"To be nobody but myself -- 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)


"To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult."
~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe ~
(1749-1832, German Poet, Dramatist, Novelist)


"To the world you may be just somebody, but to somebody you may just be the world."
~ Author Unknown ~


"Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours. They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra hour. What will you do with this priceless treasure? Remember, you must use it, as it is given only once. Once wasted you cannot get it back."
~ Author Unknown ~


"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."
~ Mother Teresa ~


"Be sure that it is not you that is mortal, but only your body. For that man whom your outward form reveals is not yourself; the spirit is the true self, not that physical figure which can be pointed out by your finger."
~ Cicero ~


"When anger rises, think of the consequences."
~ Confucius ~


"There is nothing harder than being given your chance."
~ Deborah Chiel ~


"Measure yourself by your best moments, not by your worst. We are too prone to judge ourselves by our moments of despondency and depression."
~ Robert Johnson ~


"A person who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
~ Albert Einstein ~
(1879-1955, German-born American Physicist)


"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
~ Mother Theresa ~


"Reflect upon your present blessings - of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."
~ Charles Dickens ~


Attitude

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

It is more important that the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.

The remarkable thing is - we have a choice every day of our lives regarding the attitude we embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.

I’m convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you.

We are in charge of our attitudes.
~ Charles Swindoll ~
(American Pastor, Author)


Success

"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."
~ William Feather ~


He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory is a benediction.
~ Bessie A. Stanley (b.1879) ~
in Notes and Queries July 1976