INSPIRATIONAL
QUOTES
Feeling blue? Need a pick-me-up?
Sit a spell and enjoy the wisdom of the ages.
(new quotes added 1-22-01)
ACHIEVEMENT
Being different isn't the same as making a difference.
ACTION
Action is the
antidote to despair.
-Joan Baez
ADOLESCENCE
Adolescence is the awkward age when a child is too old to say something cute and too young to say something sensible.
ADVERSITY
It's not the load that brings you down, it's the way you carry it.
You who have endured the stinging experiences are the choicest counselors God can use.
God can use reverses to move us forward.
If we could forget our troubles as easily as we forget our blessings, how different things would be.
You can measure a man by the opposition it takes to discourage him.
I know things are tough right now, but just remember--every flower that ever bloomed had to go through a whole lot of dirt to get there!
Troubles come to pass; they do not come to stay.
The refiner is never very far from the mouth of the furnace when his gold is in the fire.
There is no magic escape when we face insurmountable problems. We often must learn to live with mountains that will not move.
ADVICE
Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the deeper it sinks.
To profit from
good advice requires more wisdom than to give it.
-John Churton Collins
AGE
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Old age can't seem to catch up with folks who have more things to do than they can possibly finish.
Our aim in life improves as we grow older, but it seems that we soon run out of ammunition.
Age is like love...it cannot be hidden.
ANGER
The wind of anger blows out the lamp of intelligence.
Men and pins are useless when they lose their heads.
Striking while the iron is hot is OK, but don't strike while the head is hot.
Anger is that
powerful internal force that blows out the light of reason.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
ANXIETY
Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.
The best way to forget your own problem is to help someone else solve his.
ATTITUDE
Don't be a cloud because you failed to become a star.
A good thing to remember, and a better than
to do--
is to work with the construction gang and not the wrecking crew.
BEAUTY
Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty. They merely move it from their faces to their hearts.
BLESSINGS
Let your arithmetic be at its best when counting blessings.
CARING
Talking is sharing, but listening is caring.
He who climbs the highest is he who helps another ascend.
CHANGE
Most people are willing to change, not because they see the light, but because they feel the heat!
CHILDREN
The joy of motherhood: what a woman experiences when all the children are finally in bed.
Bring up a child in the way he should go, and go that way yourself.
CIRCUMSTANCES
Circumstances are like a mattress: when we are on top, we rest in comfort; when we are underneath, we are smothered.
COMMITMENT
Unless commitment
is made, there are only promises and hopes...but no plans.
-Peter Drucker
COMMUNICATION
The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place, but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.
Take a tip from nature: Your ears aren't made to shut, but your mouth is.
A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something.
The human tongue is only a few inches away from the brain, but when you listen to some people talk, the two seem miles apart.
COMPASSION
Sympathy sees and
says, "I'm sorry."
Compassion sees and says, "I'll help."
We are not
primarily put on this earth to see through one another, but to see one another
through.
-Peter DeVries
-Writer
COMPROMISE
The most important
trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway.
-Henry Boye
COOPERATION
Making waves almost never turns the tide.
COURAGE
Our only glory is not in never falling, but in rising each time we fall.
When I dare to be
powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision,
then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
-Audre Lorde
DEATH
Your final exit will be your greatest entrance.
god's children never say good-bye for the last time.
DESTINY
Choice, not chance, determines destiny.
No trumpets sound
when the important decisions in our life are made. Destiny is made known
silently.
-Agnes De Mille
DISCRETION
Discretion is putting two and two together and keeping your mouth shut.
DREAMS
Who supplies another with a constructive thought has enriched him forever.
Go as far as you can see. When you get there, you can see farther.
ENCOURAGEMENT
Encouragement is like premium gas. It helps to take the knocks out of living.
Don't despair because you have occasional sinking spells of despondency--just remember the sun has a sinking spell every night.
Do not be discouraged--it may be the last key in the bunch that opens the door.
The best thing to do behind a person's back--is pat it!
ENTHUSIASM
EXPERIENCE
There's nothing like a little experience to upset a theory.
