Frequently, I would turn to these quotes as a source of inspiration, using them to encourage personal growth for both my mind and soul.

Part I

  1. The world is your oyster. It’s up to you to find the pearls.
  2. Still a dreamer, yet more of a realist than ever before, I knew this was my time to sail. On the horizon I saw the shining future, as before. The difference now was that I felt the wind at my back. I was ready.
  3. The future was uncertain, absolutely, and there were many hurdles, twists, and turns to come, but as long as I kept moving forward, one foot in front of the other, the voices of fear and shame, the messages from those who wanted me to believe that I wasn’t good enough, would be stilled.
  4. Others may question your credentials, your papers, your degrees. Others may look for all kinds of ways to diminish your worth. But what is inside you no one can take from you or tarnish. This is your worth, who you really are, your degree that can go with you wherever you go, that you bring with you the moment you come into a room, that can’t be manipulated or shaken. Without that sense of self, no amount of paper, no pedigree, and no credentials can make you legit. No matter what, you have to feel legit inside first.
  5. Walk that walk and go forward all the time. Don’t just talk that talk, walk it and go forward. Also, the walk didn’t have to be long strides; baby steps counted too. Go forward.
  6. You got a dream… You gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it.
  7. Don’t worry if your tasks are small and rewards are few, remember that the mighty oak was once a nut like you.
  8. When you know this world as it is and you still love it, then your life will be beautiful.
  9. What is a success: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better…
  10. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!
  11. Adversity is a catalyst for greatness!
  12. Winners worry about winning; losers worry about winners
  13. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast
  14. Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.
  15. Doublethink, to deliberately believe in lies, while knowing they’re false. Examples of this in everyday life: “Oh, I need to be pretty to be happy. I need surgery to be pretty. I need to be thin, famous, fashionable.” Our young men today are being told that women are whores, bitches, things to be screwed, beaten, shit on, and shamed. This is a marketing holocaust. Twenty-four hours a day for the rest of our lives, the powers that be are hard at work dumbing us to death. So to defend ourselves, and fight against assimilating this dullness into our thought processes, we must learn to read. To stimulate our own imagination, to cultivate our own consciousness, our own belief systems. We all need skills to defend, to preserve our own minds. (Detachment)

Part II

  1. 不迁怒,不贰过: 回年二十九,发尽白,蚤死。孔子哭之恸,曰:“自吾有回,门人益亲。” 鲁哀公问:“弟子孰为好学?”孔子对曰:“有颜回者好学,不迁怒,不贰过。不幸短命死矣,今也则亡,未闻好学者 也。”

  2. 爱好和付出是一个正反馈的过程

  3. 人生惟有常是第一美德 (曾国藩)

  4. 兄自问近年得力惟一悔字诀。兄昔年自负本领甚大,可屈可伸,可行可藏,又每见得人家不是。自从丁已、戊午大悔大悟之后,乃知自己全无本领,凡事都见得人家有几分是处。故自成午 至今九载,与四十岁以前迥不相同,大约以能立能达为体,以不怨不尤为用。立者,发奋自强,站得住也; 达者,办事圆融,行得通也。(曾国藩)

  5. 孔子曰:君子有九思:视思明,听思聪,色思温,貌思恭,言思忠,事思敬,疑思问,忿思难,见得思义。孔子说:君子有九种考虑:看的时候,考虑看明白了没有;听的时候,考虑听清楚了没有;考虑自己的表情温和么?态度庄重么?说话诚恳老实么?工作严肃认真么?遇到疑难,考虑怎样去 向人家请教;要发怒了,考虑有没有后患;在可以得到利益的时候,考虑是不是该得。

  6. 凡遇牢骚欲发之时,则反躬自思,吾果有何不足,而蓄此不平之气,猛然内省,决然去之。(曾国藩)

  7. 怕什么真理无穷,进一寸有一寸的欢喜.

  8. 他强由他强,清风拂山岗,他横任他横,明月照大江。

  9. 颜渊问仁。子曰:克己复礼,为仁。一日克己复礼,天下归仁焉。为仁由己,而由人乎哉?颜渊曰:请问其目。子曰:非礼勿视,非礼勿听,非礼勿言,非礼勿动。颜渊曰:回虽不敏,请 事斯语矣。

  10. 君子不忧不惧。

  11. 士不可以不弘毅,任重而道远,仁以为己任,不亦重乎,死而后已,不亦远乎。

  12. 为天地立心,为生民立命,为往圣继绝学,为万世开太平。

  13. 修身齐家治国平天下。

  14. 一切众生皆具如来智慧德相,唯以妄想执着不能证得.

  15. 成功不是终结,失败不是终结,唯有勇气才是永恒 (Winston Churchill)