“
It's a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.
”
”
Germany Kent
“
Advice to my younger self:
1 Start where you are with what you have
2 Try not to hurt other people
3 Take more chances
4 If you fail, keep trying
”
”
Germany Kent
“
Sacrifice is a terribly difficult thing to do, of which you will be asked to do many times along your path. Only with genuine love will you be able to make these sacrifices because often times you will simply want to refuse the sacrifices that the universe asks of you to make. When you close one door, another opens; that is how the universe works and through sacrifice we are given the keys to the next door in life.
”
”
Forrest Curran (Purple Buddha Project: Purple Book of Self-Love)
“
Our task as image-bearing, God-loving, Christ-shaped, Spirit-filled Christians, following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to a world that has discovered its fallenness, to announce healing to a world that has discovered its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to a world that knows only exploitation, fear and suspicion...The gospel of Jesus points us and indeed urges us to be at the leading edge of the whole culture, articulating in story and music and art and philosophy and education and poetry and politics and theology and even--heaven help us--Biblical studies, a worldview that will mount the historically-rooted Christian challenge to both modernity and postmodernity, leading the way...with joy and humor and gentleness and good judgment and true wisdom. I believe if we face the question, "if not now, then when?" if we are grasped by this vision we may also hear the question, "if not us, then who?" And if the gospel of Jesus is not the key to this task, then what is?
”
”
N.T. Wright (The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was & Is)
“
Have and show motivation to do and learn. That's the key for a good career. Everything else is an extrapolation of that.
”
”
Abhysheq Shukla (KISS Life "Life is what you make it")
“
The key to love is to love back. Enthusiastically embrace people who love you. Reciprocate the same level of energy, affection, respect, and attention.
”
”
Germany Kent
“
I think… that love encompasses the experience of the possible transition from the pure randomness of chance to a state that has universal value. Starting out from something that is simply an
encounter, a trifle, you learn that you can experience the world on the basis of difference and not only in terms of identity. And you can even be tested and suffer in the process. In today’s world, it is generally thought that individuals only pursue their own self-interest. Love is an antidote to that. Provided it isn’t conceived only as an exchange of mutual favours, or isn’t calculated way in advance as a profitable investment, love really is a unique trust placed in chance. It takes us into key areas of the experience of what is difference and, essentially, leads to the idea that you can experience the world from the perspective of difference. In this respect it has universal implications: it is an individual experience of potential universality, and is thus central to philosophy, as Plato was the first to intuit.
”
”
Alain Badiou (In Praise of Love)
“
Key to the happiness is the unconditional love for the humanity.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Desire is the key to motivation, but determination, commitment, and actions are the keys to success.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Never allow anyone to hold the key to your happiness, key to your heart, or key to your dreams. Be in control of your life and build your hopes on things eternal. No one should have the power to manipulate your life, optimism, love, or success.
”
”
Amaka Imani Nkosazana (Heart Crush)
“
Believe God for something today. Prayer is the key to connecting with God and allowing Him to speak to your spirit. Open your heart and free your mind.
”
”
Amaka Imani Nkosazana (Heart Crush)
“
By nature men are uncontrollable and wild, and it should be, but women have the key to control them, if they know how to use it.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Enthusiasm is the key but action opens the door.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Poetry is Life. We experience poetry from the time we awake each morning and inhale that fresh breath of air. You are living poetry. Poetry is not defined by the laws of man. Inspiration is the key.
”
”
Amaka Imani Nkosazana (Release The Ink)
“
Life is a mansion of opportunity: love is the key.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
A desire to become a more loving, better, and beautiful person is the key to all enduring success.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Gratitude is the key to unlocking the door to abundance.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
Contentment and inner peace is a vibrational alignment with Universe and the ultimate key to unlock our conscious.
”
”
Dr. Tony Beizaee
“
It is the divine light, the inner heaven, the key to all moral treasures, the centre of thought and consciousness, the source of all influence and power, the seat of kindness, justice, sympathy, impartial love, humanity, and mercy, the measure of all things.
”
”
Kaiten Nukariya (The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan)
“
Three essential keys (FAITH, HOPE and LOVE) will open the Heavens door.
”
”
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
“
To say shortly why one values love is not easy; nevertheless, I will make the attempt. Love is to be valued in the first instance - and this, though not its greatest value, is essential to all the rest - as in itself a source of delight.
Oh Love! they wrong thee much
That say thy sweet is bitter,
When thy rich fruit is such
As nothing can be sweeter.
