Sliding Down a Rainbow

Life is not fair; get used to it.  ~ Bill Gates

I like not fair terms and a villain's mind.  ~ William Shakespeare

It's hard to fight when the fight ain't fair.  ~ Taylor Swift 

Fair is whatever God wants to do.  ~ Leif Enger

Life is not always fair. Sometimes you get a splinter even sliding down a rainbow. ~Terri Guillemets

Quotes about the fair and unfair in life

It Hopes We've Learned

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

The future depends on what you do today.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The only way you can predict the future is to build it.  ~Alan Kay

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.  ~John Wayne

You can't stop the future
You can't rewind the past
The only way to learn the secret
...is to press play.  ~ Jay Asher

Quotes about the future

The Presence of Wonder

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.

Life's meaning has always eluded me and I guess it always will. But I love it just the same.

We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.

The future seems to me no unified dream but a mince pie, long in the baking, never quite done.

Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.

Quotes by E. B. White

Winged Air

Life has loveliness to sell,
All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children's faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup...~ Sara Teasdale

My soul can find no staircase to heaven unless it is through earth's loveliness.  ~ Michelangelo 

Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.  ~ Pedro Calderonde la Barca

What is lovely never dies, but passes into other loveliness, star-dust, or sea-foam, flower or winged air.  ~ Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Quotes about loveliness

Where I Need to Be

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.  ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.  ~H. Stanley Judd

Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.  ~ Zig Ziglar

If you lose direction, go to a higher ground.  ~ Toba Beta

We are asleep with compasses in our hands.  ~ W.S. Merwin

I seldom end up where I wanted to go but almost always end up where I need to be. ~ Douglas Adams

Quotes about direction

Dragons can be Beaten

The way to read a fairy tale is to throw yourself in it.  ~ W. H. Auden

Fairy dust is very useful. I use it to turn oatmeal into cake.  ~ David Shannon

Every fairy tale had a bloody lining. Every one had teeth and claws.  ~ Alice Hoffman

In fairy tales the children are saved by caring adults.  We need more caring adults in the lives of our children.  ~ Donna Shalala

Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.  ~ Neil Gaimon

I don't know what to think about magic and fairy tales. ~ Richard Dawkins

Quotes about fairy tales

Always in Proportion

Sadness gives depth.
Happiness gives height.
Sadness gives roots.
Happiness gives branches.
Happiness is like a tree
going into the sky,
and sadness is like the roots
going down into the womb of the earth.
Both are needed,
and the higher a tree goes,
the deeper it goes,
simultaneously.
The bigger the tree,
the bigger will be its roots.
In fact, it is always in proportion.
That's the balance.  ~ Osho

The word happiness would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. ~ Carl Jung 

I am both happy and sad at the same time, and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be.  ~ Stephen Chbosky

Quotes about balancing happiness and sadness

My Motto

No man becomes rich unless he enriches others.

If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.

Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself. 

There is little success where there is little laughter.  

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all by himself or get all the credit for doing it.

Concentration is my motto- first honesty, then industry, then concentration.  

Quotes by Andrew Carnegie

Steer yourself

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.  ~ Paul Coelho

One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.  ~ Jack Penn

This is the secret of life- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now.  And instead of calling it work realize it is play.  ~ Alan Watts

You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes,
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.  ~ Dr. Seuss 

Quotes about the secret of life

I am happy to announce that Quoteflections is also now on Facebook.   Hope to see you there. You may find a handy widget at the top of my blog.

Just be Real

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.  ~ John Templeton

It is not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game even starts.   ~Addison Walker

Be nice to people on the way up because you will meet them on your way down.  ~  Wilson Mizner

Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home.  ~ Phyllis Diller

Better to just be real. Show up and do your job and be a nice person.  ~Elisabeth Rohm

Quotes about being nice

I am happy to announce that Quoteflections is also now on Facebook.  Hope to see you there. You may find a handy widget at the top of my blog.

Sees a Green Light

Many an optimist has become rich simply by buying out a pessimist.  ~ Laurence Peter

Don't wait until you feel positive to move forward. Act your way into feeling good.  ~ John Maxwell

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.  James Cabell

Spare me the grim litany of the "realist." Give me the unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day.  ~ Colin Powell

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while the pessimist sees only the red stoplight. The truly wise person is colorblind.  ~ Albert Schweitzer

Quotes about optimism, pessimism 

I Never Dreamed

Keep thy hook always baited, for a fish lurks even in the most unlikely swim.   ~ Ovid

Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly that waiting for one big one to come along.    ~ Hugh Allen

If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.   ~ Milton Berle

I never dreamed about success; I worked for it.  ~ Estee Lauder
 
Ships in harbor are safe, but that's not what ships are built for.  ~ John Shedd

Quotes about anticipation and action

Reach Each Other

Love doesn't just sit there,like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new.  ~ Ursula LeGuin

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved.  ~ Victor Hugo

Love is not measured by how many times you touch each other but by how many times you reach each other.  ~ Cathy Morancy 

If you want to be loved, be lovable.  ~ Ovid 

Love is a great beautifier.  ~ Louisa May Alcott

I have enjoyed the happiness of the world; I have loved.  ~ Schiller

Quotes about love

Before You Say or Do

Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.  ~ Henry Ford

Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.  ~ John Locke

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.  ~ Plutarch

Stop thinking and end your problems.  ~ Lao Tzu

Before you say or do...

