Art, Talent, Poetry, Imagination, Creativity, Passion

An Art is anything done so well that it takes on more than ordinary significance.

Any talent you may have is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.

Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one. (Stella Adler)

Art is Man's nature. Nature is God's art. (James Bailey)

When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college - that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared at me, incredulous, and said, "You mean they forget?" (Howard Ikemoto)

The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie. (Agnes de Mille)

Dance is the hidden language of the soul. (Martha Graham

Genius does what it must, and Talent does what it can. (Owen Meredith)

I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them. (Pablo Picasso)

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser. (John W. Gardner)

When you hear a voice inside you say 'you cannot paint' then by all means paint, and the voice will be silenced. (Vincent Van Gogh)

A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman. (Wallace Stevens)

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better. (Andre Gide)

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. (Scott Adams)

Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art. (Tom Stoppard)

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. (Pablo Picasso)

Poetry should... strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost as a remembrance. (John Keats)

Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it. (Danny Kaye)

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. (Emile Zola)

The poet's fate is here in emblem shown,

He asked for bread and he received a stone.

(Samuel Wesley, "On Butler's Monument")

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since. (Salvador Dali)

Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid. (Jules Feiffer)

Art is a jealous mistress, and, if a man have a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture or philosophy, he makes a bad husband and an ill provider. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I have... a terrible need... shall I say the word?... of religion. Then I go out at night and paint the stars. (Vincent van Gogh)

A good painter need not give a name to his picture, a bad one must. (Polish Proverb)

PAINTING, n. The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic. (Ambrose Bierce)

The world is but a canvas to the imagination. (Henry David Thoreau)

Great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion. (Martha Graham)

Talking about music is like dancing about architecture. (Steve Martin)

God is really another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant, and the cat. He just goes on trying other things. (Pablo Picasso)

No dancer can watch Fred Astaire and not know that we all should have been in another business. (Mikhail Baryshnikov)

Do it big, do it right and do it with style. (Fred Astaire)

Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter's soul. (Vincent Van Gogh)

The very impulse to write, I think, springs from an inner chaos crying out for order, for meaning, and that meaning must be discovered in the process of writing or the work lies dead as it is finished. (Arthur Miller)

Character, Persistence, Honor, Manners

Live your life as an Exclamation, not an Explanation.

Be the kind of person that, when speaking of you, people say "That crazy old broad," not "That poor child."

Be sure of what you stand for, lest you fall for anything.

Patience is bitter but its rewards are very sweet.

Rule No. 1-Don't sweat the small stuff.  

Rule No. 2-It's (almost) all small stuff.  

Life is made up of small stuff that becomes big only if we sweat it.

Remember the tea kettle.  Though up to its neck in hot water, it continues to sing. (Priceless, Dave Ramsey)

Honour is better than Honors. (Abraham Lincoln)

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. (Dalai Lama)

The only difference between a stepping stone and a stumbling block is the use to which each is put.

What we see [in life] depends on mainly what we look for. (John Lubbock)

The greatest oak was once a little nut that held its ground. (Priceless, Dave Ramsey)

Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes. (Chinese Proverb)

It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them. (Mark Twain)

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. (Sir Winston Churchill)

Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot. (Clarence Thomas)

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. (2 Cor 4:8-9)

A lot of maturing takes place between "It fell" and "I dropped it."

Be at war with your vices; at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man. (Benjamin Franklin)

To keep your character intact, you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time. (Katherine Hepburn)

Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look at the stars. (Henry Van Dyke)

When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere. (La Rochefoucauld)

Talent develops in quiet, alone; character is sharpened in the torrent of the world. (Goethe)

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. (Albert Einstein)

Good character, like good soup, is made at home.

We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers - but never blame yourself. It's never your fault. But it's always your fault, because if you wanted to change, you're the one who has got to change. (Katherine Hepburn)

Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are good is like expecting the bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian. (Dennis Wholey)

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Long ago... I resolved that I would permit no man, no matter what his color might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him. (Booker T. Washington)

Be the kind of person you want your kids to be when they grow up.