The anonymous author of these lines was not seeking a solution for atheism, or a key to the universe; he was merely enjoying himself. And not only is love a source of delight, but its absence is a source of pain. In the second place, love is to be valued because it enhances all the best pleasures, such as music, and sunrise in mountains, and the sea under the full moon. A man who has never enjoyed beautiful things in the company of a woman whom he loved has not experienced to the full the magic of power of which such things are capable. Again, love is able to break down the hard shell of the ego, since it is a form of biological cooperation in which the emotions of each are necessary to the fulfilment of the other's instinctive purposes.
”
”
Bertrand Russell (The Conquest of Happiness)
“
Hatred is the darkest room in your house. You locked it from the outside with the keys of resentment. Don’t live in there my dear! Break the door with the hammer of forgiveness. Come out, come out and bathe in the light of love.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
On Turgenev: He knew from Lavrov that I was an enthusiastic admirer of his writings; and one day, as we were returning in a carriage from a visit to Antokolsky's studio, he asked me what I thought of Bazarov. I frankly replied, 'Bazaraov is an admirable painting of the nihilist, but one feels that you did not love him as mush as you did your other heroes.'
'On the contrary, I loved him, intensely loved him,' Turgenev replied, with an unexpected vigor. 'When we get home I will show you my diary, in which I have noted how I wept when I had ended the novel with Bazarov's death.'
Turgenev certainly loved the intellectual aspect of Bazarov. He so identified himself with the nihilist philosophy of his hero that he even kept a diary in his name, appreciating the current events from Bazarov's point of view. But I think that he admired him more than he loved him. In a brilliant lecture on Hamlet and Don Quixote, he divided the history makers of mankind into two classes, represented by one or the other of these characters. 'Analysis first of all, and then egotism, and therefore no faith,--an egotist cannot even believe in himself:' so he characterized Hamlet. 'Therefore he is a skeptic, and never will achieve anything; while Don Quixote, who fights against windmills, and takes a barber's plate for the magic helmet of Mambrino (who of us has never made the same mistake?), is a leader of the masses, because the masses always follow those who, taking no heed of the sarcasms of the majority, or even of persecutions, march straight forward, keeping their eyes fixed upon a goal which is seen, perhaps, by no one but themselves. They search, they fall, but they rise again and find it,--and by right, too. Yet, although Hamlet is a skeptic, and disbelieves in Good, he does not disbelieve in Evil. He hates it; Evil and Deceit are his enemies; and his skepticism is not indifferentism, but only negation and doubt, which finally consume his will.'
These thought of Turgenev give, I think, the true key for understanding his relations to his heroes. He himself and several of his best friends belonged more or less to the Hamlets. He loved Hamlet, and admired Don Quixote. So he admired also Bazarov. He represented his superiority admirably well, he understood the tragic character of his isolated position, but he could not surround him with that tender, poetical love which he bestowed as on a sick friend, when his heroes approached the Hamlet type. It would have been out of place.
”
”
Pyotr Kropotkin (Memoirs of a Revolutionist)
“
The principle which gives the thought the dynamic power to correlate with its object, and therefore to master every adverse human experience, is the law of attraction, which is another name for love. This is an eternal and fundamental principle, inherent in all things, in every system of Philosophy, in every Religion, and in every Science. There is no getting away from the law of love. It is feeling that imparts vitality to thought. Feeling is desire, and desire is love. Thought impregnated with love becomes invincible. 19.
”
”
Charles F. Haanel (The Master Key System Complete and Unabridged)
“
As Wundt is read today only by those with a specialized interest, he is not included in the list of classics. American philosopher William James (1842–1910), however, also considered a “founding father” of modern psychology, is still widely read. The brother of novelist Henry James, he trained in medicine and then transferred to philosophy, but like Wundt felt that the workings of the mind deserved to be a separate field of study. Building on a theory by German neuroanatomist Franz Gall that all thoughts and mental processes were biological, James helped to spread the remarkable idea that one’s self—with all its hopes, loves, desires, and fears—was contained in the soft gray matter within the walls of the skull.
”
”
Tom Butler-Bowdon (50 Psychology Classics: Who We Are, How We Think, What We Do: Insight and Inspiration from 50 Key Books (50 Classics))
“
What emerged for me as purpose was the search for and cultivation of possibilities for experiencing meaningful human transactions in different languages and across cultural differences through play, sports, travel, food, literature, and conversation. I sought to establish relations of mutual understanding and love with people no matter what their culture or place of origin in the world—relations based on philia, eros, and agape, according to context and persons. I perhaps sensed instinctively that such relations were the key to being equally at home everywhere, even in la Yunai. More than an immigrant, at that time I still felt myself to be a sojourner in this country, but I wanted my sojourn to be imbued with the meaning found in earnest, sincere connections with the people and places that life brought to my experience.