T-   Is it True?
H-  Is it Helpful?
I-    Is it Inspiring?
N-  Is it Necessary?
K-  Is it Kind?  ~ unknown

Quotes about thinking

Embrace the Gifts Within

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls. ~ Joseph Campbell

Where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise.  ~ Thomas Gray

And the idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss.  ~ J. K. Rowling 

If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.   ~Katharine Hepburn

When we embrace the gifts within our soul we create a blissful state of happiness to be savoured, pondered, and cherished.  ~ Michael Teal

Quotes about bliss

In the Midst

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness.  Just because they're not on your road, doesn't mean they've gotten lost.  ~ Dalai Lama

True salvation is freedom from negativity.  ~ Eckhart Tolle

I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.  ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

Life is God's joke on us.  It's our mission to figure out the punch line.  ~ John Guarrine

The spiritual life is not a life before, after, or beyond our everyday existence.  No, the spiritual life can only be real when it is lived in the midst of the pains and joys of the here and now.  ~ Henri Nouwen

Quotes about the spiritual life

Three Great Essentials

I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense.  ~ Thomas Paine

Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.  ~ Gertrude Stein

Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.  ~ Josh Billings

Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.  ~ Thomas Huxley

The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are hard work, stick-to-itiveness, and common sense.  ~ Thomas Edison

Quotes about common sense

In the Stream of Life

Every one of us has in him a continent of undiscovered character.  Blessed is he who acts the Columbus to his own soul.  ~ Charles Wallis

Character is a strange blending of flinty strength and pliable warmth.  ~ Robert Shaffer

Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones.  ~ Phillips Brooks

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.  ~ James Michener

Character develops itself in the stream of life.  ~ Goethe

Quotes about character

Habits or Passions?

Don't smoke too much, drink too much, eat too much, or work too much. We're all on the road to the grave — but there's no reason to be in the passing lane.  ~Robert Orben

Vices are sometimes only virtues carried to excess. ~ Charles Dickens

Search others for their virtue, yourself for your vices. ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. ~ Winston Churchill

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Vices are often habits rather than passions. ~ Antoine Rivarol

Quotes about vices

What Sustains?

Enthusiasm... the sustaining power of all great action.   ~Samuel Smiles

If you didn't have some sense of idealism, then what is there to sustain you?    ~James Carville

The first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least not try to defy them.   ~Paul Hawken

To live for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.    ~Robert M. Pirsig

I am sustained by the tranquility of an upright and loyal heart.    ~Peter Stuyvesant

The living environment is what really sustains us.    ~E. O. Wilson

Quotes about sustain, sustaining in life

An Open Heart

If you light a lamp for someone, it will brighten your own path.  ~ Buddha

The Simple Path
Silence is Prayer
Prayer is Faith
Faith is Love
Love is Service
The Fruit of Service is Peace.  ~ Mother Teresa

It's one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it's another to think yours is the only path.  ~ Paulo Coelho

The best way to find out if you are on the right path?  Stop looking at the path.  ~ Marcus Buckingham

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.  ~  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keep your head up, your heart open, stay on the positive  path and the right people will come along and join you on it.  ~ Mandy Hale

Quotes about the path in life

The Key to Success

Dig the well before you are thirsty.  ~ Chinese proverb

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  ~ Benjamin Franklin

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.  ~ John F. Kennedy

I will prepare and someday my chance will come. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.  ~ Alexander Graham Bell

Quotes about preparing for success

A Light in the Heart

Whatever comes from the heart carries the heat and color of its birthplace.  ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

What comes from the heart, goes to the heart.  ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge 

Words that come from the heart are never spoken, they get caught in the throat and can only be read in one's eyes.  ~ Jose Saramago 

Beauty is not in the face; it is a light in the heart.  ~Kahlil Gibran

A person's world is only as big as their heart.  ~ Tanya A. Moore

Quotes about sincerity and the heart

Wanting to Win

Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.  ~ George F. Will

These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.  ~Kobe Bryant

A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.    ~Wayne Gretzky

The score never interested me, only the game.  ~ Mae West

Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.  ~ William Arthur Ward

Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is.    ~Vince Lombardi

Quotes about sports