The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others. (Hasidic saying)

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection. (Thomas Paine)

People will treat you exactly the way you allow them to treat you.

The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return; it's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale (Arthur C. Clarke)

Character is doing what's right when nobody's looking.

Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. (Malachy McCourt)

If you haven't found something worth dying for, you aren't fit to be living. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with. (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer)

Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it, so it goes on flying anyway. (Mary Kay Ash)

Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip. (Will Rogers)

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. (Mohandas Gandhi)

Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway. (John Wayne)

The time is always right to do the right thing. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

When I focus upon the small steps right in front of me, I rarely have time to worry about the big ones down the road somewhere.

It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. (Chinese Proverb)

Worry is stewing without doing.

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change you attitude. Don't complain. (Maya Angelou)

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not. (Oprah Winfrey)

If you have a terrible tragedy, you come out of it either enhanced or diminished. (Art Linkletter)

A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.

Hatred and anger are but slow methods of suicide.

What the world needs is more warm hearts and fewer hot heads.

We can't choose what we go through but we can choose how we go through it.

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 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 even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. 

(Maya Angelou)

Ability may get you to the top, but it's character that will keep you there.

Courage is holding on just a few minutes longer.

Revenge gets you even with your enemies, forgiveness puts you above him.

If you can see some good in everybody, then almost everybody will see some good in you.

Be as friendly to the janitor as you are to the chairman of the board.

Meekness is not weakness, but strength under proper discipline.

When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard," I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?" (Sydney J. Harris)

Conscience is God's presence in man. (Swedenborg)

As long as we continue to live as if we are what we do, as if we are what we have, and as if we are what other people think about us, we will remain filled with judgements, opinions, evaluations, and condemnations. We will remain addicted to the need to put people in their place. (Brennan Manning)

Live every day like it's your last, 'cause one day you're gonna be right. (Ray Charles)

If you lack the courage to start, you have already finished.

The heaviest thing you can carry is a grudge.

Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. (James Dean)

A poor man is not that one without a cent.  A poor man is that one without a dream.

The optimist has no brakes; the pessimist has no motor. (Melvin M. Maxwell)

What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other. (George Eliot)

Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is.

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen. (Albert Einstein)

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. (Herm Albright)

Reputation is what men and women think of us. Character is what God and the angels know of us. (Thomas Paine)

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. (Ernest Hemingway)

Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen. (Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection)

Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question. (Albert Camus)

Catholics and Communists have committed great crimes, but at least they have not stood aside, like an established society, and been indifferent. I would rather have blood on my hands than water like Pilate. (Graham Greene)

I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. (Robert Heinlein)

Curtsey while you're thinking of what to say. It saves time. (Lewis Carroll)

One must dare to be himself, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.

...

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk along.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed,

revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand,

you will find one at the end of each of your arms.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands;

one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.

(Audrey Hepburn's 'Beauty Tips')

Faith (Christianity)

I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is. (Albert Camus)

Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair. (Gilbert K. Chesterton)

We are punished by our sins, not for them. (Elbert Hubbard)

Don't fall into the trap of using the Lord's blessings to get what you want.  Instead you must use his blessings to get what He wants you to have.

Call those things that be not as though they were.

All major religious traditions carry basically the same message; that is, love, compassion and forgiveness. The important thing is they should be part of our daily lives. (Dalai Lama)

Disbelief in God usually results in a belief in anything.

Men add and subtract; the Devil divides; but God multiplies!

Sorrow looks backward; Ambition looks forward; Faith looks upward.

The Will of God will not take you to where the Grace of God will not protect you.

Man's way leads to a hopeless end; God's way leads to an endless hope.

I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. (C.S. Lewis)

Faith is like homework - all the answers to your questions are there, but you have to read the Book to find them!