”
”
Daniel G. Campos (Loving Immigrants in America: An Experiential Philosophy of Personal Interaction (American Philosophy Series))
“
Insofar as the Church is a community of pardon it is an epiphany of the Divine Love, Agape.…This love is the key to everything, but it cannot be known, discovered or understood by rational investigation alone. It must be revealed to men in a free gift of God. It is revealed to them in the gift of love. God has willed that men should know Him not in esoteric secrets and strange philosophies, but in the announcement of the Gospel message which is the message of His love. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). “You have not chosen me but I have chosen you, and have appointed you that you should go and bear fruit….These things I command you that you may love one another” (John 15:16–17). The love of Christians, commanded by God and carried out by them, makes them “God’s workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV).
”
”
The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living (Lent and Easter Wisdom From Thomas Merton: Daily Scripture and Prayers Together With Thomas Merton's Own Words)
“
Buddhist Psychology
You can use enlightening Buddhist practices to transform your life. Unfortunately, many people do not know it, but the Buddhist Dharma, or teaching, is actually a scientific system of psychology, developed in India and further refined in Tibet. It is a psychology that works. I call it a „joyous science of the heart“ because it is based on the idea that while unenlightened life is full of suffering, you are completely capable of escaping from that suffering. You can get well. In fact, you already are well; you just need to awaken to that fact.
And how do you do this? By analyzing your thought patterns. When you do, you realize that you are full of „misknowledge“ - misunderstandings of yourself and the world that lead to anger, discontent, and fear. The target of Buddhist practice and the constant theme of this book is the primal misconception that you are the center of the universe, that your „self“ is a fixed, constant, and bounded entity. When you meditate on enlightened insights into the true nature of reality and the boundlessness of the self, you develop new habits of thinking. You free yourself from the constraints of your habitual mind. In other words, you teach yourself to think differently. This in turn leads you to act differently. And voila! You are on the path to happiness, fulfillment, and even enlightenment.
The battle for happiness is fought and won or lost primarily within the mind. The mind is the absolute key, both to enlightenment and to life. When your mind is peaceful, aware, and under your command, you will be securely happy. When your mind is unaware of its true nature, constantly in turmoil, and in command of you, you will suffer endlessly. This is the whole secret of the Dharma. If you recognize delusion, greed, anger, envy, and pride as the main enemies of your well-being and learn to focus your mind on overcomming them, you can install wisdom, generosity, tolerance, love, and altruism in their place. This is where enlightened psychology can be most useful. Psychology and philosophy are really one entity in Buddhism. They are called the inner science, the science of the human interior. In the flow of Indian history, it is fair to say that the Buddha was a great explorer of the human interior rather than some sort of religious prophet.
He came into the world at a time when people were just beginning to experiment with self-exploration, but mostly in an escapist way, using their focus on the inner world to run away from the sufferings of life by entering a supposed realm of absolute quiet far removed from everday existence. The Buddha started out exploring that way too, but then realized the futility of escapism and discovered instead a way of being happier here and now. (pp. 32-33)
”
”
Robert A.F. Thurman (Infinite Life: Awakening to Bliss Within)
“
Revolt of solitary instincts against social bonds is the key to the philosophy, the politics, and the sentiments, not only of what is commonly called the romantic movement, but of its progeny down to the present day. Philosophy, under the influence of German idealism, became solipsistic, and self-development was proclaimed as the fundamental principle of ethics. As regards sentiment, there has to be a distasteful compromise between the search for isolation and the necessities of passion and economics. D. H. Lawrence's story, 'The Man Who Loved Islands', has a hero who disdained such compromise to a gradually increasing extent and at last died of hunger and cold, but in the enjoyment of complete isolation; but this degree of consistency has not been achieved by the writers who praise solitude. The comforts of civilized life are not obtainable by a hermit, and a man who wishes to write books or produce works of art must submit to the ministrations of others if he is to survive while he does his work. In order to continue to feel solitary, he must be able to prevent those who serve him from impinging upon his ego, which is best accomplished if they are slaves. Passionate love, however, is a more difficult matter. So long as passionate lovers are regarded as in revolt against social trammels, they are admired; but in real life the love-relation itself quickly becomes a social trammel, and the partner in love comes to be hated, all the more vehemently if the love is strong enough to make the bond difficult to break. Hence love comes to be conceived as a battle, in which each is attempting to destroy the other by breaking through the protecting walls of his or her ego. This point of view has become familiar through the writings of Strindberg, and, still more, of D. H. Lawrence. Not only passionate love, but every friendly relation to others, is only possible, to this way of feeling, in so far as the others can be regarded as a projection of one's own Self. This is feasible if the others are blood-relations, and the more nearly they are related the more easily it is possible. Hence an emphasis on race, leading, as in the case of the Ptolemys, to endogamy. How this affected Byron, we know; Wagner suggests a similar sentiment in the love of Siegmund and Sieglinde. Nietzsche, though not scandalously, preferred his sister to all other women: 'How strongly I feel,' he writes to her, 'in all that you say and do, that we belong to the same stock. You understand more of me than others do, because we come of the same parentage. This fits in very well with my "philosophy".
