Stuff About Things #21

"The only thing I know is that I don't know shit, but I am committed to growing."
     — Jake Arrieta 

"Don't believe everything you think."
     — well-known Buddhist saying

"Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes."

     — Benjamin Disraeli

"What we dwell on is who we become."
     — Oprah Winfrey 

"Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth."

     — Benjamin Disraeli

"Only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking."
     — Audre Lorde

"The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating – in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life."
     — Anne Morriss, Starbucks customer, published on the side of a Grande Caramel Macchiato

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is more people to come alive."
     — Howard Thurman, author

"The teachings are always available, like a radio signal in the air. But a student needs to learn how to tune into that signal, and how to stay tuned in."
     — Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

"Our whole job is to relate to people."
     — Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

"Kid, you had a rough day. Everyone has them. And when you do – do what I do – you ask yourself: Anybody's life better because of what I did today? If the answer's yes... then stop your whining. If not, well, do better tomorrow."
     — Nick Fury, comic-book character

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."
     — Muhammad Ali

"There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant."
     — Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Fear is a friend of exceptional people."
     — Cus D'Amato

"The key to a great life is simply having a bunch of great days. So you can think about it one day at a time."
     — Mr. Money Mustache

"If you find yourself in a fair fight, you didn't plan your mission properly."
     — Colonel David Hackworth 

"Be harsh with yourself at times."

     — Seneca

"Words are like seeds. When you speak something out, you give life to what you're saying.... Choose to be positive.... Stay positive.... Think on the positive things.... You can change your world by changing your words.... Don't waste a minute being negative.... Positive people have made up their minds to enjoy life. They focus on the possibility, not the problem.... Be thankful.... Don't focus on what's wrong.... Rise up and move forward.... The forces that are for you are greater than the forces that are against you.... No one can offend you without your permission.... You're not defined by your past, you're prepared by it.... You only have so much emotional energy each day. Don't fight battles that don't matter.... Some of my enemies, I feel like I need to write them a check, if they hadn't been against me, I wouldn't be where I am today.... There are some things you can only learn in a storm.... God did not make you to be average, to be ordinary, to just get by.... Focus on your faith, let God deal with your fear."
     — Joel Osteen

"You're only 19, you know 19 things. I'm 48, I know 48 things."
     — Gloria Estefan's mom, Gloria Fajardo, On Your Feet!

"Only boring people get bored."
     — Ruth Burke

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
     — Augustinus, aka St. Augustine

"Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature."
     — Augustinus

"God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist."
     — Augustinus

"Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window."
     — William Faulkner

"The only way to avoid pissing people off is to do nothing important." 
     — Oliver Emberton

"You have enemies? Good. It is the story of everyone who has done a great deed or created a new idea.... Do not bother yourself about it.... Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear.... Do not give your enemies the satisfaction of thinking that they cause you grief or pain. Be happy, be cheerful...."
     — Victor Hugo