wisdom 4

Every day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death. Do not let these small lives pass you by in a blur of indifference.” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

The desert has taught me that the person who survives is not the strongest, but the one who can find a reason to sing when the water is low. Hope is not a feeling; it is a discipline. Practice it until it becomes your nature.” ~ Gertrude Bell

The value of a day is not in what we accumulate, but in what we perceive. If you have seen the beauty in a single shadow today, you have not lived in vain. Gratitude is the lens that brings the world into focus.” ~ John Ruskin

I have found that the greatest joy is to be found in the things that are commonest to us all. Appreciation is the key that opens the door to a happy life. If you look for the good, the good will find you.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

I don’t believe in being a pessimist. If things are going to go wrong, I’d rather be surprised than to have spent the whole time beforehand in a state of misery. A brave and happy heart is a fortress against any storm.” ~ Mary Webb

I have never seen a man who was a success in his work but was not also an optimist. If you go into a thing with a heavy heart, you carry the seeds of your own defeat. It is the bright and hopeful eye that finds the way.” ~ Charles Schwab

The sun will rise and set regardless of our grief. Therefore, let us make the rising an occasion for joy and the setting an occasion for peace. We are the keepers of the light in our own small corners; do not let your lamp go out.” ~ Chief Joseph

Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take the responsibility for making it so. Belief in the good is the first step toward it.” ~ Noam Chomsky

The habit of looking on the best side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a year. It is a fortune that no one can steal, a light that no one can quench, and a strength that grows with every use.” ~ Samuel Johnson

No one can keep a person down who has the right mental attitude and the will to rise. You are the master of your own spirit, and if you choose to see the possibility in the problem, the problem itself will provide the ladder.” ~ Booker T. Washington

The value of a moment is not in its duration, but in its depth. Because our time is limited, every second we spend in apathy or anger is a theft from the joy we were meant to inhabit. Guard your hours fiercely.” ~ John Ruskin

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. Your clock is ticking away the very fabric of your existence; every moment you waste is a piece of yourself you can never reclaim.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you. ~ Maya Angelou

You’ve got to live each day as if it’s your last. Not in a reckless way, but in a way that makes you proud of how you spent it, should it really be the last.” ~ Frank Sinatra

You must learn to be your own best friend. If you depend on the world to tell you who you are or what you are worth, you will always be a prisoner of their whims. Freedom is the wisdom to define your own value from the inside out.” ~ Rita Hayworth

I think the most important thing is to keep a sense of humor about yourself. If you can laugh at your own mistakes, you’ve already won. Don’t take life too seriously; none of us get out alive anyway. Just be kind, be grateful, and keep moving forward.” ~ Grace Kelly

You can’t live your life for other people. You’ve got to do what’s right for you, even if it upsets some people. Happiness is found when you stop seeking approval and start seeking your own truth. Life is short; don’t spend it trying to fit into a mold.” ~ Ingrid Bergman

The secret to a happy life is to stay interested. If you are interested in the world, in people, and in the beauty of the morning, you will never be old. Curiosity is the best way to spend your time, and gratitude is the best way to keep your heart young.” ~ Burt Lancaster

What a man does is what he is. If he does work that is honest and brave, he is an honest and brave man. If he does work that is careless and false, he is a careless and false man. Intentions are air.” ~ George Patton

How can you know yourself? Never by contemplation, but by action. Try to do your duty and you will know at once what you are worth. The mirror of the mind is always foggy; the mirror of the deed is clear.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The truth of a man is not what he says to himself, but what he does in the light of day. If you would know yourself, look at your hands and see what they have actually built.” ~ Thomas Carlyle

We are what we do. If we do not act with justice, we are not just. If we do not act with courage, we are not brave. Your internal labels are meaningless until they are tested by the deed.” ~ Aristotle

Goodness is not a state of mind. It is a series of acts. If you are not doing good, you are not good. There is no middle ground where a man can sit and ‘be’ something without doing it.” ~ John Ruskin

A man’s character is not what he thinks it is. It is not even what he wants it to be. It is the simple, hard sum of his actions. If he acts like a coward, he is one, regardless of his brave thoughts.” ~ Anton Chekhov

Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds. You can claim any virtue you like, but you only own the virtues that you exercise in the heat of the day. Performance is the only reality.” ~ George Eliot

If you would be a person of character, let your life be the evidence. Belief is a private matter, but action is a public truth. The world judges you by the fruit of your labor, not the roots of your mind.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

The greatest deception we lead ourselves into is to believe that we are good because our intentions are good. Goodness is a practice, not a sentiment. If you do not perform it, you do not possess it.” ~ John Ruskin

I am not what I think I am, nor what I say I am. I am what I do..” ~ Frederick Douglass

The only thing that belongs to us is our own act. Our thoughts are often the thoughts of others; our words are the echoes of what we have heard; but our actions are our own signature upon the world.” ~ Zora Neale Hurston

