Quotes - this takes a lot of work.
I love you the more in that I believe you had liked me for my own sake and for nothing else.
But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.
When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.
There is nothing permanent except change.
You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.
Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.
Learning never exhausts the mind.
There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
The only journey is the one within.
Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement.
Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.
Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.
Happiness can only exist in acceptance.
Love has no age, no limit; and no death.
You can't blame gravity for falling in love.
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.
Watch this: Magic: Puff:
"Though in many natural objects, whiteness refiningly enhances beauty, as if imparting some special virtue of its own, as in marbles, japonicas, and pearls; and though various nations have in some way recognised a certain royal preeminence in this hue; even the barbaric, grand old kings of Pegu placing the title 'Lord of the White Elephants' above all their other magniloquent ascriptions of dominion; and the modern kings of Siam unfurling the same snow-white quadruped in the royal standard; and the Hanoverian flag bearing the one figure of a snow-white charger; and the great Austrian Empire, Caesarian, heir to overlording Rome, having for the imperial colour the same imperial hue; and though this pre-eminence in it applies to the human race itself, giving the white man ideal mastership over every dusky tribe; and though, besides, all this, whiteness has been even made significant of gladness, for among the Romans a white stone marked a joyful day; and though in other mortal sympathies and symbolizings this same hue is made the emblem of many touching, noble things—the innocence of brides, the benignity of age; though among the Red Men of America the giving of the white belt of wampum was the deepest pledge of honour; though in many climes, whiteness typifies the majesty of Justice in the ermine of the Judge, and contributes to the daily state of kings and queens drawn by milk-white steeds; though even in the higher mysteries of the most august religions it has been made the symbol of the divine spotlessness and power; by the Persian fire worshippers, the white forked flame being held the holiest on the altar; and in the Greek mythologies, Great Jove himself being made incarnate in a snow-white bull; and though to the noble Iroquois, the midwinter sacrifice of the sacred White Dog was by far the holiest festival of their theology, that spotless, faithful creature being held the purest envoy they could send to the Great Spirit with the annual tidings of their own fidelity; and though directly from the Latin word for white, all Christian priests derive the name of one part of their sacred vesture, the alb or tunic, worn beneath the cassock; and though among the holy pomps of the Romish faith, white is specially employed in the celebration of the Passion of our Lord; though in the Vision of St. John, white robes are given to the redeemed, and the four-and-twenty elders stand clothed in white before the great-white throne, and the Holy One that sitteth there white like wool; yet for all these accumulated associations, with whatever is sweet, and honourable, and sublime, there yet lurks an elusive something in the innermost idea of this hue, which strikes more of panic to the soul than that redness which affrights in blood."
For Building Self-Confidence
"Two of my biggest weaknesses in achieving utmost peace and harmony with myself is fretting about the future and worrying about the past. Reminding myself that today, every day, I am in control of how I feel and the state of being I choose is very powerful to me. And when I use the word 'perfect,' I mean that, when I am true to myself—when I listen to my body's needs and cravings and desires, and when I spend time doing things that make me extraordinarily happy and avoid things and people that get me down—then things feel perfect." —Jordan Younger, Los Angeles, California; food blogger and founder of The Balanced Blonde
For Strength and Willpower
"My favorite and most-used mantra, [this] is applicable to almost any situation: yoga, running, career—even personal life. I first discovered its true power when I used this mantra during my first attempt to run 100 miles. I was having a tough day—I was sick to my stomach—and had to keep repeating it to myself to continue on. And, when I eventually had to drop out of the race, around mile 80, I used this mantra to talk myself out of feeling like a failure. Instead, I focused on moving forward from that race and taking what I had learned out there to help me get through my next." —Jamie King, Portland, Oregon; founder and president of FitApproach
For Enduring Tough Times
"I read it in an article about Pema Chödrön a decade ago and it just stuck. Truth represents the sky; emotions, the weather. Sometimes white clouds come, sometimes dark clouds come. If we wait just a little longer and hold on, it passes. Then the sun shines again. The darkest moment happens right before the dawn! Like they say about Chicago: 'If you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes.'" —Janice Cadwell, Los Angeles, California; co-founder Jai Yoga Hollywood
For Manifesting Love
