The only gift is a portion of thyself.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Change always comes bearing gifts.  ~Price Pritchett

The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.  ~Thomas Jefferson

The great man is he who does not lose his child’s-heart.  ~Mencius

To give and then not feel that one has given is the very best of all ways of giving.  ~Max Beerbohm

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues. ~ Cicero

Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting. ~ Author Unknown

Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.  ~ William Faulkner

If you can’t be content with what you have received, be thankful for what you have escaped.  ~ Author Unknown

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest. ~ William Blake

A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind.  -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (1893 – 1986)

How often we find ourselves turning our backs on our actual friends, that we might go and meet their ideal cousins. -Henry David Thoreau

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. –George Washington

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what.  I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man. –George Washington

The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it.                                          –Laurence J. Peter

You must either modify your dreams or magnify your skills. ~ Jim Rohn

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin. ~ Mother Teresa

Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake. ~ Henry David Thoreau

The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example. ~ Thomas Morell

Ordinary riches can be stolen: real riches cannot.  In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you. -Oscar Wilde

Every job is a self portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence. –Anonymous

Success is a journey, not a destination.  The doing is often more important than the outcome. –Arthur Ashe

The first step to leadership is servanthood.  -John C. Maxwell

To expect defeat is nine-tenths of defeat itself. -Henry Louis Mencken

A hero is someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom. ~ Bob Dylan

Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.  ~ Daniel J. Boorstin

Justice is truth in action.  ~ Benjamin Disraeli

Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics. ~ Jane Addams

The pursuit of peace resembles the building of a great cathedral. It is the work of many a generation. In concept, it requires a master-architect; in execution, the labors of many. ~ Hubert H. Humphrey

Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.  ~ George Washington (1732 – 1799)

There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.  ~ Booker T. Washington (1856 – 1915)

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.  ~ Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)

Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.  ~ Ezra Taft Benson (1899 – 1994)

. . . before us lay the unknown.  What fascination lies in the word.  ~ Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868 – 1912)

It is not for me to change you.  The question is, how can I be of service to you without diminishing your degrees of freedom? -Buckminster Fuller

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. -John F. Kennedy

It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion. –Anatole France

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. –Winston Churchill

There is no stigma attached to recognizing a bad decision in time to install a better one. -Laurence J. Peter

The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases. -Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist (1875 – 1961)

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.      -William James, American psychologist and philosopher (1842 – 1910)

Men are more moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine.  –Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychologist (1856 – 1939)

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book. –Benjamin Franklin, American Founding Father, printer, author, and scientist (1706 – 1790)

The first step toward change is awareness.  The second step is acceptance. – Nathaniel Branden, Canadian-born,  American psychologist and philosopher (1930 -  )

When love and skill work together expect a masterpiece.  ~ John Ruskin

It is your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude. ~ Zig Ziglar

Our circumstances answer to our expectations and the demand of our natures.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your souls. ~ Ralph Vaull Starr

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. ~ Mother Teresa

The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet. ~ James Oppenheim

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.  Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.  Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it. –Martin Luther King Jr.

Ability is of little account without opportunity. –Napoleon Bonaparte

A fondness for power is implanted, in most men, and it is natural to abuse it, when acquired. –Alexander Hamilton

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected. –George Washington

There is real magic in enthusiasm.  It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment. –Norman Vincent Peale

Excellent things are rare. Plato

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind. Leonardo da Vinci

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. Jim Ryun

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision. Helen Keller

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.  –Aesop

Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else’s life forever.  –Margaret Cho

Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.  –George Sand

“If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get.”  -Frank A. Clark

“When asked if my cup is half-full or half-empty my only response is that I am thankful I have a cup.”  -Sam Lefkowitz

“Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”  -Charles Dickens

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.  –John F. Kennedy

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.