An expert is a man
who has made all the mistakes which can be made
in a very narrow field.
-Niels Bohr (1885-1962)
Physicist and Nobel laureate
FAILURE
Failures are divided into two categories:
--those who thought and never did, and
--those who did and never thought.
Men who try something and fail are infinitely better than those who try nothing and succeed.
Failure is the path of least persistence.
FAITH
God calls us to be faithful; He does not promise we will be successful.
Faith can move mountains, but only hard work can put a tunnel through them.
The world says, "Seeing is
believing."
Faith says, "Believing is seeing!"
It is not the greatness of my trials but the littleness of my faith that causes me to complain.
Faith isn't believing in spite of evidence.
Faith is obeying in spite of consequence.
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves the One who is leading.
Feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death.
If you grasp tomorrow with faith, you know the handle won't fall off.
Faith is only as good as its object. The man in the jungle bows before an idol of stone and trusts it to help him, but he receives no help. If faith is not directed at the right object, it will accomplish nothing. The big question is, "In whom do you believe?"
Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up.
Faith is seeing light with your heart, when all your eyes see is the darkness ahead.
Prayer is asking for rain.
Faith is carrying the umbrella.
FAULTS
When looking for faults, use a mirror, not a telescope!
The greatest of all faults is to imagine you have none.
If you are looking for an easy project--try faultfinding. It requires no talent, no brains, and no character to get started in the business of grumbling.
FORGIVENESS
A grudge is too heavy a load for anyone to carry.
FRIENDS
Blessed are they who have the gift of making
friends, for it is one of God's best gifts. It involves many things, but above all,
the power of going out of one's self, and appreciating whatever is noble and loving in
another.
-Thomas Hughes
A good friend puts up with your worst moods, goes along with your worst ideas, and always sees the best in you.
There is a chord in every heart that has a sign in it if you use the right touch.
All we need is an ear to listen, an eye to behold, and a heart to feel.
When you share your joy with others, you double each smile and each laugh; when you share your pain and sorrow, each tear is divided in half.
You can always return to a friend--like going back to a special place and finding the same warm feeling, untouched by time and distance.
The best exercise for good relationships is bending over backward.
Treat your friends
as you do your paintings - place them in the best light.
Jeannie Jerome Churchill
Of all the means
which wisdom uses to ensure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the
most important is the acquisition of friends.
-Epicurus (c. 341-270 B.C.)
-Philosopher
FUTURE
Some carve out the future; others just whittle.
That old law about
"an eye for an eye" leaves everybody blind. The time is always
right to do the right thing.
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
GENIUS
Genius is the
ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.
-C. W. Cerar
Genius is nothing
but a greater aptitude for patience.
-Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
-Statesman, writer and scientist
GOD
Rough treatment gives souls, as well as
stones, their lustre. The more the diamond is cut the brighter it sparkles; and in
what seems hard dealing, there God has no end in view but to perfect His people.
-Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie
I always feel good about the start of a new year. To many of us, January is the eraser God provides to wipe the slate clean.
An atheist cannot find God for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman.
When you have nothing left but God, then for the first time you become aware God is enough.
If you're headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns.
Turning to God is always a right turn.
If God has called you, do not spend any time looking over your shoulder to see who is following.
Dear God, I have a problem...it's me.
Dear Child, I have the answer...it's Me.
God promises us daily bread---not flour for a year in advance.
I'm glad God has all the answers, 'cause I barely understand the questions.
Christmas Love: He came to pay a debt
He didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay.
GODLINESS
Godliness is the ability to let your light shine after your fuse is blown.
GRACE
God will never lead you where His grace cannot keep you.
The truth of God's grace...humbles a man without degrading him, and...exalts a man without inflating him.
GRATITUDE
An ungrateful man is like a hog under a tree
eating acorns, but never looking up to see where they come from.
-Timothy Dexter
Gratitude takes three forms: a feeling in the heart, an expression in words, and giving in return.
GREATNESS
A man's greatness
can be measured by his enemies.
