Good quotes

This could be a thread of interest to everyone. Everyone makes sense of life in their own way, a quote can be very illuminating giving inspiration and/or direction in ones own life and insight into anothers mind. To read the quote and examine oneself gently and lovingly, then to apply any necessary changes can be a good exercise. Strengths grow with practice.

Rather than resenting or regretting what has already happened, focus your thoughts on the good you can do in this moment. There are plenty of opportunities when you choose to see them.

I am surprised that no one has added quotes that they have found useful to this thread. In order to inject a little life into it here are some more. I am not sure of the author. One thing is for sure he/she has studied constructive thought. I ilke it not only for its good sense but also for its lack of exclusivity.

You are not capable of correct judgment, of using good sense, where there is fear or doubt or despondence in your mind. Sound judgment comes from a perfectly working brain, unclouded, untroubled faculties. Never act upon that which is suggested when you are in a state of fear and anxiety. When fear is in the mind, the mental forces are scattered and we are not capable of vigorous concentration. Calmness, poise, balance, mental serenity are absolutely essential to the most effective thinking.

The art of arts is to learn how to clear the mind of its enemies, - enemies of our comfort, happiness, and success. It is a great thing to learn to focus the mind upon the beautiful instead of the ugly, the true instead of the false, upon harmony instead of discord, life instead of death, health instead of disease, and is not always easy, but it is possible to everybody. It requires only a little skillful thinking, the forming of the right thought habits.

No, this thread is not forgotten. I have a small compact book called, "Words of Wisdom".

But there are many such books and websites by googling these words. To have quotes arranged on the forum maybe it is best to categorise quotes into sections/threads, e.g quotes on the topic "charity", quotes on "friendship", quotes on "success" , quotes on "love", etc. Otherwise you will end up with a single long thread of various random quotes. For example, I just flipped on the page of "giving", and here's just a few from that section :

A liberal man is one who gives the right thing at the right time to the right person

The value of a man should be in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive

Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting

Truly giving knows no season

Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless ... give clothes to those who have nothing to wear and do not refuse to help

Give cheerfully with one hand and you will gather well with two

All that is not given is lost

Think of giving as not a duty but as a privilge

For of those to whom much is given, much is required

Maybe you can make this as a mini project on this forum. The thread is a good idea and you can champion this and also use it like a blog for quotes for your own use. Even after typing that above small bunch, I feel better. It almost feels like typing Murlis quotes . Maybe Admin can best advice how best to split quotes into category threads, or even a subforum.

There are often wisdom quotes in "Purity" magazine published by the BKWSU. They must must be getting their quotes somewhere.

PS. regarding that Irish proverb, I guess it means if you offer a pint in the bar, you get two back in return. Yes, it must Irish .

Thanks Bansy,

Very constructive contribution and suggestions. I am hoping that people will post quotes that they have found to be helpful in their own lives. A brief synposis of how the quote guided or directed their effort would be great too. In retrospect the title could have been "Quotes that Have Improved My Life". By moving in this direction, what will be accumulated will be not a mass of theory, rather it will be a catalogue of useful tried and tested ways of moving forward. We all have something to contribute here.

I very much liked the "Giving is a Privilege" quote in your list as it is at the heart of my deliberate thought construct. Somehow life likes a giver and the giving is the foundation for more and better giving at another time. This is one of the ways in which life reveals its secrets to those who try.

Here is a quote that we all have used as a compass for creation of new thought at various times.

What you allow to live in your heart, harbor in your mind, dwell upon in your thoughts, are seeds which will develop in your life and produce things like themselves. Hate seed in the heart can not produce a love flower in the life.

The most powerful forces in the universe are the silent forces; and in accordance with the intensity of its power does a force become beneficent when rightly directed, and destructive when wrongly employed. This is common knowledge in regard to the mechanical forces, such as steam, electricity, etc., but few have yet learned to apply this knowledge to the realm of mind, where the thought-forces (most powerful of all) are continually being generated and sent forth as currents of salvation or destruction.

At this stage of his evolution, man has entered into the possession of these forces, and the whole trend of his present advancement is their complete subjugation. All the wisdom possible to man on this material earth is to be found only in complete self-mastery, and the command, "Love your enemies," resolves itself into an exhortation to enter here and now, into the possession of that sublime wisdom by taking hold of, mastering and transmuting, those mind-forces to which man is now slavishly subject, and by which he is helplessly borne, like a straw on the stream, upon the currents of selfishness.

The Hebrew prophets, with their perfect knowledge of the Supreme Law, always related outward events to inward thought, and associated national disaster or success with the thoughts and desires that dominated the nation at the time. The Knowledge of the causal power of thought is the basis of all their prophecies, as it is the basis of all real wisdom and power. National events are simply the working out of the psychic forces of the nation. Wars, plagues, and famines are the meeting and dashing of wrongly-directed thought-forces, the culminating points at which destruction steps in as the agent of the Law. It is foolish to ascribe war to the influence of one man, or to one body of men. It is the crowning horror of national selfishness.

At any point in time I can initiate new causes, I continually make conscious effort to control the causal power of thought and never stay long in thoughts of hatred and fault finding. To love what I wish to grow in my life and not to create fear of or hate what I do not wish seems to be the way. I do not just assume that what I think is true, I examine my thought creation, find the basis on which I built it and apply the remedy if necessary. Thought creation can always be improved. This is continual effort not just reading something and saying yes or no - that is not enough. A muscle grows with exercise. Thoughts are causes, situations are effects.

Just to let you all know what I am doing that way if you are a well wisher and have a better approach you are more likely to post it here.

Contrary to general belief, I do not believe that friends are necessarily the people you like best, they are merely the people who got there first.

I actually misquoted this to someone recently and, in a moment of vanity, I have to say I like mine better ...

Contrary to general belief, best friends are not necessarily the people that are best for you, they are merely the people who got there first.

Yet another quote from James Allen, I must be a devotee!

If you are given to anger, worry, jealousy, greed, or any other inharmonious state of mind, and expect perfect physical health, you are expecting the impossible, for you are continually sowing the seeds of disease in your mind. Such conditions of mind are carefully shunned by the wise man, for he knows them to be far more dangerous than a bad drain or an infected house.

Now for a definition of madness - To do exactly the same thing and expect a different result.

Now for a definition of sanity - Sorry, I know nothing about this topic.

Someone called Burleigh wrote this verse, I like it.

I followed happiness to make her mine,
Put towering oak and swinging ivy vine.
She fled, I chased, o'er slanting hill and dale,
O'er fields and meadows, in the purpling vale
Pursuing rapidly o'er dashing stream,
I scaled the dizzy cliffs where eagles scream;
I traversed swiftly every land and sea,
But always happiness eluded me.
Exhausted, fainting, I pursued no more,
But sank to rest upon a barren shore.
One came and asked for food, and one for alms;
I placed the bread and gold in bony palms.
One came for sympathy, and one for rest;
I shared with every needy one my best;
When, lo! sweet Happiness, with form divine,
Stood by me, whispering softly, 'I am thine. '

Saints are sinners that never gave up.

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other."

Eternal wisdom and poetry.

O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!

Oh would some Power the gift, give us; to see ourselves as others see us!

We may be of aid to one another by way of suggestion, by way of bringing to one another a knowledge of certain higher laws and forces — laws and forces that will make it easier to do that which we would do. The doing, however, must be done by each one for himself.

"Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected."

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.