The 100 Inspirational Quotes

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There is strange comfort in knowing that no matter what happens today, the Sun will rise again tomorrow.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
The struggles we endure today will be the ‘good old days’ we laugh about tomorrow.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.
Benito Mussolini
It's in those quiet little towns, at the edge of the world, that you will find the salt of the earth people who make you feel right at home.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
Life's trials will test you, and shape you, but don’t let them change who you are.” ~ Aaron Lauritsen, ‘100 Days Drive
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
No one wakes up in the morning and says, 'I want to gain 150 pounds and I will start right now!
Tricia Cunningham (The Reverse Diet: Lose 20, 50, 100 Pounds or More by Eating Dinner for Breakfast and Breakfast for Dinner)
My proceeds from the PayPal acquisition were $180 million. I put $100 million in SpaceX, $70m in Tesla, and $10m in Solar City. I had to borrow money for rent.
Elon Musk
True friends don't come with conditions.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
Scholars, theologians, and even poets have yet to be able to truly describe and touch upon the beauty, romance, and magic of a relationship built on 100% authenticity
Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
Without struggle, success has no value.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
From this point forward, you don’t even know how to quit in life.” ~ Aaron Lauritsen, ‘100 Days Drive
Aaron Lauritsen
Inspiration is external and motivation is internal. It is up to me to provide the switch and you to flip it on!
Tricia Cunningham (The Reverse Diet: Lose 20, 50, 100 Pounds or More by Eating Dinner for Breakfast and Breakfast for Dinner)
Those who achieve the extraordinary are usually the most ordinary because they have nothing to prove to anybody. Be Humble.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
Perfectly Imperfect We have all heard that no two snowflakes are alike. Each snowflake takes the perfect form for the maximum efficiency and effectiveness for its journey. And while the universal force of gravity gives them a shared destination, the expansive space in the air gives each snowflake the opportunity to take their own path. They are on the same journey, but each takes a different path. Along this gravity-driven journey, some snowflakes collide and damage each other, some collide and join together, some are influenced by wind... there are so many transitions and changes that take place along the journey of the snowflake. But, no matter what the transition, the snowflake always finds itself perfectly shaped for its journey. I find parallels in nature to be a beautiful reflection of grand orchestration. One of these parallels is of snowflakes and us. We, too, are all headed in the same direction. We are being driven by a universal force to the same destination. We are all individuals taking different journeys and along our journey, we sometimes bump into each other, we cross paths, we become altered... we take different physical forms. But at all times we too are 100% perfectly imperfect. At every given moment we are absolutely perfect for what is required for our journey. I’m not perfect for your journey and you’re not perfect for my journey, but I’m perfect for my journey and you’re perfect for your journey. We’re heading to the same place, we’re taking different routes, but we’re both exactly perfect the way we are. Think of what understanding this great orchestration could mean for relationships. Imagine interacting with others knowing that they too each share this parallel with the snowflake. Like you, they are headed to the same place and no matter what they may appear like to you, they have taken the perfect form for their journey. How strong our relationships would be if we could see and respect that we are all perfectly imperfect for our journey.
Steve Maraboli (Life, the Truth, and Being Free)
At some point, you just gotta forgive the past, your happiness hinges on it.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
I've always been like that; I give 100 percent. I can't do it any other way.
Emma Watson
Explore, Experience, Then Push Beyond.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
Make your life like toilet paper. Long and usefull.
Wolfgang Riebe (100 Quotes to Make You Think!)
Silk is a fine, delicate, soft, illuminating, beautiful substance. But you can never rip it! If a man takes this tender silk and attempts to tear it, and cannot tear it, is he in his right mind to say "This silk is fake! I thought it was soft, I thought it was delicate, but look, I cannot even tear it" ? Surely, this man is not in his right mind! The silk is not fake! This silk is 100% real. It's the man who is stupid!
C. JoyBell C.
If you don't make the time to work on creating the life you want, you're eventually going to be forced to spend a LOT of time dealing with a life you don't want.
Kevin Ngo (Let's Do This! 100 Powerful Messages to Help You Take Action)
A Decalogue of Canons for Observation in Practical Life: 1. Never put off to tomorrow what you can do to-day. 2. Never trouble another with what you can do yourself. 3. Never spend your money before you have it. 4. Never buy a thing you do not want, because it is cheap, it will be dear to you. 5. Take care of your cents: Dollars will take care of themselves. 6. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold. 7. We never repent of having eat too little. 8. Nothing is troublesome that one does willingly. 9. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened. 10. Take things always by their smooth handle. 11. Think as you please, and so let others, and you will have no disputes. 12. When angry, count 10. before you speak; if very angry, 100.
