Académique Documents
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Culture Documents
"Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but
the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it
turns out." -- Vaclav Havel
"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for
myself, what am I? And if not now -- when?" -- Hillel
"If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not
understand, things are just as they are." -- Zen proverb
"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,'
that would suffice." -- Meister Eckhart
"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a
miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." -- Albert
Einstein
"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who
walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last
piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer
sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one
thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in
any given set of circumstances." -- Victor Frankl
"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the
lesson afterwards." -- Unknown
"The shell must break before the bird can fly." -- Tennyson
"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your
own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."
-- Carl Jung
"The years teach much that the days never know." -- Emerson
"If you bring forth what is within you, it will heal you. And if you
do not bring forth what is within you, it will destroy you." (from
the Gospel of St. Thomas)
"Go to your bosom: Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth
know." -- William Shakespeare
"The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who
will have sought and found how to serve." -- Albert Schweitzer
"This is the true joy in life: the being used for a purpose
recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature
instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances
complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you
happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole
community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it
whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the
harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life
is no 'brief candle' to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have
got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly
as possible before handing it on to future generations." -- George
Bernard Shaw
On Contentment
"Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much
you already have."
(Author Unknown)
Content: A Poem
I should be content
to look at a mountain
for what it is
and not as a comment
on my life
(David Ignatow)
On Worry
A thousand reasons for worry,
A thousand reasons for anxiety
Oppress day after day
the fool,
But not the wise man.
(Hitopadesa of Narayana)
Marianne Williamson
This quote is often erroneously attributed to Nelson Mandela. Please see click here for
more details.
On Patience
"I remembered one morning when I discovered a cocoon in a bark of a tree, just as a
butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited awhile, but it
was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it and breathed on it to warm it. I
warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before my eyes, faster
than life.
The case opened, the butterfly started slowly crawling out and I shall never forget my
horror when I saw how its wings were folded back and crumpled; the wretched butterfly
tried with its whole trembling body to unfold them. Bending over it I tried to help it with
my breath. In vain.
It needed to be hatched out patiently and the unfolding of its wings should be a gradual
process in the sun. Now it was too late. My breath had forced the butterfly to appear, all
crumpled, before its time. It struggled desperately and, a few seconds later, died in the
palm of my hand.
The little body is, I do believe, the greatest weight I have on my conscience, for I realize
today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we
should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm."
(from Zorba the Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis)
"Improving our own attitudes and our own state of mind takes time. Haste and impatience
can only defeat our purposes."
(from This is Al-Anon, quoted in Courage to Change, page 93). Reprinted with
permission of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA
On Commitment
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always
ineffectivness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary
truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment
one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to
help one that would never otherwise have occurred. The whole stream of events issues
from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings
and material his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:
'Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic
in it.'"
On Being Responsible
"I came to Al-Anon confused about what was and was not my responsibility. Today, after
lots of Step work, I believe I am responsible for the following:
• to be loyal to my values
• to please myself first
• to rid myself of anger and resentment
• to express my ideas and feelings instead of stuffing them
• to attend Al-Anon meetings and keep in touch with friends in the fellowship
• to be realistic in my expectations
• to make healthy choices
• to be grateful for my blessings
"I have a primary responsibility to myself: to make myself into the best person I can
possibly be. Then, and only then, will I have something worthwhile to share."
(from Living with Sobriety)
On Learning to Do Better
I walk down the street.
There is a hole.
I don't see it.
I fall in.
It isn't my fault.
It takes a very long time to get out.
Portia Nelson
On Right Action
"Codes of ethics are most often associated with prohibitions: Don't do this, don't do that.
All the spiritual traditions I know have more or less the same lists of don'ts. This makes
sense, since all the don'ts elaborate on the awareness that if we are not alert, our naturally
arising impulses of greed and anger might lead us to do something exploitive or abusive.
The fundamental rule is, 'Don't cause pain.'
Traditional Buddhist texts, when they talk about Right Action, use the terms hiri and
ottappa, usually translated as 'moral shame' and 'moral dread.' Shame and dread have
ominous overtones in English, but I rather like these terms. I appreciate the sense of
awesome responsibility they are meant to convey. Collectively, what they mean is that
every single act we do has the potential of causing pain, and every single thing we do has
consequences that echo way beyond what we can imagine. It doesn't mean we shouldn't
act. It means we should act carefully. Everything matters."
