#1272 To make a new beginning

Each age has deemed the new born year
The fittest time for festal cheer.  ~ Walter Scott

The merry year is born
Like the bright berry from the naked thorn.  ~ Hartley Coleridge

I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the year's.  ~ Henry Moore

He who breaks a resolution is a weakling;
He who makes one is a fool. ~ F. M. Knowles

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.  ~ T. S. Eliot

Quotes for the new year 2014

- What do you enjoy about New Year's Eve and New Year's Day?
- What resolutions would you like to make or not?
- What new beginning awaits you?

#1271 May your arms never tire

May Light always surround you;
Hope kindle and rebound you.
May your Hurts turn to Healing;
Your Heart embrace Feeling.
May Wounds become Wisdom;
Every Kindness a Prism.
May Laughter infect you;
Your Passion resurrect you.
May Goodness inspire
your Deepest Desires.
Through all that you Reach For,
May your arms Never Tire.     ~D.Simone

May brooks and trees and singing hills
Join in the chorus too.
And every gentle wind that blows
Send happiness to you.  ~ Irish blessing

Quote inspiration for new year 

- What light surrounds you?
- Where can you direct some kindness and understanding?
- For what do your arms reach?

#1270 The Life in your Years

It's better to burn out than to fade away.  ~ Neil Young

Slowly, with many lost days, I come back to life.   ~Suzanne Collins

Love as much and as hard as you can because one day in your life near the end, you may forget how it truly feels.   ~Jeanette Michelle

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'  ~ Erma Bombeck

In the end, it's not the years in your life that count.  It's the life in your years.  ~ Abraham Lincoln

Quotes about end

- Where are you devoting your energies?
- How much 'life' is in your years?
- How could you enrich your life?

#1269 Ornament is Organic

Clearness ornaments profound thoughts.  ~ Luc de Clapiers

Education is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in old age.  ~ Aristotle

So may the outward shows be least themselves: the world is still deceived with ornament... ~ William Shakespeare

Modesty is not only an ornament, but also a guard to virtue.  ~ Joseph Addison

True ornament is not a matter of prettifying externals.  It is organic with the structure it adorns whether a person, a building, or a park.  ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Quotes about ornament

- When have you experienced clearness of expression?
- To what extent is our world deceived by ornament?
- Where have you seen ornament as organic and beautiful?

#1268 Untie the ribbons

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

Love is, above all, the gift of oneself.  ~ Jean Anouilh

What is a true gift? One for which nothing is expected in return.  ~ Chinese Proverb

You may give gifts without caring, but you can't care without giving.  ~ Frank A. Clark

A hug is the perfect gift - one size fits all, and nobody minds if you exchange it.  ~Ivern Ball

Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons.  ~ Ruth Ann Schabacker

Quotes about gifts


- What do you care about?
- How do you show your love?
- Where can you give a portion of yourself?

#1267 The rushing stream of life

 Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings. Only one thing endures, and that is character.  ~Horace Greeley

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.    ~James Michener

The virtue of man ought to be measured, not by his extraordinary exertions, but by his everyday conduct.    ~Blaise Pascal

Character is the sum total of all our everyday choices.   ~Margaret Jensen

Sow an action and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.   ~William James

A talent can be cultivated in tranquility; a character only in the rushing stream of life.   ~Goethe

Quotes about character

- What is enduring about your character?
- What important choices have you made recently?
- How are you cultivating your character in the rushing stream of life?

#1266 Heroic transformation

The journey between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place.  ~ Barbara Deangelis

A peaceful mind is a springboard to positive transformation , for by cleansing the mind we inspire the spirit and motivate the soul.   ~Micheal Teal

Religion teaches us that our lives here on earth are to be used for transformation.  ~ Huston Smith 

When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation,  we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.  ~ Joseph Campbell

Transformation of any kind always exacts a holy tussle. The newborn butterfly struggles to open its wings so it can conjure up the strength to fly. So, too, with artists, inventors, mystics, and entrepreneurs.  ~Tama Kieves

Quotes about transformation 

- Where are you now on the journey of becoming?
- How peaceful is your mind?
- To what wholesome transformation may your struggle lead?

