quotes's posterous

Inspiring quotes and proverbs

from (http://www.heartquotes.net/Inspiring.html )

Lao-Tzu (600 B.C.)
Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.

Chinese Proverb
If you get up one more time than you fall, you will make it through.

Ancient Proverb
We have not inherited the earth from our ancestors, we have only borrowed it from our children. .

Eugene Cloutier
To know the value of generosity, it is necessary to have suffered from the cold indifference of others. .

Ferdinand Foch
The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire. 

Pablo Casals 
The capacity to care is the thing which gives life its deepest meaning and significance. 
Thanks to Ayn Fox 

Sheila Graham
You can have anything you want if you want it desperately enough. You must want it with an exuberance that erupts through the skin and joins the energy that created the world. 

Vaclav Havel
Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.
Thanks to Catherine Doucette

T. Starr King
The spirit of a person's life is ever shedding some power, just as a flower is steadily bestowing fragrance upon the air.
thanks to Michele Rousseau

Albert Schweitzer
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.
Thanks to Ellen Fletcher

Alan Paton
There is only one-way in which one can endure man's inhumanity to man and that is to try, in one's own life, to exemplify man's humanity to man. 

William Jennings Bryan 
Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. 
thanks to Dana Bidne

Bruce Barton
Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance.

Unknown
May you find serenity and tranquility in a world you may not always understand. May the pain you have known and the conflict you have experienced give you the strength to walk through life facing each new situation with courage and optimism. Always know that there are those whose love and understanding will always be there, even when you feel most alone. May you discover enough goodness in others to believe in a world of peace. May a kind word, a reassuring touch, and a warm smile be yours every day of your life, and may you give these gifts as well as receive them. Remember the sunshine when the storm seems unending. 

Teach love to those who hate, and let that love embrace you as you go out into the world. May the teachings of those you admire become part of you, so that you may call upon them. Remember, those whose lives you have touched and whose have touched yours are always a part of you, even if the encounters were less than you would have wished. It is the content of the encounter that is more important than the form. 

May you not become too concerned with material matters, but instead place immeasurable value on the goodness in your heart. Find time each day to see beauty and love in the world around you. Realize that each person has limitless abilities, but each of us is different in our own way. What you feel you lack in the present may become one of your strengths in the future. May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility. Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience. May you find enough inner strength to determine your own worth by yourself, and not be dependent on another's judgment of your accomplishments. May you always feel loved.

Albert Schweitzer
The future of civilization depends on our overcoming the meaninglessness and hopelessness that characterizes the thoughts of men today.

Ralph Ellison
When I discover who I am, I'll be free. 

Alexander Graham Bell
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.

Patanjali (c. 1st to 3rd century BC)
When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

Bernadette Devlin
To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else.

Chief Seattle
Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

Buddha 
All that we are is the result of what we have thought.

Bacon,
Dolendi modus, timendi non item.
(To suffering there is a limit; to fearing, none.)

Matthew Arnold
Resolve to be thyself: and know, that he who finds himself, loses his misery.

Albert Einstein 
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Dr. Robert Schuller 
What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail?

Joseph Addison
It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are, the more gentle
and quiet we become towards the defects of others.

For many more (other category) quotes, please visit heartquotes.net 

Quotes

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. 
Albert Einstein


It's never too late to be what you might have been.
-George Eliot

If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but think you can't,
It's almost certain you won't.
If you think youll lose, youre lost,
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellows will;
Its all in the state of mind.

If you think youre outclassed, you are;
Youve got to think high to rise.
Youve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Lifes battles dont always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But soon or late the man who wins

Is the one who thinks he can.
-Walter D. Wintle

Promise Yourself - 
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
- Christian D. Larson


"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

"Anything worth doing is worth doing right."
-Somebody

Native American Wisdom

Cherokee Prayer Blessing
May the Warm Winds of Heaven
Blow softly upon your house.
May the Great Spirit
Bless all who enter there.
May your Mocassins
Make happy tracks
in many snows,
and may the Rainbow
Always touch your shoulder.

Native American Prayer 
Oh, Great Spirit
Whose voice I hear in the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world,
hear me, I am small and weak,
I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold
the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have
made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand the things
you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have
hidden in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.
Make me always ready to come to you
with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my Spirit may come to you without shame.
(translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887)
published in Native American Prayers - by the Episcopal Church.

