 'Biddy' Allen, 1903-2001, Bus Driver and Loving father of 7 children

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It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning.
– Claude Bernard, 1813-1878, French Physiologist

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"Whether or not we realize it each of us has within us the ability to set some kind of example for people. Knowing this would you rather be the one known for being the one who encouraged others, or the one who inadvertently discouraged those around you?"
- Josh Hinds, Syndicated Columnist and Author

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It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't.
– Martin Van Buren, 1782-1862, 8th President of the United States

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"Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing until it gets there."
– Josh Billings

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"Many things which cannot be overcome when they are together yield themselves up when taken little by little."
– Plutarch

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"It is necessary to try to surpass oneself always; this occupation ought to last as long as life."
– Queen Christina

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"We lift ourselves by our thought. If you want to enlarge your life, you must first enlarge your thought of it and of yourself. Hold the ideal of yourself as you long to be, always everywhere."
-Orison Swett Marden, 1850-1924, Author and Founder of Success Magazine

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Paying attention to simple little things that most men neglect makes a few men rich.
- Henry Ford, 1863-1947, American Industrialist and Founder of Ford Motor Company

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"We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn."
– Mary Catherine Bateson

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"I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing."
–  Rabbi Hillel

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If you want happiness for an hour—take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day—go fishing.
If you want happiness for a month—get married.
If you want happiness for a year—inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime—help others.

-Chinese Proverb

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The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882, American Poet

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We grow a little every time we do not take advantage
of somebody's weakness.
- Bern Williams

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If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.
-Unknown

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"What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers."
– Matina Horner

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That they may have a little peace, even the best dogs are compelled to snarl occasionally.
-William Feather

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"People of character do the right thing, not because they think it will change the world but because they refuse to be changed by the world."
Actor and Author of Michael Josephson
Radio Commentator

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The more a man knows, the more he forgives.
-Confucius

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"Believe that you can do it, under any circumstances. Because if you believe you can, then you really will. That belief just keeps you searching for the answers, then pretty soon you get it."
– Wally "Famous" Amos

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"We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee."
Marian Wright Edelman
Lobbyist on Behalf of Children

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Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.
– Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish Artist and Painter

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"To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful."
-Edward R. Murrow

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"Laugh at yourself and at life. Not in the spirit of derision or whining self-pity, but as a remedy, a miracle drug, that will ease your pain, cure your depression, and help you to put in perspective that seemingly terrible defeat and worry with laughter at your predicaments, thus freeing your mind to think clearly toward the solution that is certain to come. Never take yourself too seriously."
~Og Mandino (American Essayist and Psychologist, 1923-1996)

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"Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly."
-Thomas Jefferson

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"I have four things to learn in life: to think clearly without hurry or confusion; to love everybody sincerely; to act in everything with the highest motives; to trust in God unhesitatingly."
-Albert Schweitzer

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"How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something, but to be someone."
-Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel

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"A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants a shade tree under which he knows full well he will never sit."
-Elton Trueblood

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"The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can't ignore it, top it; if you can't top it, laugh at it; if you can't laugh at it, it's probably deserved."
-Russell Lynes

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"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong... Hatred can be overcome only by love."
-Mahatma Gandhi

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What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers.
– Matina Horner

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It is not what happens that determines the major part of your future. What happens, happens to us all. It is what you do about what happens that counts.          — Jim Rohn

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“Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must first set yourself on fire.”
 Fred Shero quotes

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“The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it”
 Ray Kroc quotes (American pioneer of the fast-food industry, Founder of McDonald's. 1902-1984)

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“Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it.”

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“The fastest way to succeed is to look as if you're playing by somebody else's rules, while quietly playing by your own.”
 Michael Konda quotes

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It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.
– Niccolò Machiavelli, 1469-1527, Italian Political Philosopher and Statesman

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If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem.
– Jiddu Krishnamurti, 1895-1986, Indian Religious Philosopher

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The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn.
– John Lubbock, 1834-1913, English Archaeologist/Naturalist/Politician

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"Always behave like a duck — keep calm and unruffled on the surface but paddle like the devil underneath."
– Jacob Braude

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"If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack."
-Winston Churchill

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"It's better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life."
- Sister Elizabeth Kenny
Australian Nurse

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"Do not say things. What you are stands over you the while and thunders so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
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"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."
– Annie Dillard

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"A man who shows me his wealth is like the beggar who shows me his poverty; they are both looking for alms, the rich man for the alms of my envy, the poor man for the alms of my guilt."
-Ben Hecht

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The secret to all successful relationships is to ask yourself:  "Do I want to be right?  Or do I want a wonderful relationship?" 
~Shawna Schuh

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"A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things but cannot receive great ones."
- Lord Chesterfield (British Statesman, Diplomat and Wit, 1694-1773)

