short quotes | stories

Thirty spokes on a cartwheel

Go towards the hub that is the center

- but look, there is nothing at the center
and that is precisely why it works!

If you mould a cup you have to make a hollow:
it is the emptiness within it that makes it useful.

In a house or room it is the empty spaces
- the doors, the windows - that make it useable.

They all use what they are made of
to do what they do,

but without their nothingness they would be nothing.

     --- From the Illustrated Tao Te Ching
         translation by Man-Ho Kwok, Martin Palmer, & Jay Ramsay

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the
place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing
shape, from a spider's web. That is why we must not discriminate between
things. Where things are concerned there are no class distinctions."

     -- Pablo Picasso

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

  If each grain of sand were to say:
  One grain does not make a mountain,
  There would be no land.

  If each drop of water were to say:
  One drop does not make an ocean,
  There would be no sea.

  If each note of music were to say:
  Each note does not make a symphony,
  There would be no melody.

  If each word were to say:
  One word does not make a library,
  There would be no book.

  If each brick were to say:
  One brick does not make a wall,
  There would be no house.

  If each seed were to say:
  One seed does not make a field,
  There would be no harvest.

  If each of us were to say:
  One person does not make the difference,
  There would never be love and peace on earth.

  You and I do make the difference,
  Begin today and make the difference.

  ---Author Unknown

You can 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

Human beings have always employed an enormous amount of clever
devices for running away from themselves...we can keep ourselves busy, fill
our lives with so many diversions, stuff our heads with so much
knowledge, involve ourselves with so many people and cover so much ground that
we never have time to probe the fearful and wonderful world within.... 
By middle life, most of us are accomplished fugitives from ourselves.
- John Gardner

DELIVERANCE

When people let go of goals and expectations,
they will find the source of their own creativity.
If not directed by others, they will find the best thing to do.

When profit and machinery are less important,
people become more creative.

If deliverance from these is not possible,
stay centered in your own resourcefulness and follow
the creative Tao.

     -- Pamela K. Metz, _The Creative Tao_

When the Master makes a mistake, she realizes it.
Having realized it, she admits it.
Having admitted it, she corrects it.
She considers those who point out her faults
as her most benevolent teachers.
She thinks of her enemy
as the shadow that she herself casts.

    -- Tao Te Ching (translation by Stephen Mitchell)

"The universal mind choreographs everything that is happening in
billions of galaxies with elegant precision and unfaltering intelligence. Its
intelligence is ultimate and supreme, and it permeates every fiber of existence:
from the smallest to the largest, from the atom to the cosmos."

    From Deepak Choprah's
                    _Seven Spiritual Laws of Success_ -- pg. 105

Watch your thoughts, they become words; watch your words, they become
actions; watch you actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they
become character; watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
- Frank Outlaw

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength
from distress, and grow brave by reflection.  'Tis the business of little
minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves
his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
- Thomas Paine

The Longer I Live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important that appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how we react to it. And soit is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.

Charles Swindoll.

To realize the value of one year: Ask a student who has failed a final exam.

To realize the value of one month: Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of one week: Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of one minute: Ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize the value of one millisecond: Ask the person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have. You will treasure it even more when you can share it with someone special.
- Unknown