Aspirations
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"When you come to the
edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the unknown,
faith is knowing one of two things will happen; there will be something
solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly." (Richard Bach,
author of Jonathon Livingston Seagull) We can't all be heroes — somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by. "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." (Vince Lombardi) "Oh! To be clean as a mountain river! Clean as the air above the clouds, or on the middle seas! As the throbbing ether that fills the gulf between star and star! Nay, as the thought of the Son of Man Himself." (George MacDonald) "I never notice what has been done. I only see what remains to be done." (Madam Curie)
"There are some things you wouldn't change, even if you could. Things that can't be improved on, because they are just about as exquisite as anything gets. Things that appeal to our senses and sensibilities--like a perfect moment, a piece of music, a look, a creation--that we rely on to take us beyond standards. Things that soar above the level best. These are the things we call 'classics.' They bring a quiet magnificence into our homes and hearts. They often come to us from a time when people's visions are clearer, when they can see the way through to truths about how we could live, and what we would achieve, if we combined equal parts of wisdom, integrity, purpose, and love. Classics aren't always lofty and unattainable; most of them are easily within our reach. And they teach us that though we can't always add to the quantity of our daily lives, we can do wondrous things about their quality." (Douglas Pagels)
"I find the great thing in this world is, not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving." (Goethe)
"Before anyone can come to Utopia, they must learn the way there. Utopia, I see, is only a home for those who have learnt the way — it is not the place for those who grow wealthy by intercepting but by serving. (H. G. Wells) "Ideals are like stars, you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and, following them, you reach your destiny." (Carl Schurz) "If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it." (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) "Be not simply good, but good for something." (Henry David Thoreau) "Many of us spend half our time wishing for things we could have if we didn't spend half our time wishing." (Alexander Woollcott) "The ideal life is in our blood and never will be still. Sad will be the day for men and women when they become contented with the thoughts they are thinking and the deeds they are doing—where there is not forever beating at the doors of their souls some great desire to do something larger, which they know they were meant and made to do." (Phillips Brooks) "Notwithstanding the sight of all our miseries, which press upon us and take us by the throat, we have an instinct which we cannot repress, and which lifts us up." (Blaise Pascal) "Dreams do come true, if we only wish hard enough. You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it. "What will you have?" says God. "Pay for it and take it." (James M. Barrie) A handful of seed cast into the air will blanket the ground with beauty for the soul or food for the hungry. I, too, will set myself into the wind and cast high my handful of seed, and perhaps it will produce both beauty and food for myself and for others. "Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." (Louisa May Alcott) "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.
Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become
great." (Mark Twain) |
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