If you’re not comfortable within yourself, you can’t be comfortable with others. (Sydney J. Harris, (20th century American journalist) “It’s surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely...
The creative person is willing to live with ambiguity. He doesn’t need problems solved immediately and can afford to wait for the right ideas. (Abe Tannenbaum, architect) Like most people, you have probably looked at a uniquely constructed building and wondered, “Who...
Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. (Dennis P. Kimbro, business teacher and writer) Not everything that happens to us in our life experience is good or pleasant. Disease, accidents, mistreatment—they all occur in everyone’s life at one time or...
Values are taught more by example than by lecture and research. (Jesse Deloe, writer, editor) We are often told that good education would help solve most of society’s problems. But William Burroughs notes that “The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but...
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. (Henry David Thoreau, 19th century American essayist and philosopher) Is Thoreau’s observation accurate? Was it true in his lifetime? Today? The daily news, on TV, in hard print, or on social media might seem to...
The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one’s relationship has a glowing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. (Sir Hugh Walpoe, 20th century English novelist) Speaking of meeting such a friend,...
The practice of scales solves the greatest number of technical problems in the shortest amount of time. (Andrés Segovia, Spanish classical guitarist). Remember when your mother insisted that you take piano lessons? Many of us started but soon gave up. The repetition...
You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers. In every moment of our existence, we are in that field of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices. (Deepak Chopra, author) The ability to choose is one of the few factors in life that we can...
The family characteristic that should be most evident in us is summed up in these words, “walk in love.” (Elyse Fitzpatrick, author) Today it’s very evident that the family unit is in trouble. Single mothers, absentee fathers, children out of control—these are...
Knowing is confirmed in showing. One cannot be complete without the other. (Paraphrase of Kip Cone, pastor-teacher) Everyone would agree, probably, that knowledge is a good thing. After all, you have to know something in order to act. But as Cone points out, unless...
That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures. (Josiah Gilbert Holland, 19th century American novelist and poet) In a society of fast-moving, goal-driven people, we don’t see much patience. Instant gratification drives our desires and...
If there [is] to be independence, self-sufficiency, or freedom, then we first [have] to understand, accept, and discharge our responsibilities. (Paraphrase of Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Associate Justice) Americans prize their independence and freedom. Many are...