Great Throughts Treasury

"The great and glorious masterpiece of humanity is to know how to live with a purpose."

"Action is stronger than subjectivity. No matter what you feel or think, you can still act."

"Achievement flows from clear intent and focused effort over time. In order to achieve, we have to start where we are, find out what we need, have a plan and follow it through, persisting through difficulties and problems until we reach our goal."

"Discipline is the surest means to greater freedom and independence; it provides the focus to achieve the skill level and depth of knowledge that translates into more options in life... The Law of Discipline points to a paradox. While freedom is our transcendent birthright, it must be earned in this world; discipline remains the key to freedom and independence."

"Freedom and responsibility go together, as do independence and discipline."

"Expression has a different tone from communication; it involves not only sharing one's own emotional reality but encouraging others to do the same... Emotional self-expression - sharing their authentic feelings honestly and directly and encouraging others to do the same... cultivate empathy but avoid sympathy."

"Human bondage is a state of mind."

"Our responsibility is to allow our deepest drivers and talents to find expression through whatever form of service or career we choose, in the most positive, altruistic way we can."

"Once we change our expectations about ourselves, other people, and the world - not just pretend to change the, but actually change them, we can change the shape of our life."

"Self-trust comes through direct experience, which remind us to pay attention first to our own experience, not to advice from a book or teacher."

"Self-knowledge is not the end; it is only the beginning."

"The dynamic tension between our drives and our fears creates the theater of our life."

"Rest your mind in the eternal present, but open your eyes to the highest possibilities of your life path. Trust the process of your life, keep your sense of humor, and, above all, remember that is never too late to experience the life you were born to live."

"This metaphor of a mountain path allows us to reconcile an ancient paradox about whether we truly have free will or whether our life is somehow predestined. At the moment of birth we are each given a specific inner mountain to climb, reflecting the force of predestination. How we climb and the time we take are up to us, reflecting the power of free will. In other words, we're given the playing field, but we choose how to play the game. We always have the power of choice, discipline, responsibility and commitment. No life path is harder or easier, better or worse, than any other, except to the degree we make it so."

"Trust... begins with self-trust."

"Time doesn't exist; what we refer to as "past" and "future" have no reality except in our own mental constructs. The idea of time is a convention of thought and language, a social agreement; in truth, we only have this moment."

"We are never too old to start living."

"In every moment, the quality of your life is on the line. In each, you are either fully alive or relatively dead."

"Looking back, we see with great clarity, and what once appeared as difficulties now reveal themselves as blessings."

"We learn by imitation; we teach by example."

"Pain is a relativity objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering."

"Stress happens when your mind resists what is. If your spouse or lover leaves you, the amount of stress or suffering each of you experiences depends upon the meanings each of you places on the event."

"Whatever gave you the idea that fear was some kind of reason not to do something?... The only time you have a chance to show courage is when you're afraid."

"The only problem in your life is your mind’s resistance to life as it unfolds."