To love another person is to help them love God. (Soren Kierkegaard)

A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and becames the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act. (Mohandas Gandhi)

I myself do nothing. The Holy Spirit accomplishes all through me. (William Blake)

Human beings must be known to be loved, but [God] must be loved to be known. (Pascal)

Faith is believing what God says simply because it is God who says it.

A faith is something you die for; a doctrine is something you kill for: there is all the difference in the world. (Tony Benn)

When fear knocks at your door, let faith open it.

Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in the seed. (Marilyn vos Savant)

Jesus invested His life in you. Have you shown any interest?

I know God won't give me anything I can't handle; I just with He didn't trust me so much. (Mother Teresa)

Live in such a way that those who know you but don't know God will come to know God because they know you.

Religion is Man's way of reaching toward God.  Jesus is God's way of reaching for Man.

God is like the Sun - you cannot look at it, but without it you cannot look at anything else. (Dr. Ravi Zacharias)

Faith is your belief in God; Grace is God's belief in you.

I want to live as though Jesus died for me yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming again tomorrow. (Priceless, Dave Ramsey)

Expect SUDDENLY to happen in your life.

Got wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts.

The Bible is endorsed by the ages; our civilization is built upon its words. In no other book is there such a collection of inspired wisdom, reality, and hope. (Dwight D. Eisenhower)

God can turn a "breakdown" into a "breakthrough."

God gave us a Bible and a brain, and He expects us to use both.

Repentence is essentially being sorry enough for sinning that you quit sinning.

Many Christians suffer from loneliness because they are sitting instead of serving. (Croft M. Pentz)

You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.

Your life may be the only Bible some people ever read.

You know, religions are like cars. Some are old, some are new. They come in different makes, models and colors. But if you choose to go, they all take you down the same road to God -- whatever name you call him (or her) when you get there. They're just vehicles to Divinity. (Anonymous Jewish Woman)

The best place to keep your Bible is in your heart.

The Ten Commandments are not multiple choice.

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a mechanic.

If a man's Bible is coming apart, it is an indication that he himself is fairly well put together. (James Jennings)

Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind. (Albert Einstein)

God not only plays dice. He also sometimes throws the dice where they cannot be seen.( Stephen Hawking)

To love another person is to help them love God. (Soren Kierkegaard)

This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalms 118:24)

Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1)

If you willingly obey Him, the best of everything will be yours. (Isaiah 1:19)

The Fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." (Psalms 14:1)

The Thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)

Keep your mind on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don't ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise. (Phil 4:8)

Blessed are you when people hate you, avoid you, insult you and slander you because you are committed to the Son of Man....  You have a great reward in heaven.  (Luke 6:22-23)

For I am not ashamed of the good news of Christ. (Romans 1:16)

I won't be stressed because I'm blessed.

If your life is going to waste, Jesus can recycle it.

The Big Bang Theory: God spoke and BANG - It happened.

Jesus: Don't leave Earth without Him.

Eternity: Smoking or Non-smoking?

Don't let the car fool you, my treasures are stored in Heaven.

No Jesus, No Peace

Know Jesus, Know Peace

If you're living like there is no God, you'd better be right.

If you were accused of being a Christian,

would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Life is short. Pray hard.

Be like a window, let the SON shine through

Once I asked God how much he loves me...

Jesus said "This much," then he stretched out his arms and died.

If God is your co-pilot, change seats

Good Morning! This is God.

I will be handling all your problems today.

I will not need your help. So have a nice day.

Why Worry? God's In Control

Real Men Love Jesus

In Case of Rapture, Car's Yours!

This Car is Prayer-Conditioned

Life is NOT an Emergency... SO RELAX

God Answers Knee-Mail

Give God what's right -- not what's left.

Man's way leads to a hopeless end.

God's way leads to an endless hope.

Don't wait for six strong men to take you to church.