Thomas Jefferson (Letters of Thomas Jefferson)
The freedom of the open road is seductive, serendipitous and absolutely liberating.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
The world does not consist of 100 percent Christians and 100 percent non-Christians. There are people (a great many of them) who are slowly ceasing to be Christians but who still call themselves by that name: some of them are clergymen. There are other people who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so.
C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
Before you came, things were as they should be: the sky was the dead-end of sight, the road was just a road, wine merely wine. Now everything is like my heart, a color at the edge of blood: the grey of your absence, the color of poison, of thorns, the gold when we meet, the season ablaze, the yellow of autumn, the red of flowers, of flames, and the black when you cover the earth with the coal of dead fires. And the sky, the road, the glass of wine? The sky is a shirt wet with tears, the road a vein about to break, and the glass of wine a mirror in which the sky, the road, the world keep changing. Don’t leave now that you’re here— Stay. So the world may become like itself again: so the sky may be the sky, the road a road, and the glass of wine not a mirror, just a glass of wine.
Faiz Ahmad Faiz (100 Poems by Faiz Ahmed Fiza)
If you didn't earn something, it's not worth flaunting.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
If you want to turn a vision into reality, you have to give 100% and never stop believing in your dream.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story)
It’s the ‘everyday’ experiences we encounter along the journey to who we wanna be that will define who we are when we get there.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
as you begin to eliminate your need for perfection in all areas of your life, you'll begin to discover the perfection in life itself
Richard Carlson (The Big Book 0f Small Stuff: 100 of the Best Inspirations From Don't Sweat the Small Stuff)
The high road of grace will get you somewhere a whole lot faster then the freeway of spite.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
We love our partners for who they are, not for who they are not.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
Don't sweat the small stuff.
Richard Carlson (The Big Book 0f Small Stuff: 100 of the Best Inspirations From Don't Sweat the Small Stuff)
Live today like it's your last night!
The Wanted (The Wanted: 100% Official: Our Story, Our Way)
Being a true bad ass has no weight or gender requirement - just 100% commitment to greatness.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
I may be slow, but I know a racist when I’m called one - and I am proud to support the supremacy of the 100-meter leisurely stroll.
Bauvard (Some Inspiration for the Overenthusiastic)
And, actually, I was feeling pretty good at the time. My brothers were like individual rays of sunshine that had come crashing into my room to drive out the fragments of Despair. For a few minutes, everything was golden. And everything was okay.
Abbie Emmons (100 Days of Sunlight)
Anyone can choose to have success, but only the patient ones will get rewarded by it. Be relentless in chasing your dreams.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
Travel is costly yes, but it pays dividends too.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
You can argue with the way things are. You’ll lose, but only 100% of the time. —BYRON KATIE
Toni Bernhard (How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers)
Integrity is something we show, not proclaim.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
Don't live off your past successes or failures, live for the next big pursuit.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
Art does not reproduce the visible rather, it makes visible.
Paul Klee (100 Paul Klee Masterpieces.)
When you start to accept responsibility for the results you get in life, you also take back the power to change your future outcome.
Kevin Ngo (Let's Do This! 100 Powerful Messages to Help You Take Action)
It is during our failures that we discover our true desire for success.
Kevin Ngo (Let's Do This! 100 Powerful Messages to Help You Take Action)
The most important thing you can do in a relationship is sit down and talk to each other, not with the TV on, or at the cinema, or over a meal, but just you and the other person where you can truly be heard and truly listen to each other
Steven P. Aitchison (100 Ways To Develop Your Mind: The Psychology Of The Mind And How To Develop Your Mind To Change Your Life)
I cut fake people faster than Bugatti reaches its 100 miles speed. I often tell myself, this is called "Art of Living".
Rakesh Vemulawada
If humans can live for 100 years, why do companies die so young.
Sukant Ratnakar (Open the Windows)
The only real certainty is that if you get to live, you gotta die. Live life now.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
Be a team player, not a bandwagon jumper.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
Life's adversity strengthens us to embrace - life’s true purpose and destiny.
Eleesha (The Soulful Pathway to Christmas: 100 channeled affirmations and quotes to positively inspire you at Christmas (The Soulful Pathway, #8))
May you can continue unhindered, by inviting immense clarity, prosperity and purpose - into your life.