”
”
Bertrand Russell (A History of Western Philosophy)
“
What are these substances? Medicines or drugs or sacramental foods? It is easier to say what they are not. They are not narcotics, nor intoxicants, nor energizers, nor anaesthetics, nor tranquilizers. They are, rather, biochemical keys which unlock experiences shatteringly new to most Westerners. For the last two years, staff members of the Center for Research in Personality at Harvard University have engaged in systematic experiments with these substances. Our first inquiry into the biochemical expansion of consciousness has been a study of the reactions of Americans in a supportive, comfortable naturalistic setting. We have had the opportunity of participating in over one thousand individual administrations. From our observations, from interviews and reports, from analysis of questionnaire data, and from pre- and postexperimental differences in personality test results, certain conclusions have emerged. (1) These substances do alter consciousness. There is no dispute on this score. (2) It is meaningless to talk more specifically about the “effect of the drug.” Set and setting, expectation, and atmosphere account for all specificity of reaction. There is no “drug reaction” but always setting-plus-drug. (3) In talking about potentialities it is useful to consider not just the setting-plus-drug but rather the potentialities of the human cortex to create images and experiences far beyond the narrow limitations of words and concepts. Those of us on this research project spend a good share of our working hours listening to people talk about the effect and use of consciousness-altering drugs. If we substitute the words human cortex for drug we can then agree with any statement made about the potentialities—for good or evil, for helping or hurting, for loving or fearing. Potentialities of the cortex, not of the drug. The drug is just an instrument. In analyzing and interpreting the results of our studies we looked first to the conventional models of modern psychology—psychoanalytic, behavioristic—and found these concepts quite inadequate to map the richness and breadth of expanded consciousness. To understand our findings we have finally been forced back on a language and point of view quite alien to us who are trained in the traditions of mechanistic objective psychology. We have had to return again and again to the nondualistic conceptions of Eastern philosophy, a theory of mind made more explicit and familiar in our Western world by Bergson, Aldous Huxley, and Alan Watts. In the first part of this book Mr. Watts presents with beautiful clarity this theory of consciousness, which we have seen confirmed in the accounts of our research subjects—philosophers, unlettered convicts, housewives, intellectuals, alcoholics. The leap across entangling thickets of the verbal, to identify with the totality of the experienced, is a phenomenon reported over and over by these persons.
”
”
Alan W. Watts (The Joyous Cosmology: Adventures in the Chemistry of Consciousness)
“
Slavery divided the United States regarding the meaning of freedom and liberty. Southerners reserved freedom for whites, who occupied positions of economic power and to whom slavery was key to their economy and social philosophy. By these Americans human equality, the heart of the Declaration of Independence, was scorned. George Fitzhugh stated that equality was “practically impossible, and directly conflicts with all government, all separate property, and all social existence.”47 He despised the founder’s views of liberty and human equality: We must combat the doctrines of natural liberty and human equality, and the social contract as taught by Locke and the American sages of 1776. Under the spell of Locke and the Enlightenment Jefferson and other misguided patriots ruined the splendid political edifice they erected by espousing dangerous abstractions— the crazy notions of liberty and equality that they wrote into the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Bill of Rights. No wonder the abolitionists loved to quote the Declaration of Independence! Its precepts are wholly at war with slavery and equally at war with all government, all subordination, all order. It is full if mendacity and error. Consider its verbose, newborn, false and unmeaning preamble. . . . There is . . . no such thing as inalienable rights. Life and liberty are not inalienable. . . . Jefferson . . . was the architect of ruin, the inaugurator of anarchy. As his Declaration of Independence Stands . . . it is “exuberantly false, and absurdly fallacious.
