Inspirational Quotes

This we know; all things are connected like the blood that unites us
We do not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.

~Chief Seattle

Every act, thought, and choice adds to the permanent mosaic: Our decisions ripple
through the universe of consciousness to affect the lives of all.  Every act or decision made that supports life, supports all life, including our own.

~David R. Hawkins, MD, PHD
Truth vs. Falsehood 2005

No one else can choose your attitude.  Your perspective and choice of attitude give you the power to be in control.  That is the essence of freedom.

If you want to shrink something,
You must first allow it to expand.
If you want to get rid of something,
You must first allow it to flourish.
If you want to take something,
You must first allow it to be given.
This is called the subtle perception
Of the way things are.

~Tao Te Ching, Translated by Stephen Mitchell

A Zen master said to a monk, “You must see the universe in your cup.”  The monk looked into his cup, but didn’t see the universe, so he threw the cup away.  The Zen master said, “Oh, poor cup.  We think the cup is too small to hold the universe.  Intellectually, we can’t see how it could fit.  But wherever we go, the whole universe always appears--in a cup, a window, in a smile, in a word.”

“When tears come, I breathe deeply and rest.  I know I am swimming in a hallowed stream where many have gone before.  I am not alone, crazy, or having a nervous breakdown…. My heart is at work,  my soul is awake.

~Mary Margaret Funk
Thoughts Matter: the Practice of a Spiritual Life

I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works I do: and greater works than these he will do.

~ Jesus (John 14)

Compassion is the awareness of a deep bond between yourself and all creatures.”

~ Ekhart Tolle

I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.

~Harry Emerson Fosdick~

All humanity is one undivided and indivisible family, and each one of us is responsible for the misdeeds of all the others. I cannot detach myself from the wickedest soul.

-- Mahatma Gandhi

Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethern, you did it to me.

~ Jesus (Matthew 25)

Through return to simple living comes control of desires. In control of desires stillness is attained. In stillness the world is restored.

-- Lao Tzu

As long as Nature is seen as something outside ourselves; frontiered and foreign, separate, it is lost both to us and in us. It follows that to achieve a society in harmony with Nature, we must be guided by respect for it.

-- Sir Crispin Tickell

True salvation is freedom from negativity.

~ Ekhart Tolle

Man can no longer live his life for himself alone. We realize that all life is valuable and that we are united to all this life. From this knowledge comes our spiritual relationship with the universe.

-- Albert Schweitzer

"Love always seeks for betterment, for ways of making life more workable, joyful, whole, and beautiful. Love examines every option available to bring about an improvement in life. This kind of discernment is an act of decency, not an act of judgment. Rigid philosophies of judgment will seek to establish structure as a substitute for decency, control as a substitute for trust, and the mind as a substitute for higher awareness.”

--Glenda Green ,Love Without End, 236)

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

-- Albert Einstein

Ask, and it will be given you; Seek, and you will find; Knock, and it will be opened to you.

~ Jesus (Luke 11)

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson.

When we grow in spiritual consciousness, we identify with all that is in the world -- there is no exploitation. It is ourselves we're helping, ourselves we're healing.

-- Dr. V (Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy)

If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is: Infinite.

-- William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.

-- Plato

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 "wolves" inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Outstanding leaders appeal to the hearts of their followers - not their minds.

-Unknown.

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

-- Winston Churchill

To find the way, close your eyes, listen closely, and attend with your heart.

Anonymous

I honor the place within you in which the entire universe dwells. I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light and of peace. When you are in that place in you, I am in that place in me. We are one.

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Peace begins with a smile.

~ Mother Theresa

We have flown the air like birds and swim the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.

~ Martin Luther King

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Hate the sin, love the sinner.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting yourself in the hands of God, at his disposition, and listening to his voice in the depths of our hearts.

~ Mother Theresa

Everybody can be great because anybody can serve....You only need a heart full of grace and soul generated by love.

~ Martin Luther King

You must be the change you want to see in the world.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

It's not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong; not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; and not what we profess but what we practice that gives us integrity.

--Francis Bacon

It is only when we forget our learning that we begin to know.

~Henry David Thoreau~

Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

--Martin Luther King Jr.

The deeper we look into nature, the more we recognize that it is full of life, and the more profoundly we know that all life is a secret and that we are united with all life that is in nature.

--Albert Schweitzer

Work like you don't need the money, love like your heart has never been broken, and dance like no one is watching.

--Aurora Greenway

All man's miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.

~Blaise Pascal~

Some of us need to discover that we will not begin to live more fully until we have the courage to do and see and taste and experience much less than usual ... And for a man who has let himself be drawn completely out of himself by his activity, nothing is more difficult than to sit still and rest, doing nothing at all. The very act of resting is the hardest and most courageous act he can perform.

--Thomas Merton

Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.

--Leo Tolstoy

I would rather think of life as a good book. The further you get into it,
the more it begins to come together and make sense.

~Rabbi Harold Kushner~

Life is God's joke on us. It's our mission to figure out the punch line.

~John Guarrine~

People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.

--St Augustine

"Day and night will not cease. Yet, you need not continue viewing them as opposites. There is no longer a need to think that night has the same power as day. There is just the power of light, with variations of intensity and interruption. Once the full scope of understanding is attained, duality fades away. Higher intelligence is manifested through integrated perceptions of wholeness which restore your recognition of the one spirit. The sons of God are those who do not explain life or manage it with dualistic concepts. The sons of God are those who seek to perceive wholeness in all things.”

Love Without End, Glenda Green

No journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.

--Lillian Smith

Only in growth, reform, and change, paradoxically enough, is true security to be found.

--Anne Morrow Lindbergh

When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water. Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death anymore.

--Shunryu Suzuki

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark.
The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."

~ Plato

It seems in every interaction there is something to learn if we can only see ourselves as students. If we can humble ourselves, and allow ourselves to see the world without our own beliefs and dogmas, then we could see so much beauty awaiting us in each moment.

--Sukh Chugh

Our intentions -- noticed or unnoticed, gross or subtle -- contribute either to our suffering or to our happiness. Intentions are sometimes called seeds. The garden you grow depends on the seeds you plant and water. Long after a deed is done, the trace or momentum of the intention behind it remains as a seed, conditioning our future happiness or unhappiness.

--Gil Fronsdal

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.

--Henry David Thoreau