(from It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness, by Sylvia Boorstein,
page 41. Published by Harper San Francisco)
On Pain
"They say that pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. If I learn to accept that pain is
part of life, I will be better able to endure the difficult times and then move on, leaving
the pain behind me.
(from Courage to Change: One Day At A Time in Al-Anon II, page 83). Reprinted with
permission of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA
"...When we long for life without...difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in
contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure." -- Peter Marshall
Difficult situations often bring out qualities in us that otherwise might not have risen to
the surface, such as courage, faith, and our need for one another. All of our experiences
can help us to grow.
But we may need patience. Some wounds cannot be healed quickly. They must be given
time. In the meantime, we can appreciate the new capabilities we are developing, such as
the capacity to mourn and the willingness to accept. Let us share our losses and triumphs
with each other, for that is how we gather courage.
(From Courage to Change: One Day at A Time in Al-Anon II, page 77). Reprinted with
permission of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters, Inc., Virginia Beach, VA
On Fear
"We have two kinds of fears. One is a fear that whatever is going on is going to go on
forever. It’s just not true -- nothing goes on forever. The other is the fear that, even if it
doesn’t go on forever, the pain of whatever is happening will be so terrible we won’t be
able to stand it. There is a gut level of truth about this fear. It would be ridiculous to
pretend that in our lives, in these physical bodies, which can hurt very much, and in
relationships that can hurt very much, there aren’t some very, very painful times. Even
so, I think we underestimate ourselves. Terrible as times may be, I believe we can stand
them.
"Because we become frightened as soon as a difficult mind state blows into the mind, we
start to fight with it. We try to change it, or we try to get rid of it. The frenzy of the
struggle makes the mind state even more unpleasant.
"The familiar image is a children’s cartoon character, like Daffy Duck, walking along
freely and suddenly stepping into taffy. In a hasty, awkward attempt to extricate himself,
he might fall forward and backward and eventually be totally stuck in the taffy. Even
children see a better solution.
"The best solution would be the nonalarmed recognition, ‘This is taffy. I didn’t see it as I
stepped into it, but I felt it after I got stuck. It’s just taffy. The whole world is not made
out of taffy. What would be a wise thing for me to do now?'"
(from It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness, by Sylvia Boorstein,
page 71. Published by Harper San Francisco)
God's Jobs
An eight year old wrote this for his third-grade Sunday school teacher, who asked her
students to explain God:
One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes these to put in the place of the ones
who die so there will be enough people to take care of things here on earth. He doesn't
make grownups, he just makes babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to
make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to walk and
talk. He can just leave that up to the mothers and fathers. I think it works out pretty good.
God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on,
'cause some people, like preachers and things, pray other times besides bedtimes, and
Grandpa and Grandma pray every time they eat, except for snacks. God doesn't have time
to listen to the radio and watch TV on account of this. 'Cause God hears everything, there
must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears unless he has thought of a way to turn it down.
God sees and hears everything and is everywhere, which keeps him pretty busy. So you
shouldn't go wasting his time asking for things that aren't important, or go over parents'
heads and ask for something they said you couldn't have. It doesn't work anyway.
(From A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul, by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor
Hansen. Published by Health Communications, Deerfield Beach, Florida. To order, call
1-800-441-5569)
Suddenly his zazen was interrupted by the harsh and demanding voice of a samurai
warrior. "Old man! Teach me about heaven and hell!"
At first, as though he had not heard, there was no perceptible response from the monk.
But gradually he began to open his eyes, the faintest hint of a smile playing around the
corners of his mouth as the samurai stood there, waiting impatiently, growing more and
more agitated with each passing second.
"You wish to know the secrets of heaven and hell?" replied the monk at last. "You who
are so unkempt. You whose hands and feet are covered with dirt. You whose hair is
uncombed, whose breath is foul, whose sword is all rusty and neglected. You who are
ugly and whose mother dresses you funny. You would ask me of heaven and hell?"
The samurai uttered a vile curse. He drew his sword and raised it high over his head. His
face turned to crimson, and the veins of his neck stood out in bold relief as he prepared to
sever the monk's head from its shoulders.
"That is hell," said the old monk gently, just as the sword began its descent.