We don't change God's message, His message changes us.

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Read the Bible. It will scare the Hell out of you.

P.U.S.H. - Pray Until Something Happens

F.B.I. - Firm Believer In Christ

D.O.G. - Depend On God

F.R.O.G. - Fully Rely On God

W.W.J.D. - What Would Jesus Do?

Love & Romance

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul. (Judy Garland)

So these three things remain:  Faith, Hope, and Love.  But the best one of these is Love. (1 Cor 13:13)

Only choose in marriage a man whom you would choose as a friend if he were a woman. (Joseph Joubert)

Christ died because of Sin; He rose because of Love.

Love is more important than anything else. (Coloss 3:14)

A lot of people wonder how you know if you're really in love. Just ask yourself this one question: "Would I mind being  destroyed financially by this person?"

Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties

My wife Mary and I have been married for forty-seven years and not once have we had an argument serious enough to consider divorce; murder, yes, but divorce, never. (Jack Benny)

It is a risk to love. 
What if it doesn't work out?
Ah, but what if it does...
(Peter McWilliams)

Our goodness derives not from our capacity to think but to love. (St. Teresa of Avila)

If I am pressed to say why I loved him, I feel it can only be explained by replying: 'Because it was he; because it was me.' (Montaigne)

My soul is so knit to yours that it is but a divided life I live without you. (George Eliot)

I learnt a long time ago that the only people who count in any marriage are the two that are in it. (Hillary Rodham Clinton)

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. That is what makes a marriage last - more than passion or even sex! (Simone Signoret)

Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods. (Plato)

Men who treat women as helpless and charming playthings deserve women who treat men as delightful and generous bank accounts. (Priceless, Dave Ramsey)

Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. (Franklin P. Jones)

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Marriage is a lot like the army; everyone complains, but you'd be surprised at the large number that reenlist. (James Garner)

A man is only as old as the woman he feels. (Groucho Marx)

The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer. (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Even when there's snow on the roof, there may be a fire in the furnace.

To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. (Bill Wilson)

Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century. (Mark Twain)

Men of quality are not afraid of women for equality.

Don't cry for a man who's left you - the next one may fall for your smile. (Mae West)

If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.

All real love stories must end with "happily ever after."

Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your heart or burn down your house, you can never tell. (Joan Crawford  )

Before I met my husband, I'd never fallen in love. I'd stepped in it a few times.

A small house can hold as much love as a big one.

I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox. (Woody Allen)

A husband who thinks he's smarter than his wife is married to a very smart woman.

If you seek a model husband, be sure he's a working model.

A good marriage requires a determination to be married for good.

Romance is cooking a gourmet meal for your wife. Love is washing the dishes afterward.

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind. (William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream)

Immature love says "I love you because I need you." Mature love says "I need you because I love you."

Love is being willing to say you're sorry, first.

O, 'tis love, 'tis love, that makes the world go round! (Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

On any disagreement, the husband should be entitled to the last few words. And those words are "Yes, dear."

Marriage is an exercise that works every muscle in the human spirit.

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out. (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

Love wasn't put into your heart to stay. Love isn't love until you give it away. (Michael W. Smith)

Love is the irresistible desire to be desired irresistibly. (Louis Ginsberg)

Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter to the other... Now you are but two persons, but there is one life before you. (Traditional Apache Wedding Blessing)

I ran up the door, closed the stairs,

said my pajamas and put on my prayers,

turned off my bed, and jumped into the light...

all because you kissed me goodnight.

We can do no great things - only small things with great love. (Mother Theresa)

The measure of love is to love without measure.

In every marriage more than a week old, there are grounds for divorce. The trick is to find, and continue to find, grounds for marriage. (Robert Anderson)

Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without. (Dr. James C. Dobson)

More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse. (Doug Larson)

The average woman would rather have beauty than brains because the average man can see better than he can think.

