WALT WHITMAN

After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on, and have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear - what remains? Nature remains.

CONFUCIUS

Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself

CATO the Elder

I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue. He approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right.

JIM RYUN

Motivation is what gets you started.
Habit is what keeps you going.

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX

Love lights more fires than hate extinguishes.

An Indian Poem

This day is a special day, it is yours.
Yesterday slipped away, it cannot be filled anymore with meaning.
About tomorrow nothing is known.
But this day, today, is yours, make use of it.
Today you can make someone happy.
Today you can help another.
This day is a special day, it is yours.

MOTHER TERESA

Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.

ANON

The only way to have a friend is to be one.
The only way to get a friend is to be one.

THOMAS a KEMPIS

First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.

CHARLES READER

Sow a thought, and you reap an act.
Sow an act, and you reap a habit.
Sow a habit, and you reap a character.
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.

FRIEDRICH von SCHILLER

Keep true to the dreams of thy youth.

from Monty Python "The Meaning of Life"

The meaning of life is nothing very special. Try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.

HERODOTUS

If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

JOHN BERRY

The bird of paradise alights only upon the hand that does not grasp.

ELISABETH KUBLER-ROSS

There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Content makes poor men rich. Discontentment makes rich men poor.

LAO-TZU

Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.

ANATOLE FRANCE

To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.

HENRY MILLER

Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.

MARTIN FARQUAR TUPPER

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.

Chinese Saying

A hundred men may make an encampment, but it takes a woman to make a home.

ANON

The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

G.K. CHESTERTON

Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.

ANNE DILLARD

How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives.

PIET HEIN

He that lets the small things bind him
Leaves the great undone behind him.

RAINER MARIA RILKE

This is the miracle that happens every time - to those who really love - the more they give, the more they possess.

DEEPEK CHOPRA

In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside you.

ANON

If at the end of the day you feel dog-tired, maybe it's because you growled all day.

SAMUEL JOHNSON

Resolve not to be poor.
Whatever you have, spend less.

The DALAI LAMA

We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.

HENRY VAN DYKE

Time is
Too slow for those who wait
Too swift for those who fear
Too long for those who grieve
Too short for those who rejoice
But for those who love
Time is eternity

KATHERINE NORRIS

Life is easier to take than you would think. All that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable and bear the intolerable.

Arabic Saying

Write the bad things that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble.

HENRY WARD BEECHER

Every man should be born again on the first day of January.
Start with a fresh page.
Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances.
But on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.

VERN McLELLAN

What the New Year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the New Year.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

ANON

A new year’s resolution is something that goes in one ear and out the other.

WILLIAM LOUDEN

To be sure of good health - eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.

ANON

Every day must come to you as -
a new hope
a new promise
a new aspiration
a new energy
a new thrill and
a new delight.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.

CHARLES DICKENS

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.

WASHINGTON IRVING

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.

BUDDHA

Do not pursue the past - the past no longer is.
Do not lose yourself in the future - the future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is in the very here and now, the practitioner dwells in stability and freedom.

ANON

Don't cry because it's over.
Smile because it happened.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE

There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory.

KITARO NISHIDA

If my heart can become pure and simple like that of a child, I think there probably can be no greater happiness than this.

JOHN LENNON

We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by itself. You've got to keep watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it.

KAREN KENYON

Life need not just happen to us.
We can choose.
We are choosing every moment which direction to turn, towards the light or towards the dark.

CHRISTOPHER MORLEY

Read every day something no one else is reading.
Think every day something no one else is thinking.
Do every day something no one else would be silly enough to do.
It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.

FRIDTJOF NANSEN

The difficult is what takes a little time.
The impossible is what takes a little longer.

ANON

To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.

VINCE LOMBARDI

Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is.

RICHARD BRAUNSTEIN

It is possible to give without loving, but it is impossible to love without giving.

SALVADOR de MADARIAGA

Considering how bad men are, it is wonderful how well they behave.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

It is hard to fail, but it is worse never have tried to succeed.

GOETHE

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Chinese Saying

Begin with an error of an inch and end by being a thousand miles off the mark.

SOPHOCLES

Look and you will find it.
What is unsought will go undetected.

HELEN KELLER

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

ROBERT LOUIS STEPHENSON

No man is useless while he has a friend.



HAIKU HOMESTEAD has now resumed and will be updated every Wednesday
http://haikuhomestead.blogspot.com

Arabian Proverb

Four things come not back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life and the neglected opportunity.



HAIKU HOMESTEAD has now resumed and will be updated every Wednesday
http://haikuhomestead.blogspot.com

MALCOLM FORBES

It's a very short trip. While alive, live.