”
”
Steven Dundas
“
In the...overemphasis on the ego and on adjustment to others, one has an underestimation of history and its weight. Technical interventionism:...transference becomes conditioning by the analyst...The cure becomes a suggestion...The institution of psychoanalysis prepares subjects that it can (apparently) 'cure.' But they are not cured because they are not sick: they are normal for this historical milieu.
On the contrary, in the Freudian spirit: psychoanalysis as therapeutic and not institution does not provide objective proof of its truth: truth is here brought in relation to transference...One does not aim for the ego and its passing emotions; one tends toward the liberation of what is imprisoned, i.e., toward its reintegration into the entire life of the subject. One aims at the domain of our 'archaeology'--The analyst does not have the key. It is to be made for each case. He is not the one who knows in the face of the one who does not know. He is in the game (counter-transference). It is necessary that he continue to know himself in order to know the other. Socratic dialectic (almost silent Socrates) = emergence of truth in the dialogue--transference, as Platonic love, is the condition, not the cause of the ascension toward truth.
”
”
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (The Possibility of Philosophy: Course Notes from the Collège de France, 1959–1961 (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy))
“
Slavery divided the United States regarding the meaning of freedom and liberty. Southerners reserved freedom for whites, who occupied positions of economic power and to whom slavery was key to their economy and social philosophy. By these Americans human equality, the heart of the Declaration of Independence, was scorned. George Fitzhugh stated that equality was “practically impossible, and directly conflicts with all government, all separate property, and all social existence.” He despised the founder’s views of liberty and human equality: We must combat the doctrines of natural liberty and human equality, and the social contract as taught by Locke and the American sages of 1776. Under the spell of Locke and the Enlightenment Jefferson and other misguided patriots ruined the splendid political edifice they erected by espousing dangerous abstractions— the crazy notions of liberty and equality that they wrote into the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Bill of Rights. No wonder the abolitionists loved to quote the Declaration of Independence! Its precepts are wholly at war with slavery and equally at war with all government, all subordination, all order. It is full if mendacity and error. Consider its verbose, newborn, false and unmeaning preamble. . . . There is . . . no such thing as inalienable rights. Life and liberty are not inalienable. . . . Jefferson . . . was the architect of ruin, the inaugurator of anarchy. As his Declaration of Independence Stands . . . it is “exuberantly false, and absurdly fallacious.
”
”
Steven Dundas
“
We are the only nation that goes to school, college, university to come back and brag about It, to the people who couldn’t afford the opportunity, Instead of helping them .
We will end up being people with money, not rich or wealthy, because we have poor mentality by looking down onto others who are less fortunate. We are raised on values that you respect, love and honor someone based on what they have, not on who they are. Then we wonder why everyone has depression, forgetting we grew up competing to each to other. Instead of helping and educating one another. If education Is the key. Why are you closing doors for others.
”
”
D.J. Kyos
“
Let’s assume you’re a knowledge worker, which is a field without a clear training philosophy. If you can figure out how to integrate deliberate practice into your own life, you have the possibility of blowing past your peers in your value, as you’ll likely be alone in your dedication to systematically getting better. That is, deliberate practice might provide the key to quickly becoming so good they can’t ignore you.
”
”
Cal Newport (So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love)
“
Love-Abiding Law (The Sonnet)
Love is the master-key to social troubles,
Law is but an inferior and cheaper stand-in.
Instead of obsessing over cooking up more law,
Let's shift the focus on loving and caring.
Do you think love is nothing but a commercial object,
With your olympian authority which you can legalize!
Who do you think you are that you'll legalize order!
You can legalize toys, telephones, not love and light.
Know your place, o puny apes, on a puny little blue dot,
Before standing as authority bearing your badge of law.
There are more things in the vastness of time and space,
Than dreamt up in your paleolithic construct of law.
An ounce of love brings more change than a 100 pounds of law.
What we need is not law-abiding love, but love-abiding law.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence)
“
Love is the master-key to social troubles, law is but an inferior and cheaper stand-in.