Choose your life's mate carefully. From this one decision will come ninety percent of all your happiness or misery. (Jackson Brown, Jr.)

Judge your success by the happiness of your wife and the respect given to you by your children.

Never forget the nine most important words of any marriage: "I love you," "You are beautiful," and "Please forgive me."

Men are like fine wine. They all start out like grapes, and it's our job to stomp on them and keep them in the dark until they mature into something you'd like to have dinner with.

I think the bottom-line difference between being single and married is this: When you're single, you're happy as you are. When you're married, you can only be as happy as the least happy person in the apartment. (Tom Hertz)

Face powder may win a husband, but it takes baking powder to keep him.

This is the reason we were made

To know the love of our Creator

And to give the love He's given us away

(Steven Curtis Chapman, All About Love)

When choosing a man to date, always consider whether this is the kind of man you would like to marry. If he isn't potential marriage material, you shouldn't be dating him. (my Mom)

Some pray to marry the man they love,

My prayer will somewhat vary:

I humbly pray to Heaven above

That I love the man I marry.

(Rose Pastor Stokes, "My Prayer")

Love is friendship set on fire.

Sex appeal is fifty percent what you've got, and fifty percent what people think you've got. (Sophia Loren)

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. (George Sand)

The first marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. The second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience. The third marriage is the triumph of stupidity.

A poll shows women think men are sexiest playing football. And they're at their least sexy watching football. (Jay Leno)

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.... She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. (Proverbs 10, 25)

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. (Ingrid Bergman)

There is no sight on Earth more appealing than the sight of a woman making dinner for someone she loves. (Thomas Wolfe)

I still have two abiding passions; one is my model railway, the other women. But at the age of 90, I find I am getting just a little too old for model railways. (Pierre Monteux, conductor, on turning 90)

I kissed my first girl and smoked my first cigarette on the same day. I haven't had time for tobacco since. (Arturuo Toscanini)

Keep thy eyes wide open before marriage, and half-shut afterwards. (Benjamin Franklin)

A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you. (Francoise Sagan)

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. (Buddha)

The most indispensable ingredient of all good home cooking: love for those you are cooking for. (Sophia Loren)

Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more. (Erica Jong)

The loveliest faces are to be seen by moonlight, when one sees half with the eye and half with the fancy. (Persian Proverb)

The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once.

We all want to fall in love. Why? Because that experience makes us feel completely alive. Where every sense is heightened, every emotion is magnified, our everyday reality is shattered and we are flying into the heavens. It may only last a moment, and hour, an afternoon. But that doesn't diminish its value. Because we... are left with memories that we treasure for the rest of our lives. (Unknown)

A man's greatest blessing is a sympathetic wife.

The goal in marriage is not to think alike, but to think together.

The heart of marriage is memories; and if the two of you happen to have the same ones and can savor your reruns, then your marriage is a gift from the gods.  (Bill Cosby)

My wife and I were comparing notes the other day. “I have a higher IQ, did better on my SATs and make more money than you,” she pointed out. “Yeah, but when you step back and look at the big picture, I’m still ahead,” I said. She looked mystified. “I married better,” I replied. (Louis Rodolico, from Reader’s Digest)

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

"I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave." Jareth, from the Labyrinth

Whenever you want to marry someone, go have lunch with his ex-wife. (Shelley Winters)

To love, purely and fiercely, without agenda, is the most terrifying and rewarding thing you'll ever do. (Gala Darling)

It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

The Difference Between "Men" and "Guys"

-Men know what they want to be doing five years down the road. Guys are not sure what they want to be doing later tonight.

-Men claim to be feminists but still insist on opening doors, driving, and paying for dinner. Guys claim to be feminists so they can let women open doors, drive, and pay for dinner.

-Men are afraid of becoming their fathers. Guys are afraid of becoming men.

-Men order wine based on more than the price. Guys bring their own beer.

