This Has Been My Life

"Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].
I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living."

- Bertrand Russell

No Happiness without Action

"Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." - Benjamin Disraeli

Step Out of Our Ruts

"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."

- M. Scott Peck

What Happiness Consists Of

"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." - Albert Camus

A Life Worth Living

"It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Deep Satisfaction to the Mind

"Beauty: the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest)."

One Day at a Time

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

A Man of Value

"Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value." - Albert Einstein

Speaking Your Truth

"Living with integrity means:

Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships.
Asking for what you want and need from others.
Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension.
Behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values.
Making choices based on what you believe, and not what others believe."

- Barbara De Angelis

Love is Kind

"Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails."

- I Corinthians 13:4-8

Curiosity

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

- Ellen Parr

Invective Against Graft

ABUSE:
1. misapply.
2. ill-use, maltreat, injure, harm, hurt.
3. vilify, vituperate, berate, scold; slander, defame, calumniate, traduce.
6. misapplication.
7. slander, aspersion. Abuse, censure, invective all mean strongly expressed disapproval. Abuse implies an outburst of harsh and scathing words against another (often one who is defenseless): abuse directed against an opponent. Censure implies blame, adverse criticism, or hostile condemnation: severe censure of acts showing bad judgment. Invective applies to strong but formal denunciation in speech or print, often in the public interest: invective against graft.