Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot this year, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. ~Buddha

Even after many years, many of us continue to practice harshly. We practice with guilt, as if we're going to be excommunicated if we don't do it right. We practice so we won't be ashamed of ourselves and with fear that someone will discover what a "bad" meditator we really are. The old joke is that a Buddhist is someone who is either meditating or feeling guilty about not meditating. There's not much joy in that."

~Pema Chödrön

If I were a tree among trees, a cat among animals, this life would have a meaning, or rather this problem would not arise, for I should belong to this world. I should be this world to which I am now opposed by my whole consciousness and my whole insistence upon familiarity. This ridiculous reason is what sets me in opposition to all creation. I cannot cross it out with a stroke of a pen.... Albert Camus

"A wise man, recognizing that the world is but an illusion, does not act as if it is real, so he escapes the suffering."

~The Buddha

I cannot tell if what the world considers 'happiness' is happiness or not. All I know is that when I consider the way they go about attaining it, I see them carried away headlong, grim and obsessed, in the general onrush of the human herd, unable to stop themselves or to change their direction. All the while they claim to be just on the point of attaining happiness.... ~Chuang-tzu

Where there is love, there is pain. Danish Proverb

Merry Christmas

And perhaps we give a little to the poor if the generosity should seize us, but if any of us should interfere in the business of why there are poor they get the same as the Rebel Jesus.

*

But pardon me if I have seemed to take the tone of judgement, for I've not wished to come between this day and your enjoyment.

*

In a life of hardship and earthly toil there is a need for anything that frees us. So I bid you pleasure and I bid you cheer from a heathen and a pagan on the side of the Rebel Jesus.

*

Jackson Browne

Now, the essence, the very spirit of Christmas is that we first make believe a thing is so, and lo, it presently turns out to be so.
Stephen Leacock

"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling. Edna Ferber

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

"Ultimately, the decision to save the environment must come from the human heart. The key point is a call for a genuine sense of universal responsibility that is based on love, compassion and clear awareness." ~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"The seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy."

~Thich Nhat Hanh

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. Mother Teresa

"Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Happy are those who dare courageously to defend what they love. Ovid

"People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

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

"Smile, breathe and go slowly."

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Everyone's a pacifist between wars. It's like being a vegetarian between meals.
Colman McCarthy

"Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day."

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Ronald Reagan

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

"We must therefore develop a sense of responsibility for each others condition, we must see that hurting someone else, or inflicting pain on other people , cannot bring happiness or peace of mind."

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

And I'd like to give my love to everybody, and let them know that the grass may look greener on the other side, but believe me, it's just as hard to cut. Little Richard

"As people alive today, we must consider future generations: a clean environment is a human right like any other. It is therefore part of our responsibility toward others to ensure that the world we pass on is as healthy, if not healthier, than we found it."

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"A great rock is not disturbed by the wind; the mind of a wise man is not disturbed by either honor or abuse."

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

To Cathy On Her Birthday

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.
Judy Garland

Thomas Aquinas

Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.

Gautama Buddha

"Like a fine flower, beautiful to look at but without scent, fine words are
fruitless in a person who does not act in accordance with them."

George Carlin

If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something,

and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent."

Winston Churchill

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"I believe in justice and truth, without which there would be no basis for human hope."

Barry Bonds

But to be the best, you must face the best. And to overcome your fear, you must deal with the best.

"I love friends, I want more friends. I love smiles. That is a fact. How to develop smiles? There are a variety of smiles. Some smiles are sarcastic. Some smiles are artificial-diplomatic smiles. These smiles do not produce satisfaction, but rather fear or suspicion. But a genuine smile gives us hope, freshness. If we want a genuine smile, then first we must produce the basis for a smile to come."

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Aristotle

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.

~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"In our struggle for freedom, truth is the only weapon we possess."

Ronald Reagan

I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.