”
”
Abhijit Naskar (Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence)
“
Now, as far as I was concerned there are two ways of living, and because we’re on a ball in space these were more or less exactly poles apart. The first, accept the world as it is. The world is concrete and considerable, with beauties and flaws both, and both immense, profound and perplexing, and if you can take it as it is and for what it is you’ll all but guarantee an easier path, because it’s a given that acceptance is one of the keys to any kind of contentment. The second, that acceptance is surrender, that there’s a place for it but that place is somewhere just before your last breath where you say All right then, I have tried and accept that you have lived and loved as best you could, have pushed against every wall, stood up after every disappointment, and, until that last moment, you shouldn’t accept anything, you should make things better. This was more or less the philosophy of Tess Grogan, who, well into her nineties, kept the finest garden in Faha. We lost a garden, she’d say, speaking of the time of Adam like it wasn’t so long ago, pressing gently the swollen joints of her arthritic fingers and smiling the sagacious smile of the nonagenarian, ‘We lost a garden, our whole lives we have to remake it.
”
”
Niall Williams (This Is Happiness)
“
The church, where Lisa's parents attended, had a basement where terrible rituals were performed at night. Lisa's father, who had a key to the building, let his followers enter there to perform their rituals of torture. The basement also had a Sunday school room off to the side. This was the three-and four-year-old class that Lisa attended on Sunday mornings. One Sunday morning, Lisa's class traced and learned a verse of Scripture, "God is love." All the children colored their papers to take them home. "What is love?" Lisa thought. "There is no such thing! So there must be no such thing as this God, either." This was Lisa's philosophy for many years to come. She would explain to herself that the God she hated didn't really exist anyway.
”
”
Judena Klebs (From Horror to Hope: A Child's Survival in the Midst of Torture and Death)
“
God has the key to open the heart of every soul.
”
”
Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
“
The key to opening the secret of humanity is to love and understand the beauty of it.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
I have found the key to a happy life is to get lost in love.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
By conceiving of love as biologically inevitable, key to the continuation of the species, Schopenhauer's theory of the will invites us to adopt a more forgiving stance towards the eccentric behaviour to which love so often makes us subject.
”
”
Alain de Botton (The Consolations of Philosophy)
“
Reinvention is my philosophy, if you want to call it that,” he says, looking out the window. “Imagination is the key to creating a life that is ever new.” Stanley turns his eyes to me. “We are each of us a changeling person,” he says. “We are not going to be the same decade after decade. Wisdom results from confronting not only one’s desires and capacities but also one’s limitations.” “The Layers,” one of Stanley’s best-loved poems, is his crystallization of this wisdom. I have walked through many lives, some of them my own, and I am not who I was, though some principle of being abides from which I struggle not to stray. When I look behind, as I am compelled to look before I can gather strength to proceed on my journey, I see the milestones dwindling toward the horizon and the slow fires trailing from the abandoned camp-sites, over which scavenger angels wheel on heavy wings. Oh, I have made myself a tribe out of my true affections, and my tribe is scattered! How shall the heart be reconciled to its feast of losses? In a rising wind the manic dust of my friends, those who fell along the way, bitterly stings my face. Yet I turn, I turn, exulting somewhat, with my will intact to go wherever I need to go, and every stone on the road is precious to me. In my darkest night, when the moon was covered and I roamed through wreckage, a nimbus-clouded voice directed me: “Live in the layers, not on the litter.” Though I lack the art to decipher it, no doubt the next chapter in my book of transformations is already written. I am not done with my changes.
”
”
Mark Matousek (When You're Falling, Dive: Lessons in the Art of Living)
“
Liber AL vel Legis convey to the Thelemic aspirant an undiluted Hermetic discourse. The book transmits key knowledge concerning the union of the soul with that which lies wholly beyond and outside the human personality. Herein are the mysteries of the soul, veiled as the “Scarlet Woman”, and of her transfiguration by the Law of Thelema. The colour of the soul is that of blood and fire. Her nature is lunar and therefore magical and elemental. In union with the solar fire of the transmitter of the will current called the “Beast” she is able to attain Hadit – who conveys the knowledge of her True Will. Through Thelema or love under will she is fully realised as a star in the infinite body of Nuit.
”
”
Sophie di Jorio (The Ending of the Words : Magical Philosophy of Aleister Crowley)
“
Some Points of My Philosophy We are each responsible for all of our experiences. Every thought we think is creating our future. The point of power is always in the present moment. Everyone suffers from self-hatred and guilt. The bottom line for everyone is, “I’m not good enough.” It’s only a thought, and a thought can be changed. We create every so-called illness in our body. Resentment, criticism, and guilt are the most damaging patterns. Releasing resentment will dissolve even cancer. We must release the past and forgive everyone. We must be willing to begin to learn to love ourselves. Self-approval and self-acceptance in the now are the keys to positive changes. When we really love ourselves, everything in our life works.