-Theodore Roosevelt

Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.  -Dwight D. Eisenhower

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.  -Isaac Asimov

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.  –Plato

You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings. –Pearl S. Buck

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.  –Sir Winston Churchill

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.  –Thomas A. Edison

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing.  - George Bernard Shaw

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it. -Thomas Jefferson

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. –George Bernard Shaw

The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage. -Thucydides

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. –Eleanor Roosevelt

If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.  ~Vincent Van Gogh

If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.  ~Author Unknown

The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: Their courage nerves a thousand living men. ~Minot J. Savage

For love of country they accepted death…  ~James A. Garfield

The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree.  ~Thomas Campbell

No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong. –Albert Einstein

It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err. –Mohandas K. Gandhi

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle. -Benjamin Franklin

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. -Joseph Addison, Writer, 1672-1719

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. -Helen Keller

Growth itself contains the germ of happiness. –Pearl S. Buck

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing. ~Abraham Lincoln

Thought is the sculptor who can create the person you want to be. ~Henry David Thoreau

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. ~Winston Churchill

Change your thoughts and you change your world. -Norman Vincent Peale

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. – Leo Tolstoy

Be the change you want to see in the world. –M.K. Gandhi

I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.
- Helen Keller

One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Gratitude consists of being more aware of what you have, than what you don’t.
- Unknown

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.
- Cynthia Ozick

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it
- William Arthur Ward

I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.
- Frederick Douglass

I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing.
- Michel de Montaigne

Respect yourself and others will respect you.
- Confucius

Without labor nothing prospers.
-Sophocles

A mind always employed is always happy. This is the true secret, the grand recipe, for felicity.
-Thomas Jefferson

All wealth is the product of labor.
-John Locke

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.
- William James

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.
- Don Marquis

Tomorrow is the day when idlers work, and fools reform.
- Edward Young

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
-Thomas Paine

In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

Liberty is the breath of life to nations.
-George Bernard Shaw

Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!
~ Edward Payson Powell

The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.
~ G.K. Chesterton

If you have integrity …nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity…nothing else matters.
~ Alan Simpson, former U.S. Senator

If you want to build a ship, don’t assemble people and assign them tasks, rather rouse them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
~ Antoine de Saint Exupery

Yes, turning good into great takes energy, but the building of momentum adds more energy back into the pool than it takes out.
~ Jim Collins, author Good to Great

Growth can be achieved from one’s attempts to “go for the perfect try.”
~ Sarah Smeltzer, Educator

If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing.
~ Zimbabwean Proverb

Earth’s crammed with heaven.
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Poet

I’ve learned in a hundred ways that I rarely regretted acting but often regretted not acting fast enough.
~ Jack Welch

As long as you’re going to think anyway, think big.
~ Donald Trump

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.
~ Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister

If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come.
~ Chinese proverb

A person starts to live when he can live outside of himself.
~ Albert Einstein, Physicist

Our whole dignity consists in thought. Let us endeavor, then, to think well: this is the principle of ethics.
~ Blaise Pascal

People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes.
~ Abigail Van Buren

Integrity has no need of rules.
~ Albert Camus

Temper gets people into trouble, but pride keeps them there.
~ Samuel Butler

What happens to a person is less significant than what happens within him.
~ Louis L. Mann

When we change the input into our minds, we change the output into our lives.
~ Buddha

No one that ever lived has ever had enough power prestige, or knowledge to overcome the basic condition of all life – you win some and you lose some.
~ Ken Keyes, Jr.

Failure is an event, never a person.
~ Roger William Brown

Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

All things are difficult before they are easy.
~ John Norley

I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed; and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying.
~ Thomas Sternhold

Success is on the far side of failure.
~ Thomas J. Watson

All my successes have been built on my failures.
~ Benjamin Disraeli

No one outside ourselves can rule us inwardly. When we know this, we become free.
~ Buddha

Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.
~ Arthur Somers Roche

As long as your conscience is your friend, never mind about your enemies.
~ Buddha

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.
~ Booker T. Washington

Strong people make as many ghastly mistakes as weak people. The difference is that strong people admit them, laugh at them, learn from them. That is how they become strong.
~ Joseph Needham

