Gratitude Gratitude is the antidote for envy. (Tim Sprankle, pastor) Envy can be a subtle enemy of contentment. We may not covet someone’s property or wealth, but we might begin to wish we had a neighbor’s skill with tools or a friend’s vocal talent. Such longings...
Examples I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it myself. (Joyce Maynard, novelist and journalist) We might tell our kids to do as we say. Why? “Because I say so!” That is hardly a satisfactory answer, but we continue to offer it...
Genius Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple. (C.W. Ceran, 20th century German journalist) By itself, that’s a good illustration of the principle. More than a few wives will remember the times their husbands "knew exactly where they were going"...
Ideals Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but. . . following them you will reach your destiny. (Carl Schurz, German American reformer) You won’t fully reach your ideals, either, Schurz says. But like the sailor following the...
Finishing II Finishing well isn’t something you do at the end of your life—it is what you determine to do every day of your life. (Neil Cole, author) Most of us don’t like to think about discipline. It implies too much about rules, hard work, and punishment. If we...
Finishing I Most people are starters and stoppers, not finishers. (Christine Caine, Australian author) Caine’s statement probably strikes a sense of guilt in many of us. How many projects have we started with enthusiasm but given up before they were finished? How...
Mistakes Learn from the mistakes of others; you may not live long enough to make them all yourself. (Jim Tressel, college president) It may sound rather trite, but we all know that we make lots of mistakes, and the longer we live, the more we will likely make. So,...
Time Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. (John Lennon, late British musician) Sometimes we’re so busy planning for or anticipating the future that we pay too little attention to what’s happening around us right now. At other times, we’re in a...
Justice Justice means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns. (Plato, Greek philosopher) The term “social justice” is bandied around so much today. But, do we really know what it should mean? Although Plato’s comment is probably not...
Choices Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose. (Wayne Dyer, self-help author) Dyer says, “With everything that has happened to you, you can feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift.”...
Winning Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts. (Winston Churchill, World War II British prime minister) Every athlete or team that has won a championship can attest to Churchill’s statement. A year after a championship...
Facts/Truth Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. (John Adams, 2nd U.S. president) A lot of people today would do well to hear and understand...