Eleesha (The Soulful Pathway to Christmas: 100 channeled affirmations and quotes to positively inspire you at Christmas (The Soulful Pathway, #8))
You're an original, an individual, a masterpiece. Celebrate that; don't let your uniqueness make you shy. Don't be someone other than the wonder you are. Every star is important to the sky.
Douglas Pagels (100 Things to Always Remember and One Thing to Never Forget: Words to Live by and Wishes to Share)
Tessa shuts her eyes. Her hair is down today, falling around her face in wispy strands. She wants to close up, give up, brace herself in the doorway. I want to push her through the doorway. Who cares if she falls? She’s already fallen. Now she needs to get back up.
Abbie Emmons (100 Days of Sunlight)
Passion is the spark for everything. By itself, passion is never enough. Just like talent is never enough. But it's your fire starter. Without passion, you won't do something 100 percent. That's the bottom line. And what's the point of doing something if you're not doing it 100 percent?
Apolo Anton Ohno (Zero Regrets: Be Greater Than Yesterday)
Kebenaran mungkin memang bisa disembunyi-belok-salahkan. Tapi kebenaran, selamanya tak kan pernah bisa dikalahkan.
Lenang Manggala (Negara 100 Kata)
Winners are losers who got back up.
Grace Bonney (In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs)
The mind is everything; what you think you become!
Socrates (100 Quotes by Socrates: Great Philosophers & Their Inspiring Thoughts)
When Life gives you a 100 reasons to Cry , show life that you have 1000 reasons to Smile
Anisha D'souza
Life is unfolding by each step you take - but, it is fulfilled by every choice you make.
Eleesha (The Soulful Pathway to Christmas: 100 channeled affirmations and quotes to positively inspire you at Christmas (The Soulful Pathway, #8))
A yummy mummy is a dedicated and loving mom who embodies a healthy lifestyle while retaining a sense of the person she was before having kids.
Marina Delio (The Yummy Mummy Kitchen: 100 Effortless and Irresistible Recipes to Nourish Your Family with Style and Grace)
As much as possible, avoid hiring MBAs. MBA programs don’t teach people how to create companies … Our position is that we hire someone in spite of an MBA, not because of one …
mbfrw (ELON MUSK - 100 Fascinating Facts, Stories & Inspiring Quotes | The Mini Elon Musk Biography (People With Impact Series Book 7))
There is no such thing as loving a child too much.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light -Aristotle
Aristotle (100 quotes by Aristotle: Great philosophers & their inspiring thoughts)
Even our deepest disappointments will ultimately prove to be gatekeepers for future delight.
Lisa Harper (Life: An Obsessively Grateful, Undone by Jesus, Genuinely Happy, and Not Faking it Through the Hard Stuff Kind of 100-Day Devotional)
I think it is effective to constrict your anus 100 times, dent your navel 100 times in succession everyday. You can do so at a boring meeting or in a subway without being noticed for you to do so. I have known 70 year old man who has practiced it for 20 years. As a result, he has good complexion and has grown 20 years younger. His eyes sparkle. He is full of vigor, happiness, and joy. He has neither complained nor born a grudge under any circumstance.
Hiroyuki Nishigaki (How to Good-Bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way?)
I know I don’t know you all that well, but I honestly believe you can live a magical life, no matter what your situation is just now. How do I know this? Well, I believe in the power of the mind, and because of that I totally believe in you. I know, 100%, that you can have the life you want, and all you need is belief in yourself, and the motivation to take action to get what you want without giving up.
Steven P. Aitchison
You will not publish 100% of the books you don’t write.
M. Kirin
Let strength and wisdom carry you forward beyond the limited horizons — you may have once envisioned.
Eleesha (The Soulful Pathway To Quotes: 100 channeled quotes and affirmations to positively inspire you daily (The Soulful Pathway, #4))
Simply by living in this particular time and space, you're doing something nearly 100% of all other humans ever never could. Don't waste it.
Bill Loguidice
Life is short, and it's up to you to make it sweet.
Sarah L. Delany (Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years - A Play)
The funny thing about money is that you can't take it with you, so don’t try to.
Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)
Honor your joy today, whilst it replenishes and strengthens you - in the company of your Soul.
Eleesha (The Soulful Pathway to Christmas: 100 channeled affirmations and quotes to positively inspire you at Christmas (The Soulful Pathway, #8))
On this day of love, embrace the freedom, to not just give love - but to receive it, too.