10. “If you would be a person of honor, let your life be the evidence. Words are cheap and easily spoken, but a life of consistent labor is a monument that no one can argue with. You are the path you walk.” ~ Frederick Douglass

To be grateful for the good things that come to us is a duty, but to be grateful for the common things—the things we take for granted—is a blessing. We must learn to see the miraculous in the common, and the eternal in the passing moment of our lives.” ~ William Law

The present is the only thing that has no end. We are always moving through it, yet we often act as though it were merely a bridge to somewhere else. Stop on the bridge. Look at the water. Be thankful for the strength that allows you to stand.” ~ Erwin Schrödinger

There is no description, no image in any book that is capable of replacing the sight of real trees, and all the life to be found around them, in a real forest” ~ Maria Montessori

I squandered my yesterday in a thousand little worries, but today I have decided to be rich. I am rich in the air I breathe, the light I see, and the heart that still beats within me.” ~ Elizabeth Fry

The hours are few, and the work is great. But we must not let the magnitude of the task rob us of the sweetness of the hour. A thankful heart is a steady anchor in a stormy sea. Hold fast to the good that is here, right now.” ~ George Washington Carver

We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend and a moment of deep peace. Do not hurry through the woods; the trees have much to tell you if you will only stop and listen.” ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

“I have found that the greatest joy is to be found in the things that are commonest to us all. To feel the warmth of the sun, to smell the damp earth, to look into the eyes of a friend—these are the true riches. Appreciation is the key.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

The time is short. We must not waste it in the pursuit of shadows. If we can find one thing today to be thankful for—a bird’s song, a child’s laugh, or a moment of silence—we have won the day against the encroaching darkness. Make your seconds count.” ~ Lydia Maria Child

I am glad I am alive. I am glad that the stars are over me and the green earth under me. There is no such thing as a small day; every hour is a vessel into which we can pour the wine of our deepest gratitude and drink our fill.” ~ John Burroughs

If there’s any message, it is ultimately that it’s okay to be different; that it’s good to be different, that we should question ourselves before we pass judgment on someone who looks different, behaves different, talks different, is a different color.

Johnny Depp

No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs.” ~ John Spence

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars, to change the world.” ~ Harriet Tubman

Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you chase it, the more it will evade you, but if you notice the other things around you, it will gently come and sit on your shoulder.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things. We are always looking for the big events, but life is made of the little ones. The present hour is the only one we can truly call our own; make it bright.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher

I will give you my recipe for happiness. First, commit something beautiful to memory every day. Second, look for something pretty to see. Third, do something kind for someone else. Life is very short, and we must not let the beauty of it pass us by while we are busy looking.” ~ Alice Freeman Palmer

“Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought. This moment, this breath, this very bird on the branch—that is the world in its entirety.” ~ Bashō

Talk happiness. The world is sad enough… No path is wholly rough; look for the places that are smooth and clear, and speak of them to rest the weary ear of Earth, so hurt by one continuous strain of mortal discontent and grief and pain.” ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The only way to be happy is to make the most of what you have and the least of what you want. I have learned that the present moment is the only one in which we can truly live, and if we do not find our joy there, we shall never find it at all. Let every day be a complete life in itself.” ~ Ellen Glasgow

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive—to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.

Anna Julia Cooper

“The world is young yet, and the morning stars still sing together. We must not sit with folded hands, waiting for the coming of the dawn; we must be up and doing, for the work is great and the time is short. Let every minute be filled with the music of labor and the light of truth for others.”

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. I hope you treat every hour like a rare coin, choosing carefully where you lay it down. Let your time be spent in the pursuit of knowledge and the practice of kindness, for these are the only investments that never lose their value.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who do you spend time with? Criticizers or encouragers? Surround yourself with those who believe in you. Your life is too important for anything less.” ~ Steve Goodier

It’s in the moments when you’re not sure what to do that your future is being determined. Don’t ignore those moments. Don’t fear them. Remember your values. Remember your dreams. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Decide who you are. Decide what you believe is right and wrong. And have the courage to stand by your decisions. We are not our beliefs. We are our choices.” ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

When you’re humble, life keeps teaching you. When you’re proud, it stops bothering.” ~ Epictetus

We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” ~ Carlos Castaneda

The most important thing in life is to stop saying, ‘I wish’ and start saying, ‘I will’ ~ Charles Dickens

When you judge others, you do not define them, you define yourself.” ~ Earl Nightingale

The thing that no one tells you is that no one is ready. We’re trying to figure things out as we go along. If you’re waiting for someone to tell you you’re good enough, you’ll wait forever.” ~ Michael Caine

There’s a last time for everything. Everything comes to an end. Though it’s sometimes saddening we must let this understanding teach us to be grateful for every minute we have.

