Something Good from Chetan Bhagat

Don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order. There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

Life is one of those races in nursery school where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same is with life where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die. ...

One thing about nurturing the spark---don't take life seriously. Life is not meant to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a prepaid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? ...

It's ok, bunk a few classes, scoring low in couple of papers, goof up a few interviews, take leave from work, fall in love, little fights with your spouse. We are people, not programmed devices...

Don't be serious, be sincere!!

Beautiful Thoughts

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
Anton Chekhov

Every man dies. Not every man really lives.
William Wallace

Everything has been figured out, except how to live.
Jean-Paul Sartre


Life is never easy for those who dream.
Robert James Waller

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
Albert Camus

Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you.
Marsha Norman

Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.
Joseph Campbell

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt


To generalize is to be an idiot.
William Blake

Franz Kafka Quotes

He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek will be found.

A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.

From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached.

God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them.

Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.

Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

Heart is a Beautiful Garden

Once a Junior School teacher asked her students to bring some potatoes in a plastic bag to school. Each potato will be given a name of the person whom that child hates. Like this, the number of potatoes will be equal to the number of persons they hate. On a decided day the children brought their potatoes well addressed. Some had two, some had three and some had even five potatoes. The teacher said they have to carry these potatoes with them everywhere they go for a week. As the days passed the children started to complain about the spoiled smell that started coming from these potatoes. Also some students who had many potatoes complained that it was very
heavy to carry them all around. The children got rid of this assignment after
a week, when it got over.

The teacher asked, "How did you feel in this one week?" The children discussed their problems about the smell and weight. Then the teacher said, "This situation is very similar to what you carry in your heart when you don't like some people. This hatred makes your heart unhealthy and you carry that hatred in your heart everywhere you go. If you can not bear the smell of spoiled potatoes for a week, imagine the impact of this hatred that you carry through out your life, on your heart?"

MORALE:

* OUR HEART IS A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN THAT NEEDS A REGULAR CLEANING OF
UNWANTED WEEDS.

* FORGIVE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT BEHAVED WITH YOU AS EXPECTED AND FORGET THE
BAD THINGS. THIS ALSO MAKES ROOM AVAILABLE FOR STORING GOOD THINGS.

My Prince Charming

I have had a long list of criteria from the last few years that defines my Mr. Right. Being a fan of Mills and Boons, and movies like Serendipity, I still believe that somewhere out there someone is waiting for me with bated breath. Someone in his dreams thinks about me and is trying to reach me. My Prince Charming will meet me someday of my life. However, I came across this article today and now it has made me think do I need to do anything to get to my Prince Charming? Well, I am thinking about it and who knows my initiatives could bring him soon into my life :) Here is the article:


Relationships are funny. You never know what works for some people. Maybe your best friend is with someone that you can't stand. Maybe the only thing holding you back from meeting the perfect someone is the fact that they like peanut butter and you can't stand it. Maybe we spend so much time debating it and going over the rights and wrongs in our heads that we have lost sight of the things that are really important. What do we want from our life partner? What basic needs do we have out of a relationship? Is your nitpicking going to hinder your approach to love?

A lot of people want to know how to find love. A lot of people are sure that if they just stumble upon the perfect someone, everything will go according to plan. This is not true. For one thing, there is no such thing as the perfect person, just someone who is perfect for you. For another, it takes a lot of work to keep a relationship healthy and happy. So, the tips I'm going to offer today work as guidelines towards finding your special someone, but bearing in mind that these things take time. Disclaimer in place, let's begin.

1) Examine your life: If you've been single for a really long time, you begin to wonder what it is you're doing wrong. How come everyone else is happy and content, getting married all around you and you're all alone? Relax. It's got nothing to do with you as a person and everything to do with your habits. As human beings, we like the safe and the secure. We're comfortable in familiar environments. Your familiar environment might be the group of friends you've had since school, or the couples you befriended from work, or just people you have known for a very long time. And in this secure setting, your "safe place" you aren't going to meet anyone new. In order to find Mr/Ms Right, you need to explore the places he or she might be. If you're very, very lucky, he or she is one of your best friends. But like it or not, life is not a movie and this doesn't happen to most people. Get out of your comfort zones, asap, start accepting invitations from random people, go to a party by yourself maybe, or even do something as simple as talk to someone you've been wanting to speak to for a long time. You'll be surprised how therapeutic this can be and how it can really pave the way for you to open your mind to new experiences.