"I started working with this mantra 13 years ago. I used it as my intention when I practiced yoga; I repeated it to myself with eyes closed throughout the day and before I went to bed at night. It kept me aware that I was ready for love, and [it] helped me make room inside my heart to let someone in. It wasn't until much later that my dreams started to materialize, but they did: I am now blissfully married, and he is more than I could ever dream of and certainly what I deserve. The greatest gift in life is love, and I really believe it starts with being open, focused on your intentions, and knowing your self worth." —Candice Y. Maskell, Los Angeles, California; wellness consultant, marketer, and yoga-teacher trainee at GODA Yoga
For Seeking Happiness
"Most of us start to reply before we have even heard the end of the question. We are well trained to have warp-speed answers; not knowing is not really valued. So I like to plant the mantra as a question. It takes the pressure off needing to know the answer right this minute and leaves more room for exploration. The most important things you can do will rise to the surface in time. This is your life—you only get one. You have to be clear about how you want to spend it." —Tam Terry, Hoboken, New Jersey; yoga instructor at Devotion Yoga, Hoboken, New Jersey
For Neutralizing Body-Image Issues
"I give this mantra to my patients and tell them to say it to themselves when they are looking in the mirror. If [they] have body-image concerns or are recovering from an eating disorder, the first thing they'll do in the morning is look at themselves and immediately start criticizing what they see. It sets the tone for the day, this really negative self-experience, and it leads them over the course of the day to feel more and more uncomfortable in their own skin. This mantra reminds them that they don't need to be perfect or to listen to the body-shaming messages in the media. They are already beautiful just the way they are, right now. —Vanessa Pawlowski, Psy.D., Beverly Hills, California; psychologist
For Radiating Gratitude
"Lately I have been playing with mantras as they relate to what I am looking to cultivate. Whatever it is that you may be looking to create in your life, state it in the present tense as if it's happening now: 'I am healthy'; 'I am strong'; 'I am open to receiving abundance in all forms.' Notice when you say the mantra out loud: Does it feel light? Does it ground you and make you feel good? If yes, then there it is! Then the practice comes by reminding yourself throughout the day to breathe, speak, and live the mantra out loud, and stay open to life bringing you exactly what you are asking for." —Rachelle Tratt, Venice, California; founder, The Neshama Project
For Starting the Day
"I like doing this mantra first thing when I wake up. It sets the tone for the morning ahead with my kids. When breathing in I think, 'I am fulfilled,' and when exhaling I think, 'I am fearless.' Even if I don't have time to for any other sort of meditation, or for 'me' time, this mantra can help me come back to my truest self and feel like I can take on anything." —Sophie Jaffe, Los Angeles, California; raw food nutritionist and founder, Philosophie
For Ending the Day
"I use this mantra in the evening when I feel like I haven't done enough for the day. Many busy working women and business owners, we can get ahead of ourselves with ideas, projects and to-dos, and we end up overwhelmed and under-productive. I use it proactively when planning our busy family life. We don't have to cram a million things into our day—we can put all of our attention, love and connection into one wonderful thing. It also comes up when I get shopping urges, and I realize that I don't really need more—less is just fine." —Shawn Fink, York, Pennsylvania; founder, The Abundant Mama Project, and author of The Abundant Mama's Guide to Savoring Slow.
Vladimir Nabokov, "The Gift." 96 words.
"As he crossed toward the pharmacy at the corner he involuntarily turned his head because of a burst of light that had ricocheted from his temple, and saw, with that quick smile with which we greet a rainbow or a rose, a blindingly white parallelogram of sky being unloaded from the van—a dresser with mirrors across which, as across a cinema screen, passed a flawlessly clear reflection of boughs sliding and swaying not arboreally, but with a human vacillation, produced by the nature of those who were carrying this sky, these boughs, this gliding façade."
Jose Saramago, "Blindness." 97 words.
"On offering to help the blind man, the man who then stole his car, had not, at that precise moment, had any evil intention, quite the contrary, what he did was nothing more than obey those feelings of generosity and altruism which, as everyone knows, are the two best traits of human nature and to be found in much more hardened criminals than this one, a simple car-thief without any hope of advancing in his profession, exploited by the real owners of this enterprise, for it is they who take advantage of the needs of the poor."
Vladimir Nabokov, "Lolita." 99 words.
"My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when I was three, and, save for a pocket of warmth in the darkest past, nothing of her subsists within the hollows and dells of memory, over which, if you can still stand my style (I am writing under observation), the sun of my infancy had set: surely, you all know those redolent remnants of day suspended, with the midges, about some hedge in bloom or suddenly entered and traversed by the rambler, at the bottom of a hill, in the summer dusk; a furry warmth, golden midges."
Laurence Sterne, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy." 107 words.
