Tag Archives: quotes

The 03/14/13 Joy Jar

13 Apr

One of moi’s favorite television programs is ‘The Voice’ which is a reality show where contestants compete using only their voice before four celebrity judges who have their back to the contestants. The goal is to get at least one judge to turn around. Since the judges do not know what the contestant looks like, all they have upon which to make a judgment is the voice of the contestant. Voice is not only the vocal sound, but perspective, and the outlook of the contestant and that comes through in the performance. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is moi’s voice.

If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
Vincent Van Gogh

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
Steve Jobs

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.
Maya Angelou

I learned patience, perseverance, and dedication. Now I really know myself, and I know my voice. It’s a voice of pain and victory.
Anthony Hamilton

People have to talk about something just to keep their voice boxes in working order so they’ll have good voice boxes in case there’s ever anything really meaningful to say.
Kurt Vonnegut

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.
William Shakespeare

When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society.
Pope John Paul II

The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.
Mahatma Gandhi

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The 04/05/13 Joy Jar

4 Apr

April 4 was the 45th Anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When one talks of legacy, can one have a greater impact than Dr. King? Just because most of us will never have the stature of a Dr. King doesn’t mean that our lives are not important to making the world a better place. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the legacy of a life of contribution.

 

 

 

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.

 

 

It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

 

 

 

 

“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.”
Shannon L. Alder

 

 

 

“The choices we make about the lives we live determine the kinds of legacies we leave.”
Tavis Smiley, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates

 

 

 

Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.

Horace Mann

 

 

 

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand.

Woodrow Wilson

 

 

 

“No legacy is so rich as honesty.”
William Shakespeare

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The 04/01/13 Joy Jar

31 Mar

April Fools Day seems to satisfy the need in many cultures for a bit of fun. As long as the jokes do not demean or harm anyone, but bring a bit of laughter – then it’s just harmless fun. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is April Fools Day.

April 1.  This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four.

Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson, 1894

April fool, n.  The March fool with another month added to his folly.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee, And I’ll forgive Thy great big one on me.

Robert Frost, “Cluster of Faith,” 1962

He who is born a fool is never cured.

Proverb

Let us be thankful for the fools.  But for them the rest of us could not succeed.

Mark Twain

We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.

Japanese Proverb


The trouble with practical jokes is that very often they get elected.

Will Rogers

Even the gods love jokes.

Plato

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The 03/15/13 Joy Jar

14 Mar

Yesterday, moi got home and turned on the computer to check e-mail. There was an e-mail from the storage company that the lock was missing, discovered during a routine check. It was after hours and the only thing moi could do was file a claim with her insurance company late in the evening. Should a claim need to ultimately be filed according to the intake insurance person, there are a list of items that moi needed. Among the items was a police report. Moi went online to see if an online police report could be filed, but that wasn’t possible. Moi called the number listed to file a report. After going through the prompts, one reaches a message which said “you have reached the non-emergency number for the Seattle Police, your called will be answered after the 911 calls are answered.” The message went on to say that there was a high volume of calls for 911. That is as it should be. Life is ultimately more valuable than stuff. Today moi went to her storage locker and everything was fine. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is an awareness of the value of life.

 

 

The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.
Aristotle

Life and time are the best teachers. Life teaches us to make good use of time and time teaches us the value of life.

Unknown

Most of us don’t realize the value of life and what it’s really about, we’re so caught up in little distractions that are 100% meaningless.

Unknown

 “Life is problems. Living is solving problems.”
Raymond E. Feist, Silverthorn

“To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”
Robert Louis Stevenson, Familiar Studies of Men and Books

“We’re on this planet for too short a time. And at the end of the day, what’s more important? Knowing that a few meaningless figures balanced—or knowing that you were the person you wanted to be?”
Sophie Kinsella

“I believe that I am not responsible for the meaningfulness or meaninglessness of life, but that I am responsible for what I do with the life I’ve got.”
Hermann Hesse, Verliebt in die verrückte Welt: Betrachtungen, Gedichte, Erzählungen, Briefe

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The 02/27/13 Joy Jar

26 Feb

Today was the first day of moi’s prayer group which meets from 6:30 a.m. To 7:30 a.m. Every Tuesday. That’s right, 6:30 a.m. Definitely not moi time. The group meets and prays as the Spirit moves. Prayer is not only a great gift, but a great comfort. Those who are prayerful people radiate a sense of peace. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the gift of prayer.

“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
Søren Kierkegaard

“Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense.”
Robert Frost

“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
St. Francis of Assisi

“The Simple Path
Silence is Prayer
Prayer is Faith
Faith is Love
Love is Service
The Fruit of Service is Peace”
Mother Teresa

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.”
Corrie ten Boom

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”
Meister Eckhart

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The 02/07/13 Joy Jar

6 Feb

Urban areas have a varied and rich street life populated by cubicle dwellers, money people, tourists, and the life of the streets. Street dwellers are young, old, all races, all philosophies, and all conditions. Some sing or perform for their supper, some ply their trade or peddle the wares. Many have a favorite corner and regular folk who are not engaged in street life that they look to for sustenance. If one lives in a city, one lives with the street whether you are part of street life of not. The street life makes one happy for whatever one has and definitely ensures that on the street, each day will be different. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is street life.

