Tag Archives: quotes

Quotes of the week: Joy

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“Joy is the food for human soul. Without it, life is a form of dying.”
– Franz Kafka

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“Don’t postpone joy until you have learned all of your lessons. Joy is your lesson.”
– Alan Cohen

If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth. — Mitsugi Saotome

Sunday Night Quotes: Upward or Bust!

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Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.
-Benjamin Franklin

An expert is someone who has succeeded in making decisions and judgements simpler through knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore.
-Edward De Bono

To swear off making mistakes is very easy. All you have to do is swear off having ideas.
-Leo Burnett

When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however, such as the choice of a mate or a profession, the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves. In the important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature.
-Sigmund Freud

I hate to see things done by halves. If it be right, do it boldly,–if it be wrong leave it undone.
-Bernard Gilpin

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Sunday Night Quotes – Integrity

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INTEGRITY

1: firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : incorruptibility

2: an unimpaired condition : soundness

3: the quality or state of being complete or undivided : completeness

Synonyms: character, decency, goodness, honesty, morality, probity, rectitude, righteousness, rightness, uprightness, virtue, virtuousness
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“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.”
– W. Clement Stone

“What is left when honor is lost?”
— Publilius Syrus

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
— Abraham Lincoln

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”
– Cecil Beaton

“If humanity does not opt for integrity we are through completely. It is absolutely touch and go. Each one of us could make the difference.”
– R. Buckminster Fuller

“If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-nigh useless.”
– Moliere

Sunday Quotes: Happy Father’s Day!

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To all you Dads out there – especially mine – Happy Father’s Day!

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, “You’re tearing up the grass.” “We’re not raising grass,” Dad would reply. “We’re raising boys.”
-Harmon Killebrew

The thing to remember about fathers is, they’re men. A girl has to keep it in mind: They are dragon seekers, bent on improbable rescues. Scratch any father, you find someone chock full of qualms and romantic terrors, believing change is a threat like your first shoes with heels on, like your first bicycle it took such months to get.
-Phyllis McGinley

The words that a father speaks to his children in the privacy of home are not heard by the world, but, as in whispering-galleries, they are clearly heard at the end and by posterity.
-Jean Paul Richter

You fathers will understand. You have a little girl. She looks up to you. You’re her oracle. You’re her hero. And then the day comes when she gets her first permanent wave and goes to her first real party, and from that day on, you’re in a constant state of panic.
-Stanley T. Banks, from the film Father of the Bride

Sherman made the terrible discovery that men make about their fathers sooner or later… that the man before him was not an aging father but a boy, a boy much like himself, a boy who grew up and had a child of his own and, as best he could, out of a sense of duty and, perhaps love, adopted a role called Being a Father so that his child would have something mythical and infinitely important: a Protector, who would keep a lid on all the chaotic and catastrophic possibilities of life.
Tom Wolfe, from The Bonfire of the Vanities

Monday Night Quotes – Making a Difference

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Thinking a lot lately about responsibility, the reason we do what we do at work, at home… Planning the next few things for the Williamston Theatre, meeting with teachers about next year for my kids, making and debating choices… Hoping they’re the right choices, but knowing that the only way to find out is to move forward!

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You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.
-Woodrow Wilson

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough, we must do.
-Leonardo da da Vinci

How wonderful that no one need wait a single moment to improve the world.
-Anne Frank

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
-Dr. Seuss

Monday Night Quotes: Heroes

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The hero is one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by.
Felix Adler

The Veterans, marching in the Memorial Day Parade in Chelsea this morning.

Heroes are those who can somehow resist the power of the situation and act out of noble motives, or behave in ways that do not demean others when they easily can.
Philip Zimbardo

Heroism feels and never reasons, and therefore is always right.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.
Bob Riley

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost.
Arthur Ashe

The simple reminders

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I like this a lot, and it’s worth re-posting once in a while, because it’s worth remembering once in a while!

Things to remember:
1) The worth of character;
2) The improvement of talent;
3) The influence of example;
4) The joy of origination;
5) The dignity of simplicity;
6) The success of perseverance.

Marshall Field (1834-1906)

Sunday Night Quotes: Growing/Playing… and some rambling

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People tend to forget that play is serious. -David Hockney

My son had his birthday party this weekend, the “kids” party, where he got to invite a bunch of friends over to spend the night. He’s turning 12 in a couple of days. (Wow, those years went by quickly.) He asked for a Hunger Games party, since he’s read the books and seen the movie… so we set up a Hunger Games party!

Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold. -Joseph Chilton

Our yard and our neighbors yard were the battle arena. There were about 14 kids, all using foam swords, lots of Nerf dart-guns, and foam balls to throw at each other. They each wore 3 “life ribbons” (Flag Football style), and you lost a life by getting a ribbon pulled off or by getting hit with a weapon. Of course, hidden around the yard were lots of fun things, like…
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Also hidden, among the helpful treasures, were traps, like “poison berries” that made you lose a life ribbon if you opened the box.