”
”
Louise L. Hay (You Can Heal Your Life)
“
Giddy with each other and the wine, they strolled outside through the Presidio, the old fort now housing restaurants and galleries. Jess explained that she wanted to devise a matrix for scarcity and abundance, frugality and profligacy. She thought that sweetness represented, and in some periods misrepresented, a sense of surplus and shared pleasure. "I don't think taste is purely biological," she said. "I think it's economically, historically, and culturally constructed as well. Sweetness means different things depending on availability, custom, farming, trade..."
She was shivering, and George took off his jacket. "Here, sweetness." He helped her into it and laughed at the way her hands disappeared inside the sleeves.
"Context is key- so the question is, What carries over? What can we still know about sweet and sour? Bitterness. What persists from generation to generation? Do we taste the same things?"
He kissed her, sucking her lower lip and then her tongue. "I think so," he said. "Yes.
”
”
Allegra Goodman (The Cookbook Collector)
“
Carefully controlled. Domesticated. Happy in captivity. The key, she thought, was to avoid conflagration.
This philosophy had carried her through life and, she had always felt, had served her quite well. Of course she’d had to give up a few things here and there. But she had a beautiful house, a steady job, a loving husband, a brood of healthy and happy children; surely that was worth the trade. Rules existed for a reason: if you followed them, you would succeed; if you didn’t, you might burn the world to the ground.
And yet here was Mia, causing poor Linda such trauma, as if she hadn’t been through enough, as if Mia were any kind of example of how to mother. Dragging her fatherless child from place to place, scraping by on menial jobs, justifying it by insisting to herself—by insisting to everyone—she was making Art. Probing other people’s business with her grimy hands. Stirring up trouble. Heedlessly throwing sparks.
”
”
Celeste Ng (Little Fires Everywhere)
“
A Letter to My Beloved Son
As you land on this place called Earth
Many things shall be unearthed
As the sun rises, it is compelled to set
Much as you are alive
It may be for a while
But the key things you require
So, listen my child!
Honour the gift of life
Value your time
Please be wise
Opt to be the light
Even on the darkest night
Do not lose sight
Of a future so bright
Follow what is right
For things to be alright
Believe in Jesus Christ
Let Him be your guide
Pray without ceasing
Know your calling
Keep on dreaming
You must believe
That you will succeed
You are part of me
I must tell you no lies
The world can be harsh sometimes
Remember little one
To keep moving forward
You will reap great rewards
And be very proud
With love, your loving Mom
”
”
Gift Gugu Mona (From My Mother's Classroom: A Badge of Honour for a Remarkable Woman)
“
While superstition hates all things, wisdom, with its deeper understanding, loves all things; for it has seen the beauty, the tenderness, and the sweetness which underlie Life’s mystery.
”
”
Manly P. Hall (The Lost Keys of Freemasonry: Unveiling the Mysteries of Freemasonry: Esoteric Knowledge, Symbolism, and Hermetic Philosophy)
“
To lovers out there ….
When your partner comes clean and confesses with their addiction, problem ,something wrong they did or a mistake they made before you find out. I think you should not be punishing them. Instead, you should be helping them in how to overcome that problem and help them to make sure . It doesn’t happen again. For the fact that they came clean to you .It means they have seen their wrongs and are willing admitting to work on them for you. Honesty is another key in building a good relationship. Even thou sometimes .We might like the truth.
”
”
D.J. Kyos
“
And he said...
...keys keep me safe within my heart.
”
”
Anthony T. Hincks
“
You need to trust everything you are feeling is real, even if you are scared and don't quite understand it.
The key is to move through it not run away from it!
