What Others Have Said

"If not now, when?" ~ The Talmud

"All appears to change when we change." ~ Henri Amiel, 19th-century Swiss writer

"Everything is connected...no one can change by itself." ~ Paul Hawken, environmentalist and author

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." ~ Joseph Campbell, author

"Without freedom from the past, there is no freedom at all, because the mind is never new, fresh, innocent." ~ Krishnamurti, spiritual teacher

"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, Buddhist monk and poet

"Follow your bliss." ~ Joseph Campbell

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." ~ Psalm 30:5

"Joy is not in things; it is in us." ~ Richard Wagner

"Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile." ~ Sir Wilfred Grenfell

"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with." ~ Mark Twain

"Learning to live inthe present moment is part of the path of joy." ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

"Joy is prayer—Joy is strength—Joy is love—Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls."
~ Mother Teresa

"Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I m doing." ~ Phil Jackson

"We read, frequently if unknowingly, in quest of a mind more original than our own." ~ Harold Bloom, literary critic

"Hold a book in your hand and you're a pilgrim at the gates of a new city." ~ Anne Michaels, citing a Hebrew saying, in Fugitive Pieces

"I cannot live without books." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"When I only begin to read, I forget I'm on this world. It lifts me on wings with high thoughts." ~ Anzia Yezierska, novelist

"To grow mature is to separate more distinctly, to connect more closely." ~ Hugo von Hofmannsthal, poet and dramatist

"The world is not yet exhausted; let me see something tomorrow which I never saw before." ~ Samuel Johnson, lexicographer and author

"Perfection is a road, not a destination. Every time I live, I get an education." ~ Burke Hudson, songwriter

"I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get." ~ Anne Tyler, author

"Only the hand that erases can write the true thing." ~ Meister Eckhart, 13th-century mystic

"That's what I consider true generosity. You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing." ~ Simone de Beauvoir

"The only gift is a portion of thyself." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Giving is a necessity sometimes...more urgent, indeed, than having." ~ Margaret Lee Runbeck

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." ~ Winston Churchill

"If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass
without sharing it in some way." ~ Buddha

"The habit of giving only enhances the desire to give." ~ Walt Whitman

"There is only one real deprivation, I decided this morning, and that is not to be able to give one's gifts to those one loves most." ~ Mary Sarton

"Anything that is of value in life only multiplies when it is given." ~ Deepak Chopra

"It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding." ~ Kahlil Gibran

"Anything that has real and lasting value is always a gift from within." ~ Franz Kafka

"Just trust yourself then you will know how to live." ~ Goethe, Faust

"I could be whatever I wanted to be if I trusted that music, that song, that vibration of God that was inside of me." ~ Shirley Maclaine, It's All In The Playing

"It is impossible to go through life without trust: That is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself." ~ Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear

"Trust yourself. Think for yourself. Act for yourself. Speak for yourself. Be yourself. Imitation is suicide." ~ Marva Collins

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

"Don't just lower your expectations. If you truly want to live a joyous and adventurous life, you should relinquish them." ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

"Nothing that once made you happy is ever lost. A golden thread of pleasure runs through your life. You just need to rediscover this thread before the joy of living completely unravels." ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

". . .Let me call Heaven's blessing on thine eyes, my sudden adoration, my great love!" ~ Keats