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A Genius is the one most like himself. — Thelonius Monk

Genuine friends come only on the basis of warm-heartedness. — H.H. the Dalai Lama

In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man’s proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours. — Ayn Rand / John Galt

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living.
The world owes you nothing. It was here first. — Mark Twain

Impossible you say?
Nothing is impossible when you work for the circus.

You’re undeniably warm
You’re cerulean
You’re perfect in design — Jason Mraz

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life? — Mary Oliver

Look, you and I both know that I’m putting everything that I have into this; I simply don’t have anything more to give. If you want it to be better then you have to show up and keep your part of the deal. But you know what: even if you don’t show up I’m going to keep writing, because that’s my job. So if this book is a failure it’s your fault for not doing your part. I would like the record to show that I showed up and did my part. — Elizabeth Gilbert

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about. — Albert Einstein

You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture.
Just get people to stop reading them. — Ray Bradbury

I advise you to say your dream is possible and then overcome all inconveniences, ignore all the hassles and take a running leap through the hoop, even if it is in flames. — Les Brown

Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down. — Ray Bradbury

. . . I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, if today were the last day of my life would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer had been no for too many days in a row I know I need to change something. — Steve Jobs

A room without books is like a body without a soul. — Cicero

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. — Howard Thurman

In the garden, not everything always goes as planned; like life, there is the unavoidable certainty of the unexpected. — Shawn Gauthier

The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. — Ayn Rand

Accept what people tell you at face value. Surround yourself with people who think like you. Don’t stand out. Stay close to home. Get a normal job. Do things the way everyone else does, because there has to be a method to the madness.

Work at a job you don’t like for the majority of your professional life. Sit at a desk 40 hours a week for an average of 10 hours of productive work. One day, the corner cubicle will be all yours. — Chris Guillebeau

The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it. But that it is too low . . . and we reach it. — Michelangelo

Henry Ford once said he didn’t want executives who had to work all the time. He insisted that those who were always in a flurry of activity at their desks were not being the most productive. He wanted people who would clear their desks, prop their feet up and dream some fresh dreams. His philosophy was that only he who has the luxury of time can originate a creative thought. — Dan Miller

You plant a seed, the sapling grows into a tree, and that tree grows tallest and most hearty in its home soil–not on foreign terrain. It’s the same with human beings; we grow strongest and healthiest from our original roots in the ground from which we sprung, no matter how much we like to try new things, move around, and tinker with our foliage. We are who we are. — Iris Krasnow

The notion of marriage as a union between two sovereign selves affirms virtues like independence, initiative, and self-reliance. Yet while attending to the virtues associated with the integrity of the individual, our contemporary discourse on marriage entirely neglects the virtues that are essential to the integrity of bonds–virtues like fidelity, kindness, forgiveness, modesty, gratitude, loyalty, patience, generosity, and selflessness.

It is in this tradition that our aspirations toward individual perfectibility and happiness are linked to the pursuit of the well-being of others. It is this tradition that recognizes the entirety of a “for better, for worse” commitment in our lives as family members, neighbors, and citizens, summoning us together in bad as well as good times. Without such abiding commitments, we would not be able to endure the disasters, losses, and personal tragedies that befall us and that are part of our human condition. — Barbara Dafoe Whitehead

Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow.

We gave up the aroma of warm bread rising, the measured pace of nurturing routines, the creative task of molding our families’ tastes and zest for life . . . — Barbara Kingsolver

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. — Dr Seuss

You still don’t know what you can’t do. — Mateo Messina’s Pop

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. — Henry David Thoreau

Be like a duck. Calm on the surface,
but always paddling like the dickens underneath. — Michael Caine

The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good’ sense. — Pablo Picasso

If you don’t get at least one rejection a day,
you’re not trying hard enough.

THE PARADOX OF OUR TIMES
Is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers
Wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints
We spend more, but we have less
We have bigger houses, but smaller families
More conveniences, but less time
We have more degrees, but less sense
More knowledge, but less judgment
More experts, but more problems
More medicines, but less wellness
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often
We have learnt how to make a living, but not a life
We have added years to life, but not life to years
We’ve been all the way to the moon and back
But have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor
We have conquered outer space, but not inner space
We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted our soul
We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice
We’ve higher incomes, but lower morals
We’ve become long on quantity but short on quality
These are the times of tall men, and short character
Steep profits, and shallow relationships
These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare
More leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition
These are the days of two incomes, but more divorces
Of fancier houses, but broken homes
It is a time when there is much in the show window
And nothing in the stockroom — H.H. the Dalai Lama

I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind. — Albert Einstein

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

When I run out of red, I use blue. — Pablo Picasso

The cure for boredom is curiosity.
There is no cure for curiosity. — Dorothy Parker

To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing. — Aristotle

Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today. — James Dean

Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. — Robert Frost

3 Rules of Work: Out of clutter, find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. — Albert Einstein

Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. — Pablo Picasso

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. — Anais Nin

There ought to be a wall of cautionary photos, with Edie Sedgewick right at the top. It should say “Muses Don’t Keep Copyright“. — Molly Crabapple

Now more than ever, as psychiatry is increasingly technological, a matter of manipulating the chemicals in our brains, we need symbolic language, the nuances of poetry and the free spaces of story, myth, and faith to help us understand who we are an why we consistently do things that wound ourselves and others. — Kathleen Norris, Acedia & me, p. 211

This is another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus. Amen. — Book of Common Prayer (p. 461), Acedia & me, p. 251

Out of what seems desolate a newly vigorous faith can arise, a certainty that is not subject to changes in moods or feelings, or the vicissitudes of life. — Kathleen Norris, Acedia & me, p. 263

People often remark that they would write, or paint, or sculpt, if only they had the time. But this is pure fantasy: the artist does whatever is necessary to arrange her life so that she will have the time to make her art. — Kathleen Norris, Acedia & me, p. 263

Poetry might not seem like much in an unjust violent world, in which acedia tempts us to give up on the fight for something better. But poetry–psalms and hymns–can be a remedy for the human tendency to take refuge in indifference. — Kathleen Norris, Acedia & me, p. 285