Eleesha (The Soulful Pathway to Love: 100 channeled affirmations and quotes to attract true love into your life (The Soulful Pathway, #3))
Self-care is taking all the pressures you are facing right now, and deciding to which you will respond, and how.
Imani Shola (Heart Shards and Lip Balm (Kindle Edition): 100 self-care poems & affirmative notes for your journey)
My quality of life. And for me, quality of life is having the freedom to make choices that are not fear based.
Grace Bonney (In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs)
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take
wayne gretzki
Some problems are imaginary and not real.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Conflicts are expensive.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Actions undertaken in anger, only result in pain, sorrow, and regret.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Change is constant.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Time well-spent is life well-lived.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Leaders prioritize what they want.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Compromise makes relationships survive.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Sometimes, changing circumstances also changes relationships.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Relationships are built on trust.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Good times don’t last and bad times don’t stay forever.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Since the accuracy rate for the fulfillment of Bible prophecy so far has been 100%, we can be confident that it will continue to be so. No other religion in the world has such confirming evidence to inspire its faith.
Tim LaHaye (Are We Living in the End Times?: Curretn Events Foretold in Scripture... and What They Mean)
Each day, we face 100 types of negative thoughts and situations that try to poison our minds and break our confidence. However, when we start to see these negative thoughts in a positive way, we never face failure from that day on.
Harsh Suthar
Purpose can be built, strengthened, and made more inspiring every day. We are totally responsible for our own sense of purpose. We can go inside our own spirit and create it, or not. The energy of our lives is wholly dependent on how much purpose we're willing to create.
Steve Chandler (100 Ways to Motivate Yourself: Change Your Life Forever)
100% of a Guru’s marketing plan depends on you holding the belief that you are not enough; that you were created less equipped than necessary to fulfill your purpose. What if you let go of that belief and connected with the truth of your innate power to change and shape your life? You ARE enough. You CAN change and shape your own life. Anyone who tells you different is simply lying. Your life has immeasurable potentiality for greatness; act accordingly.
Steve Maraboli (Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience)
I used to say I admired women who never doubted themselves, who have no fear and could just kind of roar it out and do it. But I’ve changed my mind, because I actually don’t think that exists. I admire women who are open and vulnerable about the self-doubt that happens in the creative process and yet go forward and do it anyway. (Aarti Sequeira)
Grace Bonney (In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs)
Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.” No doubt, entering space is an unforgiving business to deal with but Musk mastered it. His biggest advice is to, “really pay attention to negative feedback and actively solicit it, particularly from friends... hardly anyone does that. It's incredibly helpful.
mbfrw (ELON MUSK - 100 Fascinating Facts, Stories & Inspiring Quotes | The Mini Elon Musk Biography (People With Impact Series Book 7))
Tonight I saw Jesus with the eyes on my face. He looks half lion and half man. But not more like a lion and not more like a man, rather the same, I have never seen anything like the face of Jesus before, %100 one thing but %100 another thing: a lion man!” “Where did you see Him at?” “On the surface of my blanket as I lay in bed. He was suddenly drawn onto it, like a sketch, and that same moment I knew He was showing His face to me, finally.” “Why do you think He did that?” “I think He thought it was about time.
C. JoyBell C.
The Pygmies and the Bushmen, these oldest of all peoples, remind us that our capacities for mutuality, cooperation, and empathy are every bit as real and every bit as much a part of our humanity as our capacities for greed, competition, and exclusiveness. Raising their children with unlimited respect and treating each person as having infinite worth, they have survived longer than any other culture known to science.
John Robbins (Healthy at 100: The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the Worlds Healthiest & Longest-Lived Peoples)
To live a life of excellence, you will have to take risks. You will have to step into new territory and climb new mountains. If you’re up to something that’s as big as you are, it’s going to be scary. If it feels perfectly safe, you are probably underachieving. To leave your mark in the world, you will have to stand someplace you’ve never been willing to stand before. And you will have to have the courage to aspire to excellence. To create an extraordinary life you will have to be present in each moment and give 100 percent of yourself. You will have to commit each day to being the best you can be, and aspire to perform your daily tasks in the most conscious way possible. Living your best year requires you to take a moment each time you’re about to make a move—whether you are about to deliver a communication, make a decision, or put something into your body—and make sure that move reflects the very highest choice you could make. 
