“Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.” William Butler Yeats
Inspirational thoughts
Only God…
“All that we call human history – money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery – is the long terrible story of humanity trying to find something other than God which will make us happy.” C.S. Lewis
God’s sense of humor
“There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.” GK Chesterton
Solitude
“In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us.”—Virginia Woolf
Change is invigorating…
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
Hard truth
“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” Flannery O’Connor
Patience…
“Don’t strain to make things perfect. Life in the present order will never be perfect, so don’t stretch to put everything right, to order all persons and things once and for all. Life is about living in the balance of the unbalanced, the imperfect, the never finished, the never totally secure, never quite happily ever after. We have to learn to live with the mess.” This Blessed Mess – Patricia Livingston.
Other’s opinion….
“What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?”
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
Self-mastery
“The brave man is he who overcomes not only his enemies but his pleasures.”
Democritus
Something simple like making a sacrifice at every meal: no alcohol, no dessert, no cream in your coffee, no extra salt on your food, or taking more of what you do not like…goes a long way in forming the habit of self-mastery.
Optimist?
“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.” –Helen Keller.