Only the mediocre are at their best all the time.
~ Gary Roche

My life is like one long obstacle course with me being the chief obstacle.
~ Jack Paar

What you are speaks so loudly, I can not hear what you are saying.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
~ Anais Nin
Writer, bigamist, diarist
1903-1977

When the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it may be that they take better care of it there.
~ Allan H. (Bud) Selig
Baseball Commissioner
1934 -

We can choose to throw stones, to stumble on them, to climb over them, or to build with them.
~ William Arthur Ward
Spiritual writer

If you have integrity …nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity…nothing else matters.
- Alan Simpson
former U.S. Senator

If you want to build a ship, don’t assemble people and assign them tasks, rather rouse them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
- Antoine de Saint Exupery

Yes, turning good into great takes energy, but the building of momentum adds more energy back into the pool than it takes out.
- Jim Collins
author Good to Great

The block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of the weak becomes a stepping stone in the path of the strong.
~ Thomas Carlyle

If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
~ Frank A. Clark

It is interesting to notice how some minds seem almost to create themselves, springing up under every disadvantage and working their solitary but irresistible way through a thousand obstacles.
~ Washington Irving

When a man realizes his littleness, his greatness can appear.
~ H.G. Wells

A great man leaves clean work behind him, and requires no sweeper up of the chips.
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Life is made up of little things. It is very rarely that an occasion is offered for doing a great deal at once. True greatness consists in being great in the little things.
~ Charles Simmons

Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.
~ Abraham Joshua Heschel

I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself.
~ Pietro Aretino

Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and apply myself to them, if they will not apply themselves to me.
~ Michel de Montaigne

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.
~ James Crook

Conductors of great symphony orchestras do not play every musical instrument; yet through leadership the ultimate production is an expressive and unified combination of tones.
~ Thomas D. Bailey

Men, like nails, lose their usefulness when they lose direction and begin to bend.
~ Walter Savage Landor

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
- Charles Kingsley

I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.
- Albert Schweitzer

The good life is not a passive existence where you live and let live. It is one of involvement where you live and help live.
- Herb Cohen

Success doesn’t mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives. It means winning the war, not every battle.
- Edwin C. Bliss

In skating over thin ice, our safety is our speed.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve learned that the secret of success in business is surprisingly simple; give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
- H. Jackson Brown

Many people go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
- Henry David Thoreau

Millions are idle – even if they have jobs. Some carve great careers while other simply chisel.
- Lawrence J. Peter

Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.
- Will Rogers

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
- John F. Kennedy

The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.
- Ben Stein

You can’t depend on your judgment when your imagination is out of focus.
- Mark Twain

I skate where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.
- Wayne Gretzky

We hope vaguely but dread precisely.
- Paul Valery

Create a life you love to look at.
- Richard Bach
Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.
- Buddha

There are many things that will catch your eye, but only a few that will catch your heart . . . pursue those.
- Henry David Thoreau

No one can predict to what heights you can soar. Even you will not know until you spread your wings.
- Ray Bradbury

Two roads diverged into a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
- Robert Frost

When you arrive at a fork in the road, take it.
- Yogi Berra

Your aspirations are your possibilities.
- Robert Browning

Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.
- Michelangelo

I’ve learned that the person with big dreams is more powerful than the one with all the facts.
- H. Jackson Brown

Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off your goal.
- E. Joseph Cossman

One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.
- Sidney Howard

Until you make peace with who you are, you’ll never be content with what you have.
Joanna Field -

Life is what happens when you are making other plans.
- John Lennon

Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark or the man afraid of the light?
- Maurice Freehill

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.
Henry Ford -

Learn to listen. Opportunity could be knocking at your door very softly.
- E. E. Cummings

It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.
- E. E. Cummings

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.
- Erica Jong

Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.
- Charles Reade

The easier it is to do, the harder it is to change.
- Eng’s Principle

The race is not always to the swift . . . but to those who keep on running.
- James Mark Cameron

The secret of walking on water is knowing where the stones are.
Herb Cohen