Music is my Soul

Music is the shorthand of emotion. (Leo Tolstoy)

Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on. (Samuel Butler)

I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music. (George Eliot)

Rap is to music as Etch-A-Sketch is to art.

A bird does not sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song.

When you are in tune with Heaven, you will have a song in your heart.

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. (Victor Hugo)

He who sings praise, prays.

Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast,

To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.

(William Congreve, "The Mourning Bride")

Most of the people who will walk after me will be children, so make the beat keep time with short steps. (Hans Christian Andersen)

Without music, life would be a mistake. (Friedrich Nietzche)

I write music with an exclamation point! (Richard Wagner)

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. (Berthold Auerbach)

Among God's creatures two, the dog and the guitar, have taken all the sizes and all the shapes, in order not be separated from the man. (Andre Segovia)

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. (Aldous Huxley)

Lean your body forward slightly to support the guitar against your chest, for the poetry of the music should resound in your heart. (Andre Segovia)

I despise a world which does not feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. (Ludwig van Beethoven)

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. (Ludwig van Beethoven)

Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend. (Ludwig van Beethoven)

In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism, skepticism, & humbug, and we shall want to live more musically. (Vincent Van Gogh)

Music is the pleasure the human soul experiences from counting without being aware that it is counting. (Gottfried Whilhem Leibniz) 

I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble (Psalm 59:16)

Praise the Lord with harp; sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto Him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise. (Psalm 33:2-3)

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God... (Psalm 40:3)

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing His praise from the end of the earth! (Isaiah 42:10)

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing (Psalm 100:2)

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the Earth, burst into jubilant song with music (Psalm 98:4)

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things (Psalm 98:1)

If music be the food of love, play on. (William Shakespeare)

Beethoven tells you what it's like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it's like to be human. Bach tells you what it's like to be the universe. (Douglas Adams)

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. (Henry David Thoreau)

The exercise of singing is delightful to Nature, and good to preserve the health of man. It doth strengthen all parts of the breast, and doth open the pipes. (William Byrd)

On Prayer

If my own people will humbly pray and stop sinning, then I will forgive them.... I will hear their prayers.... (2 Chron 7:14-15)

A lot of kneeling will keep you in good standing.

Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you. Then you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayer will be answered. (John 15:7)

Everything you ask for in prayer will be yours, if you only have faith. (Mark 11:24)

Don't pray for rain if you're going to complain about the mud.

Courage is fear that has said its prayers. (Dorothy Bernard)

Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays. (Soren Keirkegaard)

The shortest distance between a problem and its solution is the distance between your knees and the floor.

When praying, don't give God instructions, just report for duty.

It's hard to stumble when you're down on your knees.

God doesn't use an answering machine, he takes each call personally.

The man who kneels to God can stand up to anything.

Prayer has a boomerang effect - it blesses the one prayed for and the one who prays.

An important part of praying is a willingness to be part of the answer.

When life knocks you down to your knees, you are in a perfect position to pray.

Prayer does move mountains, but sometimes God just hands us a shovel.

Too many people pray for emergency rations instead of daily bread.

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.

God is not a cosmic bell-boy for whom we can press a button to get things. (Harry Emerson Fosdick, "Prayer")

The fewer words the better prayer. (Martin Luther)

Practical prayer is harder on the soles of your shoes than on the knees of your trousers. (Austin O'Malley)

I believe in prayer. It's the best way we have to draw strength from heaven. (Josephine Baker)

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees. (Victor Hugo)

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. (Mohandas Gandhi)

An angry man is not fit to pray. (Yiddish Proverb)

Call on God, but row away from the rocks. (Indian Proverb)

We neither laugh alone, nor weep alone, why then should we pray alone? (Anna Letitia Barbauld)

From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggetie beasties and things that go bump in the night, good Lord, deliver us. (Scottish prayer)

God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. (Reinhold Niebuhr)

If you don't ask, you don't get. (Mohandas Gandhi)

Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action. (Mohandas Gandhi)

No man ever prayed heartily without learning something. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it. (Voltaire)

As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools.