-Don Piatt
GRIEF
Grief is the healing mechanism God uses, particularly when we allow Him to enter into the process.
HAPPINESS
Happiness is a perfume that you cannot pour
on others without getting a few drops on yourself.
-Nathaniel Hawthorne
The three grand essentials of happiness are something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for.
To find happiness, one must concern himself with what he owes the world, not with what the world owes him.
The secret to happiness is to count your blessings, not your birthdays.
Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
Success is when
you get what you want.
Happiness is when you want what you get.
Many persons have
a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained
through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
-Helen Keller (1880-1968)
-Writer and lecturer
Some cause
happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
-Oscar Wilde
HEARTS
All that is worth cherishing in this world begins in the heart, not in the head.
Hardening of the heart ages people more quickly than hardening of the arteries.
It isn't what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart.
God will accept a broken heart, but He must have all the pieces.
HEAVEN
The blue of heaven is bigger than the clouds.
HOME
The right temperature in a home is maintained by warm hearts, not by hot heads.
HOPE
The next time you're feeling down, think about all the terrible things that didn't happen to you.
Always take your rainbow with you!
We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.
Even if it burns a little low at times, the secret of life is to always keep the flame of hope alive.
Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.
HUMILITY
The man who has a right to boast doesn't have to.
It is usually the fellow with the big mouth who bites off more than he can chew.
HUMOR
A keen sense of humor helps us to overlook the unbecoming, understand the unconventional, tolerate the unpleasant, overcome the unexpected, and outlast the unbearable.
A sense of humor is like a needle and thread: it will patch up so many things.
Humor is the hole that lets the sawdust out of a stuffed shirt.
IDEALS
Ideals are like stars. You will not
succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of
waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you reach your destiny.
-Carl Schurz
IDEAS
Ideas are like children--no matter how much you admire someone else's, you can't help liking your own best.
IMPROVEMENT
There's no such thing as improvement without work.
INSPIRATION
There are many
things that will catch my eye, but there are only a few that catch my heart...it
is those I consider to pursue.
-Tim Redmond
-Writer
Sometimes our
light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us
owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.
-Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)
-Medical missionary
JOY
Joy thrives best in the soil of thankfulness.
We always have the option to choose joy!
Joy is not the absence of suffering, but the presence of God.
You have to look for the joy. Look for the light of God that is hitting your life, and you will find sparkles you didn't know were there.
Real joy comes not
from ease or riches or from the praise of others,
but from doing something worthwhile.
-Wilfred Grenfell (1865-1940)
-English medical missionary
Joy has nothing to
do with material things, or with a man's outward circumstance....A man living in
the lap of luxury can be wretched, and a man in the depths of poverty can
overflow with joy.
-William Barclay (1907-1978)
-Clergyman and writer
JUDGMENT
If ever you make a mistake of judgment, let it be on the side of mercy.
Remember, when you point your finger accusingly at someone else, you have three fingers pointing at yourself.
You and I have no business setting ourselves up as judges--unless we know all that God knows about people.
When I start to find fault with all that I see, it is time to start looking for what's wrong with me.
KINDNESS
You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never now how soon it will be too late.
If you are unkind, you are the wrong kind!
The most loved folks in our community seem to be the ones who never can recall anything bad about any of us.
May I never get
too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with
kindness and compassion.
-Thomas Jefferson
KNOWLEDGE
The less a man knows the easier it is to convince him he knows it all.
We should learn something every day.
Sometimes it is the discovery that what we learned yesterday was wrong.
LAUGHTER
The sound of laughter is God's hand upon a troubled world.
You don't stop laughing because you grow old...you grow old because you stop laughing.
Please Lord, teach us to laugh again, but God, don't let us forget that we cried.
Laughter is the sun that drives winter from one's face.
LEADERSHIP
A leader's job is to make it easy to do the right thing and difficult to do the wrong thing.
LIFE
Every year I live I am more convinced that
the waste of life lies in the love we have not given, the powers we have not used, the
selfish prudence that will risk nothing, and which, shirking pain, misses happiness as
well.