#1265 Rapidly mature

Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.   ~Henry David Thoreau

A man who silently lives by his ethics makes a more profound argument than one who deafens us with his shouting about them.    ~Gerry Spence

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.    ~Isaac Asimov

A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.   ~Winston Churchill

Compassion is the basis of morality.  ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Whenever governments adopt a moral tone - as opposed to an ethical one - you know something is wrong.    ~John Ralston Saul

Manners easily and rapidly mature into morals.    ~Horace Mann

Quotes about morals

- What are you good for?
- What essential ethics does our world need?

#1264 Never deny

Follow your honest convictions, and stay strong.   ~William Thackeray

Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.   ~Thomas Carlyle

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.   ~Blaise Pascal

Convictions, in the end, can be dangerous,but a world without them is just kind of an awful kind of gray, amorphous mass.   ~Bono

Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions.   ~ Dag Hammarskjold

Quotes about convictions

- What are several of your convictions?
- How can you positively nurture them in your life?

#1263 The safety valve

When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.   ~Peter Marshall

Pressure can burst a pipe, or pressure can make a diamond.   ~Robert Horry

The only pressure I'm under is the pressure I've put on myself.   ~Mark Messier

Tears are the safety valve of the heart when too much pressure is laid on it.   ~Albert Smith

Courage is grace under pressure.   ~ Ernest Hemingway

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.   ~ Willa Cather

Quotes about pressure

- What pressures do you face?
- How do you handle them?
- What positive steps can you take in confronting one pressure?

#1262 Starts flowing afresh

It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.

Explanation separates us from astonishment, which is the only gateway to the incomprehensible.

I read a page of Plato's great work. I can no longer understand anything, because behind the words on the page, which have their own heavenly brightness, to be sure, there shines an even brighter, an enormous, dazzling -why- that blots out everything, cancels out, destroys all meaning. All individual intelligence. When one has understood, one stops, satisfied with what one has understood. I do not understand. Understanding is far too little. To have understood is to be fixed, immobilized. It is as though one wanted to stop on one step in the middle of a staircase, or with one foot in the void and the other on the endless stair. But a mere why, a new why can set one off again, can unpetrify what was petrified and everything starts flowing afresh. How can one understand? One cannot. 

Quotes by Eugene Ionesco

- What questions do you ponder?
- To what extent have we lost the power to be astonished, to be in awe?
- What can help to restore feelings of wonder?

#1261 Not to be taken too seriously

Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule.

Books are like imprisoned souls till someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them.

Life is like playing the violin in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.

If life must not be taken too seriously, then so neither must death.

Nothing is so cruel as to try and force a man beyond his natural pace.

Quotes by Samuel Butler 

- To what extent do feelings and instinct guide you through life?
- What are you learning about life?
- What is your pace through life?

#1260 The greatest thing

Why do you put your self esteem in the hands of complete strangers?  ~Helena Bonham Carter

The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.   ~ Mark Twain

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.    ~Michel de Montaigne

Your biggest enemy is yourself- so be your best friend. 

Quotes about self esteem

- How comfortable are you with yourself?
- How can you enrich your environment?
- How can you cultivate personal satisfaction?

#1259 Hold it high

Parents need to fill
a child's bucket of self-esteem so high
that the rest of the world can't poke
enough holes to drain it dry.  ~ Alvin Price

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow; yet we forget that he is someone today.  ~ Stacia Tauscher

Try to be like the turtle- at ease in your own shell.  ~ Bill Copeland

Low self esteem is like driving through life with your hand break on.  ~ Maxwell Maltz

Never bend your head.  Hold it high.  Look the world straight in the eye.  ~ Helen Keller

Quotes about self esteem for children 

- How much self esteem did you have as a child?
- How can you nurture it within a child of your acquaintance?

