Tag Archives: quotes

The 01/07/13 Joy Jar

6 Jan

Most people want to be on the receiving end of acts of generosity, although a tiny minority may curse the giver. Dictionary.com defines generosity:

gen·er·os·i·ty

noun, plural gen·er·os·i·ties.

1. readiness or liberality in giving.

2. freedom from meanness or smallness of mind or character.

3. a generous act: We thankedhim for his many generosities.

4. largeness or fullness; amplitude.

Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is generosity.

“Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. ”
Khalil Gibran

“Give a bowl of rice to a man and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to grow his own rice and you will save his life.”
Confucius

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
John Bunyan

“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.”
Simone de Beauvoir

“Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it.”
G.K. Chesterton

“The wise man does not lay up his own treasures.
The more he gives to others,
the more he has for his own.”
Lao Tzu

New Living Translation (©2007)
Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!
Hebrews 13:2

“True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity. False charity constrains the fearful and subdued, the “rejects of life,” to extend their trembling hands. True generosity lies in striving so that these hands–whether of individuals or entire peoples–need be extended less and less in supplication, so that more and more they become human hands which work and, working, transform the world.”
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

“It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.”
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

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The 01/06/13 Joy Jar

5 Jan

Like colors, ambition has shades. Dictionary.com defines ambition:

am·bi·tion

noun

1. an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment: Too much ambition caused him to be disliked by his colleagues.

2. the object, state, or result desired or sought after: The crown was his ambition.

3. desire for work or activity; energy: I awoke feeling tired and utterly lacking in ambition.

verb (used with object)

4. to seek after earnestly; aspire to.

Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is positive ambition.

“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”
Maya Angelou

“Too many people out there tell us what we can and cannot do but…they don’t know who we are, what’s put in us.”
Alex Rogers, I’m Only Human After All

“As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning.”
Criss Jami

“The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly; who know the great enthusiasums, the great devotions, and spend themselves in a worthy cause; who at best know the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if they fail, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“There was no more dangerous kind of madman than one who devoted a good brain and a courageous heart to unhealthy ambitions.”
Michael Moorcock, The City In The Autumn Stars: Being A Continuation Of The Story Of The Von Bek Family And Its Association With Lucifer, Prince Of Darkness, And The Cure For The World’s Pain

“Yes the truth is that men’s ambition and their desire to make money are among the most frequent causes of deliberate acts of injustice.”
Aristotle, Politics

“Prayer, faith, and vision, plus real effort too.
Blend them together for one potent brew;
The magical spell to your dreams coming true.  ”
Richelle E. Goodrich

“Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live.”
Criss Jami, Venus in Arms

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The 01/04/13 ‘Joy Jar’

3 Jan

What makes the difference between those who are successful and those who could have accomplished what they intended. There are two two traits, perseverance and endurance. Today’s deposit into the “Joy Jar’ is endurance.

“Endurance: It is the spirit which can bear things, not simply with resignation, but with blazing hope. It is the quality which keeps a man on his feet with his face to the wind. It is the virtue which can transmute the hardest trial into glory because beyond the pain it sees the goal.”
Anonymous, Come Be My Follower

“On the second floor was the office in which Houston pounded an ancient typewriter with two fingers, always setting an example of unceasing hard work for his admiring students. They had no hint of the fact that their hard-driving dean had contracted tuberculosis while serving as a GI in France in Word War I. Houstan always seemed vibrant and impassioned in the chase for justice as he tried to expose his students to everything relating to the law that might give them an advantage.
. . .
“I never worked hard until I got to the Howard Law School and met Charlie Houston,” Marshal told me. “I saw this man’s dedication, his vision, his willingness to sacrifice, and I told myself, ‘You either shape up or ship out.’ When you are being challenged by a great human being, you know that you can’t ship out.”
So Houston rescued Marshall and launched him into a career as one of the greatest lawyers in American history.”
Carl T. Rowan, Dream Makers, Dream Breakers: The World of Justice Thurgood Marshall

Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.
William Barclay

“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.”

Corrie Ten Boom

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The 01/03/13 ‘Joy Jar’

2 Jan

What makes the difference between those who are successful and those who could have accomplished what they intended. There are two two traits, perseverance and endurance. Today’s deposit into the “Joy Jar’ is perseverance.

