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Past Thoughts of the Day from Interlude: An Internet Retreat

6/1/2008 to present

We must always seek to ally ourselves with that part of the enemy that knows what is right.
Mahatma Gandhi

If we live, we live; if we die, we die; if we suffer, we suffer; if we are terrified, we are terrified. There is no problem about it.
Alan Watts

Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.
Vaclav Havel

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.
Chinese Proverb

I must learn to love the fool in me--the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries.
Theodore Isaac Rubin

Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.
Betty Smith

The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpotts

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.
Wayne Dyer

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud became more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin

If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing.
Zimbabwe proverb

Life is a long lesson in humility.
James M. Barrie

I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.
Edith Cavell

A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.
George William Curtis

Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.
Mary Wollstonecraft

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.
e.e. cummings

The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.
Theodore Isaac Rubin

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.
Rabindranath Tagore

Work is either fun or drudgery. It depends on your attitude. I like fun.
Colleen C. Barrett

When we talk about understanding, surely it takes place only when the mind listens completely-- the mind being your heart, your nerves, your ears-- when you give your whole attention to it.
Krishnamurti

Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.
Jawaharlal Nehru

Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.
Henry Van Dyke

The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.
Tacitus

What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.
J. Krishnamurti

Everything is dependent on everything else, everything is connected, nothing is separate. Therefore everything is going in the only way it can go. If people were different everything would be different. They are what they are, so everything is as it is.
G.I. Gurdjieff

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Go to your bosom; Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.
William Shakespeare

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
John Lubbock

Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.
Blaise Pascal

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.
Elvis Presley

That which one wants to hide most are one's own faults, but on the contrary, they should not be hidden but rather acknowledged, if one has any real desire to be free from them. By acknowledging one's faults, one destroys them or finds a way to improve on them.
Hazrat Inayat Khan

You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary.
J. Krishnamurti

It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was.
Anne Sexton

For instance, the bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon.
Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist

The key to wisdom is this -- constant and frequent questioning ... for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.
Peter Abelard

Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
Pete Seeger

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
Lin Yutang

Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.
Neil Armstrong

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.
Swami Vivekananda
Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
May you have the hindsight to know where you've been,
The foresight to know where you are going,
And the insight to know when you have gone too far.
An Irish Blessing
Do not consider painful what is good for you.
Euripides
The highest result of education is tolerance.
Helen Keller
Cease to ask what the morrow will bring forth. And set down as gain each day that Fortune grants.
Horace
The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased.
Alexander Hamilton
If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.
Kahlil Gibran
Yes, there is a Nirvana; it is in leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem.
Kahlil Gibran

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Past Thoughts of the Day from Interlude: An Internet Retreat

We must always seek to ally ourselves with that part of the enemy that knows what is right.

If we live, we live; if we die, we die; if we suffer, we suffer; if we are terrified, we are terrified. There is no problem about it.

Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

I must learn to love the fool in me--the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries.

Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.

The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud became more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing.

Life is a long lesson in humility.

I realise that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.

A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.

Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.

The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.

Work is either fun or drudgery. It depends on your attitude. I like fun.

When we talk about understanding, surely it takes place only when the mind listens completely-- the mind being your heart, your nerves, your ears-- when you give your whole attention to it.

Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.

Culture is the habit of being pleased with the best and knowing why.

The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.

Everything is dependent on everything else, everything is connected, nothing is separate. Therefore everything is going in the only way it can go. If people were different everything would be different. They are what they are, so everything is as it is.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Go to your bosom; Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.

Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.

That which one wants to hide most are one's own faults, but on the contrary, they should not be hidden but rather acknowledged, if one has any real desire to be free from them. By acknowledging one's faults, one destroys them or finds a way to improve on them.

You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary.

It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was.

For instance, the bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon.

The key to wisdom is this -- constant and frequent questioning ... for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.

Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.

Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, The foresight to know where you are going, And the insight to know when you have gone too far.

Do not consider painful what is good for you.

The highest result of education is tolerance.

Cease to ask what the morrow will bring forth. And set down as gain each day that Fortune grants.

The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased.

If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.

Yes, there is a Nirvana; it is in leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem.

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been,
The foresight to know where you are going,
And the insight to know when you have gone too far.