Buddha(563BCE-483BCE)

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character.
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings.

Dean Ornish, MD(1953- )

Love and Intimacy are the root
of what makes us sick and what makes us well,
what causes sadness and what brings happiness,
what makes us suffer and what leads to healing...

George Washington Carver(1864-1943)

How far you go in life depends on
your being tender with the young,
compassionate with the aged,
sympathetic with the striving, and
tolerant with the weak and the strong,
because someday in your life you
will have been all of these things.

Kahlil Gibran(1883-1931)

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the
daily miracles of life, your pain would not seem less
wondrous than your joy.

Chief Seattle/Sealth(1786-1866)

Teach your children
what we have taught our children-
that the earth is our mother.
Whatever befalls the earth
befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.
If men spit upon the ground,
they spit upon themselves.
This we know.
The earth does not belong to us;
we belong to the earth.
This we know.
All things are connected
like the blood which unites one family.
All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the earth
befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.
We did not weave the web of life;
We are merely a strand in it.
Whatever we do to the web,
we do to ourselves...

In 1876, all Native Americans are ordered to move into reservations

Albert Einstein(1879-1955)

Try and penetrate with our limited means
the secrets of nature and you will find that,
behind all the discernible concatenations,
there remains something subtle,
intangible and inexplicable.

Marcus Aurelius(AD121-180)

If you are distressed by anything external,
The pain is not due to the thing itself,
but to your estimate of it;
And this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

Anais Nin(1903-1977)

"And the day came when the risk
it took to remain tightly closed in
a bud was more painful than the risk
it took to bloom."

~Anais Nin

Barak Obama(1961- )

“For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace."

~Obama

How we need more of this sentiment right now...

Kahlil Gibran(1883-1931)

Your reason and your passion are the rudder
and the sails of your seafaring soul.
If either your sails or your rudder be broken,
you and toss and drift,
or else be held at stand still in mid-seas.

From "The Prophet"

Woodrow Wilson(1856-1924)

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

Swahili Warrior Song

Life has meaning only in the struggles.
Triumph or defeat is in the hands of the Gods.
So let us celebrate the struggles.

Rumi(1207-1273)

What the caterpillar calls
the end of the world,
the master calls a butterfly.

W.B. Yeats(1865-1939)

I am content to follow to its source
Every event in action or in thought;
Measure the lot; forgive myself the lot!
When such as I cast out remorse
So great a sweetness flows into the breast
We must laugh and we must sing,
We are blest by everything
Everything we look upon is blest.

Antonio Machado(1875-1939)

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!-
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!-
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making sweet honey
from my old failures.
Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt-marvelous error!-
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.

Last night as I slept,
I dreamt-marvelous error!-
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.

(interpreted version by Robert Bly)

Friedrich Nietzsche(1844-1900)

Remain faithful to the earth, my brothers and sisters,
with the power of your virtue.
Let your gift-giving love and your knowledge
serve the meaning of the earth.
Thus I beg and beseech you.
Do not let them fly away from earthly things
and beat with their wings against eternal walls.
Alas, there has always been so much virtue
that flew away...
back to the body, back to life,
that it may give the earth a meaning...
Verily, the earth shall yet become a site of recovery.
And even now a new fragrance surrounds it.
bringing salvation-and a new hope.

John Greenleaf Whittier(1807-1892)

No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.