Debbie Ford (The Best Year of Your Life: Dream It, Plan It, Live It)
I am a person. I am not always happy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; sometimes I feel sad, sometimes I feel angry. Sometimes I see brokenness in the world and I feel like I'm dying inside because I want to fix it! I am a person. I am not continuously grateful for everything and everyone 100% of the time. Because sometimes, I don't feel grateful! Sometimes I feel betrayed, other times I feel deceived. Because I am a person. And I am tired of the schools of thought and the judgmental eyes that offer up their plates of useless opinion when I am not 100% floating up there in false pretenses of perfection. I do not want to be false. I want to be a person. And I want to feel and I want to think, and no, not everything in life is something to be grateful for; and no, not everything in the world is something to be happy about. I am a person. My face can do a lot of things aside from smiling. My face can look peaceful, it can look thoughtful, it can look Divine. I can frown and sometimes my eyebrows are scrunched up in the middle; that's because I'm thinking! I am a person. A person that is so much more than what popular opinion expects is the definition of perfection. But I AM perfect. I am perfect the very way that I am. And I would never want to be only what popular thought would expect of me. I am so much more than that.
C. JoyBell C.
Qu'est-ce que c'est, le Graal? Vous savez pas vraiment! Et moi non plus! Et j'en ai rien à cirer! Regardez-nous: y'en a pas deux qui ont le même âge, pas deux qui viennent du même endroit! Des seigneurs, des chevaliers errants, des riches, des pauvres! Mais, à la table ronde, pour la première fois dans toute l'histoire du peuple breton, nous cherchons tous la même chose: le Graal! C'est le Graal qui fait de vous des chevaliers, des hommes civilisés, qui nous différencie des tribus barbares. Le Graal, c'est notre union. Le Graal c'est notre grandeur.
Alexandre Astier (Kaamelott, livre 1, deuxième partie : Episodes 51 à 100)
Grant unto us, Lord, that we may set our hope on Thy name…and open the eyes of our hearts, that we may know Thee.” “We beseech Thee, Lord and Master, to be our help and succour. Save those among us who are in tribulation; have mercy on the lowly; lift up the fallen; show Thyself to those in need; heal the sick; turn again the wanderers of Thy people; feed the hungry; ransom our prisoners; raise up the weak; comfort the faint-hearted. Let all nations know that Thou art God alone, and that Jesus Christ is Thy Son, and that we are Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture.” “We praise Thee who art able to do these and better things than these, through Jesus Christ the High Priest and Guardian of our souls, through whom be glory and majesty to Thee, both now and throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.
Clement of Rome
If Ever You Feel Down, Remember, 100Trillion Cells Make Up Your Body and ALL each of them cares About is You. Our body is made up of about 100,000 Billions of cells (100 Trillion)... all living working and sacrificing themselves completely for the exclusive benefit, well-being, and survival of the whole (which is you). We are each of us a universe unto ourselves. To put 100 Trillion in perspective... Jeremy Harper counted from one to one million in about 3 months. He did NOTHING but count, eat, and sleep (minimal). During this time; he didn't leave his home nor even shave. And that's only one MILLION, so if you ignore the fact that pronunciation takes much, much longer on ever larger numbers (more than a minute each), counting to 100 Trillion would take more than 25 Million years. It's awe inspiring to think that 100 Trillion cells (worlds) are counting ON me also, my decisions determine (to a large degree) whether they are allowed to continue living and experiencing in this life or not. Knowing all of this, who could realistically say that there are no miracles. We each have over 100 Trillion miracles working FOR us and depending ON us each and every second of every day. So when praying, I must always keep in mind that each word is in behalf of 100 Trillion worlds. OUR Father Who Art in Heaven...
Raymond D. Longoria Jr.