-Mary Cholmondeley
***
God has a purpose for my life. No other person can take my place. It isn't a
big place to be sure, but for years I have been molded in a peculiar way to fill a
peculiar niche in the world's work.
-Charles Stelzle
The events of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious preparation for the work He has prepared us to do.
It is not doing the thing we like that makes life happy; it is learning to like the thing we have to do.
Life is not a matter of holding good cards. It's playing a poor hand well.
We ought to do more with life than increase it's speed.
One should give more concern to making a life than to making a living.
If life is a grind--use it to sharpen your wits.
The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather, those days when, out of dejection and despair, you feel rise within you a challenge to life and a sense of promise.
One makes a living by what he gets; he makes a life by what he gives.
Do more than exist...Live!
Do more than touch...Feel!
Do more than look...See!
Do more than hear...Listen!
Do more than talk...Say something!
Don't let the best you have done so far be the standard for the rest of your life.
Life is easier than you think--all you have to do is this: accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, bear the intolerable, and be able to smile at anything.
Life is a constant battle between carrots and chocolate.
Life has a way of coloring your way of living--but it's you who chooses the colors.
Life is like an ice-cream cone:
Just
when you think you've got it licked, it drips all over you!
The length of our
life is less important than its depth.
-Mary David Fisher
The PURPOSE of
life is to discover your gift.
The MEANING of life is giving your gift away.
-David Viscott
- Psychiatrist and Writer
If people fail in life, it's because they major in minor things.
There is no power
on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, pure, simple, and useful
life.
-Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)
-Educator and writer
Life is a riddle. Unfortunately, the answer's not written on the back of anything.
There will be ups
and there will be downs,
there will be times when things make sense,
and there will be times when they won't,
but you'll always be on an adventure of meaning if you live for self, family,
and others.
-Christopher Reeve
-Actor
When making your
choices in life, do not neglect to live.
-Samuel Johnson
LOVE
Love sees through a telescope, not a microscope.
Love cures people--both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.
To love the whole world for me is no chore.
My tough problem's the neighbor next door.
Love, like spring rains, is pretty hard to be in the middle of without getting some on you.
The force of love, like the force of gravity, is hard to see but easy to feel.
Keep sending out love messages. Even if you feel you are trying to hug a porcupine, keep sharing your heart!
MATURITY
Maturity is when we change from cocksureness into thoughtful uncertainty.
Maturity begins when we're content to feel we're right about something without feeling the necessity to prove someone else wrong.
Age is a high price to pay for maturity.
MERIT
If there be any
truer message of a man than by what he does, it must be by what he gives.
-Robert South
MISTAKES
The fellow who will never admit he was wrong really is saying he is no smarter now than he used to be.
A hundred mistakes are an education if you learn something from each one.
Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make them all yourself.
A mistake, if understood, is but a step toward wisdom.
A man may make many mistakes, but he is not a failure until he starts blaming someone else for them.
The main difference between the wise man and a fool is that a fool's mistakes never teach him anything.
Smart people learn
from their own mistakes.
Smarter people learn from the mistakes of others.
MUSIC
Those who are willing to face the music, may some day lead the band.
OPINION
If in the last year you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse--you may be dead!
OPPORTUNITY
If you want to get a pail of milk, don't sit yourself on a stool in the middle of a field hoping that a cow will come over to you.
Great opportunities come to those who make the most of the small ones.
The person who is
waiting for something to turn up, might start with their shirt sleeves.
-Garth Henrichs
OUTLOOK
A pessimist has no starter; an optimist has no brakes.
The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, and the realist adjusts the sails.
Don't miss the beautiful colors of the rainbow while you're looking for the pot of gold at the end of it.
An optimist is one who takes cold water thrown upon his idea, heats it with enthusiasm, and uses the steam to push ahead.
PAIN
We tangle up the plans the Lord hath wrought, and when we cry in pain, He says, "Be quiet, dear, while I untie the knot."
PATIENCE
A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.
Patience and
perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and
obstacles vanish.
-John Quincy Adams
Patience is the
companion of wisdom.