Honor the sacred.
Honor the Earth, our Mother.
Honor the Elders.
Honor all with whom we 
share the Earth:-
Four-leggeds, two-leggeds, 
winged ones,
Swimmers, crawlers, 
plant and rock people.
Walk in balance and beauty.
Native American Elder

Lakota Instructions for Living
Friend do it this way - that is,
whatever you do in life,
do the very best you can
with both your heart and mind.

And if you do it that way,
the Power Of The Universe
will come to your assistance,
if your heart and mind are in Unity.

When one sits in the Hoop Of The People,
one must be responsible because
All of Creation is related.
And the hurt of one is the hurt of all.
And the honor of one is the honor of all.
And whatever we do effects everything in the universe.

If you do it that way - that is,
if you truly join your heart and mind
as One - whatever you ask for,
that's the Way It's Going To Be.
passed down from White Buffalo Calf Woman

Go Forward With Courage
When you are in doubt, be still, and wait;
when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage.
So long as mists envelop you, be still;
be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists
-- as it surely will.
Then act with courage.
Ponca Chief White Eagle (1800's to 1914)

Earth, Teach Me
Earth teach me quiet ~ as the grasses are still with new light.
Earth teach me suffering ~ as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility ~ as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring ~ as mothers nurture their young.
Earth teach me courage ~ as the tree that stands alone.
Earth teach me limitation ~ as the ant that crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom ~ as the eagle that soars in the sky.
Earth teach me acceptance ~ as the leaves that die each fall.
Earth teach me renewal ~ as the seed that rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself ~ as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness ~ as dry fields weep with rain.
An Ute Prayer

Treat the earth well.
It was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors,
we borrow it from our Children.
Ancient Indian Proverb

You have noticed that everything an Indian does in a circle,
and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles,
and everything and everything tries to be round.

In the old days all our power came to us from the sacred hoop
of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people
flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop,
and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace
and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north
with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This
knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion.

Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle.
The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball
and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.
Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon
does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great
circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were.

The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is
in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the
nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop,
a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.

Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950
Over a hundred years ago Black Elk had a vision of the time when Indian people would heal from the devastating effects
of European migration. In his vision the Sacred Hoop which had been broken, would be mended in seven generations.
The children born into this decade will be the seventh generation.

When you were born, you cried
and the world rejoiced.
Live your life
so that when you die,
the world cries and you rejoice.
White Elk

If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace...
Treat all men alike. Give them all the
same law. Give them all an even chance
to live and grow.All men were made by
the same Great Spirit Chief.
They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it....
Let me be a free man,free to travel,
free to stop,free to work,free to trade where I choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers,free to think and talk and act for myself, and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.
Heinmot Tooyalaket (Chief Joseph), Nez Perce Leader

Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.
Chief Seattle, 1854

The True Peace
The first peace, which is the most important, 
is that which comes within the souls of people 
when they realize their relationship, 
their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, 
and when they realize that at the center 
of the universe dwells Wakan-Taka (the Great Spirit), 
and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. 
This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. 
The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, 
and the third is that which is made between two nations. 
But above all you should understand that there can never 
be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, 
which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men. 
Black Elk, Oglala Sioux & Spiritual Leader (1863 - 1950)

May the stars carry your sadness away,
May the flowers fill your heart with beauty,
May hope forever wipe away your tears,
And, above all, may silence make you strong.
Chief Dan George

Hold On
Hold on to what is good,
Even if it's a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe,
Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do,
Even if it's a long way from here.
Hold on to your life,
Even if it's easier to let go.
Hold on to my hand,
Even if someday I'll be gone away from you. 
A Pueblo Indian Prayer

Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men,
we didn't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents.
Without a prison, there can be no delinquents.
We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were no thieves.
When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket,
he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift.
We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property.
We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being
was not determined by his wealth.
We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians,
therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another.
We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know
how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things
that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.
John (Fire) Lame Deer
Sioux Lakota - 1903-1976

What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across
the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator 1830 - 1890

And while I stood there
I saw more than I can tell,
and I understood more than I saw;
for I was seeing in a sacred manner
the shapes of things in the spirit,
and the shape of all shapes as they must
live together like one being.
Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks

Lakota Prayer
Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery,
teach me how to trust
my heart,
my mind,
my intuition,
my inner knowing,
the senses of my body,
the blessings of my spirit.
Teach me to trust these things
so that I may enter my Sacred Space
and love beyond my fear,
and thus Walk in Balance
with the passing of each glorious Sun. 