"It's also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that is sitting right here right now... with its aches and pleasures... is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive." ~Pema Chödrön

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. Mark Twain

"Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important. The reason it's important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn't just ourselves that we're discovering. We're discovering the universe."

~Pema Chödrön

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.
Desmond Tutu

"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea." ~The Buddha

A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely.
Pam Brown

"Ambition is like love, impatient both of delays and rivals." ~The Buddha

We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
H. L. Mencken

"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways."
~The Buddha

When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home. Tecumseh

Happy Halloween

"Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue." ~The Buddha

"One should do one's best and leave the rest to fate. Do not keep difficulties inside the heart. People must overcome difficulties and not be overcome by difficulties."
~Master Cheng Yen

Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you're alive, it isn't. Richard Bach

"If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher." Pema Chodron

Criminals do not die by the hands of the law. They die by the hands of other men. George Bernard Shaw

It was from an old friend who thought he was dying. Anyway, he said, "life and death issues don't come along that often, thank God, so don't treat everything like it's life or death. Go easier." Thomas Arnold

I failed my way to success. Thomas Edison

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world." Buddha

Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny. George Dana Boardman

"Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship." ~Buddha

Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us. Thomas Paine

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." ~Buddha

Nurture your mind with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes.
Benjamin Disraeli

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him." ~Buddha

The man of wisdom is never of two minds; the man of benevolence never worries; the man of courage is never afraid. Confucius

"Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life."
~Buddha

The seat of knowledge is in the head, of wisdom,in the heart. William Hazlitt

Just think of the trees: they let the birds perch and fly, with no intention to call them when they come and no longing for their return when they fly away. If people's hearts can be like the trees, they will not be off the Way. ~Langya

The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others. Solomon Ibn Gabriol

One single still light shines bright: if you intentionally pursue it, after all it's hard to see. Suddenly encountering it, people's hearts are opened up, and the great matter is clear and done. This is really living, without any fetters -- no amount of money could replace it. Even if a thousand sages should come, they would all appear in it's shadow. ~Chuzhen

Let us believe neither half of the good people tell us of ourselves, nor half of the evil they say of others. J. Petit Senn

1. Don't wish for perfect health. In perfect health, there is greed and wanting. So an ancient said, " Make good medicine from the suffering of sickness." 2. Don't hope for life without problems. An easy life results in a judgmental and lazy ind. So an ancient once said, "Accept the anxieties and difficulties of this life". 3. Don't expect your practice to be clear of obstacles. Without hindrances the mind that seeks enlightenment may be burnt out. So an ancient once said, "Attain deliverance in disturbances".

~Zen Master Kyong Ho

Kind words are the music of the world. F. W. Faber

Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. ~Sheng-yen

I have come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying, and for this reason, I can never be satisfied with anyone who would be blockhead enough to have me.

Abraham Lincoln

Let your mind wander in simplicity, blend your spirit with the vastness, follow along with things the way they are, and make no room for personal views-then the world will be governed.... ~Chuang-tzu

Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them.

Richard L. Evans

The reverse side also has a reverse side.... Japanese Proverb

It is much more difficult to measure non-performance than performance. Performance stands out like a ton of diamonds. Non-performance can almost always be explained away.

Harold S. Geneen

Normally, we do not so much look at things as overlook them.... ~Alan Watts

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds Won't you help to sing The songs of freedom? Bob Marley

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent. Buddha

JOSÉ BERGAMÍN

A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it is a superstition.

You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger. Buddha

Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless. ~Sherry Anderson

"Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth." ~Pema Chödrön

"The most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves." Pema Chödrön

A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner. English Proverbs

"People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That's not the idea at all. The idea of karma is that you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn't understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you're given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further." ~Pema Chödrön

People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.

