QUOTES

The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.
Voltaire

When life gives you lemons, cut them in half and squirt life in the eye!
Author Unknown

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.
Groucho Marx

You have to have a darkness...for the dawn to come.
Harrison Ford

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao Tzu

If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative.
Woody Allen

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain

My candle burns at both ends; it will not last the night; but ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - it gives a lovely light!
Edna St. Vincent Millay

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
George Bernard Shaw

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
Isaac Newton

I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.
Voltaire

True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.
Socrates

And in knowing that you know nothing, that makes you the smartest of all.
Socrates

The wise learn many things from their enemies.
Aristophanes

No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.
Plato

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde


Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
Chinese Proverb

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
Oscar Wilde

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
Socrates

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.
Confucius

The public interest is best served by the free exchange of ideas.
Judge John Kane

There is no sin except stupidity.
Oscar Wilde

When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.
Thomas Jefferson

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.
Galileo Galilei

A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it, is committing another mistake.
Confucius

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.
Plato

The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.
Mark Twain

For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain -- and most fools do.
Dale Carnegie

Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.
Quentin Crisp

I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
Albert Einstein

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
If you can imagine it, you can create it. If you dream it, you can become it.
William Arthur Ward
You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.
Christopher Columbus
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And Today? Today is a gift. That's why we call it the present.
Babatunde Olatunji
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Oscar Wilde
Don't let what you can't do stop you from doing what you can do.
John Wooden
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Oscar Wilde
The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.
Theodore Roosevelt
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
Albert Einstein
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Mark Twain
Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.
Elizabeth Bibesco
It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
J.K. Rowling
If you want to be happy, be.
Leo Tolstoy
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller
A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed.
Henrik Ibsen
The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.
Ayn Rand
Your life is your message to the world. Make it inspiring.
Lorrin L. Lee
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
Cicero
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Thomas Alva Edison
Never tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon.
Author Unknown
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
Epictetus
Never be afraid to try, remember...
Amateurs built the ark.
Professionals built the Titanic.
Author Unknown
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Frank Outlaw
If you are going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill
First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.
Dale Carnegie
Everything is okay in the end, if it's not ok, then it's not the end.
Author Unknown
Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience.
Victoria Holt

ANAK BELAJAR DARI KEHIDUPANNYA (Dorothy Law Nolte)

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  celaan, ia belajar memaki

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  permusuhan, ia belajar berkelahi

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan ketakutan, ia belajar gelisah

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  rasa iba, ia belajar menyesali diri

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  olok-olok, ia belajar rendah diri

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan iri hati, ia belajar kedengkian

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  dipermalukan, ia belajar meras bersalah

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  dorongan, ia belajar percaya diri

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  toleransi, ia belajar menahan diri

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  pujian, ia belajar menghargai

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  penerimaan, ia belajar mencintai

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  dukungan, ia belajar menghargai dirinya

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan pengakuan, ia belajar mengenal tujuan

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  rasa berbagi, ia belajar kedermawanan

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  kejujuran, ia belajar kebenaran

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  keterbukaan, ia belajar keadilan

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  rasa aman, ia belajar percaya

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  persahabatan, ia belajar menemukan cinta dalam kehidupan

Jika anak dibesarkan dengan  ketentraman, ia belajar berdamai dengan pikiran (istiqomah)

(By : Dorothy Law Nolte)

HASRAT UNTUK BERUBAH

Sebuah kalimat indah yang terdapat di sebuah makam di Westminster Abbe.

 (inscription on the tomb of an Anglican Bishop in Westminster Abbey – 1100 AD)

Ketika aku masih muda dan bebas berkhayal,

Aku bermimpi ingin mengubah dunia,

Seiring dengan bertambahnya usia dan kearifanku,

Kudapati bahwa dunia tak kunjung berubah.


Maka cita-cita itu pun agak kupersempit,

Lalu kuputuskan hanya untuk mengubah negeriku.

Namun, tampaknya hasrat itu pun tiada hasil.


Tatkala usiaku makin senja,

Dengan semangatku yang masih tersisa,

Kuputuskan untuk mengubah keluargaku,

Orang-orang yang paling dekat denganku.


Sayangnya, mereka pun tak mau diubah.


Kini, sementara aku berbaring menuju ajal menjelang,

Tiba-tiba kusadari :

Andaikan yang pertama-tama kuubah adalah diriku,

Maka dengan menjadikan diriku sebagai teladan,

Mungkin aku bisa mengubah keluargaku.

Lalu berkat inspirasi dan dorongan mereka,

Bisa jadi aku pun bisa memperbaiki negeriku.

Kemudian siapa tahu, aku bahkan bisa mengubah dunia.

Tulisan aslinya berbunyi, sbb :

When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world.
As I grew older and wiser I discovered the world would not change –
So I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country, but it too seemed immovable.
As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it.
And now I realize as I lie on my deathbed, if I had only changed myself first, then by example I might have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement I would then have been able to better my country,
And who knows, I might have even changed the world.”