To live content with small means, to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common–this is to be my symphony.

— William Ellery Channing

Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

For every problem, there is a solution which is simple, neat and wrong.

— H. L. Mencken

Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have–so spend it wisely.

— Kay Lyons

Life is the first gift, love is the second, and understanding the third.

— Marge Piercy

We do not need more material development; we need more spiritual development. We do not need more intellectual power; we need more moral power. We do not need more knowledge; we need more character. We do not need more government; we need more culture.

We do not need more law; we need more religion. We do not need more of the things that are seen; we need more of the things that are unseen.

— Calvin Coolidge

Accept the pain, cherish the joys, resolve the regrets; then can come the best of benedictions–“If I had my life to live over, I’d do it all the same.”

— Joan McIntosh

The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you don’t know how or why.

— Albert Einstein

The disciples were absorbed in a discussion of Lao-tzu’s dictum:

Those who know do not say; those who say do not know.

When the master entered, they asked him what the words meant. Said the Master, “Which of you knows the fragrance of a rose?”

All of them knew. Then he said, “Put it into words.” All of them were silent.

— Retold by Anthony de Mello

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.

— Matsuo Basho

Fear less; hope more.Eat less; chew more.Sigh less; breathe more.Hate less; love more, and all good things are yours.

— Swedish Proverb

Life is easier than you’d think; all that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable.

— Kathleen Norris