Thoughts 01AUG2013

ON DREAMS

All people dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind wake in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous people, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible : T E Lawrence (1888 - 1935) Explorer and Writer - Cited in Bits & Pieces

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Dreams are wishes your heart makes : American Proverb

Thoughts 31JUL2013

CRITICISM

Are you crushed when your boss criticizes something you've done? Don't be. The very fact that your boss has taken time to criticize indicates a regard for you and a desire to help. If you accept it in this light, you'll get some good out of it. Unfortunately, most criticism by supervisory management personnel is never expressed. Some executives feel that they are wasting their breath trying to change people who should know better. Other managers don't have the courage or sense of duty to speak up. They silently let people who make mistakes dig their own graves : extracted from "Bits & Pieces", The Economic Press, Inc., Fairfield, New Jersey, USA

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Each day provides its own gifts : American Proverb

Thoughts 30JUL2013

LONG LIVE

Want to live to be 100? The American Medical Association has looked into the reasons centenarians give for their long lives. It didn't come up with any sure answers - and even found conflicting life-styles among the respondents. The AMA does pass along these traits, though, as ones that most of the men and women seem to have in common : an easy-going disposition, a quick sense of humour and the desire to keep as busy as possible - physically and mentally.

Source Unknown - extracted from "Bits & Pieces", The Economic Press, Inc., Fairfield New Jersey

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If you don't have a plan for yourself, you'll be a part of someone's else's : American Proverb

Thoughts 29JUL2013

LITTLE THINGS

Most of us miss out on life's big prizes.

The Pulitzer. The Nobel. Oscars. Tonys. Emmys.

But we're all eligible for life's small pleasures.

A pat on the back. A kiss behind the ear.

A four-pound bass. A full moon.

An empty parking space. A crackling fire.

A great meal. A glorious sunset. Hot soup. Cold drinks.

Don't fret about coping life's grand awards.

Enjoy its tiny delights.

There are plenty for all of us.

A message as published in the Wall Street Journal (1982) by United Technologies Corporation, Hartford, Connecticut 06101

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If you really want something you can figure out how to make it happen : Cher

Thoughts 26JUL2013

MARRIAGE ADVICE FROM 1886

Let your love be stronger than your hate or anger. Learn the wisdom of compromise, for it is better to bend a little than to break. Believe the best than the worst. People have a way of living up or down to your opinion of them. Remember that true friendship is the basis for any lasting relationship. The person you choose to marry is deserving of the courtesies and kindness you bestow on your friends. Please hand this down to your children and your children's children : The more things change the more they are the same.

Jane Wells (1886) : submitted by Carol Abbs; extracted from "Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul", Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne & Marci Shimoff, Health Communications, Inc., 1996

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Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit : Conrad Hilton

Thoughts 25JUL2013

DREAMS

All men and women are born, to live, suffer and die; what distinguishes us one from another is our dreams, whether they be dreams about worldly or unworldly things, and what we do to make them come about ... We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time and conditions of our death. But within this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we live : Joseph Epstein

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Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing : Theodore Roosevelt, Speech in Chicago, 3rd April 1903

Thoughts 24JUL2013

ON EXAMPLE

A Chinese General put it this way :

If the world is to be brought to order, my nation must first be changed. If my nation is to be changed, my home town must be made over. If my home town is to be reordered, my family must first be set right. If my family is to be regenerated, I myself must first be.

A Purnell Bailey - extracted from "Speaker's Sourcebook II", Glen Van Ekeren, Prentice Hall, 1994

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I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do

Helen Keller

Thoughts 23JUL2013

I WILL

I will think of better ways.

I will develop ways to achieve positive attitude.

I will keep reviewing my goals.

I will accept what I cannot change.

I will learn from my mistakes.

I will start living.

I will smile.

I will relax.

I will be happy.

I will enjoy.

I will be honest to myself.

I will remain humble.