2) Have a check-list: By now you probably have a pretty good idea of what the perfect person should be like. Make a note of it in your head. What are your deal breakers? Are you a non-smoker? A vegetarian? Need someone who loves to travel? Whatever your essentials are, make sure that the other person has them. These are things that don't change much with time, so give up trying to mould someone else. Be sure you know what you want before you go out for it.

3) Destroy your check-list: Not everything can be brought down to a simple list. Okay, sure, so some things are non-negotiable. But relationships are also about compromise and you don't want to load someone else down with the weight of all your expectations. Keep it simple and maybe you'll learn to love the things they love too. You'll never know till you try.

4) Learn to love yourself: This may sound clichéd, but I cannot emphasise too much how important this is. People take cues from other people. Chances are, if you play yourself as an unassuming, self-deprecatory person, other people will view you as that too. Now, I'm not saying be a show off. But be confident and embrace your flaws and your good qualities equally. Nothing is as sexy as someone with confidence and that's what you should be, to draw other people to you.

5) Stop obsessing: And finally, stop having all these rules for your life. Okay so that hot girl never called you back. It's not a big deal. At the end of the day, you should be with someone who wants to be with you as much as you want to be with them. Someone who respects who you are and loves you for it. If you keep thinking to yourself, 'Oh, I should be married by the time I'm thirty' I can guarantee you that you will wind up 'settling' for someone instead of waiting for the perfect person. And they're out there. It just needs a little patience.

Good luck to you in your search for love.

Veronica Decides to Die - Review

Being your true self is so important and if you continuously start ignoring it, one day you can even feel like killing yourself. This is the gist, according to me, of another marvelous novel by Paulo Coelho. Either this person is genius or I have an infatuation for his words. I started the novel with a hope that this time, he is going to tell me something that I do not know; this time he will say something different, but to no use. I found the first half of the novel pretty boring. I put it back onto my shelf but then one night my love for Coelho compelled me to pick up the novel again and then I finished it in one go. And THANK GOD, I did it, otherwise I would have missed something nice.

Did he tell me something new this time? No! I know, have always known, being your own self is very important for a happy living. It is important that you be what you are and not what others want you to be. However, Coelho presented this simple thought in such an intense manner with so minute examples and that too from the mundane life that it left me shivering. After finishing the book, I realized why I am so low at times; what is it that hurts me; why, after having a perfect life, I crave for something unknowable. He also brought home an idea that to create an awareness of living, an awareness of death is important. Just imagine that you are going to die in a week. Your doctor has told you that you just have 7 days. How will you live those days? Fulfilling others' expectations? Or living the way you want to? I would prefer the latter one. And how would it feel to live each day with this thought in mind that this is MY LAST DAY! May be life would be too brighter and happier with this awareness of death. But is it possible to live this awareness each day? How many times of the day I am busy thinking what others think about me? Am I hurting them? Should I behave more properly? Why does she/he behave in such a manner? What does she/he expect from me? All these questions and tensions are enough to mar the true happiness of life. We, at least I am, are so busy analyzing our own selves that soon we forget who we are and start living what others want us to be.

But this thought again brings a new angle to the situation - does it mean that I should not be bothered with anybody's feelings and start living the way I want to live and doing things the way I want to do them? But what if I am hurting a loved one in the process? Is it my responsibility? Where can I draw the line? I don't know. I am not able to find answers for these questions but surely at times, it feels great to do what you wish to, to say what you wish to, to feel whatever way you want to - without pondering over the question Am I hurting somebody?

Going back to the book, I think its quite interesting - the second half. Awareness of death can actually bring a fresh breeze of awareness of life!

