Quotes i love

For a few weeks i’ve been cleaning and painting the inside of the house.  Must be that blog i wrote last week about cleaning up.  All around the computer i’ve had little bits and pieces of paper taped on to the book shelf that have quotes i love written on them.  Many times while contemplating some problem i read them for inspiration. i took them all down last week but couldn’t part with them.  My computer area looks clean but barren.

Some of us are drawn to sentences and passages that relate to our lives; quotes for me, bible passages for the religious, philosophical treatises, or just great writing that spoke to some part of our being that we couldn't express but the writer could. The language connects with what’s alive in all of us; it speaks to some core belief we have within us and can help motivate or bring peace during turbulent times.  It can be a language of freedom and joy that comes from a middle path.  These quotes that i like are not meant to take sides; they are just reflections that may guide any of us down the path to peace.

Stories and quotes matter, they are the glue that lead us to kindness and unity, that teach us that we are all part of a greater whole.

i have a magnet with my favorite quote that sits on the refrigerator, that one will never be put away and here it is at the top of the list.

The most wasted of all days is one without LAUGHTER.  e.e.cummings

A drop in the ocean partakes of the greatness of its parent, although it is unconscious of it. But it is dried up as soon as it enters upon an existence independent of the ocean.  We do not exaggerate when we say that life is a mere bubble.  Gandhi

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?  Thoreau

Fr ail dire e il fare c’e di mezzo il mare.

The sea is between saying and doing something.

The one who gives up cultivating the moral force when no instant effect can be seen is like one who farms but would not tend to the weeds.  Mencius

I don’t know why I did it, I don’t know why I enjoyed it, and I don’t know why I’ll do it again.  Socrates.

He who is led by fear, and does good in order to escape evil, is not led by reason.

Spinoza

A free man thinks of death least of all things; and his wisdom is a meditation not of death but of life.  Spinoza

Happiness is the patient acceptance of the inevitable.  Spinoza

What would you do if you knew you could not FAIL?

Once words leave your mouth they fly around the world like birds and light where they please.  You can’t whistle them back.  Charley Reese

i think all of us find language that speaks to us in ways we like to remember, language that others have put on paper that we can reflect on;  i'm looking forward to starting a new list...If you have any quotes or sayings that you especially like please put them in the comments...see you next week.