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
Maya Angelou

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
Confucius

“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.”
Ovid

“People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest person with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest person with the smallest mind.
Think big anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack if you help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you might get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.”
Dr. Kent M. Keith

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

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The 01/02/13 ‘Joy Jar’

1 Jan

The ‘Joy Jar’ is a year-long exercise based upon the proposition that one can choose to have a good attitude no matter one’s circumstance or whatever events life throws at a person. As many athletes play through pain, a successful attitude means that one plays through feelings and circumstances. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is wisdom.

Proverbs 16:16  “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!”

I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life.” I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
Confucius

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
Nelson Mandela

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
William James

Be happy. It’s one way of being wise.
Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.
Lao Tzu

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The 12/30/12 ‘Joy Jar’

30 Dec
The ‘Joy Jar’ is a year long exercise which began on December 21, 2012 when moi realized that she was still here and the Mayan doom advocates were wrong. As the new year 2013 approaches, the frame of reference for any new year should be to expect the best. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is to expect the best.
A little girl walked daily to and from school. Though the weather this particular morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her trek to the elementary school. As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with thunder and lightning.
The child’s mother, concerned that her daughter would be frightened and possibly harmed by the storm got into her car and drove along the route to her child’s school.
As she did so, she saw her little daughter walking along happily but at each flash of lightning the child would stop, look up, and smile.
Stopping the car, the mother called to the child to get in with her. As they drove toward school, the girl continued to turn toward each lightning flash and smile.
The Mother asked, “What are you doing?”
The child answered, “Well, I must do this, God keeps taking pictures of me.”
— Author Unknown
“You begin by always expecting good things to happen”
Tom Hopkins quotes (American best selling author known as the world’s leading sales trainer.)
Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting a bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian”
Dennis Wholey
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.
Lao-Tze
“If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.”
Abraham Lincoln
The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.
A. A. Milne
We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
Aristotle
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.
Marcel Proust

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The 12/29/12 ‘Joy Jar’

30 Dec
According to the Phrase Finder:
Been there, done that

Meaning

To have experienced the topic under discussion, to the point of boredom or complacency.
Really has anyone really been there, all of there? Has anyone really done all of that? Really. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is surprise.
“Would you like to know your future?

If your answer is yes, think again. Not knowing is the greatest life motivator.

So enjoy, endure, survive each moment as it comes to you in its proper sequence — a surprise.”
Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often.”
Mae West
“Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
“I know enough of the world now to have almost lost the capacity of being much surprised by anything”
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.
Henry Ford

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The 12/27/12 ‘Joy Jar’

30 Dec
Everyone likes to think it is the big things that make one happy. But, for many happy people, it is the small things strung together like pearls that bring a smile to one’s face. No, many of these small things are not the same as giving a speech at the UN. Instead of bringing peace to nations, small things that make you grateful bring peace to your soul. Moi just loves going into Bartell Drugs and finding Lindt chocolate is on sale. Wow, what a feeling. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is about the small things.

It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.” Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

“Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
and the pleasant land.

Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.”
Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney

For the person for whom small things do not exist, the great is not great.
Jose Ortega y Gasset

“Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things. I am tempted to think there are no little things.”
Bruce Barton

There are some things that you can fulfill with money, but at the end of the day these are not the things that make you happy. It is the small things that make life good.
Sebastian Vettel

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The 12/26/12 ‘Joy Jar’

30 Dec
All of us need grace and we all hope that people will grant us grace. It is harder to give others grace and forgiveness, but that is what we must learn to do. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is grace for ourselves and others.

“By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

“Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”
Jerry Bridges

“Life is grace. Sleep is forgiveness. The night absolves. Darkness wipes the slate clean, not spotless to be sure, but clean enough for another day’s chalking.”
Frederick Buechner, The Alphabet of Grace

“You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You cannot earn that or deserve it.”
Charles Portis, True Grit

“The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you.”
Frederick Buechner

“When grace moves in… guilt moves out”
― Max Lucado, Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions

“If I’m not showing grace . . . have I forgotten the grace I’ve been shown?”
― John F. MacArthur

“Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance.”
Confucius, The Analects

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The 12/23/12 ‘Joy Jar’

30 Dec
Optimism is the fuel that keeps your engine going. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar.. is optimism:
“Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing
can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel
that there is something in them
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.

To think only the best, to work only for the best,
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words but great deeds.
To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true to the best that is in you.”
― Christian D. Larson, Your Forces and How to Use Them

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