Great Throughts Treasury

"Life is a great and wondrous mystery, and the only thing we know that we have for sure is what is right here right now. Don’t miss it."

"There is only the moment. The now. Only what you are experiencing at this second is real. This does not mean you live for the moment. It means you live in the moment."

"Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized."

"Life is a paradise for those who love many things with a passion."

"If we wish to free ourselves from enslavement, we must choose freedom and the responsibility this entails. "

"In play we don't keep score. No one wins or loses. Anyone can play, alone or in a group. There are no sides - we're all on the same side... Play has all sorts of educational, physical and psychological benefits. A happy, fulfilling adult life may even depend upon the intensity and a variety of our play experiences. "

"The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercise. "

"Time has no meaning in itself unless we choose to give it significance."

"Death is a challenge. It tells us not to waste time... It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other. "

"I believe that you control your destiny, that you can be what you want to be. You can also stop and say, No, I won't do it, I won't behave his way anymore. I'm lonely and I need people around me, maybe I have to change my methods of behaving and then you do it. "

"I have a very strong feeling that the opposite of love is not hate - it's apathy. It's not giving a damn. "

"I've always thought that people need to feel good about themselves and I see my role as offering support to them, to provide some light along the way."

"I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things... I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind. "

"It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them."

"Love always creates, it never destroys. In this lie's man's only promise. "

"Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life. "

"Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong."

"Love is always bestowed as a gift - freely, willingly and without expectation. We don't love to be loved; we love to love"

"Love is always open arms. If you close your arms about love you will find that you are left holding only yourself. "

"Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations."

"The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position."

"We all need each other. "

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

"What love we've given, we'll have forever. What love we fail to give, will be lost for all eternity. "

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. "

"What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life. "

"Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing."

"A single rose can be my garden; a single friend, my world."

"The hardest battle you are ever going to have to fight is the battle to be just you."

"I exist, I am, I am here, I am becoming, I make my own life and no one else makes it for me. I must face my own shortcomings, mistakes, transgressions. No one can suffer my non-being as I do, but tomorrow is another day, and I must decide to leave my bed and live again. And if I fail, I don't have the comfort of blaming you or life or God."

"The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around. It’s overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt."

"Only when we give joyfully, without hesitation or thought of gain, can we truly know what love means. "

"Don't spend your precious time asking "Why isn't the world a better place?" It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is "How can I make it better?" To that there is an answer."

"Don't walk in my head with your dirty feet."

"The most unfortunate thing that happens to a person who fears failure is that he limits himself by becoming afraid to try anything new. "

"A loving relationship is one in which the loved one is free to be himself -- to laugh with me, but never at me; to cry with me, but never because of me; to love life, to love himself, to love being loved. Such a relationship is based upon freedom and can never grow in a jealous heart."

"Each of our acts makes a statement as to our purpose."

"Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, 'Did you bring joy?' The second was, 'Did you find joy?"

"When we give ourselves in love we become our most vulnerable. We are never safe. We become open to disappointment and hurt"

"A wonderful realization will be the day you realize that you are unique in all the world. There is nothing that is an accident. You are a special combination for a purpose -- and don't let them tell you otherwise, even if they tell you that purpose is an illusion. (Live an illusion if you have to). You are that combination so that you can do what is essential for you to do. Don't ever believe that you have nothing to contribute. The world is an incredibly unfulfilled tapestry. And only you can fulfill that tiny space that is yours."

"Most of us remain strangers to ourselves, hiding who we are, and ask other strangers, hiding who they are, to love us."

"It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something."

"There are two big forces at work, external and internal. We have very little control over external forces such as tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, disasters, illness and pain. What really matters is the internal force. How do I respond to those disasters? Over that I have complete control."

"Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time."

"A total immersion in life offers the best classroom for learning to love"

"As soon as the love relationship does not lead me to me, as soon as I in a love relationship do not lead another person to himself, this love, even if it seems to be the most secure and ecstatic attachment I have ever experienced, is not true love. For real love is dedicated to continual becoming."

"We need others. We need others to love and we need to be loved by them. There is no doubt that without it, we too, like the infant left alone, would cease to grow, cease to develop, choose madness and even death."

"Man is happiest when he is creating. In fact, the highest state of which man is capable lies in the creative act."

"One does not fall 'in' or 'out' of love. One grows in love."

"This loving person is a person who abhors waste--waste of time, waste of human potential. How much time we waste. As if we were going to live forever."