#1096 Be content

I need nothing. I seek nothing. I desire nothing.   ~ Milarepa

The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.  ~ Socrates

I love to talk about nothing. It's the only thing I know anything about.  ~ Oscar Wilde

More powerful than God, more evil than the Devil; the poor have it, the rich lack it, and if you eat it you die?  ~ Margaret Atwood

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.  ~ Lao Tzu

Quotes about nothing

- What is your opinion of Milarepa's quote?
- How content are you with the conditions of your life right now?

#1095 The truth of things

Rarely affirm, seldom deny, always distinguish.

Wonder is the desire of knowledge.

Love follows knowledge.

Most men seem to live according to sense rather than reason.

I would rather feel compassion than know the meaning of it. I would hope to act with compassion without thinking of personal gain.

The study of philosophy is not that we may know what men have thought, but what the truth of things is.

Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.

Quotes by Thomas Aquinas

- How ready are you to distinguish rather than to affirm and deny?
- How can you cultivate your wonder and awe?
- How important for you is it to establish truths?

#1094 The highest reward

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.

There is no wealth but life.

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.

Every increased possession loads us with new weariness.

The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get from it, but what they become by it.

Quotes by John Ruskin

- What 'good weather' have you enjoyed recently?
- What great wealth does life offer?
- How has your work defined and shaped you?

#1093 What really matters

The forceps of our minds are clumsy forceps, and crush the truth a little in taking hold of it.

If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.

Sometimes, you have to step outside of the person you've been and remember the person you were meant to be. The person you want to be. The person you are.

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.

Our true nationality is mankind.

What really matters is what you do with what you have.

Quotes by H. G. Wells

- When has the truth been crushed?
- What person do you want to be?
- How much are you utilizing your talents?

#1092 Whoever that is

If you want to keep your memories, you first have to live them.

Sundown, yellow moon, I replay the past
I know every scene by heart, they all went by so fast.

Every pleasure's got an edge of pain, pay your ticket and don't complain.

Chaos is a friend of mine.

All I can do is be me, whoever that is.

Quotes by Bob Dylan

- How quickly is your life progressing?
- Why might chaos be a friend?
- How well do you know yourself?

#1091 What's remarkable

One can't love humanity. One can only love people.

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.

We'd forgive most things if we knew the facts.

Doing nothing, badly.

It is always of interest to know what strikes another human being as remarkable.

Quotes by Graham Greene

- How do you distinguish between humanity and people?
- What door opened for you as a child?
- What strikes you as remarkable?

#1090 Whitecaps on the bay

Haiku is not a shriek, a howl, a sigh, or a yawn; rather, it is the deep breath of life.    ~Santoka Taneda

In pale moonlight
the wisteria's scent
comes from far away.  ~ Yosa Buson


moonless night...
a powerful wind embraces
the ancient cedars.  ~ Matsuo Basho

Whitecaps on the bay:
A broken signboard banging
In the April wind. - Richard Wright


 - Zen is a total state of focus bringing together the body and the mind.  How does haiku help to provide this focus?
- What helps you to achieve a meditative state?

#1089 The true measure

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

For I have known them all already, known them all—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.  ~ T. S. Eliot

God is a concept by which we measure our pain.  ~ John Lennon

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.  ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.  ~ Samuel Johnson

Measure of intelligence is the ability to change.  ~ Albert Einstein

Quotes about measure

- To what drummer, music, do you step?
- How would you measure out your life?
- What can be concluded about your life so far?

#1088 Worse than a defeat

Defeat I shall not know. It shall not touch me. I will meet it with true thinking. Resisting it will be my strengthening. But if, perchance, the day shall give to me the bitter cup, it shall sweeten in the drinking.  ~ Walter Russell

Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.  ~ Ralph Ellison

their heart grew cold
they let their wings down.  ~ Sappho

The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.  ~ Robert Green Ingersoll

There are many victories worse than a defeat.  ~ George Eliot

Quotes about defeat

- How defiant are you in the face of defeat?
- When have you been discouraged after a defeat?
- How can a victory be worse than a defeat?

#1087 Borrow it from our children

One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.  ~ Aldo Leopold

Man is a complex being: he makes deserts bloom - and lakes die.  ~ Gil Scott-Heron

Progress is measured by the speed at which we destroy the conditions that sustain life.  ~ George Monbiot

It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.  ~ Ansel Adams

Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries.  ~ Jimmy Carter

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.  ~ Chief Seattle

Quotes about nature, ecology

- What wounds do you see inflicted upon nature?
- How do you cultivate a love for nature?
- What can you do to preserve nature?

#1086 A well in the desert

- Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.

- My little old dog
a heart-beat
at my feet.

 - Life is always either a tightrope or a feather bed. Give me the tightrope.

 - If only we'd stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time.

 - Silence may be as variously shaded as speech.

 - In every heart there should be one grief that is like a well in the desert

Edith Wharton quotes

- What do you enjoy about today?
- What engaging tightrope are you walking?
- What is one grief that has been a well in the desert for you?

#1085 Dream with a V8 engine

The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.  ~ Maya Angelou

I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless.  ~ Neil Shusterman

By faithfully working eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.  ~ Robert Frost

Live for each second without hesitation.  ~ Elton John

Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine. Ain't nowhere else in the world where you can go from driving a truck to cadillac overnight.  ~ Elvis Presley

Quotes about ambition

- What heart(s) could you reach out to?
- What is your claim to partial greatness?
- What fuels your ambition?

#1084 Right where you are now

If you can't do great things, do small things in a great way.

A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.

Cherish your vision and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

It takes half your life before you discover that life is a do-it-yourself project.

