#117 Eternity in Each Moment

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this. ~ Henry David Thoreau

See more select quotes by Thoreau in my beginning great author series.

#116 Carry a Big Bat

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.
Some come from ahead and some come from behind.
But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me! ~Dr. Seuss

Great Quotes: Henry David Thoreau

This is the first post in the 'Great Author Series' in which perceptive quotes are selected from pivotal authors through the ages. Hopefully the select quotes are engaging and inspirational, and offer enriching insights.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) wrote over 20 volumes of books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry. He is most noted for his reflections upon simple living in natural surroundings. Many of his quotes still resonate for their passionate desire to understand the essential elements of a vital life without being overwhelmed by the complexities of modernity and tradition.

- Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.

- What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.

- Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.

- As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.

- Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.

- You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.

- I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

- The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

(Pivotal quotes selected by quoteflections.)

- I am a happy camper so I guess I’m doing something right. Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.

- Take long walks in stormy weather or through deep snows in the fields and woods, if you would keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature. Be cold and hungry and weary.

- If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see.

- I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.

- In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high.

- We are constantly invited to be who we are.

- What's the use of a fine house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?


Labels: quotes, quotations, greatest, best, reflections, instructional, inspirational, life lessons, insights, self help

Recommendations are appreciated.

#115 The Price of Success

I know the price of success: dedication, hard work and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen. ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

#114 Beyond Self

In real love you want the other person's good. ~ Margaret Anderson

#113 Life is in the Midst

For a long time it seemed to me that real life was about to begin, but there was always some obstacle in the way. Something had to be got through first, some unfinished business; time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. ~ Bette Howland

#112 The Truth about Self

If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people. ~ Virginia Woolf

#111 What Do You Take For Granted?

Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. ~ Aldous Huxley

#110 Inspiration through Work

The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand with as much regularity as an accountant settles down each day to his figures. They didn't waste time waiting for inspiration. ~ Ernest Newman

#109 What Makes a Life?

Incident piled on incident no more makes life than brick piled on brick makes a house. ~ Edith Mirrielees

#108 The Key to a Balanced Life

Believing in our hearts that who we are is enough is the key to a more satisfying and balanced life. ~ Ellen Sue Stern

#107 What's your Gift?

The weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly trivial, which is peculiar to him and which worthily used will be a gift also to his race. ~ John Ruskin

#106 The Essence of Life

One must never lose time in vainly regretting the past or in complaining against the changes which cause us discomfort, for change is the essence of life. ~ Anatole France

#105 One Day at a Time

That person is happiest who lives from day to day and asks no more, garnering the simple goodness of life. ~ Euripides

#104 No Need for Certainty

I said here's the river I want to flow on, here's the direction I want to go, and put my boat in. I was ready for the river to take unexpected turns and present obstacles. ~ Nancy Woodhull

#103 Making It Through the Day

Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall.
Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.
Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down.
And this is all life really means. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

#102 Confronting Fear

Fear is the fire that melts Icarian wings. ~ Florence Earle Coates

Want to review the myth of Icarus through the ages?

#101 Hopes over Fears

We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes. ~ John F. Kennedy

#100 Release

Do things for others and you'll find your self-consciousness evaporating like morning dew. ~ Dale Carnegie

(A fitting quote as I reach 100 out of 1,000 quotes. Thanks for reading and sharing.)

#99 Courage as Nurture

The best protection any woman (or man) can have... is courage. ~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton

#98 Love First

I don't want to live- I want to love first, and live incidentally. ~ Zelda Fitzgerald

#97 Open to Opportunity

Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door. ~ Emily Dickinson

#96 Forward Thinking

I make the most of all that comes,
And the least of all that goes. ~ Sarah Teasdale

#95 A Call to the Living

The following two quotes by Algernon Black are like cool spring water. Black (1932-72) was a graduate of Harvard, a humanist leader, educator, radio commentator, and affiliated with the New York Society of Ethical Culture. I posted these two quotes over two years ago and they seem most appropriate for my new focus.

The first selection appeals to our sense of justice, to our sensitivity to the community in which we live, both locally and globally, to our human spirit which can reach out to those who are hurting.

“This is a call to the living,
To those who refuse to make peace with evil,
With the suffering and the waste of the world.
This is a call to the human, not the perfect,
To those who know their own prejudices,
Who have no intention of becoming prisoners of their own limitations.
This is a call to those who remember the dreams of their youth,
Who know what it means to share food and shelter,
The care of children and those who are troubled,
To reach beyond barriers of the past
Bringing people to communion.
This is a call to the never ending spirit
Of the common man, his essential decency and integrity,
His unending capacity to suffer and endure,
To face death and destruction and to rise again
And build from the ruins of life.
This is the greatest call of all
The call to a faith in people."

This next passage asks us to reflect upon the world's philosophies and religions, those ideas we hold quite close to our heart, and consider the common threads of each which can bind us together with a common compassionate interest.

"Why not let people differ about their answers to the great mysteries of the Universe? Let each seek one's own way to the highest, to one's own sense of supreme loyalty in life, one's ideal of life. Let each philosophy, each world-view bring forth its truth and beauty to a larger perspective, that people may grow in vision, stature and dedication.

The religions of humanity should be a unifying force, for all the great religions reveal a basic unity in ethics. Whether it be Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism or Confucianism, all grow out of a sense of the sacredness of human life. This moral sensitivity to the sacredness of human personality -- the Commandments not to kill, not to hurt, not to put a stumbling block in the path of the blind, not to neglect the widow or the fatherless, not to exploit the servant or the worker -- all this can be found in the Bibles of humanity, in all the sacred books. All teach in substance: "Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you." There is, then, a basic unity among the great religions in the matter of ethics. True, there are religious philosophies which turn people away from the world, from the here and now, concentrating life-purposes on salvation for one's self or a mystic union with some supernatural reality. But most of the great religions agree on mercy, justice, love -- here on earth. And they agree that the great task is to move people from apathy, from an acceptance of the evils in life, to face the possibilities of the world, to make life sweet for one another instead of bitter. This is the unifying ethical task of all the religions -- yes, of all the philosophies of humankind. There is no need to force our own theological points of view upon one another or to insist that the moral life grows out of final, absolute authority."

#94 Don't Ask

Don't seek, don't search, don't ask, don't knock, don't demand- relax. If you relax, it comes. If you relax, it is there. If you relax, you start vibrating with it. ~ Osho

#93 Seeking and Finding

If we are not totally blind, what we are seeking is already here. This is it. ~ Alan Watts

#92 Like your Hair Cut?

A haircut is a metaphysical operation. ~ Julio Cartazar

(Had to chuckle with this one... The metaphysicist attempts to clarify the fundamental notions by which people understand the world such as existence, objects and their properties, space and time, cause and effect, and possibility.)