Ramona L. Anderson

"It is precisely because our present life is so inseparably linked with desire that we must make use of desire's tremendous energy if we wish to transform our life into something transcendental." ~Lama Yeshe

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain

"Some people live closely guarded lives, fearful of encountering someone or something that might shatter their insecure spiritual foundation. This attitude, however, is not the fault of religion but of their own limited understanding. True Dharma leads in exactly the opposite direction. It enables one to integrate all the many diverse experiences of life into a meaningful and coherent whole, thereby banishing fear and insecurity completely." ~Lama Yeshe

If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. Of course, no one would have remembered him either. Source Unknown

"The universe that we inhabit and our shared perception of it are the results of a common karma. Likewise, the places that we will experience in future rebirths will be the outcome of the karma that we share with the other beings living there. The actions of each of us, human or nonhuman, have contributed to the world in which we live. We all have a common responsibility for our world and are connected with everything in it." ~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

A wise girl kisses but doesn't love, leaves before she is left and forgets before she is forgotten. Marylin Monroe

"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned." His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“You cannot be disciplined in great things and indiscipline in small things. Brave undisciplined men have no chance against the discipline and valor of other men. Have you ever seen a few policemen handle a crowd?” - General George S. Patton Jr

"The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis." His Holiness the Dalai Lama

To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions." His Holiness the Dalai Lama

If you're going through hell, keep going. Sir Winston Churchill

"I believe our every-day experience confirms that a self-centred attitude towards problems can be destructive not only towards society, but to the individual as well. Selfishness does not solve problems for us, it multiplies them. Accepting responsibility and maintaining respect for other will leave all concerned at peace. This is the essence of Mahayana Buddhism." His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I laugh, I love, I hope, I try, I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry. And I know you do the same things too, So we're really not that different, me and you. Colin Raye

"Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life." His Holiness the Dalai Lama

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. ~Kahlil Gibran

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air,but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
~Thich Nhat Hanh

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself. ~Thomas Paine

If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace.It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

When you are in trouble, people who call to sympathize are really looking for the particulars. ~Edgar Watson Howe

Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless. ~Sherry Anderson

"In the sky, there is no distinction between East & West; people create distinctions in their own minds and then believe them to be true." ~Buddha

"When one has the feeling of dislike for evil, when one feels tranquil, one finds pleasure in listening to good teachings; when one has these feelings and appreciates them, one is free of fear." ~Buddha

"Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill." ~Buddha

Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow. ~Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros

"We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves." Buddha

Good for the body is the work of the body, and good for the soul is the work of the soul, and good for either is the work of the other. ~Henry David Thoreau

"In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves." ~Buddha

We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future. ~Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye." ~Buddha

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. ~George Bernard Shaw

"Without health life is not life; it is only a state of langour and suffering - an image of death." ~Buddha

The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it; between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past; between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists. ~William J. Clinton

"Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule." ~Buddha

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. ~Cynthia Ozick

"Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little." Buddha

If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life."
--Frank Lloyd Wright,

People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have."
--Anne Tyler

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal. ~From a headstone in Ireland

"Sometimes we feel that one individual's action is very insignificant. Then we think, of course, that effects should come from channeling or from a unifying movement. But the movement of the society, community or group of people means joining individuals. Society means a collection of individuals, so that initiative must come from individuals. Unless each individual develops a sense of responsibility, the whole community cannot move. So therefore, it is very essential that we should not feel that individual effort is meaningless- you should not feel that way. We should make an effort." ~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

You who are journalists, writers, citizens, you have the right and duty to say to those you have elected that they must practice mindfulness, calm and deep listening, and loving speech. This is a universal thing, taught by all religions. Thich Nhat Hanh

We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights. ~Felix Frankfurter

There are many areas of common ground on which we can have harmony. Let us just be side by side- helping, respecting, and understanding each other - in common effort to serve humankind. The aim of human society must be the compassionate betterment of human beings. ~His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees. ~Kahlil Gibran

Thich Nhat Hanh

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.

Alexandre Ledru-Rollin

There go the people. I must follow them for I am their leader.