I met in the street a very poor young man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat worn, his cloak was out at the elbows, the water passed through his shoes, – and the stars through his soul.
Victor Hugo

All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door.
Albert Camus

At any street corner the feeling of absurdity can strike any man in the face.
Albert Camus

A court is an assembly of noble and distinguished beggars.
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

“The beggar is the only person in the universe not obliged to study appearance.” Charles Lamb

“We are all beggars, each in his own way.”                                                                     Mark Twain

 

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The 02/04/13 Joy Jar

3 Feb

There was about a thirty-five minute delay in the 2013 Superbowl when a power surge caused the lights to go out in the Superdome. Players waited anxiously on the field for the lights to come on. The lights came on and play resumed where it had been halted. Sometimes, not often, in dress rehearsals something doesn’t go according to plan and the production has to be halted to make a fix. Then, on cue the actors and artists usually proceed without missing a beat. There is a lesson for all. Often, grace under pressure allows the game, the play, and life to go on. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is grace under pressure.

 

Courage is grace under pressure.
Ernest Hemingway

 

When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.
Peter Marshall

The pressure of adversity does not affect the mind of the brave man… It is more powerful than external circumstances.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

He who is of calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden.
Plato

No pressure, no diamonds.
Thomas Carlyle

 

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The 02/01/13 Joy Jar

31 Jan

Moi is a ‘bus chick’ and rides the bus all over Seattle or she walks. She is registered with the two pay-by-use car programs, but rarely uses them. The bus takes moi everywhere she needs to go. The bus tunnel runs under downtown Seattle and is deep underground. To reach the surface, one takes an escalator, at the deepest points of tunnel, to the street. Today moi was leaving the tunnel and riding the escalator to the street. There were several people who went past moi walking up the escalator. They shaved maybe 30 seconds off the escalator ride. Than got moi thinking about the speed of contemporary life. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is a liveable pace of life.

Life is made up of special moments which make it worth living. There are many cherished moments that are missed due to the stress and fast pace of daily living. We must slow down and remember how precious it is to be alive and to love!!!!  

Unknown

“Smile, breathe, and go slowly”                                                                          Thich Nhat Hanh

“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.”                                        Ovid

“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.”                  Chinese proverb
“There is more to life than increasing its speed.”                                                Mahatma Gandhi

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The 01/28/13 Joy Jar

27 Jan

Moi has been at the ALA Midwinter Meeting for the past couple of days and it has been raining off and on in Seattle. Some folk in Seattle think of themselves as Rambos. They wouldn’t be caught dead carrying carrying an umbrella and some not only forgo an umbrella, but are sans hat. Their choice of badge is Gore Tex. Moi has a trusty fold-away umbrella which she carries everywhere in her purse, even in August. Because in Seattle, no matter the date on the calendar, one never knows. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is my umbrella.

 

It is the habitual carriage of the umbrella that is the stamp of Respectability. The umbrella has become the acknowledged index of social position. . . . Crusoe was rather a moralist than a pietist, and his leaf-umbrella is as fine an example of the civilized mind striving to express itself under adverse circumstances as we have ever met with. Robert Louis Stevenson

 

Prepare the umbrella before it rains. Life is full of surprises!

Unknown

 

“With large umbrellas, come large responsibilities” Matt Maldre

 

“The rain it raineth on the just And also on the unjust fella, But chiefly on the just, because The unjust steals the just’s umbrella”

Charles Bowen quotes

“It ain’t no use putting up your umbrella till it rains.” Alice Caldwell Rice

This last quote could be written for Seattle.

Any fool carries an umbrella on a wet day, but the wise man carries it every day.
Irish Proverb

 

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The 01/16/13 Joy Jar

15 Jan

There is a different energy in cities than in rural areas. Cities can be noisy, crowded, dirty, and in-your-face. Cities are diverse because people come for opportunity, acceptance or to escape. There is an energy that escapes for the steam arising from the goulash. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is gratitude for the energy of city living.

A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.
Aristotle

This City is what it is because our citizens are what they are.
Plato

You can learn all about the human condition from covering the crime beat in a big city – you don’t need to go to Beirut for that – but a foreign correspondent begins to understand poverty from a different perspective.
P. J. O’Rourke

If you would be known, and not know, vegetate in a village; if you would know, and not be known, live in a city.
Charles Caleb Colton

A city is a place where there is no need to wait for next week to get the answer to a question, to taste the food of any country, to find new voices to listen to and familiar ones to listen to again.
Margaret Mead

“When you look at a city, it’s like reading the hopes, aspirations and pride of everyone who built it.”                                                                                         Hugh Newell Jacobsen

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