I will put myself in the other person's shoes.

extracted from "Management Thoughts" by Promiod Batra, Golden Books Centre Sdn Bhd, reprinted 1995

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A love that can last forever takes but a second to come about : Cuban Proverb

Thoughts 22JUL2013

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH ?!?

The rich industrialist from the North was horrified to find the southern fisherman lying lazily beside his boat, smoking a pipe. "Why aren't you out fishing?" said the industrialist. "Because I have caught enough fish for the day", said the fisherman. "Why don't you catch some more?" "What would I do with them?" "You could earn more money" was the industrialist's reply. "With that you could have a motor fixed to your boat and go into deeper waters and catch more fish. Then you would make enough to buy nylon nets. These would bring you more fish and more money. Soon you would have enough money to own two boats ... maybe even a fleet of boats. Then you would be a rich man like me." "What would I do then?" asked the fisherman. "Then you could really enjoy life." "What do you think I am doing right now?"

Anthony deMello : extracted from "Chicken Soup Series, Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen, Health Communications Inc, 1995

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Dream different dreams while on the same bed : Chinese Proverb

Thoughts 19JUL2013

YOU'D BETTER RUN

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter whether you are a lion of a gazelle. When the sun comes out you'd better be running.
From Siemens Nixdorf Welcoming New Customer Card (got this many many many moons ago)

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The best things in life aren't things : Art Buchwald

Thoughts 18JUL2013

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier : Mother Teresa

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It is not lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages : Friedrich Nietzsche

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Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive : Dalai Lama

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Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart : Marcus Aurelius

Thoughts 17JUL2013

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none : William Shakespeare

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Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that : Martin Luther King Jr

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Life is a song - sing it. Life is a game - play it. Life is a challenge - meet it. Life is a dream - realize it. Life is a sacrifice - offer it. Life is love - enjoy it : Sai Baba

Thoughts 16JUL2013

Love is blind : Geoffrey Chaucer

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Love is a hole in the heart : Ben Hecht

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Love is the magician that pulls man out of his own hat : Ben Hecht

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In our life there is a single colour, as on an artist's palette, which provides the meaning of life and art. It is the colour of love : Marc Chagall

Thoughts 15JUL2013

We are most alive when we're in love : John Updike

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We love because it's the only true adventure : Nikki Giovanni

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Love ceases to be a pleasure when it ceases to be a secret : Aphra Behn

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Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law : Boethius

Thoughts 12JUL2013

Who loves, raves : Lord Byron

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Pains of love be sweeter far than all other pleasures are : John Dryden

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Love is an energy which exists of itself. It is its own value : Thornton Wilder

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Stand by your man. Give him two arms to cling to and something warm to come to : Tammy Wynette

Thoughts 11JUL2013

With our love, we could save the world : George Harrison

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We can only learn to love by loving : Iris Murdoch

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When love is at its best, one loves so much that he cannot forget : Helen Hunt Jackson

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No one has ever loved anyone the way everyone wants to be loved : Mignon McLaughlin

Thoughts 10JUL2013

There is no limit to the power of loving : John Morton

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Love is a mutual self-giving which ends in self-recovery : Fulton J Sheen

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Love is when he gives you a piece of your soul, that you never knew was missing : Torquato Tasso

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To love for the sake of being loved is human, but to love for the sake of loving is angelic : Alphonse de Lamartine

Thoughts 09JUL2013

The first magic of love is our ignorance that it can ever end : Benjamin Disraeli

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When you love someone all your saved up wishes start coming out : Elizabeth Bowen

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Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold : Zelda Fitzgerald

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He who loves, flies, runs and rejoices; he is free and nothing holds him back : Henri Matisse

Thoughts 08JUL2013

The quarrels of lovers are the renewal of love : Jean Racine

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To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides : David Viscott

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What the world really needs is more love and less paper work : Pearl Bailey

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Love's greatest gift is its ability to make everything it touches sacred : Barbara de Angelis