Poems and Quotes

The Most Beautiful Flower

The park bench was deserted as I sat down to read
Beneath the long, straggly branches of an old willow tree.
Disillusioned by life with good reason to frown,
For the world was intent on dragging me down.
And if that weren't enough to ruin my day,
A young boy out of breath approached me, all tired from play.
He stood right before me with his head tilted down
And said with great excitement, "Look what I found!"
In his hand was a flower, and what a pitiful sight,
With its petals all worn - not enough rain, or too little light.
Wanting him to take his dead flower and go off to play,
I faked a small smile and then shifted away.
But instead of retreating he sat next to my side
And placed the flower to his nose
And declared with overacted surprise,
"It sure smells pretty and it's beautiful, too.
That's why I picked it; here, it's for you."
The weed before me was dying or dead.
Not vibrant of colors: orange, yellow or red.
But I knew I must take it,
But instead of him placing the flower in my hand,
He held it mid-air without reason or plan.
It was then that I noticed for the very first time
That weed-toting boy could not see: he was blind.
I heard my voice quiver; tears shone in the sun
As I thanked him for picking the very best one.
You're welcome," he smiled, and then ran off to play,
Unaware of the impact he'd had on my day.
I sat there and wondered how he managed to see
A self-pitying woman beneath an old willow tree.
How did he know of my self-indulged plight?
Perhaps from his heart, he'd been blessed with true sight.
Through the eyes of a blind child, at last I could see
The problem was not with the world; the problem was me.
And for all of those times I myself had been blind,
I vowed to see the beauty in life,
And appreciate every second that's mine.
And then I held that wilted flower up to my nose
And breathed in the fragrance of a beautiful rose
And smiled as I watched that young boy,
Another weed in his hand,
About to change the life of an unsuspecting old man.

"In this seemingly busy world of ours
When everything just seems to move too fast
We get lost, forgetting the little things;
Treasures that move ones heart...
From little whispers that starts our days
to writing golden words across the sand
Oh how I'll always cherish these little things
and pray that we shall never loose them again
even as we enter twilight"
Love
J

The way to experience ultimate happiness is to let go of all worries and
regrets and know that being happy is the most satisfying of life's
feelings. Reflect back on all the progress in your life and allow the
positive, creative, and joyous thoughts to outshine and overwhelm any
sorrow or grief that may be lingering there in the recesses of your mind.
Knowing that disease and disaster are natural parts of life is the key to
overcoming adversity with a calm and happy spirit.
Happiness is waiting there in front of you. Only you can decide whether
or not you choose to experience it.
Take this to heart!
--Toshitsugu Takamatsu
33rd Soke, Togakure Ryu

The Meaning of Life


May I ask you sir, what do you live for,
May I ask you madame, what do you strive for,
May I ask you child, what do you hope for,
May I ask you soldier, what do you fight for,
May I ask you minister, what do you pray for,
May I ask you god what do you exist for,
What is that you say,


Work
Family
Life
Freedom
Love

Lord why have you not responded to my query?
I do not need to my son, because all of my children have already figured out the meaning of the enigma of life.

Quotes

• "All truth is simple... is that not doubly a lie?"
  Nietzche

• "Never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you."

• "Do not be angry with me if I tell you the truth."
  Socrates

• "I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education."

• "Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't."
  -Erica Jong

• "Everyone sees what you seem, few perceive what you are."
  -Niccolo Machiavelli

• "Any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for."

• "Reputation is what you do when people are looking. Character is what your doing when people aren't looking."
  -Parke Kallenberg

• "When anger rises, think of the consequences."
  -Confucius

• "Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still."
  -Chinese Proverb

• "Truth is a torch but a tremendous one. That is why we hurry past it, shielding our eyes, indeed, in fear of getting burned."
  -Geothe

• "The formula for my happiness: a Yes, a No, a straight line, a goal."
  -Neitzche

• "A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward."
  Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• "A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students."
  John Ciardi

• "America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."
  Oscar Wilde"

• "An apology for the devil: it must be remembered that we have heard one side of the case. God has written all the books."
  Samuel Butler

• "Any event, once it has occurered, can be made to appear inevitable by a competent historian."
  Lee Simonson

• "Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation."
  Edward R. Murrow

• "Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!"
  Nietzsche

• "The difference between sex and death is that with death you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you."
  Woody Allen

• "The purpose of a liberal education is to make you philisophical enough to accept the fact that you will never make much money."
  Anonymous

• "The thing that takes up the least amount of time and causes the most amount of trouble is sex."
  Anonymous

• "We learn from history that we do not learn anything from history."
  Hegel

• "What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight it's the size of the fight in the dog."
  Dwight D. Eisenhower

• "What does not kill me, makes me stronger"
  Nietzche

• "Never argue with a fool, people might not know the difference."
  Anonymous

• "The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now."
  James Baldwin

• "Democracy is a process by which people are free to choose the man who will get the blame."
  Laurence J. Peter

• "We are no more than candles burning in the wind."
  Japanese Proverb

• "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak."
  Epictetus

• "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
  Abraham Lincoln

• "Plato had slaves...George Washington had slaves...So, do I feel intrinsically better than these two men? Of course I do! They're dead!"
  Todd Andrew Reid

• "Politics I supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
  Ronald Reagan

• "Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
  Boies Penrose

• "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."
  Samuel Johnson

• "Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half."
  Gore Vidal

• "He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever."
  Chinese proverb

• "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
  Nietzsche

• "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."
  Thomas Paine
  

• "The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame."
  Oscar Wilde
  

• "Efficiency is intelligent laziness."
  David Dunham

• "Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want."
  Clive Barnes

• Lady Astor: "Mr. Churchill, you're drunk!"
  Winston Churchill: "Yes, and you, Madam, are ugly. But tomorrow, I shall be sober."

• "War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it."
  Desiderius Erasmus

• "A conservative is a man who is too cowardly to fight and too fat to run."
  Elbert Hubbard (Epigrams)

• "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic."
  Joseph Stalin

• "Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
  Napoleon Bonaparte

• "It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence."
  Gandhi

• I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
  Winston Churchill

• I like a man who grins when he fights.
  Winston Churchill

• I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
  Winston Churchill

• I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little- death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
  Frank Herbert

• They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..
  General John B. Sedgwick 's last words, 1864

• Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.
  Albert Einstein

• One cannot play chess if one becomes aware of the pieces as living souls and of the fact that the Whites and the Blacks have more in common with each other than with the players. Suddenly one loses all interest in who will be champion.
  Anatol Rapoport

• Wherever I climb I am followed by a dog called "Ego".
  Friedrich Nietzsche

• Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
  General George S. Patton

• Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers.
  Nikita Khruschev

• A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.
  Alfred E. Wiggam

• Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.
  John Stuart Mill

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