Mesmerizing thoughts by Paulo Coelho

The warrior of the light believes. Just like children believe.

Because he believes in miracles, miracles begin to happen. Because he is sure that his thought can change his life, his life begins to change. Because he is sure that he will find love, this love appears.

From time to time he is disappointed. Sometimes he gets hurt.

And then he hears comments like: “that fellow’s so naive!”

But the warrior knows that it is all worthwhile. For each defeat he counts two victories in his favor.

All those who believe know this.






When someone wants something, they must know why they are fighting. This is the only reason to seek a reward.
(The Pilgrimage)






- You mustn’t ever forget this scene - said the lecturer. - No matter what I do with this money, it’ll still be a 20 dollar bill. Many times in our lives, we are crushed, stamped on, kicked, maltreated, offended; however, in spite of this, we are still worth the same.





It is necessary to run risks, follow certain paths and abandon others.
No one can make a choice without feeling fear.
(Brida)



The warrior of light
knows that intuition is God’s alphabet
and so he continues listening to the wind
and talking to the stars.
(Manual of the Warrior of Light)



For a poet: Love possesses nothing and does not want to be possessed, because it is enough in itself. It will make you grow, and then throw you on the ground. It will whip you so that you feel your impotence, it will shake you to rid you of all your impurities. It will crush you to leave you flexible.

And then it will toss you in the fire so that you can become the blessed bread to be served at God’s sacred feast (The Prophet, by Khalil Gibran [1883-1931])





Nobody is courageous all the time. The unknown is a constant challenge, and being afraid is part of the journey.

Quotes II

1. The unexamined life is not worth living. (Socrates)

2. True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us. (Socrates)

3. Hope is a waking dream. (Aristotle)

4. Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. (Aristotle)

5. The soul never thinks without a picture. (Aristotle)

6. Well begun is half done. (Aristotle)

7. Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotion know what it means to want to escape from these things. (T.S.Eliot)

8. The most important thing for poets to do is to write as less as possible. (T.S.Eliot)

9. Whatever satisfies the soul is truth. (Walt Whitman)

10. A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom. (Robert Frost)

11. A poet never takes notes. You never take notes in a love affair. (Robert Frost)

12. Writing a poem is discovering. (Robert Frost)

13. Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. (Robert Frost)

14. The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office. (Robert Frost)

15. Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable. (Voltaire)

Tonight I can write the saddest lines ... by Pablo Neruda

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, 'The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.'

The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.

What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.

This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.

The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.

Another's. She will be another's. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

Variations on the word Sleep ... by Margaret Atwood

I would like to watch you sleeping,
which may not happen.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head.

and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of bluegreen leaves
with its watery sun & three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear

I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center. I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again & become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and you enter
it as easily as breathing in

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.

The Moment ... by Margaret Atwood

The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,

is the same moment when the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can't breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.

This is a photograph of Me ... by Margaret Atwood

It was taken some time ago.
At first it seems to be
a smeared
print: blurred lines and grey flecks
blended with the paper;

then, as you scan
it, you see in the left-hand corner
a thing that is like a branch: part of a tree
(balsam or spruce) emerging
and, to the right, halfway up
what ought to be a gentle
slope, a small frame house.

In the background there is a lake,
and beyond that, some low hills.

(The photograph was taken
the day after I drowned.

I am in the lake, in the center
of the picture, just under the surface.

It is difficult to say where
precisely, or to say
how large or small I am:
the effect of water
on light is a distortion

but if you look long enough,
eventually
you will be able to see me.)

Gone With the Wind

Rhett Butler:
"Scarlett, I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as the new. What is broken is broken--and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken place as long as I lived..."

