Happiness is like a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Hawthorne
Love is not a part of life or a part of things. Love is the whole of life and the whole of things. ~Venus Di Medici
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become bitter and vain; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievments as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real posession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to sheild you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you concieve Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.
I want valentines and cupids and all the rest of that crap. I want it all! ~Rose, The Mirror Has Two Faces
When I was four years old, they tried to test my I.Q. They showed me a picture of three oranges and a pear. They asked me, "Which one is different, which one does not belong?" They taught me different is wrong. ~Ani DiFranco
I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I posess tremendous power to make a life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that desides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalaed, and a person humanized or de-humanized.
If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat them as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming. ~Goethe
Edify, Stupid! ~IU BCMers