Thich Nhat Hanh

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

Albert Einstein

Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Everyday we do things, we are things that have to do with peace. If we are aware of our life..., our way of looking at things, we will know how to make peace right in the moment, we are alive.

Solomon Ibn Gabriol

The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.

Pema Chodron

"Every moment is unique, unknown, completely fresh."

Plato

To conquer oneself is the best and noblest victory; to be vanquished by one's own nature is the worst and most ignoble defeat.

Pema Chodron

"There's a reason you can learn from everything: you have basic wisdom, basic intelligence, and basic goodness."

Patrick Henry

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

The Buddha

"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."

Thomas Paine

Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.

Buddha

"As the fletcher whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the master directs his straying thoughts."

Lord Chesterfield

Take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves.

Buddha

"Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill."

Romain Gary

Humor is an affirmation of dignity, a declaration of man's superiority to all that befalls him."

Buddha

"What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind."

H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Find a job you like and you add five days to every week."

Buddha

"There is nothing so disobedient as an undisciplined mind."

Babe Ruth

Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.

The Buddha

"To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance."

Henry David Thoreau

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

The Buddha

"Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill."

Orison Swett Marden

Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them."

The Buddha

"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it."

We think having faith means being convinced God exists in the same way we are convinced a chair exists. People who cannot be completely convinced of God’s existence think faith is impossible for them. Not so. People who doubt can have great faith because faith is something you do, not something you think.

The Buddha

"He who sees me sees the teaching and he who sees the teaching sees me."

Jim Bishop

The future is an opaque mirror. Anyone who tries to look into it sees nothing but the dim outlines of an old and worried face.

The Buddha

"If a man who enjoys a lesser happiness beholds a greater one, let him leave aside the lesser to gain the greater."

Colette

You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.

The Buddha

"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell."

Rainer Maria Rilke

For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.

Thich Nhat Hanh

When we come into contact with the other person, our thoughts and actions should express our mind of compassion, even if that person says and does things that are not easy to accept. We practice in this way until we see clearly that our love is not contingent upon the other person being lovable.

Baha'u'llah

"Women & men have been & will always be equal in the sight of God."

Buddha

"Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others."

Abdu'l-Baha

"The man who has accomplished a small good & magnifies it in his speech is worth very little." "A man who does great good, and talks not of it, is on the way to perfection."

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

In the Buddhist tradition, compassion and love are seen as two aspects of the same thing: Compassion is the wish for another being to be free from suffering; love is wanting them to have happiness."

BAHA'U'LLAH

Ye are all fruit of one tree, the leaves of one branch, the flower of one garden.

Buddha

"An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea."

Bahai

The poor are especially beloved of God...Their lives are full of difficulties...No deed of man is greater before God than helping the poor.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"The mind's own basic nature is ultimately neutral. It can be influenced by negative as well as by positive emotions. Take, for instance, those who have a short tempter. When I was young I was quite short-tempered. However, the mood never lasted for twenty-four hours. If negative emotions are in the very nature of our mind, then as long as the mind is functioning the anger must remain. That, however is not the case. Similarly, positive emotions are also not in the nature of the mind. The mind is something neutral, reflecting all sorts of different experiences or phenomena."

Tom Izzo, Michigan State University

'If it doesn't hurt, you haven't done enough.' - Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo speaks during an interview session for the NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament Thursday, April 1, 2010, in Indianapolis.

Buddha

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence."

Abdu'l-Bah

"If we say religion is opposed to science, we lack knowledge of either true science or true religion..."

Buddha

"Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely."

Bruce Lee

"Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind."

Pema Chodron

"When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space."

Juliette Gordon Low

The work of today is the history of tomorrow, and we are its makers.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"Love and kindness are the very basis of society. If we lose these feelings, society will face tremendous difficulties; the survival of humanity will be endangered."

Michael Jordan

I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying."