Redundancy

In our day-to-day lives, we come across so many redundant words that they become a habit. However, proper care should be taken to avoid redundancy in written language. Here are some very common redundant words, which we come across in our daily lives:

adequate enough
advance planning
aggregate together
brief in duration
combine together
completely full [empty]
consensus of opinion
contemporaneous in age
count [divide] up
covered over\
distinguish the difference
each individual personal
eliminate altogether
empty out
equally as well as
estimated at about
fellow colleagues
fewer in number
filled in capacity
first initiated
fuse together
general rule
herein we describe
interval of time
large [small, bulky] in size
lift up
major breakthrough
near to
out of
outside of
oval [square, round] in shape
major breakthrough
near to
out of
outside of
oval [square, round] in shape
own personal view
past history
personal friend
period of time, time period, point in time
precedes in time
predict in advance
raised up
reassessed again
red in color
rough [smooth] in texture
split up
sum total
tender to the touch
true fact
uniformly consistent
2 halves
12 noon [midnight]
2 out of 12

Let's Learn Grammar

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter - it is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.
- Mark Twain

Most of the times we tend to forget the importance of grammar in written and spoken language. Although spoken language can be spared, but one needs to be very careful with written language. I, recently, learned some exciting and unknown rules of English grammar. All these are from two renowned books (thanks to my Director at Aptara who gave me these books to read) viz, Chicago Manual of Style and AMA Manual of Style.

# Who is used as a subject and Whom as an object.

# The word that introduces a restrictive clause, one that is essential to the meaning of the noun it describes. The word which introduces a nonrestrictive clause, one that adds more information but is not essential to the meaning. The word which is preceded by a comma.

#Some indefinite pronouns (eg, each, either, neither, one, no one, everyone, someone, nobody, everybody, somebody) always take singular verbs; some (eg, several, few, both, many) always take the plural; and some (eg, some, any, none, all, and most) may take either singular or plural. They use the singular verb when the pronoun refers to a singular word and the plural when the pronoun refers to a plural word, even when the noun is omitted.

#Either/or is used with only 2 comparators.

#The number/the total is singular and a number of/a total of is plural.

#The question mark,like the exclamation mark, is never combined with another question mark, exclamation mark, period, semicolon, or comma.

#Rhetorical questions, indirect or reported speech do not require a question mark.

#Clauses introduced by yet and so and subordinating conjunctions (eg, while, where, after, whereas) are preceded by a comma.

#Use comma to set off parenthetical words, phrases, questions, and other expressions that interrupt the continuity of a sentence, eg, therefore, moreover, on the other hand, of course, nevertheless, after all, consequently, however.

#Use a semicolon between main clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb (eg, also, besides, furthermore, then, however, thus, hence, indeed, yet) or a coordinating conjunction (eg, and, but, or, for, nor), if one of the clauses has internal punctuation or is considerably long.

#For clarity, use semicolons between items in a complex or lengthy enumeration withing a sentence or an enumeration that contains serial comma in at least one of the items listed.

#The colon is the strongest of the three marks, in comma, semicolon and colon, used to indicate a decided pause or break in thought. It separates 2 main clauses in which the second clause amplifies or explains the first.

# Where not to use a colon:
1. Do not use a colon if the sentence is continuous without it.
2. Avoid using a colon to separate a preposition from its object.

# Where to use a colon:
1. Use a colon to introduce a formal or extended quotation.
2. Use a colon to introduce an enumeration, especially after anticipatory phrasing such as thus, as follows, the following.

# Hyphens should be used only as an aid to the reader's understanding, primarily to avoid ambiguity.

# DO not use quotation marks when emphasizing a word, when using a non-English word, when mentioning a term as a term, or when defining a term. In all these cases, Italics are preferred.

# A word or phrase following so-called should NOT be enclosed in quotation marks.

# Common words used in a technical sense should BE placed in quotation marks.

# Do not use quotation marks with yes or no.

# Collective nouns may take either singular or plural verbs, depending on whether the word refers to the group as a unit or to its members as individuals.

# Association is the connection between two variables in which one does not necessarily cause the other. Relationship implies cause and effect.

# Can is used for ability or power to do something, may for permission to do it. A second meaning of may refers to likelihood or possibility.