HAIKU HOMESTEAD has now resumed and will be updated every Wednesday
http://haikuhomestead.blogspot.com

ANON

Live for today,
Forget tomorrow,
Think of your hopes
And not your sorrow.



HAIKU HOMESTEAD has now resumed and will be updated every Wednesday
http://haikuhomestead.blogspot.com

BUDDHA

Look within, be still, free from fear and attachment.
Know the sweet joy of living in the Way.

GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE

Now and then its good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

This above all - to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not be false to any man.

SIVANANDA

Love expects no reward.
Love knows no fear.
Love gives - does not demand.
Love thinks no evil - imputes no motive.
To Love is to share and serve.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.

ANON

If you are waiting for someone to come along and save you from yourself, you have a long wait.

ENID BLYTON

Growing old is compulsory, but growing up is optional.

DALE CARNEGIE

All life is a chance. So take it! The person who goes furthest is the one who is willing to do and dare.

Chinese Saying

A rumour goes in one ear and out many mouths.

ARISTOTLE

Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way. You become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.

DOUG McLEOD

I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence.

From the Dhammapada

Hold not a sin of little worth, thinking "This is little to me."
The falling drops of water will in time fill a water-jar.
Even so the foolish man becomes full of evil, although he gather it little by little.

Hold not a deed of little worth, thinking "This is little to me."
The falling drops of water will in time fill a water-jar.
Even so the wise man becomes full of good, although he gather it little by little.

HUMPHRY DAVY

Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness, and small obligations, given habitually, are what win and preserve the heart, and secure comfort.

HELEN KELLER

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.

SAMUEL JOHNSON

The happiest conversation is where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm quiet interchange of sentiments.

LAMA SURYA DAS

Truth is everywhere.
It knows no religious, cultural, temporal or ethnic bounds.
Truth is the perfect circle.
Its centre is everywhere.
Its circumference stretches into infinite space.

BERNARD MELTZER

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.


SCOTTISH TALES FROM THE OTHER WORLD
“The Tailor who minded the Bairn” at -
http://scottishtalesfromtheotherworld.blogspot.com

African Proverb

I pointed out to you the stars and all you saw was the tip of my finger.



SCOTTISH TALES FROM THE OTHER WORLD
“The Tailor who minded the Bairn” at -
http://scottishtalesfromtheotherworld.blogspot.com

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but playing a poor hand well.

RUMER GODDEN

There is an Indian belief that everyone is in a house of four rooms - a physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room everyday, even if only to keep it aired, we are not complete.

MARY ANNE RADMACHER

Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all that there is.

ALBERT SCHWEITZER

In the hope of reaching the moon, men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.

LAYMAN P'ANG

The past is already past.
Don't try to regain it.
The present does not stay.
Don't try to touch it.

From moment to moment.
The future has not come;
Don't think about it beforehand.

ANON

You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.

DAVID RUSSELL

The hardest thing in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.

Ven. K. Sri. DHAMMANANDA

Happy is he who has lofty and noble aspirations.
Happy is he who enriches the lives of others.
Happy is he who allows others to live in peace.
Happy is he who makes this world a better place to live in.
Happy is he whose work, chores and daily tasks are labours of love.
Happy is he who loves love.

CHARLES CALEB COLTON

True friendship is like sound health.
The value of it is seldom known until it be lost.



NEW…4-minute stories online…NEW
SCOTTISH TALES FROM THE OTHER WORLD
http://scottishtalesfromtheotherworld.blogspot.com

GANDHI

We must not, like the frog in the well who imagines that the universe ends with the wall surrounding his well, think that our religion alone represents the whole truth and all others are false.


NEW...4-minute stories online...NEW
SCOTTISH TALES FROM THE OTHER WORLD
http://scottishtalesfromtheotherworld.blogspot.com

GEORGE ASAF

What’s the use of worrying? It never was worth while.
[from the song “Pack up your troubles”]



NEW...4-minute stories online...NEW
SCOTTISH TALES FROM THE OTHER WORLD
http://scottishtalesfromtheotherworld.blogspot.com

CARL SCHURZ

Ideals are like stars. You will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but, like the seafaring man on the ocean desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them reach your destination.


NEW...4-minute stories online...NEW
SCOTTISH TALES FROM THE OTHER WORLD
http://scottishtalesfromtheotherworld.blogspot.com

The DALAI LAMA

My religion is very simple.
My religion is kindness.


NEW...4-minute stories online...NEW
SCOTTISH TALES FROM THE OTHER WORLD
http://scottishtalesfromtheotherworld.blogspot.com

ANON

Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.

BUDDHA

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

JOHN DRYDEN

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.

ALFRED D. SOUZA

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

Chinese Saying

A rumour goes in one ear and out many mouths