”
”
Patricia Rapley
“
The study was done in a relatively small town in Kyoto named Kyotango. What makes this town special and a very good place to conduct the study was the fact that its population of people above 100 years old was the highest in Japan - 3 times more than the average for any town in the country. The program - Takeshi no katei no igaku - specifically wanted to find out what these very old - but very joyful - bunch of people in Kyotango had in common when it comes to living their daily lives. The program followed 7 people who were already in their late 90s and early 100s from sunrise to sunset. The program also subjected them to health checkups such as blood tests, among others. One of the interesting findings of the study was that all of the 7 subjects had very high levels of DHEA, which is a steroid hormone produced by the body's adrenal glands. DHEA has a solid reputation of being a miracle hormone that's highly associated with longevity. And as the study continued following the 7 super senior citizens, they discovered another commonality: they all did things that they really enjoyed. Each of them had different hobbies they passionately practiced every day such as painting, fishing and making traditional Japanese masks, among others. Given these findings, is it possible then that doing something you really love to do, something you're very passionate about, is the key to higher levels of DHEA and, therefore, a much longer life? The science on this relationship hasn't been established yet, but the program concluded that regularly doing something that you're very interested in, passionate about, and focused on can give you a long-lasting and deep sense of personal satisfaction in life, which in turn can help elevate your DHEA levels. And when such levels are very high, a long and joyful life isn't far behind. And guess what, the program repeatedly made mention of Ikigai in discussing this concept of conclusion.
”
”
Alan Daron (Ikigai: The Japanese Life Philosophy)
“
The key to unlocking greatness is found by awakening to the truth of your essence. You are a vessel that is transforming energy from the inner universe, into the outer universe.
”
”
Steve Leasock (Love Will Show You the Way: Choosing the Path of Least Resistance)
“
What is your relationship with the mind and your inner universe? This is the key question in consciously awakening to a state of deeper presence.
”
”
Steve Leasock (Love Will Show You the Way: Choosing the Path of Least Resistance)
“
There is still the old Remington typewriter that my Uncle, a journalist, has in my hometown. When I was in school, I would love typing letters on this typewriter. I love the sound of the typewriter keys hitting on paper.
”
”
Avijeet Das
“
Respect my space, I’ll respect your space, too;
respect my right, I’ll respect your right, too;
respect my views, I’ll respect your views, too;
respect my taste, I’ll respect your taste, too.
Respect is the pillar of harmony,
the key to world peace and prosperity.
We’ve oft been told to give love to others,
when simple respect is all that matters.
”
”
Rodolfo Martin Vitangcol
“
If by “not doing bad” to each other
is good enough to make our world better,
how the whole world will be far much better,
if we’re “doing good” to one another.
Well, by “not doing bad” to each other,
we do show respect for one another;
but by “doing good” to one another,
we do give love—the truest key ever!
”
”
Rodolfo Martin Vitangcol
“
like to make practices stimulating, fun, and, most of all, efficient. Coach Al McGuire once told me that his secret was not wasting anybody’s time. “If you can’t it get done in eight hours a day,” he said, “it’s not worth doing.” That’s been my philosophy ever since. Much of my thinking on this subject was influenced by the work of Abraham Maslow, one of the founders of humanistic psychology who is best known for his theory of the hierarchy of needs. Maslow believed that the highest human need is to achieve “self-actualization,” which he defined as “the full use and exploitation of one’s talents, capacities and potentialities.” The basic characteristics of self-actualizers, he discovered in his research, are spontaneity and naturalness, a greater acceptance of themselves and others, high levels of creativity, and a strong focus on problem solving rather than ego gratification. To achieve self-actualization, he concluded, you first need to satisfy a series of more basic needs, each building upon the other to form what is commonly referred to as Maslow’s pyramid. The bottom layer is made up of physiological urges (hunger, sleep, sex); followed by safety concerns (stability, order); love (belonging); self-esteem (self-respect, recognition); and finally self-actualization. Maslow concluded that most people fail to reach self-actualization because they get stuck somewhere lower on the pyramid. In his book The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, Maslow describes the key steps to attaining self-actualization: experiencing life “vividly, selflessly, with full concentration and total absorption”; making choices from moment to moment that foster growth rather than fear; becoming more attuned to your inner nature and acting in concert with who you are; being honest with yourself and taking responsibility for what you say and do instead of playing games or posing; identifying your ego defenses and finding the courage to give them up; developing the ability to determine your own destiny and daring to be different and non-conformist; creating an ongoing process for reaching your potential and doing the work needed to realize your vision. fostering the conditions for having peak experiences, or what Maslow calls “moments of ecstasy” in which we think, act, and feel more clearly and are more loving and accepting of others.
”
”
Phil Jackson (Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success)
“
I am always surprised how few grown men and women have actually really seen a dead body. That is, in normal times. A lot of people see one for the first time in their thirties. It’s strange. Everyone has a lot more to do with love, earlier and more often, of course. But they should have to see a dead body at least once a week. Then everyone would have a better sense of equilibrium, and lots of fears and anxieties would just disappear.
”
”
Hans Keilson (Comedy in a Minor Key)