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How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?
--- Satchel Paige, baseball great

"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words."
--- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German author, born on this day in 1749

Education lets you fly without a plane.
----Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a speech at DU

Do at least one thing every day that makes you happy.
--sign on Curves exercise salon wall

Animals give me more pleasure through the viewfinder of a camera than they ever did in the crosshairs of a gunsight. And after I've finished "shooting", my unharmed victims are still around for others to enjoy.
--Jimmy Stewart, actor (1908-1997)

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.

---Ralph Waldo Emerson

Like cars in amusement parks, our direction is often determined through collisions.
--Yahia Lababidi, author (b. 1973)

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.
--Eleanor Roosevelt, diplomat and author (1884-1962)

Our heads are round so that thoughts can change direction.
--Francis Picabia, painter and poet (1879-1953)

"The flag of the United States has not been created by rhetorical sentences in declarations of independence and in bills of rights. It has been created by the experience of a great people, and nothing is written upon it that has not been written by their life." ~Woodrow Wilson, who in 1916 proclaimed June 14 as Flag Day

A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule.
--Michael Pollan, author, journalism professor (b. 1955)

The Leader is best when people are hardly aware of his existence,
Not so good when people praise his government
Less good when people stand in fear,
Worst, when people are contemptuous.
Fail to honor people, and they will fail to honor you.
But of a good leader, who speaks little
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled,
The people say, 'We did it ourselves.'
~Lao Tzu

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects

Robert Heinlein, called the Dean of Science Fiction writing (1907-1988)

Memories are interpreted like dreams.
---Leo Longanesi, journalist and editor (1905-1957)

Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos - the trees, the clouds, everything.
---Thich Nhat Hanh

"The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, swelling in the present moment and feeling truly alive." - Thich Nhat Hanh

Every one of us can become a Buddha. A Buddha is someone fully awake.

from: Savor : mindful eating, mindful life by Thich Nhat Hanh and Lilian Cheung.

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.
--Mark Twain

A good word is like a good tree whose root is firmly fixed and whose top is in the sky.
--The Koran

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

The Dahli Lama

A gun gives you the body, not the bird.
--Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)

I think I've discovered the secret of life--you just hang around until you get used to it.

Charles M. Schulz, cartoonist (and philosopher)

Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking.

-Wangari Muta Maathai, activist and Nobel laureate (b. 1940)

As an irrigator guides water to the fields, as an archer aims an arrow, as a carpenter carves wood, the wise shape their lives.
– The Buddha

The glory of the human being is our ability to remake ourselves. The Buddha is very rightly called the Compassionate One because he holds out hope for everybody. He doesn’t say our past has been dark, therefore our chances are dim. He says whatever our past, whatever our present, the sky is bright for us because we can remake ourselves.

The Buddha says, be a good woodworker. Consciousness is the wood, and you can make it take any shape you like. Just as a carpenter works the wood to build a house or a fine piece of furniture, similarly we can fashion the responses and attitudes we desire: love, wisdom, security, patience, loyalty, enthusiasm, cheerfulness.

Every one of us is precious in the cosmic perspective. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.

Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)

Ships at a distance have every man on board.
---Zora Neale Hurston "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

Obesity is a mental state, a disease brought on by boredom and disappointment.
--Cyril Connolly, critic and editor (1903-1974)

The world is full of cactus but you don't have to sit on it.
---Old Proverb

A beautiful thing is never perfect.
---Egyptian proverb

There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.
----Marshall McLuhan, educator and philosopher (1911-1980)

"The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for."

Maureen Dowd, NY Times Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

---Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)

Philosopher John Locke once said, "Our incomes are like our shoes; if too small, they gall and pinch us; but if too large, they cause us to stumble and to trip."

In the new year, may your income be like a nice pair of shoes, not too small, but large enough to slip into and be comfortable.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.

---Winston Churchill

If you want to make enemies, try to change something.

--Woodrow Wilson

The real index of civilization is when people are kinder than they need to be.

Louis de Berniere, novelist (b. 1954)

The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.

Albert Einstein, "The World As I See It" (1931)

I'm just moving clouds today; tomorrow I'll try mountains.

Ashleigh Brilliant, "Pot-Shots"

Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.
Mark Twain, author and humorist
(1835-1910)

If we did all that experts tell us to, we'd never sleep. Maybe we should first allocate the 8hrs to sleep. I'll bet all else will improve.
~ Rob Myers (via twitter)

Man can be the most affectionate and altruistic of creatures, yet he's potentially more vicious than any other. He is the only one who can be persuaded to hate millions of his own kind whom he has never seen and to kill as many as he can lay his hands on in the name of his tribe or his God.

Benjamin Spock, pediatrician and author
(1903-1998)

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Henry David Thoreau

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.

Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer
(1920-1992)

Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.

Robert Orben, magician and author (b. 1927)

Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.

Martin Luther King Jr., civil-rights leader
(1929-1968)

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate
(1856-1950)

Today you are
You, that is truer than true.
There is no one alive
who is Youer than You.

Dr. Seuss, author and illustrator (1904-1991)

All I ask is this: Do something. Try something. Speaking out, showing up, writing a letter, a check, a strongly worded e-mail. Pick a cause -- there are few unworthy ones. And nudge yourself past the brink of tacit support to action. Once a month, once a year, or just once.

Joss Whedon, writer and film director (b. 1964)

I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer.
Douglas Adams, satirist (1952-2001)