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"You can take no credit for beauty at sixteen. But if you are beautiful at sixty, it will be your soul's own doing."
-Marie Stopes

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Nine tenths of education is encouragement.
– Anatole France, 1844-1924, French Author

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

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"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."
-Henry Ford

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To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life.
-Baruch Spinoza

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"Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."
– Henry Van Dyke

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Reputation is character minus what you’ve been caught doing.
-Michael Iapoce

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The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.
– Source Unknown

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"The average man is more interested in a woman who is interested in him, than he is in a woman - any woman - with beautiful legs."
-Marlene Dietrich

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"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it."
– Robin Williams

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"The most exhausting thing in life, I have discovered, is being insincere. That is why so much social life is exhausting; one is wearing a mask."
-Anne Morrow Lindbergh

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"We strain to renew our capacity for wonder, to shock ourselves into astonishment once again."
– Shana Alexander

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 If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

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"The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself."
– Anna Quindlen

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The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice…it is conformity.
~ Rollo May, Man’s Search for Himself.

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"No one means all he says, and yet few say all they mean. For words are slippery and thought is vicious."
-Henry Brooks Adams

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"The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any."
-Fred Astaire

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"The Noah rule: Predicting rain doesn't count; building arks does."
– Warren Buffett

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What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be.
-Ellen Burstyn

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Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.
-Suzanne Somers

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"If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years."
-Bertrand Russell

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"We strain to renew our capacity for wonder, to shock ourselves into astonishment once again."
– Shana Alexander

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'Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.'
– John Updike

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"Anyone can look for fashion in a boutique or history in a museum. The creative person looks for history in a hardware store and fashion in an airport."  -Robert Wieder

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"To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common - this is my symphony." ~William Channing (American moralist, Unitarian Clergyman and Author, 1780-1842)
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"Creative thinking may simply mean the realization that there is no particular virtue in doing things the way they have always been done."
 -Rudolph Flesch

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"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip."
– Will Rogers

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Hope arouses, as nothing else can arouse, a passion for the possible.
-William Sloane Coffin, Jr.

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"Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy; in the one case that confidence may not fall asleep, in the other that it may not be dismayed."
– From Baltasar Gracin y Morales

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Sometimes it is a form of love just to talk to somebody
that you have nothing in common with and still be fascinated by their presence.
-Anonymous

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Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either.
-Golda Meir

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Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty. It merely moves from their faces to their hearts.
-Martin Buxbaum

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"It is well for the heart to be naive and the mind not to be."
– Anatole France

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Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine.
-Buddha

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Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
 – Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1965, Alsatian Theologian/Musician/Medical Missionary

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There's an important difference between giving up and letting go.
- Jessica Hatchigan

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My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just to enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate.
-Thornton Wilder

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"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."
– Thomas Jefferson

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Be yourself. No one can ever tell you you're doing it wrong.
-James Leo Herlihy

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"So what do we do? Anything - something. So long as we don't just sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late."
 - Lee Iacocca, Former Chairman of Chrysler Corporation

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"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens."
– Carl Jung

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Life is a compromise of what your ego wants to do, what experience tells you to do, and what your nerves let you do.
-Bruce Crampton

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It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end.
– Ursula K. Le Guin, American Author

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Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.
 – Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881, British Statesman and Literary Figure

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"Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more."
– Louis L'Amour

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

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"When plans are laid in advance, it is surprising how often the circumstances fit in with them."
 - Sir William Osler
1849-1919, Physician

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"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

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Never argue with a fool. Someone watching may not be able to tell the difference.
- Source Unknown

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Temper gets you into trouble. Pride keeps you there.
- Anonymous

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"People usually fail when they are on the verge of success. So give as much care to the end as to the beginning."
– Lao-Tzu

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The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
– Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, German-born American Physicist

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"When you paint success pictures in your mind, you initiate an inner process whereby your attitudes, hopes, aspirations, and enthusiasm are elevated in response to an image of a more promising future. Every person who aspires must first sell themselves hope, the promise of a better life."
 - U.S. Andersen
Author and Speaker

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Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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"Find the good. It's all around you. Find it, showcase it and you'll start believing in it." 
 - Jesse Owens
1913-1980, Gold Medal Olympic Track Athlete

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All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.
– Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642, Italian Physicist and Astronomer

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The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses.
– Napoleon Hill, 1883-1970, American Speaker/Motivational
Writer/Author of "Think and Grow Rich"

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"A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend."
-Henry David Thoreau

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"One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time."
 -Andre Gide

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"Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile."
-Wilfred T. Grenfell

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"Politeness is the art of selecting among one's real thoughts."
-Madame de Stael

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If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?
- Stephen Levine

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People change and forget to tell each other.
- Lillian Hellman

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Friendship isn't a big thing; it's a million little things.
– Source Unknown

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