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"With the realization of ones own potential and self-confidence in ones ability, one can build a better world. According to my own experience, self-confidence is very important. That sort of confidence is not a blind one; it is an awareness of ones own potential. On that basis, human beings can transform themselves by increasing the good qualities and reducing the negative qualities."

Henry Brooks Adams

'Politics, as a practice, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. '

Thich Nhat Hanh

Training is needed in order to love properly; and to be able to give happiness and joy, you must practice DEEP LOOKING directed toward the other person you love. Because if you do not understand this person, you cannot love properly. Understanding is the essence of love. If you cannot understand, you cannot love. That is the message of the Buddha.

Dean Acheson

'A memorandum is written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer.'

Rainer Maria Rilke

For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The essence of love and compassion is understanding, the ability to recognize the physical, material, and psychological suffering of others, to put ourselves "inside the skin" of the other. We "go inside" their body, feelings, and mental formations, and witness for ourselves their suffering. Shallow observation as an outsider is not enough to see their suffering. We must become one with the subject of our observation. When we are in contact with another's suffering, a feeling of compassion is born in us. Compassion means, literally, "to suffer with."

Will Rogers

'There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you. '

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"If there is love, there is hope to have real families, real brotherhood, real equanimity, real peace. If the love within your mind is lost, if you continue to see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education you have, no matter how much material progress is made, only suffering and confusion will ensue."

Roger Ebert

'To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts.'

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"Human beings will continue to deceive and overpower one another. Basically,
everyone exists in the very nature of suffering, so to abuse or mistreat each
other is futile. The foundation of all spiritual practice is love. That you
practice this well is my only request."

Helen Gurley Brown

The only thing that separates successful people from the ones who aren't is the willingness to work very, very hard.

Aristotle

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

Thich Nhat Hanh

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?

ANNE BRONTE

If you would have your son to walk honourably through the world, you must not attempt to clear the stones from his path, but teach him to walk firmly over them - not insist upon leading him by the hand, but let him learn to go alone. Happy Birthday Mom

Thich Nhat Hanh

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.

Thich Nhat Hanh

So if we love someone, we should train in being able to listen. By listening with calm and understanding, we can ease the suffering of another person.

Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. If you are not capable of generating that kind of energy toward yourself if you are not capable of taking care of yourself, of nourishing yourself, of protecting yourself it is very difficult to take care of another person. To love oneself is the foundation of the love of other people. Love is a practice.

Obstacles are the distractions you see when you take your eyes off of your goals.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn't anyone who doesn't appreciate kindness and compassion."

R.H. Grant

When you hire people who are smarter than you are, you prove you are smarter than they are.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"In the present circumstances, no one can afford to assume that someone else will solve their problems. Every individual has a responsibility to help guide our global family in the right direction. Good wishes are not sufficient; we must become actively engaged."

When two people in a business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"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. 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, or Muslim. From the viewpoint of human value we are all the same."

Dr. Albert Schweitzer

I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know; the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found out how to serve others.

Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

"Young men are as apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are to think themselves sober enough."

Abraham Lincoln

I do the best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing it to the end. If the end brings me out all right what is said about me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out all wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.

Progress always involves a degree of risk; you can't steal second with your foot on first.

"Success is simply a matter of luck." Ask any failure.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.

Chief Dan George - Little Big Man

"Their is an endless supply of white men but their always has been a limited number of human beings"

NELSON MANDELA

The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

HENRIK IBSEN

The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

Conscience ... seldom comes to a man's aid while he is in the zenith of health and revelling in pomp and luxury upon illgotten spoils. It is generally the last act of his life, and it comes too late to be of much service to others here, or to himself hereafter.

ROGER STAUBACH

Confidence doesn't come out of nowhere. It's a result of something... hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication

J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER

There are children playing in the street who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago.

NELSON MANDELA

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

DAVID MAMET

We live in oppressive times. We have, as a nation, become our own thought police; but instead of calling the process by which we limit our expression of dissent and wonder “censorship,” we call it “concern for commercial viability.

