Week 2018-21

[#thought, #belief]
"What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are." (Anthony Robbins, "Awaken the Giant Within")

[#identity, #quest]
"Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it." (William James, "The Principles of Psychology")

[#limits, #imagination]
"To realize one's limitations marks the awakening of intellectual integrity, without which imagination, integrity and assiduity are barren." (Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin)

[#thought, #happiness]
"All that we are is made up of our thoughts; it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speak or act with a pure thought, happiness will follow him, like a shadow that never leaves him." (Dhammapada)

[#human nature, #extremes]
"People want to hear about the extremes of human nature. They want things that are larger than their own lives, and more romantic, and not necessarily of their own experiences." (Richard Thompson)

[#truth, #meaning]
"Truth is something which can't be told in a few words. Those who simplify the universe only reduce the expansion of its meaning." (Anais Nin)

[#quest, #introspection]
“The nature of creation is that you have to go inside and dig out. The very nature of creation is not a performing glory on the outside, it’s a painful, difficult search within.” (Louise Nevelson)

[#emotions, #problem_solving]
"Emotions are far harder things to understand than algebra and geometry, yet we spend hours in elucidating mathematics and expect such a problem as that of human relationships to solve itself." (Frances G Wickes)

[#life, #perseverance]
"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 in something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained." (Marie Curie)

[#time, #potential]
"The past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities." (Stephen Hawking)

Week 2017-23

[#reality, #illusion]
"The unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it." (Chuck Palahniuk)

[#meaning]
"Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human." (Viktor E. Frankl)

[#wisdom, #doubt]
"The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth." (Pierre Abélard)

[#knowledge, #wisdom]
"Don't be conceited about your own knowledge. Take advice from the ignorant as well as the wise, since there is no single person who embodies perfection nor any craftsman who has reached the limits of excellence. The perfect word is as rare as an emerald, yet it may be found among the maidservants working at the millstone." (Ptah-hotep)

[#limits, #belief]
"When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw." (Nelson Mandela)

[#knowledge, #mystery]
"Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge." (Kahlil Gibran)

[#love, #identity]
"The things that we love tell us what we are." (Thomas Aquinas)

[#quest, #learning]
"I have been a seeker and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my soul." (Rumi)

[#beauty, #fragility]
"The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed." (Ernest Hemingway)

[#patience, #trust]
"Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process. It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn." (Rumi)


[#understanding, #discrimination]
"Those who judge will never understand, and those who understand will never judge." (Wilson Kanadi)

Week 2017-10

"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things." (Winston Churchill)

"Where shall we begin? There is no beginning. Start where you arrive. Stop before what entices you. And work! You will enter little by little into the entirety. Method will be born in proportion to your interest." (Auguste Rodin)

"The most dangerous of our prejudices reign in ourselves against ourselves. To dissolve them is a creative act." (Hugo von Hofmannsthal)

"[…] there are no backwaters. There is only one river, and we are all in it." (Scott Russell Sanders, “Writing from the Center”, 1997)

"There is another interesting paradox here: by immersing ourselves in what we love, we find ourselves. We do not lose ourselves. One does not lose one’s identity by falling in love." (Lukas Foss)

"If you look for the truth outside yourself, it gets farther and farther away." (Tung-shan)

"If one will just think about what he is to do for the day at hand, he will be able to do anything. If it is a single day's work, one should be able to put up with it. Tomorrow, too, is but a single day." (Hagakure)

"Maturity of mind is the capacity to endure uncertainty." (John Finley)

"No object is mysterious. The mystery is in your eye." (Elizabeth Bowen)

"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." (Nelson Mandela)

Week 2016-41

"Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us." (Pema Chodron)

"You are the universe, expressing itself as a human for a little while." (Eckhart Tolle)

"True mindfulness is the awareness that everything you encounter is a vigorous expression of the same living universe as you." (Brad Warner)

"When a man's knowledge is not in order, the more of it he has the greater will be his confusion." (Herbert Spencer)

"Before you assume, learn the facts. Before you judge, understand why. Before you hurt someone, feel. Before you leave, commit to staying." (José Sánchez)

"Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness. Laugh when you can, apologize when you should, and let go of what you can’t change." (José Sánchez)

"The real meditation is how you live your life." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning." (C S Lewis)

"It is only through mystery and madness that the soul is revealed." (Thomas Moore)

"Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." (Scott Adams)