#1258 Go beyond them

May I see my own limits with compassion, just as I view the limits of others.   ~Joan Halifax

My limits know me well enough to stay out of my way.    ~Ben Mitchell

Limits, like fear, is often an illusion.   ~Michael Jordan

As we advance our lives we know the limits of our abilities.   ~Henry Ford

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.   ~ Albert Einstein

Quotes about limits

- What are several of your limits?
- When have you been pleased to go beyond them?

#1257 The grace to transform

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.

Human existence is so fragile a thing and exposed to such dangers that I cannot love without trembling.

To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.

Love of God is pure when joy and suffering inspire an equal degree of gratitude.

Humility is attentive patience.

We must not wish for the disappearance of our troubles but for the grace to transform them.

Quotes by Simone Weil

- How generous are you with your attention?
- How patient?
- How thankful?
- What is so fragile about life? 

#1256 So soon?

Soon is not as good as now.   ~Seth Godin

I never think of the future; it comes soon enough.    ~Albert Einstein

Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon, and wise too late.   ~Benjamin Franklin

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.    ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

How did it get late so soon?    ~Dr. Seuss

Quotes about soon

- What enriching thing (for yourself or others) could you decide to do this week?
- How much should you be preoccupied with the future?
-What kindness could you show this week?

#1255 The single bright moon

One love, one heart . . .
Let’s get together and feel all right.   ~ Bob Marley

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.   ~Thomas Jefferson

All for one and one for all.   ~Alexander Dumas, The Three Musketeers 

When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.    ~Winston Churchill

 Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.   ~Ikkyu, Zen poet,

Quotes about division, unity

- When did you feel 'of one heart' with someone else?
- What enemy may lurk within you?
- What are your impressions of 'the single bright moon?'

#1254 Live in a Way

Poverty is not an accident.  Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.

Education is  the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.

Do not judge me by my successes; judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up.

We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always right ripe to do what is right.

To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Quotes by Nelson Mandela 1918-2013

- What steps can be taken to help reduce poverty?
- What powerful lessons and opportunities does education provide?
- How right actions could you embody?

#1253 Each others' harvest

Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies. And be it gash or gold it will not come again in this identical guise.

Live not for Battles Won.
Live not for The-End-of-the-Song.
Live in the along.

We are each others' harvest; we are each others' business; we are each others' magnitude and bond.

It is brave to be involved
To be not fearful, to be unresolved.

Quotes by Gwendolyn Brooks

- What little moment have you enjoyed?
- How are you progressing along life's way?
- To what extent are you involved within communities, big and small?

#1252 The most pleasurable of sensations

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

I read so I can live more than one life in more than one place.   ~Anne Tyler

There is no friend as loyal as a book.   ~Ernest Hemingway

We read to know that we are not alone.  ~C.S. Lewis

Knowing you have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.  ~Vladimir Nabokov

The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.   ~Joseph Joubert

Quotes about reading

- What book swept you away?
- Why was it so pleasurable?
- What old/new books are on your list to read?

#1251 One corner of the universe

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.   ~John Muir

The universe is wider than our views of it.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

I want to put a ding in the universe.  ~ Steve Jobs

There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving and that's your own self.  ~George Orwell
Quotes about the universe

- Pick out something....how is it connected to everything else?
- How should we view our universe and our part in it?
- Is there something you can improve about yourself?

#1250 The secret of banishing gloom

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.   ~Edward Abbey

Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you’ve had everything to do, and you’ve done it.   ~Margaret Thatcher

Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.   ~Les Brown

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.   ~Corrie Ten Boom

I doubt if there is among us a more useful citizen than the one who holds the secret of banishing gloom, of making tears give way to laughter, of supplanting desolation and despair with hope and courage, for hope and courage always go with a light heart.   ~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Quotes about courage, hope, and inner strength

-How winding is your trail?
-What little jobs have you completed well?
-What is the secret of banishing gloom?