# Comprise means to be composed of. The phrase comprised of is NEVER correct. ( I learned this at InfoPro...courtesy my Manager)

# Continual means to recur at regular and frequent intervals, continuous means to go on without pause or interruption.

# (This is one is TERRIFIC!) Disinterested and uninterested are NOT SYNONYMS. To be disinterested is to be unbiased or impartial; to be uninterested is to unconcerned, indifferent; or inattentive.
So, a judge who is disinterested is appreciated but one who is uninterested is not. :)

# eg - from Latin exempli gratia
ie - from Latin id rest

# Fewer and less are NOT interchangeable. Use fewer for number (individual persons or things) and less for volume or mass (indicating degree or value).

# To imply is to suggest or to indicate or express indirectly. To infer is to conclude or to draw conclusions from facts; statements, or indications.

# Euphemism - from the Greek eu, "good," and pheme, "voice".

# The words and phrases derived from other languages that have not become part of standard English should be italicized.

Sexist language, racist language, theistic language - all are typical of the policing languages of mastery, and cannot, do not, permit new knowledge or encourage the mutual exchange of ideas.
- Toni Morrison

Objectivism

Objectivism holds that reality exists independent of consciousness; that individual persons are in contact with this reality through sensory perceptions; that human beings can gain objective knowledge from perception through the process of concept formation and inductive and deductive logic; that the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or rational interest.
Objectivism holds that the mind cannot create reality, but rather, it is a means of discovering reality.

Romantic Realism

Coined by Ayn Rand. Rand defined romantic realism as a portrayal of things and persons "as they might and ought to be." "Might be" implied realism as contrasted with mere fantasy. "Ought to be" implied a moral vision and a standard of beauty and virtue.

Quotes

Oscar Wilde
1. Genius lasts longer than beauty.
2. Those who are faithful know only the trivial side of love; it is the faithless who know love's tragedies.
3. There is no such thing as a good influence. All influence is immoral - immoral from the scientific point of view. Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul, He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passion, His virtues are not real to him, His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly - that is what each of us is here for."
4. Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul
5. You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.
6. The only difference between a caprice and a lifelong passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer.
7. To get back one's youth, one merely has to repeat one's follies.
8. The only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
9. Women represent triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals.
10. The people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyalty, and fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination. Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect - simply a confession of failure!
11. It is only the sacred things that are worth touching.
12. When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one's self and one always ends by deceiving others.
13. People are fond of giving away what they need the most. It is what I call the depth of generosity.
14. There are two kinds of people who are really fascinating - people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.
15. A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
16. Everything is dangerous, my dear fellow. If it wasn't so, life wouldn't be worth living.
17. Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
18. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
19. All great ideas are dangerous.
20. A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.

Khaled Hosseini
1. It always hurts more to have and lose than to not have in the first place.
2. Of all the hardships a person has to face, none was more punishing than the simple act of waiting.
3. Writers, especially the beginners, need to be chain readers. And lastly, write every day. Write about things that get under your skin and keep you up at night.
4. It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime.
5. Better to be hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.

Rabindranath Tagore (The Victory)
What God builds man adds his own decorations.

Richard Bach
1. To bring anything into your life, imagine that it is already there.
2. You teach the best what you most need to learn.
3. Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the mark of a false Messiah!
4. A professional writer is an amateur who did not quit!
5. Allow the world to live as it chooses, and allow yourself to live as you choose.

Khalil Gibran - Get Acquainted

Khalil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer. Gibran was a prominent Syrian nationalist. While most of Gibran's early writings were in Arabic, most of his work published after 1918 was in English. 

Much of Gibran's writings deal with Christianity, especially on the topic of spiritual love. His poetry is notable for its use of formal language, as well as insights on topics of life using spiritual terms. His one of the most famous works is "The Prophet". 

Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931: the cause was determined to be cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis. 

Quotes by Khalil Gibran

1. But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
   
2. Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
   
3. If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were.
   
4. The eye of a human being is a microscope, which makes the world seem bigger than it really is.
   
5. Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
   
6. We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
   
7. Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
   
8. Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream.
   
9. Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.
   
10. Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
    
11. For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
    And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?