-St. Augustine
PEACE
When a man finds
no peace within himself it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
-L.A. Rouchefoliocauld
PETS
I have found that
when you are deeply troubled there are things you get from the silent devoted
companionship of a dog that you can get from no other source.
-Doris Day
-Actress
The reason dogs have so many friends is because they wag their tails and not their tongues.
PLANNING
Planning is of no
use at all unless it eventually degenerates into work.
-Peter Drucker
PRAYER
I have lived long enough to thank God that
all my prayers have not been answered.
-Jean Ingelow
Prayer is kind of like calling home every day.
God will not accept praying as a substitute for obeying.
You will not stumble while on your knees.
Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except that which lies outside the will of God.
When life knocks you down to your knees you are in a perfect position to pray.
Pray for a good harvest, but keep on hoeing.
A lot of kneeling keeps one in good standing.
At day's end, I turn all my problems over to God....He's going to be up anyway.
PRIORITIES
The cart before
the horse is neither beautiful nor useful.
-Henry David Thoreau
PROGRESS
Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.
Remember the turtle--he never makes any progress until he sticks his neck out.
You can't leave your footprints on the sands of time while sitting down.
Remember--even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there!
REGRET
RESPONSIBILITY
A good way to keep your feet on the ground is to put the weight of responsibilities on your shoulders.
RICHES
The richest person is the one who is contented with what he has.
SELF
You may not be what you think you are, but what you think, you are.
The job many people spend most of their time at--is the job of hiding what they really are.
If I have inside me the stuff to make a
cocoon, maybe the stuff of butterflies is there, too.
-Trina Paulus
What lies behind us or before us--are tiny matters compared with what lies in us.
It is when we forget ourselves that we do things that will be remembered.
A man is always as young as he feels, but seldom as important.
If you want to set the world right, start with yourself.
You are only as big as the things that annoy you.
Don't think you are necessarily on the right road because it is a well-beaten path.
SMILES
A smile is the lighting system of the face and the heating system of the heart.
God made wrinkles to show where smiles have been.
STRENGTH
The end is not near...you must learn to cope.
Our strength is shown in the things we stand for; our weakness is shown in the things we fall for.
Nothing stops the
man who desires to achieve. Every obstacle is simply a course to develop
his achievement muscle. It's a strengthening of his powers of
accomplishment.
-Eric Butterworth
-Clergyman
SUBTLETY
Subtlety is the
art of saying what you think
and getting out of the way before it is understood.
SUCCESS
The secret of success is to stay cool and calm on top and paddle like crazy underneath.
The Lord gave us two ends--one to sit on and
the other to think with.
Success depends on which one we use the most.
Success consists of getting up just one more time than you've fallen down.
If at first you DO
succeed, try something harder.
-Ann Landers
-Syndicated columnist
SUFFERING
God does not send us answers to our suffering. Instead, He takes it upon himself.
Broken things can become blessed things if you let Christ do the mending.
Jesus did not come to explain away suffering or remove it. He came to fill it with His presence.
THANKFULNESS
Don't grumble because you don't have what you want...rather be exceedingly grateful you don't get what you deserve!
He who is thankful for little enjoys much.
TIME
Every day is a free gift from God.
We do not remember days, we remember moments.
TODAY
Yesterday is experience, tomorrow is hope...today is getting from one to the other.
If you want God's fire to burn brightly in your heart, take out yesterday's ashes.
The present is what slips by us while we're pondering the past and worrying about the future.
It is good
to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the
end.
-Ursula K. LeGuin
TRUTH
The only joy some people get out of the truth is stretching it.
Truth does not depend on a consensus of opinion.
WISDOM
Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.
WORRY
Worry is the advance interest you pay on troubles that seldom come.
Worry doesn't help tomorrow's troubles, but it does ruin today's happiness.
YOUTH
Youth: By the time your face clears up, your mind gets fuzzy.
* * * * * * * * * *
SOURCES:
Every Time I Get My Act Together, The Curtain Comes Down...by Barbara Johnson
Life Lessons--An Inspirational Instruction Book...by Robert C. Savage
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