Start your week off right with a little inspiration! Sometimes it’s already been said (and said better) by someone else.
On being yourself
The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the… blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”—Jack Kerouc (1922 – 1969)
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.—Anais Nin (1903-1977)
To laugh often and love much;
to win the respect of intelligent persons
and the affection of children;
to earn the approbation of honest citizens
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to give of one’s self; to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
to have played and laughed with enthusiasm
and sung with exultation;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived
this is to have succeeded.
—Contested Attribution
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
—e.e. cummings (1894 – 1962)
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.—Edith Wharton (1862 – 1937)
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)
I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.—Anais Nin (1903-1977)
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. —Marcel Proust (1871 – 1922)
You’ve gotta’ dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.
(And speak from the heart to be heard.)
—William W. Purkey
ON TAKING ACTION:
It is well to be prepared for life as it is, but it is better to be prepared to make life better than it is.—Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. (1915-2011)
Wherever you go, go with all your heart.—Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC)
The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.—Sarah Ban Breathnach
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.—Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968)
There is nothing like a dream to create the future.—Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885)
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)
People who give will never be poor.
—Anne Frank (1929 – 1945)
Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.—Rumi (1207 – 1273)
Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.—Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968)
We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.
—William Ewart Gladstone (1809 – 1898)
ON PERSEVERING:
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.—Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968)
Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.
—Goethe (1749 -1832)
In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.—Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)
Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age.—Anais Nin (1903-1977)