Things Learned Along the Way (page 20)

blondie

Nilfun, a nice selection. I love Voltaire. I started reading him in college.

Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free. True peace with oneself and with the world around us can only be achieved through the development of mental peace. The other phenomena mentioned above are similarly interrelated. Thus, for example, we see that a clean environment, wealth or democracy mean little in the face of war, especially nuclear war, and that material development is not sufficient to ensure human happiness.
James Russell Lowell:
He who is firmly seated in authority soon learns to think security, and not progress, the highest lesson of statecraft.

blondie

Eugene V. Debs:

Now my friends, I am opposed to the system of society in which we live today, not because I lack the natural equipment to do for myself but because I am not satisfied to make myself comfortable knowing that there are thousands of my fellow men who suffer for the barest necessities of life. We were taught under the old ethic that man's business on this earth was to look out for himself. That was the ethic of the jungle; the ethic of the wild beast. Take care of yourself, no matter what may become of your fellow man. Thousands of years ago the question was asked; ''Am I my brother's keeper?'' That question has never yet been answered in a way that is satisfactory to civilized society.
Yes, I am my brother's keeper. I am under a moral obligation to him that is inspired, not by any maudlin sentimentality but by the higher duty I owe myself. What would you think me if I were capable of seating myself at a table and gorging myself with food and saw about me the children of my fellow beings starving to death.
1908 speech
Margaret Mead:
Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Sunnygal41

Found this one in my email in box this am............along with the weekly astrological forecast..............it is truly beautiful and very erotic................*sigh* I love Hafiz!

NEVER SAY IT IS NOT GOD

by Hafiz

translated by Daniel Ladinsky

I taste what you taste. I know the kind of lyrics your

Soul most likes. I know which sounds will become

Resplendent in your mind and bring such pleasure

Your feet will jump and whirl.

When anything touches or enters your body

Never say it is not God, for He is

Just trying to get close.

I have no use for divine patience -- my lips are always

Burning and everywhere. I am running from every corner

Of this world and sky wanting to kiss you;

I am every particle of dust and wheat -- you and I

Are ground from His Own Body. I am rioting at your door;

I am spinning in midair like golden falling leaves

Trying to win your glance.

I am sweetly rolling against your walls and shores

All night, even though you are asleep. I am singing from

The mouths of animals and birds honoring our

beloved's promise and need: to let

you know the Truth.

My dear, when anything touches or enters your body

Never say it is not God, for He and I are

Just trying to get close to you.

God and I are rushing

From every corner of existence, needing to say,

"We are yours."

-by Hafiz

translated by Daniel Ladinsky

from the book *The Subject Tonight Is Love*

Sunnygal41

Wernher von Braun: "Research is what you do when you don't know what you're doing."

A.A. Milne: "One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."

Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis."

Casey Stengel: "You're lost but you're making good time."

Harry S. Truman: "If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em."

blondie

Harry S. Truman: "If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em."

Hmmm, is that the WTS motto?

blondie

NOT AT HOMES

Sunnygal41

"Some day after we have mastered the winds, the waves and gravity, we

will harness for God the energies of love; and then for a second time in the

history of the world, humans will have discovered fire."

-Teilhard de Chardin

Undecided

AFTER ALL IS SAID AND DONE, YOU DIE.

KEN P.

blondie

Happiness is like a kiss...you must share it to enjoy it.

Anonymous

Things Learned Along the Way

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