#123 Arrive where we Started

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. ~ T. S. Eliot

#122 Love Nature More

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but nature more. ~ Lord Byron

Confucius: Perennial Quotes

Confucius (551-479 BC) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher. His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, and sincerity. His perspectives, often remembered through perceptive aphorisms, still offer timely insights.

-Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.

- Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.

-If you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? What is there to fear?

- The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.

-Silence is a true friend who never betrays.

-Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

-Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

-Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.

-He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.

Selected by quoteflections.

-Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

-I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

-And remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

-Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

-Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.

-When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.

-Give a bowl of rice to a man and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to grow his own rice and you will save his life.

-They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

- A gentleman covets the reputation of being slow in word but prompt in deed.

-To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness.

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

#121 Kindness and Courage

Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own. ~ Adam Lindsay Gordon

#120 A Reminder

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. ~ Audrey Hepburn

#119 The Real Voyage

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. ~ Marcel Proust

#118 Keep a Vision

No vision and you perish;
No ideal, and you're lost;
Your heart must ever cherish
Some faith at any cost.
Some hope, some dream to cling to,
Some rainbow in the sky,
Some melody to sing to,
Some service that is high. ~ Harriet Du Autermont

#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