A State to Grow Into

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
 
Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light. ~ Helen Keller

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. ~ Mother Teresa

Faith sees a beautiful blossom on a bulb, a lovely garden in a seed, and a giant oak in an acorn.  ~ William Arthur Ward

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into. ~ Mahatma Gandhi


Quotes about faith, life

The Best Story

The chief beauty about time
is that you cannot waste it in advance.
The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you,
as perfect, as unspoiled,
as if you had never wasted or misapplied
a single moment in all your life.
You can turn over a new leaf every hour
if you choose.  ~ Arnold Bennett

Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can.  ~ Douglas Pagels

Quotes about new day, life

The Will to Sprout

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
 
A good farmer never plants all his seeds in a single piece of land. ~ Habeeb Akande
 
Once more I am the silent one
who came out of the distance
wrapped in cold rain and bells:
I owe to earth's pure death
the will to sprout. ~ Pablo Neruda

The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises. ~ Leo Buscaglia

A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place, but a seed to be planted and to bear more seeds toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea. ~ Henry David Thoreau

-  Quotes about seeds, life

A Good Idea

Let every dawn of morning be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close.  ~ John Ruskin

When grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable. There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age.  ~ Victor Hugo

For the mind disturbed, the still beauty of dawn is nature's finest balm.  ~ Edwin Way Teale

Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.  ~ Wendell Berry

There is no short and easy road, no magic cure for those ills which have afflicted mankind from the dawn of history.  ~ Frank B. Kellogg

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

It is a good idea to be alone in a garden at dawn or dark so that all its shy presences may haunt you and possess you in a reverie of suspended thought.  ~ James Douglas

Quotes about dawn, life

The Mark of Wisdom

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.  ~ Albert Einstein

The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.  ~ W. B. Yeats

You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down.  ~ Charlie Chaplin

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.  ~ Socrates

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quotes about wonder, life

Part of a Tree

I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.  ~ Virginia Woolf

The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.  ~ George Orwell

Study the past if you would define the future.  ~ Confucius

"History" is a Greek word which means, literally, just "investigation."  ~ Arnold Toynbee

If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree.  ~ Micheal Crichton

Quotes about history, life

Until You Have Won

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment; full effort is full victory.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Victory and defeat are each of the same price.  ~ Thomas Jefferson

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.  ~ Nelson Mandela

Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.  ~ Horace Mann

Quotes about victory, life

A Celebration of Awakenings

Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.   ~ Fitzhugh Mullan

Life is a celebration of awakenings,
of new beginnings, and wonderful
surprises that enlighten the soul.    ~Cielo

All was Light

Even when the laws have been written down, they ought not always remain unchanged.  ~ Aristotle

Certainly one of the highest duties of the citizen is a scrupulous obedience to the laws of the nation. But it is not the highest duty.  ~ Thomas Jefferson

Good men must not always obey the laws too well.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.  ~ Benjamin Franklin

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.  ~ Plato

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night; God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.  ~ Alexander Pope

Two things awe me most; the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.  ~ Immanuel Kant

Quotes about laws, life.

The Actual Well Seen

I am an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way.  ~ Carl Sandburg

Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than a basement.  ~ Theodore Roosevelt

A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing.  ~ Oscar Wilde

Why should we strive, with cynic frown, to knock their fairy castles down?  ~ Eliza Cook

The actual well seen is ideal.  ~ Thomas Carlyle 

Quotes about ideals, life

Don't Know What to Do

Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?  ~ Friedrich Nietzsche 

The Beatles saved the world from boredom.  ~ George Harrison

...I also believe that introversion is my greatest strength. I have such a strong inner life that I’m never bored and only occasionally lonely. No matter what mayhem is happening around me, I know I can always turn inward.  ~ Susan Cain

The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits.  ~ Albert Camus

Boredom is the conviction that you can't change ... the shriek of unused capacities.  ~ Saul Bellow

... millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.  ~ Susan Ertz

I’ve got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.   ~Thomas Carlyle

Quotes about boredom, life

Patience is Power

Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.  ~ Francis Bacon

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.  ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau

Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end.  ~ Margaret Thatcher

Patience is power; with time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.  ~ Chinese proverb

Quotes about patience, life

Where I Now Am

Be sure your feet are in the right place. Then stand firm.  ~ Abraham Lincoln
 
I've always been in the right place at the right time. Of course, I steered myself there.  ~ Bob Hope

Each place is the right place--the place where I now am can be a sacred space.  ~ Ravi Ravindra
 
I am in the right place at the right time doing the right thing.  ~ Louise L. Hay
 
A successful person finds the right place for himself. But a successful leader finds the right place for others.  ~ John Maxwell

(quotes about the right place, life)

