“The day is always his who works in it with serenity and great aims.”   --Ralph Waldo Emerson

If we celebrate the years behind us they become stepping stones of strength and joy for the years ahead.

“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”   --Victor Hugo

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”   --Robert Byrne

“Seek not to follow in the footsteps of men of old; seek what they sought.”   --Matsuo Basho

“What is a great man who has made his mark upon history?   Every time, if we think far enough, he is a man who has looked through the confusion of the moment and has seen the moral issue involved; he is a man who has refused to have his sense of justice distorted; he has listened to his conscience until conscience becomes a trumpet call to the like-minded men, so that they gather about him and together, with mutual purpose and mutual aid, they make a new period in history.   The lessons of great men are lost unless they reinforce upon our minds the highest demands which we make upon ourselves;... they are lost unless they drive our... wills forward in the direction of their highest ideals.”   --Jane Adams

“Choose a job you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life.” --Confucius

“All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be.”   --Pink Floyd

“Indeed, by emphasizing individual, material, and social success, society often ignores or penalizes those who are good, brave, truthful, compassionate, caring and honest and who pursue a spiritual path.   ‘Good guys finish last' is a common, and often true, saying if outer, material success is the measure.   And, since many of us are far removed from our spiritual nature, this common axion for success may be the only one we have.   This means that opening to our Spirit's basic goodness is an ongoing process made more complicated by our society's emphasis on individualism and material success.”   --Kramer & Kramer, Losing the Weight of the World, 82

“The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.   The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.”   --Marcus Aurelius

“Character is what you are in the dark.”   --Dwight L. Moody

Every little bit helps.   Every little quit hurts.

“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles that one has overcome while trying to succeed.”   --Booker T. Washington

“Success is a journey, not a destination.”   --Ben Sweetland

Asked which of his works he would select as his masterpiece, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, at the age of 83, replied, “My next one.”

The impossible:   what nobody can do until somebody does.

“Between the great things that we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing.”   --Adolph Monod

“There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as the expectation of something better.”   --Orison Swett Marden, editor, Success Magazine

The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining.

You can tell if you're on the right track-- it's usually uphill.

“Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain.   An occasional glance toward the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point.   Climb slowly, steadily, enjoying each passing moment.   The view from the summit will serve as a fitting climax for the journey.”   --Harold V. Melchert

“The greatest pleasure in life lies in doing what people say you cannot do.”   --Walter Bagehot

“Knowledge is power, but enthusiasm pulls the switch.”   --Arsenio Hall

“Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.”   --Dan Stafford

“Success is how high you bounce after you hit the bottom.”   --George Patton

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

“To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and   the affection of children... To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a   bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition... To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.   This is to have succeeded.”   --Ralph Waldo Emerson

We cannot control life, we can only control our attitude toward life.

“The true leader inspires in others self-trust, guiding their eyes to the spirit, the goal.”   --Bronson Alcott

“Every exit is an entry somewhere else.”   -- Tom Stoppard

“Let us follow our destiny, ebb and flow.   Whatever may happen, we master fortune by accepting it.”   --Virgil

“The key to happiness is having dreams; the key to success is making them come true.” --James Allen

“Effort is only effort when it begins to hurt.”   --Ortega y Gasset

“The world belongs to the energetic.”   --Emerson

Are you going places, or just being taken?

“Do not follow the path.   Go where there is no path and begin the trail.”  

--Ashanti Proverb

“A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”   --William Shedd

“What on Earth would a man do with himself if something did not stand in his way.”   --H.G. Wells

“A good scare is worth more than good advice.”   --Ed Howe

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim.   When you don't know what harbor you're aiming for, no wind is the right wind.

“Go as far as the eye can see, and when you get there, look further.” --Dag Hammarskjold

“By asking for the impossible we attain the best possible.” –Armenian Proverb

“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”   --Victor Hugo

Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside us.

“If you think you're too small to make a difference, you haven't been in bed with a mosquito.”   --Anita Roddick

“We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.” --Omar Bradley

“Do not go where the path may lead.   Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” --Muriel Strode

“One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling block.” -- Jack Penn

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.”  

--Beverly Sills

“Nothing in the world will take the place of persistence.   Talent will not; nothing is more common than the unsuccessful person with talent.   Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.   Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.   Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.   The slogan ‘press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”   --Calvin Coolidge

“Life is action not production.”   --Aristotle

“A ship in a safe harbor is safe, but that is not what a ship is built for.”   --William Shedd

“The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.”   --William James

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”   --Theodore Roosevelt

“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.”   --Helen Keller

“Genius, the power which dazzles human eyes, is oft but perseverance in disguise.”   --H. W. Austin

"I don't know what the key to success is, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone." --Bill Cosby