-According to the Native People, the Sacred Space
is the space between exhalation and inhalation.
To Walk in Balance is to have Heaven (spirituality)
and Earth (physicality) in Harmony. 

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about their religion;
respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.

Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
even a stranger, when in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people and grovel to none.

When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.

Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools
and robs the spirit of its vision.

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled
with the 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.

Chief Tecumseh (Crouching Tiger) Shawnee Nation 1768-1813

O' GREAT SPIRIT
help me always
to speak the truth quietly,
to listen with an open mind
when others speak,
and to remember the peace
that may be found in silence. 

Cherokee Prayer

Peace and happiness are available in every moment.
Peace is every step. We shall walk hand in hand.
There are no political solutions to spiritual problems.
Remember: If the Creator put it there, it is in the right place.
The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.
Tell your people that, since we were promised we should never be moved,
we have been moved five times. 
An Indian Chief, 1876. 

When all the trees have been cut down,
when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted,
when all the air is unsafe to breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.
Cree Prophecy

Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other,
thus should we do,
for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World.
Black Elk

I do not think the measure of a civilization 
is how tall its buildings of concrete are, 
But rather how well its people have learned to relate 
to their environment and fellow man. 
Sun Bear of the Chippewa Tribe 

We do not want schools.... 
they will teach us to have churches. 
We do not want churches.... 
they will teach us to quarrel about God. 
We do not want to learn that. 
We may quarrel with men sometimes 
about things on this earth, 
but we never quarrel about God. 
We do not want to learn that.
Heinmot Tooyalaket ( Chief Joseph), Nez Perce Leader

Certain things catch your eye,
But pursue only those
that capture your heart.
old indian saying

Thanksgiving
We return thanks to our mother, the earth,
which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams,
which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs,
which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars,
which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun,
that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in Whom is embodied all goodness,
and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.
Iroquois

"Give thanks for unknown blessings
already on their way."
Native American saying

There is a road in the hearts of all of us, hidden and seldom traveled,
which leads to an unkown, secret place.
The old people came literally to love the soil,
and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of
being close to a mothering power.
Their teepees were built upon the earth
and their altars were made of earth.
The soul was soothing, strengthening, cleansing and healing.
That is why the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of
propping himself up and away from its life giving forces.
For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply
and to feel more keenly. He can see more clearly into the mysteries of
life and come closer in kinship to other lives about him.
Chief Luther Standing Bear

for more great (non-native american) quotes, please visit Sapphyr.net

Miscellaneous

"When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion."
  --  Abraham Lincoln 

"Some men see things as they are and say why - I dream things that never were and say why not."
  --  George Bernard Shaw 

"The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection."
  --  Michelangelo

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."
  --  Muhammad Ali 

"If you can dream it, you can do it."
  --  Walt Disney

 "God is the light of heavens and earth. An example of His light is like a lantern inside which there is a tourch, the tourch is in a glass bulb, the glass bulb is like a bright planet lit by a blessed olive tree, neither Eastern nor Western, its oil almost glows, even without fire touching it, light upon light." 
 -- Quran (answers.com olive oil page)

"It's at night, when perhaps we should be dreaming, that the mind is most clear, that we are most able to hold all our life in the palm of our skull.  I don't know if anyone has ever pointed out that great attraction of insomnia before, but it is so; the night seems to release a little more of our vast backward inheritance of instincts and feelings; as with the dawn, a little honey is allowed to ooze between the lips of the sandwich, a little of the stuff of dreams to drip into the waking mind.  I wish I believed, as J. B. Priestley did, that consciousness continues after disembodiment or death, not forever, but for a long while.  Three score years and ten is such a stingy ration of time, when there is so much time around.  Perhaps that's why some of us are insomniacs; night is so precious that it would be pusillanimous to sleep all through it!  A "bad night" is not always a bad thing."
  --Brian W. Aldiss

"Who else but God gave man Love that can spark mere dust to life!"

The Techo Master says 'To me, kung-fu is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.'

As long as you keep getting born, it's alright to die some times. 
Orson Scott Card

Fluidity is the way to an empty mind. You must free your ambitious mind and learn the art of dying.
Bruce Lee