What interested these gnostics far more than past events attributed to the “historical Jesus” was the possibility of encountering the risen Christ in the present.49 The Gospel of Mary illustrates the contrast between orthodox and gnostic viewpoints. The account recalls what Mark relates: Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene … She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.50 As the Gospel of Mary opens, the disciples are mourning Jesus’ death and terrified for their own lives. Then Mary Magdalene stands up to encourage them, recalling Christ’s continual presence with them: “Do not weep, and do not grieve, and do not doubt; for his grace will be with you completely, and will protect you.”51 Peter invites Mary to “tell us the words of the Savior which you remember.”52 But to Peter’s surprise, Mary does not tell anecdotes from the past; instead, she explains that she has just seen the Lord in a vision received through the mind, and she goes on to tell what he revealed to her. When Mary finishes, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her. But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, “Say what you will about what she has said. I, at least, do not believe that the Savior has said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas!”53 Peter agrees with Andrew, ridiculing the idea that Mary actually saw the Lord in her vision. Then, the story continues, Mary wept and said to Peter, “My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I thought this up myself in my heart? Do you think I am lying about the Savior?” Levi answered and said to Peter, “Peter, you have always been hot-tempered … If the Savior made her worthy, who are you to reject her?”54 Finally Mary, vindicated, joins the other apostles as they go out to preach. Peter, apparently representing the orthodox position, looks to past events, suspicious of those who “see the Lord” in visions: Mary, representing the gnostic, claims to experience his continuing presence.55 These gnostics recognized that their theory, like the orthodox one, bore political implications. It suggests that whoever “sees the Lord” through inner vision can claim that his or her own authority equals, or surpasses, that of the Twelve—and of their successors. Consider the political implications of the Gospel of Mary: Peter and Andrew, here representing the leaders of the orthodox group, accuse Mary—the gnostic—of pretending to have seen the Lord in order to justify the strange ideas, fictions, and lies she invents and attributes to divine inspiration. Mary lacks the proper credentials for leadership, from the orthodox viewpoint: she is not one of the “twelve.” But as Mary stands up to Peter, so the gnostics who take her as their prototype challenge the authority of those priests and bishops who claim to be Peter’s successors.
The Gnostic Gospels (Modern Library 100 Best Nonfiction Books)
Yesterday while I was on the side of the mat next to some wrestlers who were warming up for their next match, I found myself standing side by side next to an extraordinary wrestler. He was warming up and he had that look of desperation on his face that wrestlers get when their match is about to start and their coach is across the gym coaching on another mat in a match that is already in progress. “Hey do you have a coach.” I asked him. “He's not here right now.” He quietly answered me ready to take on the task of wrestling his opponent alone. “Would you mind if I coached you?” His face tilted up at me with a slight smile and said. “That would be great.” Through the sounds of whistles and yelling fans I heard him ask me what my name was. “My name is John.” I replied. “Hi John, I am Nishan” he said while extending his hand for a handshake. He paused for a second and then he said to me: “John I am going to lose this match”. He said that as if he was preparing me so I wouldn’t get hurt when my coaching skills didn’t work magic with him today. I just said, “Nishan - No score of a match will ever make you a winner. You are already a winner by stepping onto that mat.” With that he just smiled and slowly ran on to the mat, ready for battle, but half knowing what the probable outcome would be. When you first see Nishan you will notice that his legs are frail - very frail. So frail that they have to be supported by custom made, form fitted braces to help support and straighten his limbs. Braces that I recognize all to well. Some would say Nishan has a handicap. I say that he has a gift. To me the word handicap is a word that describes what one “can’t do”. That doesn’t describe Nishan. Nishan is doing. The word “gift” is a word that describes something of value that you give to others. And without knowing it, Nishan is giving us all a gift. I believe Nishan’s gift is inspiration. The ability to look the odds in the eye and say “You don’t pertain to me.” The ability to keep moving forward. Perseverance. A “Whatever it takes” attitude. As he predicted, the outcome of his match wasn’t great. That is, if the only thing you judge a wrestling match by is the actual score. Nishan tried as hard as he could, but he couldn’t overcome the twenty-six pound weight difference that he was giving up to his opponent on this day in order to compete. You see, Nishan weighs only 80 pounds and the lowest weight class in this tournament was 106. Nishan knew he was spotting his opponent 26 pounds going into every match on this day. He wrestled anyway. I never did get the chance to ask him why he wrestles, but if I had to guess I would say, after watching him all day long, that Nishan wrestles for the same reasons that we all wrestle for. We wrestle to feel alive, to push ourselves to our mental, physical and emotional limits - levels we never knew we could reach. We wrestle to learn to use 100% of what we have today in hopes that our maximum today will be our minimum tomorrow. We wrestle to measure where we started from, to know where we are now, and to plan on getting where we want to be in the future. We wrestle to look the seemingly insurmountable opponent right in the eye and say, “Bring it on. - I can take whatever you can dish out.” Sometimes life is your opponent and just showing up is a victory. You don't need to score more points than your opponent in order to accomplish that. No Nishan didn’t score more points than any of his opponents on this day, that would have been nice, but I don’t believe that was the most important thing to Nishan. Without knowing for sure - the most important thing to him on this day was to walk with pride like a wrestler up to a thirty two foot circle, have all eyes from the crowd on him, to watch him compete one on one against his opponent - giving it all that he had. That is what competition is all about. Most of the times in wrestlin
JohnA Passaro