Winston Churchill

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

WALTER BENJAMIN

Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the leaves drives him away.

William James

It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome."

George Eliot

Animals are such agreeable friends--they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.

Anger is a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind.

Washington Irving

There is in every woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.

Don't be afraid to assign a person more than they deem themselves capable of. Make them rise to the occassion. In this way you compel them to discover fresh resources both in themselves and others, thus enlarging the capacity of all and binding the group together for the reward.

Abraham Lincoln

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Jane Howard

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."

George Washington

"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience." Happy Birthday Mr. Washington

Booker T. Washington

There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and useful life."

... if force must be employed with a subordinate, take care that it be minimal. If I tell you to do something and hold a gun to your head and you do it you will say "he made me do it, I had not choice." But if I only suggest and you comply, then you must own your compliance and, owning it, stand by it.

Bob Hope

"If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play at it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf."

John Abrams

If the people who make the decisions are the people who will also bear the consequences of those decisions, perhaps better decisions will result.

B. F. Skinner

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

Herodotus

In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their son's.

The chameleon they say, may turn every color but white.

Lao Tzu

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. Happy Valentines Day

Charles Schwab

The difference between getting somewhere and nowhere is the courage to make an early start. The fellow who sits still and does just what he is told will never be told to do big things."

Sam Levenson

It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'

Sir Winston Churchill

I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter. Happy Birthday To ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steven Pressfield - The Tides of War

A soldier must not own too much imagination. In victory it overheats his ambition; in defeat it infames his fears. A bave man possessed of imagination will not be brave long.

Clarence Darrow

I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.

Emo Philips

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

Harold Wilson

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery

Laurence J. Peter

An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.

...to he extent to which a man unites his self-conception to his flesh, to that measure will he be a villain. To the extent he unites it with his woul, he will be divine.

Mark Twain

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured

Don Marquis

Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed

Albert Einstein

A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving."

Malcolm X

There is nothing better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.

Peace Pilgim

Anything you cannot relinquish when it has outlived its usefulness possesses you, and in this materialistic age a great many of us are possessed by our possessions.
Peace Pilgrim

Simon Wiesenthal

Violence is like a weed - it does not die even in the greatest drought.

Wavy Gravy

Keep your sense of humor, my friend; if you don't have a sense of humor it just isn't funny anymore.

You serve that which you value.

(Don't confuse being a warrior with violence.) When you cease to act like a warrior, you cease to be a warrior.

Steven Pressfield (The Tides of War)

Don't confound prudence with valor. If I fight up front it's because I find it safer, the dead line up before no paymaster.

I use money but I never allow money to use me.

In defeat one learns who are friends to him, and by whom he is accounted friend.

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the little bit of "extra" you provide.

Doris Leasing

Think wrongly if you must, but in all cases think for yourself.

Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Victor Hugo

There is one thing stronger than all of the worlds armies, an idea whose time has come.

Gen. George S. Patton

Accept challenges so that you may feel the exhiliration of victory.

Howard W. Newton

People will forget how fast you did a job, but they will remember how well you did it.

Destiny is not a matter of chance it is a matter of choice.

Eleanor Roosevelt

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Winston Churchill

The price of greatness is responsibility.

Horace

Adversity revels genius, prosperity conceals it.

The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our main desire in life is someone who will make us do what we can.

The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what needs to be done and self restraint enough to allow them to do it.

Demosthenes

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.

John Norley

All things are difficult before they are easy.

The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?

Jack London

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."

Vince Lombardi

The quality of a persons life is in direct proportion to their committment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.

Albert Einstein

I never think of the future -- it comes soon enough.

Thomas Edison

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Jules Renard

Be modest! It is the kind of pride least likely to offend. Happy B-Day, Dad.

Hal Borland

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. Happy B-Day, Mike N.

Benjamin Franklin

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better person. Happy New Year.