"The French are certainly misunderstood: — but whether the fault is theirs, in not sufficiently explaining themselves, or speaking with that exact limitation and precision which one would expect on a point of such importance, and which, moreover, is so likely to be contested by us — or whether the fault may not be altogether on our side, in not understanding their language always so critically as to know "what they would be at" — I shall not decide; but 'tis evident to me, when they affirm, "That they who have seen Paris, have seen every thing," they must mean to speak of those who have seen it by day-light."
E.B. White, "Stuart Little." 107 words.
"In the loveliest town of all, where the houses were white and high and the elms trees were green and higher than the houses, where the front yards were wide and pleasant and the back yards were bushy and worth finding out about, where the streets sloped down to the stream and the stream flowed quietly under the bridge, where the lawns ended in orchards and the orchards ended in fields and the fields ended in pastures and the pastures climbed the hill and disappeared over the top toward the wonderful wide sky, in this loveliest of all towns Stuart stopped to get a drink of sarsaparilla."
W.G. Sebald, "The Rings of Saturn." 107 words.
"All I know is that I stood spellbound in his high-ceilinged studio room, with its north-facing windows in front of the heavy mahogany bureau at which Michael said he no longer worked because the room was so cold, even in midsummer; and that, while we talked of the difficulty of heating old houses, a strange feeling came upon me, as if it were not he who had abandoned that place of work but I, as if the spectacles cases, letters and writing materials that had evidently lain untouched for months in the soft north light had once been my spectacle cases, my letters and my writing materials."
Saul Bellow, "The Adventures of Augie March." 110 words.
"But it was the figure you cut as an employee, on an employee's footing with the girls, in work clothes, and being of that tin-tough, creaking, jazzy bazaar of hardware, glassware, chocolate, chicken-feed, jewelry, drygoods, oilcloth, and song hits—that was the big thing; and even being the Atlases of it, under the floor, hearing how the floor bore up under the ambling weight of hundreds, with the fanning, breathing movie organ next door and the rumble descending from the trolleys on Chicago Avenue—the bloody-rinded Saturday gloom of wind-borne ash, and blackened forms of five-storey buildings rising up to a blind Northern dimness from the Christmas blaze of shops."
Margaret Atwood, "The Handmaid's Tale." 111 words.
"She's too young, it's too late, we come apart, my arms are held, and the edges go dark and nothing is left but a little window, a very little window, like the wrong end of a telescope, like the window on a Christmas card, an old one, night and ice outside, and within a candle, a shining tree, a family, I can hear the bells even, sleigh bells, from the radio, old music, but through this window I can see, small but very clear, I can see her, going away from me, through the trees which are already turning, red and yellow, holding out her arms to me, being carried away."
Virginia Woolf, "Mrs. Dalloway." 116 words.
"It was not to them (not to Hugh, or Richard, or even to devoted Miss Brush) the liberator of the pent egotism, which is a strong martial woman, well nourished, well descended, of direct impulses, downright feelings, and little introspective power (broad and simple–why could not every one be broad and simple? she asked) feels rise within her, once youth is past, and must eject upon some object–it may be Emigration, it may be Emancipation; but whatever it be, this object round which the essence of her soul is daily secreted, becomes inevitably prismatic, lustrous, half looking glass, half precious stone; now carefully hidden in case people should sneer at it; now proudly displayed."
William Faulkner, "That Evening Sun." 118 words.
The streets are paved now, and the telephone and electric companies are cutting down more and more of the shade trees–the water oaks, the maples and locusts and elms–to make room for iron poles bearing clusters of bloated and ghostly and bloodless grapes, and we have a city laundry which makes the rounds on Monday morning, gathering the bundles of clothes into bright-colored, specially-made motor cars: the soiled wearing of a whole week now flees apparitionlike behind alert and irritable electric horns, with a long diminishing noise of rubber and asphalt like tearing silk, and even the Negro women who still take in white people's washing after the old custom, fetch and deliver it in automobiles.
Jane Austen, "Northanger Abbey." 119 words.
"Her plan for the morning thus settled, she sat quietly down to her book after breakfast, resolving to remain in the same place and the same employment till the clock struck one; and from habitude very little incommoded by the remarks and ejaculations of Mrs. Allen, whose vacancy of mind and incapacity for thinking were such, that as she never talked a great deal, so she could never be entirely silent; and, therefore, while she sat at her work, if she lost her needle or broke her thread, if she heard a carriage in the street, or saw a speck upon her gown, she must observe it aloud, whether there were anyone at leisure to answer her or not."