Outer and Inner
The outer man is the swinging door
The inner man is the still hinge.
MEISTER ECKHART
The Still Point
Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness.
MEISTER ECKHART
Seekers
Search your heart and see the way to do is to be.
LAO TZU
The Big Five
Five enemies of peace inhabit with us – avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.
PETRARCH, 1304–1374
Honours
It is better to deserve honours and not have them, than to have them and not deserve them.
MARK TWAIN
Falling Slowly
If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT, 1821–1880
Pause for Thought
The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.
MARK TWAIN
At Peace
There is one thing that stands the brunt of life throughout its course: a quiet conscience.
EURIPIDES, 480–406 BC
Pride
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.
KAHLIL GIBRAN
Giant Haystack
Do not overlook negative actions merely because they are small; however small a spark may be, it can burn down a haystack as big as a mountain.
BUDDHA
Strength in Weakness
The weak can never forgive.
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
MAHATMA GANDHI
Be the Best
No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, 1807–1892
What Lies Beneath
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, 1803–1882
Success
To leave the world a bit better,
Whether by a healthy child, a garden
Patch or a redeemed social condition;
To even know one life has breathed
Easier because you have lived:
This is to have succeeded.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Give Thanks
Be grateful for whatever comes
Because each has been sent
As a guide from beyond.
RUMI
In Between
Between God and soul there
Is no between.
JULIAN OF NORWICH, 1342–1416
The Music of the Soul
A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
johann wolfgang von goethe, 1749–1832
Have a Little Faith
The way you see people
Is the way you treat them
And the way you treat them
Is what they become.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
Practice Makes Perfect
An ounce of practice is worth more than two tons of preaching.
MAHATMA GANDHI
The Truth Shall Set You Free
Truth never damages a cause that is just.
MAHATMA GANDHI
When Silence is Not Golden
The cruellest lies are told in silence.
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
What is the Name of the Game?
Truth is the cry of all, but the game of few.
GEORGE BERKELEY, 1685–1753
A Different Perspective
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
WINSTON CHURCHILL, 1874–1965
Restraint
Virtue debases itself in justifying itself.
VOLTAIRE, 1694–1778
The Real Deal
True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.
ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY
Radiate
Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves.
J.M. BARRIE, 1860–1937
Acceptance
Let us act on what we have, since we have not what we wish for.
ST JOHN HENRY NEWMAN
Don’t Look Back in Anger
Finish each day and be done with it. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
The Last Words
Be good to yourself.