Great Throughts Treasury

"Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action."

"Our lives improve only when we take chances -- and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves."

"I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself."

"Good listeners, like precious gems, are to be treasured"

"I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life."

"One species on the planet, and one species only, has reached the point of being able to have an impact on the evolutionary fortunes of all other species and upon the functioning of all ecosystems. We also have, in a way that is not true for any other species, a relationship to the planet as a whole and to the future. We live with all life."

"Reality isn't what it used to be."

"If you're angry at a loved one, hug that person. And mean it. You may not want to hug - which is all the more reason to do so. It's hard to stay angry when someone shows they love you, and that's precisely what happens when we hug each other."

"The idea of hunting and gathering as the best way for life has become quite popular recently, much more popular in some circles than the idea of simple farming as the best way of life. Many of the new primitives regard the beginnings of agriculture as one of humanity's major steps in the wrong direction. Most of the people who are drawn to such ideas do their actual hunting and gathering in grocery stores, but the “feeling” is there; it takes the form of a religion...expressed by participating in American Indian rituals - or primitive-style rituals that are created anew."

"True hope dwells on the possible, even when life seems to be a plot written by someone who wants to see how much adversity we can overcome true hope responds to the real world, to real life; it is an active effort"

"We’re never so vulnerable than when we trust someone – but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy."