Childhood

"There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again."  - Elizabeth Lawrence -

Community

"A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm."  - Henrik Ibsen -

Command

"An army of lions commanded by a deer will never be an army of lions."  - Napoleon Bonaparte -

Indispensable

"If you feel that you are indispensable, put your fingers in a glass of water, withdraw it, and note the hole you have left."  - Author unknown -

Failure

"Develop success from failures.  Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success." - Dale Carnegie -

Experience

"Experience is pure gold. Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."  - Ann Landers -

Gift back

"Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God."  - Leo Buscaglia -

Light

"The issue is now clear. It is between light and darkness and everyone must choose his side."  - G. K. Chesterton -

Unexplainable

"What is there beyond knowing that keeps

calling to me?  I can't

 

turn in any direction

but it's there.  I don't mean

 

the leaves' grip and shine or even the thrush's

silk song, but the far-off

 

fires, for example,

of the stars, heaven's slowly turning

 

theater of light, or the wind

playful with its breath;

 

or time that's always rushing forward,

or standing still

 

in the same — what shall I say –

moment.

What I know

I could put into a pack

 

as if it were bread and cheese, and carry it

on one shoulder,

 

important and honorable, but so small!

While everything else continues, unexplained

 

and unexplainable.

 

….mostly I just stand in the dark field,

in the middle of the world, breathing in and out…

- Mary Oliver from "What is there beyond knowing" -

Mastery

"Mastery is not a function of I.Q. or natural talent or wealthy parents who can send you to the best school, but rather the result of going through a learning process, fueled by the desire to grow and the persistence to push past any obstacles."  — Robert Greene -

Attention

"Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are."  - Jose Ortega y Gasset -

Past

"It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory."  - F. Scott Fitzgerald -

Dust

"The dust motes float

and swerve in the sunbeam,

as lively as worlds,

and I remember my brother

when we were boys:

"We may be living on an atom

in somebody's wallpaper."  - Wendell Berry "Dust" -

Failure

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost more than 300 games, and 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. Throughout my life and career I've failed and failed and failed again. And, that's why I succeed." -  Michael Jordan -

Small

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." - Henry Ford -

Useless

"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all."  - Peter Drucker -

Present moment

"This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing."  - Master Yoda -

Suffer

"No matter how hard you pursue pleasure and success, there are times when you fail. No matter how fast you flee, there are times when pain catches up with you. And in between those times, life is so boring you could scream. Our minds are full of opinions and criticisms. We have built walls all around ourselves and we are trapped within the prison of our own likes and dislikes. We suffer."  - Mahathera -

Important

"Most of the trouble in this world is caused by people wanting to be important".  - T.S. Eliot -

Student

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."  - a Buddhist proverb -