Almost all creativity involves purposeful play. -Abraham Maslow

They had a blast, and played 2 games well into the night! Walking around as the “GamesMaster” was fun, because I got to watch all the action, maybe be helpful or mischievous now and then, and take some fun pictures:
The remnants of an epic battle…note the weapons, supply bag, and discarded Life Ribbons. Really hits home, no?

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. -Khalil Gibran

A fallen warrior…

As the night wore on, I watched different kids respond differently. Some were teaming up, some stayed loners. Some played with honor and fairness, some bent the rules whenever they could.

We grow neither better nor worse as we get old, but more like ourselves. -May Lamberton Becker

The thing that was the most striking was how much fun they had, while also taking it so seriously – strategizing, plotting, but also pulling details from the books and movie into the game and weaving storylines, calling each other by character names. They created drama, but disputes were largely solved by the group.

And all the while, I watched my son – who I’m pretty sure was just born yesterday – as he enjoyed his day. He was loving being the center of attention, but also gracious to his friends. He moved through the “cliques” and made sure everyone was having fun, and no one was being left out… I was really proud of him, and amazed at how grown he’s become. Sometimes I think I’m too hard on him, or I’m too strict, or I’m not patient if he’s doing things in a way that I wouldn’t do… seeing him at his party reminded me that he’s a young man now. How *I* would do something doesn’t have to be the way he would do it. The Dad part of me has to keep hoping that by example, suggestion, and hopefully more discussion than discipline, I can do my job and help him grow into an adult of good character… and seeing him be a kid of good character was pretty great.

Too many people grow up. That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don’t remember what it’s like to be 12 years old. They patronize, they treat children as inferiors. Well I won’t do that. -Walt Disney

So tonight, when I got home from work, I found him sleeping in my bed. Sometimes he’ll crawl into bed with Jeanne if I’m not home. As I looked at him sleeping there, I realized that soon I wouldn’t be picking him up anymore, soon he’ll be too big or won’t want to be lifted… and that’s a loss that I know will come soon, but one that I’m just not ready for. As I gently picked him up to carry to his room, his arms wrapped around my neck and he nestled his head on my shoulder.

And, sure, I could’ve just set him on his bed right away – but tonight, I just couldn’t bear to do it. Tonight, I just listened to him breathe, and I held him until my arms ached. This moment, this could be the last time I get the chance to do that. This event horizon that we’re on right now, we stand on a thin line and I can look to one side and see his childhood, and just a step away in the other direction is his adult life, and I know that step has to be taken, but…

I thrill at what the future holds for my kids… but I will miss moments like carrying them to bed more than I’m capable of expressing.

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child’s board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted. -Voltaire

Sunday quotes: A Saturday full of little things

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Half the joy of life is in little things taken on the run… but let us keep our hearts young and our eyes open that nothing worth our while shall escape us. – Victor Cherbuliez

Yesterday was one of those nice days that you thank the Universe for, and it was a great reminder that the big things in life are wonderful, but they happen less frequently: taking notice of the little things makes the difference between a good life, and a great life.

A clear, chilly morning and a great cup of coffee on the porch before heading to rehearsal.

A good rehearsal of a good show. Taking moments that are good, and making them better with the collaboration of a good team.

The human tendency to regard little things as important has produced very many great things. – G. C. Lichtenberg

A surprise text message: “Hey, you Downtown? I have a free ticket behind home plate, wanna come?” You bet! Turns out it was no problem that I would be rehearsing for the first part of the game, got there in plenty of time to sit about 12 rows back behind home plate and see 4 innings of baseball in a beautiful ballpark. Even though our team got hammered, the place was sunny, packed with fans – the mood was light, the company was good.

The evening was full of Quality Family Time: laughing over burgers, sitting around the neighbor’s bonfire for a while, relaxing on the couch with my family, grossing out my daughter with my eye (I apparently sneezed too hard and burst a blood vessel in my eye, so it looks all yucky and zombie-riffic!)

An early bedtime, listening to the Tigers win the second game of their double-header.

For the person for whom small things do not exist, the great is not great. – Gasset, Jose Ortega Y

Nowhere in there was there a giant life changing event. No big holidays, no one won the lottery. We didn’t suddenly get a new dream-job or celebrate the success of anyone’s efforts on a project. Instead, we had a day full of simple goodness: quality moments, with quality people – smiles with loved ones. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. – Robert Brault

Sunday Night Quotes: Action

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Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.
-Alfred Adler

Faced with crisis, the man of character falls back on himself. He imposes his own stamp of action, takes responsibility for it, makes it his own.
-Charles de Gaulle

Don’t find fault. Find a remedy.
-Henry Ford

Do not be critics, you people, I beg you. I was a critic and I wish I could take it all back because it came from a smelly and ignorant place in me, and spoke with a voice that was all rage and envy. Do not dismiss a book until you have written one, and do not dismiss a movie until you have made one, and do not dismiss a person until you have met them. It is a f@*$%load of work to be open-minded and generous and understanding and forgiving and accepting, but Christ, that is what matters. What matters is saying yes.
– Dave Eggers

Note to self: finding a cool quote and writing it in your journal is not a substitute for Getting. It. Done.
-Betsy Cañas Garmon