In that fraction of a second, the samurai was overcome with amazement, awe,
compassion and love for this gentle being who had dared to risk his very life to give him
such a teaching. He stopped his sword in mid-flight and his eyes filled with grateful tears.
(From A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul, by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor
Hansen. Published by Health Communications, Deerfield Beach, Florida. To order, call
1-800-441-5569)
• A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past
experiences.
• An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
• A loss of interest in judging other people.
• A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
• A loss of interest in conflict.
• A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom).
• Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
• Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
• Frequent attacks of smiling.
• An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
• An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the
uncontrollable urge to extend it.
(Cherie Carter-Scott)
"Children of alcoholics teach us about the very nature of being human. Their experience
reminds us that self-esteem is not innate but rather comes from being valued by people
who value themselves."
(Timmen Cermak, M.D., quoted in New Realities magazine, November/December 1988,
page 46).
What is Maturity?
(from Courage to Change: One Day At a Time in Al-Anon, page 63.
Reprinted with permission of Al-Anon Family Group Headquarters,
Inc., Virginia Beach, VA)
• Knowing myself.
• Asking for help when I need it and acting on my own when I don't.
• Admitting when I'm wrong and making amends.
• Accepting love from others, even if I'm having a tough time loving myself.
• Recognizing that I always have choices, and taking responsibility for the ones I
make.
• Seeing that life is a blessing.
• Having an opinion without insisting that others share it.
• Forgiving myself and others.
• Recognizing my shortcomings and my strengths.
• Having the courage to live one day at a time.
• Acknowledging that my needs are my responsibility.
• Caring for people without having to take care of them.
• Accepting that I'll never be finished -- I'll always be a work-in-progress.
Veronica A. Shoffstall
"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring
adventure or nothing."
"Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is
good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time."
When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the
most."
"One definition of insanity is to do something for twenty years that has not worked, and
then do it again as if it will work."
"To see what you are not is most important. Then what you are will naturally emerge."
"The goal of a good therapist is to help someone wake up from the bad dream that they
are their self-image."
"Your thoughts come automatically. It is to the extent you identify with them that they
make you their slave. You become the mistress of your thoughts, not when you can
control the machine, but when you do not identify with it."
"Emotion will not drive you crazy. What will drive you crazy is the fear of emotion."
We all live according to false beliefs. Bringing such beliefs to light is an important step in
our deconditioning process. A few random false beliefs:
"Because my father abandoned me when I was a child, I must go through life abandoning
the people close to me."
"I don't have time to feel what I am feeling, because I have to figure it all out."
"When I start to feel good, I must remember to feel bad, because I didn't feel good
before."
"Because my mother withheld intimacy from me when I was small, I cannot offer
intimacy for the rest of my life."
The angel Claire, speaking to Jake, a jaded Vietnam vet, in the TV show Touched By An
Angel.
"And once we have the condition of peace and joy in us, we can afford to be in any
situation. Even in the situation of hell, we will be able to contribute our peace and
serenity. The most important thing is for each of us to have some freedom in our heart,
some stability in our heart, some peace in our heart. Only then will we be able to relieve
the suffering around us."
(Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, interviewed by Ram Dass, as quoted in
Inquiring Mind Magazine, Spring 1996 issue)
"From the spiritual point of view, the only important thing is to realize Divine Life and to
help others realize it by manifesting it in everyday happenings. To penetrate into the
essence of all being and significance and to release the fragrance of that inner attainment
for the guidance and benefit of others -- by expressing, in the world of forms, truth, love,
purity, and beauty -- this is the sole game that has intrinsic and absolute worth. All other
happenings, incidents, and attainments in themselves can have no lasting importance."
Meher Baba, Discourses, page 200.
011 If your spirits are low do something.If you have been doing something do something else.
018 The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can toler
031 Give the world the best you have.The best will come back to you.
032 Anyone with money to burn will find himself surrounded by people with matches.
033 Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door.
034 Beyond talent lie all the usual words:discipline,love,luck-most of all endurance.
035 The life you have led doesn't need to be the only life you have.
037 A father is a man who expects his children to be as good as he meant to be.
039 Life is trial and error unless you are an incompetent crook,in which case it is error and trial.
040 Vagueness and procrstination are ever a comfort to the frail in spirit.
041 If you are too careful,you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over somet
042 One of the greatest victories you can win over someone is to beat him at politeness.
Nothin gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool an unruffled un
045
all circumstances.