God cannot do anything in your life unless you ask Him to.

Dear Lord - So far today, God, I've done all right. I haven't gossiped, haven't lost my temper, haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I'm really glad about that. But in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed and from then on I'm probably going to need a lot more help. In Jesus' name, AMEN.

If the only prayer you say in your whole life is "thank you," that would suffice. (Meister Eckehart)

Pray to the gods only when you're making some effort on your own behalf, otherwise your prayers are wasted (Aesop)

Confession

Jesus, forgive my sins.

Forgive the sins that I can remember,

And also the sins I have forgotten.

Forgive the wrong actions I have committed,

And the right actions I have omitted.

Forgive the times I have been weak in the face of temptation,

And those when I have been stubborn in the face of correction.

Forgive the times I have been proud of my own achievements,

And those when I have failed to boast of your works.

Forgive the harsh judgements I have made of others,

And the leniency I have shown to myself.

Forgive the lies I have told to others,

And the truths I have avoided.

Forgive me the pain I have caused others,

And the indulgence I have shown to myself.

Jesus have pity on me, and make me whole.

Speak No Evil - Words and Speech

Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles. (Prov 21:23)

A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control. (Prov 29:11)

It's bad manners to talk when your mouth is full and your head is empty.

False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. (Plato, Dialogues)

The best thing to do when you are angry is to close your mouth.

To get the best of an argument, stay out of it.

A dog has many friends because he wags his tail instead of his tongue.

'Twas a thief said the last kind word to Christ; Christ took the kindness and forgave the theft. (R. Browning, "The Ring and the Book")

Talk low, talk slow, and don't talk too much. (John Wayne on the Secret of Success)

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. (Plato)

They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad to realize that I'm going to miss mine by just a few days. (Garrison Keillor)

Missles of ligneous or petrous consistency have the potential of fracturing my gaseous structure, however appellations will eternal remain innocuous. (Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.)

A compliment is a statement of an agreeable truth; flattery is a statement of an agreeable untruth. (Sir John A. MacDonald)

Blessed are they who have nothing to say and who cannot be persuaded to say it. (James Russell Lowell)

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. (Erica Jong)

You should be careful when you give advice, because someone might take it.

Yawning is usually the act of a person inadvertently opening his mouth when he wishes others would shut theirs.

It is useless to hold a person to anything he says while he's in love, drunk, or running for office. (Shirley MacLaine)

Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do. (Dale Carnegie)

Don't use a gallon of speech to express a spoonful of thought.

A fool's tongue is always long enough to cut his own throat.

It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt. (Mark Twain)

Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. (Ernest Hemingway)

No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut. (Sam Rayburn)

Flattery is the art of telling people exactly what they think of themselves.

Light travels faster than sound. Is that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak?

I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. (Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself")

Why is it the people who know the least know it the loudest?

Stuffed fish on wall:  "If I had kept my mouth shut I wouldn't be here."

When we ask advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice. (Joseph-Louis LaGrange)

When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen.  But if you have not a pen, I suppose you must scratch any way you can.  (Samuel Lover)

Words are like leaves; and where they most abound,
Much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found.
(Alexander Pope)

Literature is mostly about having sex and not much about having children. Life is the other way round. (David Lodge)

'The time has come,' the Walrus said,
'To talk of many things:
Of shoes - and ships - and sealing wax -
Of cabbages - and kings.'
(Lewis Carroll)

Speech is civilisation itself. The word, even the most contradictory word, preserves contact - it is silence which isolates. (Thomas Mann)

What is it to thee what they whisper there? Come after me and let the people talk. (Dante Alighieri)

In classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, 'How well he spoke', but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, 'Let us march.' (Adlai Stevenson)

Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. (Rudyard Kipling)