Music Was My Refuge

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
( John Quincy Adams )

We should always do what is right, not what is easy.

You may have made some mistakes, and you may not be where you want to be, but that’s got nothing to do with your future.
( Zig Ziglar )

Before you ask yourself why someone doesn’t like you.
Ask yourself why you even care.

I used to think the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change
But I was wrong.
The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy.
And to deal with those we need a spiritual and cultural transformation.
And we scientists don’t know how to do that.
( Gus Speth )

Smile at people who don’t like you.
They hate it.

Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories.
And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.
( Stevie Wonder )

We are none of us alone.
Even as we exhale it is inhaled by others.
The light that shines on us shines on our neighbour as well.
In this way, we are connected to our friend even as we are connected to our enemy.

Music was my refuge.
I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.
( Maya Angelou )

Being rich is not what you have in your bank account..
It’s what you have in your heart.

For every good reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth.
( Bo Bennett )

When the character of someone is not clear to you, look at their friends.

Religion and superstition has made fools of us all.
( Rose Winfold )

Most people don’t really want the truth.
They just want constant reassurance that what they believe is the truth.

The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.
( Mother Teresa )

Running away from a problem only increases the distance from the solution.

All I ever wanted was to reach out and touch another human being..
Not just with my hands but with my heart.
( There Mafi )

If you’re not sure what to believe in..
Then start with yourself.. After that, everything falls into place.

The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone.
( Mitch Albom )

If you are lucky enough to find someone as crazy as you, never let them go.

Loneliness adds beauty to life.
It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.
( Henry Rollins )

A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking.
Because her trust is not on the branch but on its own wings.
Always believe in yourself.

The loneliness you feel with another person, the wrong person, is the loneliest of all.
( Deb Caletti )

The way you end your story may one day be the reason why someone begins theirs.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy.
Then he becomes your partner.
( Nelson Mandela )

We must never close our eyes to the evil and the horror that surrounds the good and the beautiful.

Loneliness is the poverty of self.
Solitude is richness of self.
( May Sarton )

I’m perfect in my imperfections, happy in my pain.
Strong in my weaknesses.
And beautiful in my own way because I’m me.

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive.
To breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
( Marcus Aurelius )

Worry is a total waste of time.
It doesn’t change anything.
All it does is steal your joy and keep you very busy doing nothing.

If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present.
( Lao Tzu )

Sometimes we need someone to simply be there.
Not to say anything or fix anything.
But just to let us know they are on our side, and that they care.

When you realise how perfect everything is..
You will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.
( Buddha )

We are not given a good life or a bad life.
We are given a life.
It’s up to us to make it good or bad.

One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.
( William Osler, 1849-1919 )

Live your life in such a way that if anyone says a bad thing about you, no one would ever believe it.

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.
( Voltaire )

If you think you are mad, don’t worry.
All the best folk are mad.
You just have to trust your madness.

Be helpful.
When you see a person without a smile, give them yours.
( Zig Ziglar )

The most dangerous thing in the world is an imbecile who thinks he’s a genius.

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
( Mark Twain )

Those annoying moments when you are talking with someone..
And you just cannot understand how they actually believe what they are saying.

Unless one lives and loves in the trenches, it is difficult to remember that the war against dehumanisation is ceaseless.
( Audre Lorde )

Sometimes I feel like giving up.
Then I remember there are still people I need to prove wrong.

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.
( Augustine of Hippo )

We were not born to just pay bills and then die.

It’s not differences that divide us.
It’s our judgments about each other that do.
( Margaret Wheatley )

As you grow older, you slowly realise what really matters.
You realise that happiness does not come from the material things in the world.
You realise it comes from spending our short time here living and laughing with those we love and with those we care about.
So stay humble, we all end up the same way.

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
( John Lubbock )

Beware, some people just act like they are trying to help you.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
( Nelson Mandela )

We come from the earth, we return to the earth.
And in between we play in the garden.

How beautifully fragile are we that so many things can take but a moment to alter who we are forever.
( Samuel Decker Thompson )

The large pharmaceutical companies don’t want people to stop being sick, otherwise they stop making profits.
This is why they want everyone to focus more on the cure, not on the cause.

Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.
( Walter Cronkite )

As an educator, you must learn wonder.
Only those who look with the eyes of children can lose themselves in the object of their wonder.

It is not our differences that divide us.
It is our inability to recognise, accept, and celebrate those differences.
( Audre Lorde )

In the slums of our great cities today, boys and girls who could easily be brought to the full use of their powers are left stunted, inarticulate and angry.

A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination..
But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.
( Nelson Mandela )

The most violent element in society is ignorance.

When many different creatures are part of the same species, this typically means that they share many similarities over differences and can reproduce among themselves.
If humans share more similarities than differences, in desires, needs, and fears, then what is keeping our species apart?
If our Creator wanted us to be divided, we would have not been designed to interbreed.
( Suzy Kassem )

Do not let those who are sleepwalking stand in the way of your awakening.

People have become educated, but not yet become human.
( Abdul Sattar Edhi )

Today, take a few minutes to sit quietly, and just be thankful for all you have.

Our differences need not divide us because even as we are unique and individual, we are also all one.
( Henry Kimsey-House )

Conscious people don’t need to be told what to believe or how to behave.
Their logic and reason allow them the ability to use their own minds.

Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.
( A.A. Milne )

If you are unwilling to question your beliefs..
You will never know if you are following the truth or lies.

You are the artist of your life.
Don’t give the paintbrush to anyone else.

All men are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them.
( Miyamoto Musashi )