046 Get your facts first.Then you can distort them as much as you please.
-Mark Twain
049 The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit for them.
050 A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
051 Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point.
053 To achieve the the marvellous it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.
054 Don't throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water.
055 There are two kinds of men.The ones who make it and the ones who endure it.
056 Zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse.
The pessimist sees the difficulty in every oppurtunity.The optimist sees the oppurtunity in every
062
difficulty.
065 If one takes care of the means,the ends take care of themselves.
068 The only limits to our realisation of tomorrow are our doubts of today.
In an AUTOCRACY one person has his way.In an ARISTOCRACY some people have their way.
092
DEMOCRACY nobody has his way.
094 The only man who never makes a mistake is one who never does anything.
Theodore Roosevelt.
095 Experience isn't interesting until it begins to repeat itself-in fact till it does it hardly is experience.
096 Honour isn't about making the right choices.It's about dealing with the consequences.
101 What really interests to me is whether God really had any choice in the creation of world.
-Albert Einstein.
Deep in the chaotic system,slight changes almost always cause vast changes in behaviour.Complex
103
controllable behavior seems precluded.
-Stuart Kauffman.
In the conservative region far from the chaotic edge,individual elements coalesce slowly,showing n
104
pattern.
105 Self-organisation elaboraes in complexity as the system advances toward the chaotic edge.
In the intermediate phase,swiftly developing complexity within the system hides the risk of immin
106
chaos.But the risk is there.
107 Approaching the chaotic edge elements show internal conflict.An unstable and potentially lethal r
109 Order collapses in simultaneous regions.Survival is now unlikely for individuals and groups.
112 Winning is not everything.It is the only thing.
-Vince Lombardi
Incompetents invariably make trouble for people other than
themselves.
Larry McMurtry (1936 - ), 'Lonesome Dove'
Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the first and
most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.
Walter Anderson
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will
annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)
A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder
drug.
Patricia Neal
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the
outer aspects of their lives.
William James (1842 - 1910)
The secret of happiness is to make others believe they are the cause
of it.
Al Batt, in National Enquirer
The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence
but in the mastery of his passions.
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892)
The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery
of a new star.
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755 - 1826), Physiologie du Gout, 1825
Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor.
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired
their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we
could have paradise in a few years. Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)
All I can say about life is, Oh God, enjoy it!
Bob Newhart (1929 - )
Cherish all your happy moments: they make a fine cushion for old age.
Christopher Morley (1890 - 1957)
This is the best kind of voyeurism, hearing joy from your neighbors.
Chuck Sigars, The World According to Chuck weblog, October 14, 2003
Sometimes it's hard to avoid the happiness of others. David Assael,
Northern Exposure, Our Tribe, 1992
All sanity depends on this: that it should be a delight to feel heat strike the
skin, a delight to stand upright, knowing the bones are moving easily
under the flesh.Doris Lessing
Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too
fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.Eddie
Cantor (1892 - 1964)
The bird of paradise alights only upon the hand that does not grasp.
John Berry, Flight of White Crows
Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has
finished listening.
Dorothy Sarnoff
Frank Tyger
Listen. Do not have an opinion while you listen because frankly, your
opinion doesn't hold much water outside of Your Universe. Just listen.
Listen until their brain has been twisted like a dripping towel and what
they have to say is all over the floor.
Katharine Whitehorn
No one really listens to anyone else, and if you try it for a while you'll see
why.
Mignon McLaughlin
Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your
mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can
only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake,
which, at least, others can learn from.
Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the
wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the
successes of the wise.
Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone
else's can shorten it.
Cullen Hightower
We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the
mistakes we may or may not have made.
No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes deserves
to be called a scholar.
Donald Foster
Assert your right to make a few mistakes. If people can't accept your
imperfections, that's their fault.
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you
will make one.
Franklin P. Jones
It's always helpful to learn from your mistakes because then your mistakes
seem worthwhile.
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful
than a life spent doing nothing.
While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy
making mistakes and becoming superior.
Henry C. Link
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make
mistakes.
If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another
chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the
staying down.
If I had my life to live over... I'd dare to make more mistakes next time.
Nadine Stair
An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a
very narrow field.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act III
Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be
recalled and perhaps remedied.
To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest
mistake of all.
Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.
Nick Diamos
Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.
As I get older, I've learned to listen to people rather than accuse them of
things.
A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets
to know something.