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. The sun will shine again, and you will find that you are stronger than you knew.” ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how you use them.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

We must not wait for the perfect moment to be thankful; rather, we must use our thankfulness to make the moment perfect for those around us.” ~ William James

A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed ~ Henrik Ibsen

It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are ~ Roy E. Disney

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, and how you can still come out of it. ~ Maya Angelou

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind ~ Bernard M. Baruch

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent” ~ Carl Sandburg

The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” — Michelangelo

You must understand that your pain is not meant to define you; it is meant to move you. It is the turning toward truth, not away from it, that begins the real journey.” ~ James Baldwin

Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work. If you don’t, the world will use you for its own purposes.” ~ H.L. Hunt

Don’t let the expectations and opinions of other people affect your decisions. It’s your life, not theirs. Do what matters most to you; do what makes you feel alive and happy. … If you let others tell you who you are, you are living their reality — not yours.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy,” Roy T. Bennett

Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself.” ~ Henry James

The only thing that belongs to us is the present. Even a man who has lived a long life and a man who dies young lose the same thing when they die: the present moment. Do not trade the only thing you own for a worry about a shadow.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. … A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. …a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living.” ~ Annie Dillard

Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment, for that is the only place where life is actually happening.” ~ Gautama Buddha

Your biggest problem today could be the biggest gift you’ve ever received because it may contain the lesson that will make you successful. If you stop looking for who’s to blame and you start looking for the lesson from your problem sometimes it can transform your life ~ Brian Tracy

When you feel overwhelmed, don’t think about everything you have to do. Pick one small victory and focus your energy on it. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Success is rarely about doing more – it’s about deleting what doesn’t matter… Your biggest opportunities will show up dressed as problems…. Confidence is just keeping promises to yourself. ~ Steve Bartlett

Here are 33 lessons I’ve learned 👇🏾❤️

Success is rarely about doing more – it’s about deleting what doesn’t matter.
The people you love will always be your best investment.
Failure isn’t the opposite of success – it’s the tuition fee.
Your biggest opportunities will show up dressed as problems.
Growth feels a lot like loss at first.
The first thought you have is often the truest. Trust it more.
Your health is the foundation under every ambition. Without it, nothing stands.
Anger is often just fear in disguise.
Discipline is easier than regret.
You become unstoppable the day embarrassment stops being a price you fear.
Most arguments are two people defending their childhood wound.
Confidence is just keeping promises to yourself.
There’s no such thing as balance – only priorities.
If you want to know what someone values, look at their calendar.
Hard conversations compound like investments. Avoiding them compounds like illness.
The person you marry is the most important career decision you’ll ever make.
Regret is always louder than rejection.
Don’t just chase goals. Chase environments that make those goals inevitable.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it deeply
The people who win are the ones who can suffer boredom.
Your childhood is an explanation, not a justification.
Most timeframes and delays people give you are fake – it’s just “how it’s always been done”. Your job is to push on them to see if they’re made of concrete or paper.
The most talented person rarely wins. The most consistent one does.
If it costs your peace, it’s too expensive.
Do not let the internet tell you how hard you should or shouldn’t work.
You don’t rise to your goals. You fall to your systems.
Your energy introduces you before your words do. Get right with yourself.
Great work is just good work repeated. Be consistent, not perfect.
Protecting your time is the highest form of self-care and self-respect.
Everything is figure-out-able if you’re willing to look stupid.
Fear shrinks when you move toward it.
If you can’t change it, change how you see it.
Mind your own business.

We are all under a sentence of death, with indefinite reprieves. Why then do we act as if we had ten thousand years in our pocket? If you have a song to sing, sing it now, for the silence is patient and very long.” ~ Leo Tolstoy

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. To lose an hour is to lose a piece of your soul that you can never buy back, no matter how much gold you offer.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do. Nothing else. We are our choices, and every moment is an opportunity to choose differently.” ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision. One leads to a lesson, the other leads to the slow decay of the soul in a prison of ‘what if’.”

Once the decision is made, do not look back. A man who constantly questions his own choices is like a builder who tears down at night what he built during the day.” ~ Søren Kierkegaard

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. The art of living is the art of elimination.”

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The most important thing in life is to be able to give yourself to a cause that is greater than yourself. If you do not have a hierarchy of values, you will be a slave to your own impulses.” ~ Bertrand Russell

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you’re too old or too young to do something. Life is about the journey, not the destination, and every moment is an opportunity to start over.” ~ Sophia Loren

The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. If you prioritize the mediocre, you will become mediocre. Time is the fire in which we burn.” ~ Vince Lombardi

The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood. For your time is the only thing you truly own, and if you spend it in bitterness, you have paid a price that no amount of gold can recover.” ~ Voltaire

I am grateful for my life, even the bits that were difficult. It is a miracle to be here at all, and I think we forget that. We should spend more time being astonished and less time being annoyed.” ~ Judi Dench

wisdom 4

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