#62 Stimulating Youthful Minds

It is only by introducing the young to great literature, drama, and music, and to the excitement of great science that we open to them the possibilities that lies within the human spirit- enable them to see visions and dream dreams. ~ Eric Anderson

#61 A Big Shadow

Worry gives a small thing a big shadow. ~Swedish proverb

#60 The Best Part

The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. ~ William Wordsworth

Care to recommend this blog to others?

#59 Live with Zest

It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and too prudent. ~ Vincent van Gogh

#58 To Begin to Understand

To be surprised, to wonder, is to begin to understand. ~ Jose Ortega y Gasset

#57 Stay Positive

I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance. ~ e. e. cummings

(I enjoy rereading this quote to think about the implications.)

#56 An Open Mind

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. ~ Aristotle

#55 The Sum Total

Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you. ~ Elie Wiesel

#54 From the Heart

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh, and the greatness which does not bow before children. ~ Kahlil Gibran

#53 Immortal Art

Life beats down and crushes the soul, but art reminds you that you have one. ~ Stella Adler

#52 Show your Passions

Exuberance is beauty. ~ William Blake

#51 Perceptive Kids

Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. ~ Robert Fulghum

#50 Actions Speak Louder

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts. ~ John Locke

#49 In Pursuit

Is there anything in life so disenchanting as attainment? ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

What are your quests?

#48 Overcoming Grief

The world is full of suffering; it is also full of the overcoming of it. ~ Helen Keller

#47 Walk Beside Me

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. ~Albert Camus

#46 'Dig My Nails into the Earth'

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, savour you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it will not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky, and want , more than all the world, your return. ~ Mary Jean Irion

Quoteflections Celebrates Life

I had some fun creating a video of some of my Wordle illustrations through Animoto.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

#45 Students on Fire

Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire. ~ William Butler Yeats

(Here's hoping for a great educational year for those many students and the teachers whose chief role is to ignite learning.)

#44 The Little Things

Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned. ~ Peter Marshall

#43 Distinguished Labour

No fine work can be done without concentration and self-sacrifice and toil and doubt. ~ Max Beerbohm

#42 This present hour

Gladly accept the gifts of this present hour. ~ Horace

#41 The Inquisitive Mind

It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. ~ James Thurber

What are some of life's most important questions?

#40 Get on the Dance Floor

Life is the dancer and you are the dance. ~ Eckhart Tolle

#39 We'll Change the World

My friends,
Love is better than anger,
Hope is better than fear,
Optimism is better than despair.
So let us be loving, hopeful, and optimistic
And we'll change the world. ~ Jack Layton (Recently deceased political party leader in Canada.)

#38 From Giggles to Guffaws

He who laughs, lasts. ~ Mary Pettibone Poole

#37 No Fear

Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric. ~ Bertrand Russell

#36 Includes Everybody

Human beings by nature want happiness and do not want suffering. With that feeling everyone tries to achieve happiness and tries to get rid of suffering, and everyone has the basic right to do this. In this way, all here are the same, whether rich or poor, educated or uneducated, Easterner or Westerner, believer or non-believer, and within believers whether Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and so on. Basically, from the viewpoint of real human value we are all the same. ~ Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

#35 What's the Secret?

What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life. ~ Leo Buscaglia

#34 Sense of Wonder

If you enjoy living, it is not difficult to keep the sense of wonder. ~ Ray Bradbury

How can you maintain a sense of wonder in your life?

#33 Change Lies Within

I've never met a person, I don't care what his condition, in whom I could not see possibilities. I don't care how much a man may consider himself a failure, I believe in him, for he can change the thing that is wrong in his life anytime he is prepared and ready to do it. Whenever he develops the desire, he can take away from his life the thing that is defeating it. The capacity for reformation and change lies within. ~ Preston Bradley

How can this quote help you to motivate others and yourself?

#32 Energizing Perspectives

We must learn to see the world anew. ~ Albert Einstein

How fresh and vital is your perspective?

#31 The Essence of Life

The essence of philosophy is that a man should live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. ~ Epictetus

What is your philosophy of life?

#30 Make it Happen

If it is to be, it is up to me. ~ William H. Johnson

On what personal, enriching goals can you focus?

#29 Building Walls

Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down. ~ Robert Frost, "The Mending Wall"

What walls have you constructed....and broken down?

#28 The Beautiful and Good

Luxury is not a necessity to me, but beautiful and good things are. ~ Anais Nin

What are the beautiful and good in your life?

#27 Living your Faith

While your life is the true expression of your faith, whom can you fear? ~ Julia Ward Howe

How does YOUR faith encourage you?

#26 I Like Living

I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. ~ Agatha Christie

#25 Light and Darkness

Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse. ~ Japanese proverb

How much light do you emanate and how do you control those shadows?

#24 Be the Change

Be the change you want to see in the world. ~ Mohatma Gandhi

Perhaps no more empowering quote...

#23 Knowing Yourself

Ninety percent of the world's woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. ~ Sydney J. Harris

This quote is loaded....knowing your abilities, frailties, virtues.... Care to pause a while to think about this? How can you avoid as much of the 'woe' as possible?

#22 Keep Rowing

Everyone must row with the oars he has. ~ Dutch proverb

How far have your oars taken you?

#21 Engage in Life

You cannot find peace by avoiding life. ~ Virginia Woolf

#20 A Guiding Light

As I go through all kinds of feelings and experiences in my journey through life -- delight, surprise, chagrin, dismay -- I hold this question as a guiding light: "What do I really need right now to be happy?" What I come to over and over again is that only qualities as vast and deep as love, connection and kindness will really make me happy in any sort of enduring way. ~ Sharon Salzberg

#19 Movement as Medicine

Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental states. ~ Carol Welch

Sounds like a panacea. How much movement is in your weekly regimen?

#18 Being Human

There will come a day for each of us, more or less sad, more or less distant, when we must accept the condition of being human. ~ Jean Anouilh

The quote encourages us to think about being human: our strengths and frailties, joys and sorrows, hopes and anxieties... With acknowledgement comes acceptance and resolve...

#17 To Succeed

To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

How are you progressing?

#16 Look like a Winner

Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory. ~ Arthur Ashe

To what extent do you practice the power of positive thinking and appearances to get you through those challenging days?

#15 Growth

Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing. ~ William Butler Yeats

In what pursuits have you grown and what are your new frontiers?

#14 Complexity

I prefer complexity to certainty, cheerful mysteries to sullen facts. ~ Claude T. Bissell

What complexities and mysteries stir your interests?

#13 Three Questions

Leo Tolstoy writes a story/parable that concerns a king who wants to find the answers to what he considers the three most important questions in life. The thought came to him that he would never fail if he knew three things:

- What is the best time to do each thing?
- Who are the most important people to work with?
- What is the most important thing to do at all times?

In his quest the king journeyed to see a wise hermit who only saw common people so the king dressed up as a peasant. Eventually the hermit replied.

-The most important time is now. The present is the only time over which we have power.
-The most important person is whoever you are with.
-The most important thing is to do good to the person you are with.