Sunday, January 29, 2006

Thomas Jefferson


Enlighten the people, generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like spirits at the dawn of day.

Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.

I cannot live without books.

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation which give happiness.

Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.

Power is not alluring to pure minds.

Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Life and Veil


Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

But you are eternity and your are the mirror.

Kahil Gibran

Monday, January 23, 2006

She Walks in Beauty


She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win,
the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,A
mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Lord Byron

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Sunday, January 22, 2006

Hope




Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!

For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the Verities and Realities of your Existence.

The Bliss of Growth,The Glory of Action,The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,

And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

Kalidasa

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

O Solitude


O SOLITUDE! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap Of murky buildings;
climb with me the steep,- Nature’s observatory - whence the dell,
Its flowery slopes, its river’s crystal swell,
May seem a span;
let me thy vigils keep ’Mongst boughs pavillion’d,
where the deer’s swift leap Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell.

But though I’ll gladly trace these scenes with thee,
Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind,
Whose words are images of thoughts refin’d,
Is my soul’s pleasure; and it sure must be Almost the
highest bliss of human-kind,
When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.

Keats

Buddha


Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds.

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life;
foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.

Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment
are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as
thoughts of resentment are forgotten.

Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others.
He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a
wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an
evil friend will wound your mind.

Words have the power to both destroy and heal.
When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of mediation leaves ignorance.
Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back,
and choose the path that leads to wisdom.

If a man possesses a repentant spirit his sins will disappear,
but if he has an unrepentant spirit his sins will continue and condemn
him for their sake forever.

Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace.

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

Everything is changeable, everything appears and disappears;
there is no blissful peace until one passes beyond the agony of life and death.

On life's journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter,
wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection
by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.

Our theories of the eternal are as valuable as are those which
a chick which has not broken its way through its shell might
form of the outside world.

Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your liberation with diligence.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

No one saves us but ourselves.
No one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path.


Monday, January 16, 2006

Martin Luther King


Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.



Thursday, January 12, 2006

The Prophet



"You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore,You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."

Kahil Gibran

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

The Golden Age of the Victorious


It is worth while to live and fight courageously
for sacred ideals.

O blow ye evil winds into my body's fire my
soul you'll never unravel.

Even though disappointed a thousand times
or fallen in the fight and everything would worthless seem,
I have lived amidst eternity --Be grateful, my soul --
My life was worth living.

He who was pressed from all sides but remained victorious
in spiritis welcomed into the choir of heroes.
He who overcame the fetters giving wings to his mind is
entering into the golden age ofthe victorious.

Norbert Capek
composed in Dresden Prison in 1941, shortly before he was transferred
to Dachau concentration camp, where he died in October, 1942

Friday, January 06, 2006

The Lake Isle of Innisfree



I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.And I shall have some peace there,
for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day I
hear the lake water
lapping with low sounds by the shore,
While I stand on the roadway
or on the pavements gray, I hear it in the
deep heart's core.

William Butler Yeats

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Hindu Wisdom


If the radiance of a thousand suns Were to burst at once into the sky That would be like the splendor of the Mighty one --I am become Death, The shatterer of Worlds.

- Bhagavad Gita.


"Whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything adverse must vanish. For, after all, it is but a dream. Mountain high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but maya. Fear not; it is banished. Crush it and it vanishes. Stamp upon it and it dies. Be not afraid. Think not how many times you fail. Never mind; time is infinite. Go forward. Assert yourself again and again and light must come."


- Vivekananda