Your big opportunity might be right where you are now.

Quotes by Napoleon Hill

- What small things have you done well?
- What vision do you have for yourself?
- What big opportunity might lie before you now? 

#1083 Not enough bridges

The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know...Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly [with your God]. This is enough.  ~ John Adams

Earth provides enough for every man's needs, but not for every man's greed.  ~ Gandhi

You only live once, but if you do it right, once enough.  ~ Mae West

There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do.  ~ Bill Watterson 

There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle.  ~ Robert Alden

We build too many walls and not enough bridges.  ~ Isaac Newton

Quotes about enough

- How well does John Adams sum up what is important?
- How well are you living your life?
- Where can you shine a little candle?

#1082 Fruits of many inquiries

To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.  ~ A. C. Grayling

We read to know that we are not alone.   ~ William Nicholson

Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.  ~ Voltaire

Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul.  ~ Joyce Carol Oates

Quotes about reading

- What do you enjoy reading?
- What inquiries has reading unleashed for you?
- What shared experiences?

#1081 Taught me how to live

Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the true beauty of their carvings. 

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

 My patients taught me not how to die, but how to live.

Quotes by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

- What windstorms have buffeted you?
- How have they etched your character?
- What light emanates from within you?
- How do you live?

#1080 The test of our progress

Progress is a fine thing, but it has gone on long enough.  ~ Ogden Nash

 I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.  ~ Carl Sandburg

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.  ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.  ~ Rosa Luxemburg

Progress is not an illusion; it happens, but it is slow and invariably disappointing.  ~ George Orwell

Quotes about progress

- In what aspects has progress been somewhat disappointing?
- Through what initiatives has progress helped the less fortunate?
- How can you contribute?

#1079 Imperishable quiet

Those who are willing to be vulnerable move among mysteries.

In this place of light: he dares to live
Who stops being a bird, yet beats his wings
Against the immense immeasurable emptiness of things.

A mind too active is no mind at all.

I long for the imperishable quiet at the heart
of form.

Quotes by Theodore Roethke

- What mystery have you experienced through vulnerability?
- How hopeful and persistent are you in the midst of the emptiness?
- When have you enjoyed the beauty of form?

#1078 Big with wonder

If you dream the proper dreams, and share the myths with people, they will want to grow up to be like you.  ~ Ray Bradbury

Myths and creeds are heroic struggles to comprehend the truth in the world.  ~ Ansel Adams

Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.  ~ Thomas Aquinas

A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world. Myths are narrative patterns that give significance to our existence.  ~ Rollo May

Other people's beliefs may be myths, but not mine.  ~ Mason Cooley

Quotes about myths

- What big dreams may you share?
- What myths and creeds convey truths?
- What shapes your beliefs?

#1077 A profound effect

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.

In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.

Emotion is contagious.

Achievement is talent plus preparation.

We need to look at the subtle, the hidden, and the unspoken.

The values of the world we inhabit and the people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on who we are.

Quotes by Malcolm Gladwell

- When have you observed the tipping point in action?
- What skill(s) have you polished through thousands of hours of practice?
-  What subtlety do you need to think about?
- With what values and people do you surround yourself? 

#1076 Fear in a Handful

Watch my dust.   ~ Babe Ruth

Dust webbed the window and the showtrays. Dust darkened the toiling fingers with their vulture nails. Dust slept on dull coils of bronze and silver, lozenges of cinnabar, on rubies, leprous and winedark stones.  ~ James Joyce

Do the most difficult thing if that is what will pay you. Dust the Rust if you Must. Success never comes with ease.   ~Israelmore Ayifore

Write your injuries in dust, your benefits in marble.  ~ Benjamin Franklin

I will show you fear in a handful of dust.  ~ T. S.Eliot

(Quotes about dust.)

- Where do you show resolve?
- What benefits do you provide on your daily journey?
- What is your attitude to death?

#1075 Our true destiny

Hope is a verb with its shirtsleeves rolled up.

Our true destiny...is a world built from the bottom up by competent citizens living in solid communities, engaged in and by their places. David W. Orr

The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it.

Quotes by David Orr

- When have you been actively involved in a worthwhile cause?
- How can you contribute in a meaningful way in your community? 

#1074 Too caught up

In the end, just three things matter:

How well we have lived
How well we have loved
How well we have learned to let go.

You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf.

When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another - and ourselves.

Even Socrates, who lived a very frugal and simple life, loved to go to the market. When his students asked about this, he replied, "I love to go and see all the things I am happy without."

If your compassion does not include yourself, then it is incomplete.

Quotes by Jack Kornfield

- How well have you lived?
- How well have you loved?
- How well have you learned to let go?

#1073 Forward toward growth

Self- actualizing people must be what they can be.

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.

What is necessary to change about a person is to change his awareness of himself.

To the man who only has a hammer in the toolkit, every problem looks like a nail.

One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.

 Quotes by Abraham Maslow

- To what extent are you what is within?
- What skills and interests have you developed?
- What are the diverse ways to solve a problem?
- Where lies growth for you?

#1072 The secret of life

I have a new philosophy.  I'm only going to dread one day at a time.

My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right?
Oh yes, I'm at my happiest when I have a good idea and I'm drawing it well, and it comes out well and somebody laughs at it.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, look to tomorrow, rest this afternoon.

Sometimes you lie in bed at night, and you don't have a single thing to worry about...That always worries me!

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.

Just remember, when you’re over the hill, you begin to pick up speed.

I think I've discovered the secret of life -- you just hang around until you get used to it.

 Quotes by Charles Schulz

- What do you dread about life?
- How much value is there to have no purpose, direction, aim, or meaning?
- When are you happiest?