Strong at the Broken Places

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.   ~Rachel Carson

Courage: the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.    ~ Maya Angelou
 
A brave man acknowledges the strength of others.   ~ Veronica Roth
 
You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength..   ~ Marcus Aurelius
 
The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.   ~ Ernest Hemingway 

(quotes about strength, life)

What We Already Have Done

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.  ~ Carl Jung

Self-awareness is an act of self-kindness.  ~ Reuben Lowe

People of the world don't look at themselves, and so they blame one another.  ~Rumi

Whereas the average individuals often have not the slightest idea of what they are, of what they want, of what their own opinions are, self-actualizing individuals have superior awareness of their own impulses, desires, opinions, and subjective reactions in general.  ~ Abraham Maslow

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.  ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(Best, favorite quotes about self awareness,  life)

You Can Shake the World

Be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.  ~ Max Ehrmann

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.  ~ Albert Schweitzer

The source of a true smile is an awakened mind. Smiling helps you approach the day with gentleness and understanding.  ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

The beginning of divine wisdom is clemency and gentleness, which arise from greatness of soul and the bearing of infirmities.  ~ St. Isaac of Ninevah

In a gentle way you can shake the world.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi

(Favorite, best quotes about gentleness, kindness, life)

Learn to Be Unreceptive

Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.

The wise man steers by the torch of doubt.

If you want happiness, help someone.

Learn to be unreceptive to external forms.

Know who you are; be what you know.  ~ Zen proverbs

(best, favorite quotes about)

More Empowering

Those who are willing to be vulnerable move among mysteries.  ~ Theodore Roethke

When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability... To be alive is to be vulnerable.  ~ Madeleine L'Engel

Sometimes it's better to show our vulnerability / pain / regrets so others don't think us impervious / unapproachable - be real / open.  ~ Jay Woodman

I found that the more truthful and vulnerable I was, the more empowering it was for me.  ~ Alanis Morissette

(best, favorite quotes about vulnerability, life)

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The Best of Everybody

If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.  ~ Lucy Larcom
 
One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.  ~ Lucille Ball

Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.  ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

I always prefer to believe the best of everybody-it saves so much trouble.   ~ Rudyard Kipling

In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.  ~ Anne Frank

(best, favorite quotes about optimism,life)

A New World Every Heart Beat

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.   ~Arthur Schopenhauer

When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.  ~ Jonathan Swift
 
Genius is the ability to renew one's emotions in daily experience.  ~ Paul Cezanne

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.  ~ E. F. Schumacher
 
To forgive is wisdom, to forget is genius. And easier. Because it's true. It's a new world every heart beat.   ~ Joyce Cary

(favorite, best quotes about genius, life)

Unless you Do

I used to believe that anything was better than nothing. Now I know that sometimes nothing is better.    ~ Glenda Jackson

Don't ever say that you are nothing because you are the opposite of nothing. You are everything.   ~ Sherri Lee Emmons

To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.  ~  Oscar Wilde

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.    ~ Dr. Seuss

Nothing will work unless you do.   ~ Maya Angelou

(Quotes about nothing, life)

The Art of Living

Suffering is the sandpaper of our life. It does its work of shaping us for becoming wise.  ~Ram Dass

Perhaps the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave.  ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them.  ~ Bernard M. Baruch

The brook would lose its song if you removed the rocks.  ~ Fred Beck

If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

(quotes about suffering, hardship, overcoming, life)

At 365 Quote Quest I ask questions about the daily quotes:

- How much have you been shaped by suffering?
- How much have you grown?
- How quiet and ready are you?

On His Own Wings

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.  ~ Albert Einstein

Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there.  ~ Marcus Aurelius

It may be all right to be content with what you have; never with what you are.  ~ B. C. Forbes

I thank God for my handicaps, for through them I have found myself, my work, and my God.  ~ Helen Keller

No bird soars too high, if he soars on his own wings.  ~ William Blake

(Quotes about knowing oneself, life)

A Fine Mingling

Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.  ~ Ann Landers

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.  ~ Henry Ellis

Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You've got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it. It's like boats. You keep your motor on so you can steer with the current. And when you hear the sound of the waterfall coming nearer and nearer, tidy up the boat, put on your best tie and hat, and smoke a cigar right up till the moment you go over. That's a triumph.  ~ Ray Bradbury

(Quotes about letting go, life)

Disturbs, Upsets Enlightens

When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressive creature. He becomes interesting to other people. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and opens ways for better understanding. Where those who are not artists are trying to close the book, he opens it and shows there are still more pages possible.  ~ Robert Henri

At 365 Quote Quest I ask questions about the daily quotes:

- What artist (the creations can take many forms)  has moved you?
- What does he/she communicate through his/her work?
- How is your world expanded through their expressions?