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Greatness is not in where we stand,
but in what direction we are moving.
We must sail sometimes with the wind
and sometimes against it -
but sail we must,
and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Related topics: Bold Choice Courage Adventure Positive Motivational
When in doubt, do it.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
It is the province of knowledge to speak,
and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
The best of a book is not the thought which it contains,
but the thought which it suggests;
just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones
but in the echoes of our hearts.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Thank You,
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Apology is only egotism wrong side out.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A mind that is stretched by a new experience
an never go back to its old dimensions.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
If you don't know what you want, you will probably never get it.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Some people are so heavenly minded
that they are no earthly good.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them!
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea,
never regains its original dimensions.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Fame is the scentless sunflower, with gaudy crown of gold;
But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Nothing is so common-place as to wish to be remarkable.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
To be seventy years young is sometimes
far more cheerful and hopeful
than to be forty years old.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
A mind, once stretched by a new idea,
never regains its original dimensions.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Old age is fifteen years older than I am.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Except in cases of necessity, which are rare,
leave your friend to learn
unpleasant things from his enemies;
they are ready enough to tell them.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
The price of greatness is responsibility.
- Winston Churchill
It's the little things you do
that can make a big difference.
What are you attempting to accomplish?
What little thing can you do today
that will make you more effective?
You are probably only one step away from greatness.
- Bob Proctor
As human beings, our greatness lies
not so much in being able to remake the world -
as in being able to remake ourselves.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi
The greatness of a nation can be judged
by the way its animals are treated.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi
The essence of life is not in
the great victories and grand failures,
but in the simple joys.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
The mind is not a vessel to be filled
but a fire to be kindled.
- Plutarch
I am not afraid of storms
for I am learning how to sail my ship.
- Louisa May Alcott
Every child comes with the message
that God is not yet discouraged of man.
- Rabindranath Tagore
"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly,
"one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."
- Hans Christian Andersen
The beauty does not live out there;
the beauty's in my eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
You will not be punished for your anger,
you will be punished by your anger.
- The Buddha
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.
- Marianne Williamson
A good traveler has no fixed plans,
and is not intent on arriving.
- Lao Tzu
Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.
- The Buddha
One does not discover new lands without consenting
to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
- Andre Gide
Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek,
but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
The true meaning of life is to plant trees,
under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
- Nelson Henderson
Do not let Sunday be taken from you.
If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.
- Albert Schweitzer
Love one another but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea
between the shores of your souls.
- Khalil Gibran
Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom.
- Rabindranath Tagore
You do not need anyone's permission to be your true self.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.
If we did not sometimes taste of adversity,
prosperity would not be so welcome.
- Anne Bradstreet
Lord, grant that I might not so much
seek to be loved as to love.
- St. Francis of Assisi
Everything has beauty,
but not everyone sees it.
- Confucius
The possession of knowledge does not
kill the sense of wonder and mystery.
There is always more mystery.
- Anais Nin
To know yet to think that one does not know is best;
Not to know yet to think that one knows
will lead to difficulty.
- Lao Tzu
Self-respect is not a function of size, age, or wealth.
Breathe deep, sing loud and sweet,
"I am me, I am unique, I am magnificent."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
- Oscar Wilde
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
- Rabindranath Tagore
Everything is a miracle,
not just the beautiful and lovely things.
- Anonymous
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
- Lao Tzu
The world is perfect. It's a mess.
It has always been a mess.
We are not going to change it.
Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
- Joseph Campbell
Sometimes we need the fog to remind ourselves
that all of life is not black and white.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I do not need anyone's permission to be my true self.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
A ship in harbor is safe -
but that is not what ships are for.
- John A. Shedd
One can not reflect in streaming water.
Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.
- Lao Tzu
Adventure is not outside man; it is within.
- George Eliot
Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.
I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty,
believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.
- Louisa May Alcott
Treat those who are good with goodness,
and also treat those who are not good with goodness.
Thus goodness is attained.
Be honest to those who are honest,
and be also honest to those who are not honest.
Thus honesty is attained.
- Lao Tzu
Hold on... Joyfully.
Holding-on does not have to be
a desperate teeth-gritting kind of holding-on.
Holding-on can be a joyful
"this is just the nature of Life,
so I may as well enjoy it"
kind of holding-on.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
A bird does not sing because it has an answer.
It sings because it has a song.
- Chinese Proverb
It's not the size of the dog in the fight,
it's the size of the fight in the dog.
- Mark Twain
The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
- Henry David Thoreau
We are not held back by the love we didn't receive in the past,
but by the love we're not extending in the present.
- Marianne Williamson
Do not allow obligation or immediacy to
bind you to physical things or specific actions.
- Mary Anne Radmacher
Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing,
of just going along,
listening to all the things you can't hear,
and not bothering.
- A. A. Milne (Winnie-The-Pooh)
The full measure of a man is
not to be found in the man himself,
but in the colors and textures that
come alive in others because of him.
- Albert Schweitzer
Stand Tall, Stand Proud.
Know that you are unique and magnificent.
You do not need the approval of others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Do not let what you cannot do
interfere with what you can do.
- John Wooden
Life may not be the party we hoped for,
but while we are here we might as well dance.
- Anonymous
Life is not supposed to be fair.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
I am not a slave to my thoughts or emotions.
- Richard Carlson
What you leave behind is not what
is engraved in stone monuments,
but what is woven into the lives of others.
- Pericles
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.
- Native American traditional
Trust in the Light.
Darkness is not a force -
it is merely the absence of light.
Observe that when a light is brought to a dark place,
the darkness disappears.
Sadness is similar -
when joy is brought to suffering,
the sadness disappears.
Open yourself to the Light!
Hold back nothing,
Trust in the Light.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
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May the world be kind to you,
and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
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