Quotes by American Authors - Page 2060

All too often we fail to see the good in a difficult situation. Our minds are wired in such a funny way that we tend to believe just because a door closed it must be a bad thing.
Lindsey Rietzsch
Philosophers can debate the meaning of life, but you need a Lord who can declare the meaning of life.
Max Lucado
Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.
Will Smith
Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job you can make a living, but if you work hard on yourself you'll make a fortune.
Jim Rohn
Anesthesia was discovered. Do you know what it means to relieve man of his pain and suffering? Anesthesia is the most humane of all of man's accomplishments, and what a merciful accomplishment it was. For this great discovery we are indebted to Dr. W. T. G. Morton.Do you know that the religionists opposed the use of anesthesia on the ground that God sent pain as a punishment for sin, and it was considered the greatest of sacrileges to use it—just think of it, a sin to relieve man of his misery! What a monstrous perversion! This one instance alone should convince you of the difference in believing in God or not.No believer in God would have spent his energies to discover anesthesia. He would have been in mortal fear of the wrath of his God for interfering with his 'divine plan,' of making man suffer for having eaten of the fruit of the 'Tree of Knowledge.'The very crux of the matter is in this one instance. Man seeks to relieve his fellow man from the suffering of disease and the pangs of mental agony. The believers in God are content that man's suffering is ordained, and therefore he accepts life and its trials and tribulations as a penance for living.The fear of the wrath of God has been a stumbling block to progress.
Joseph Lewis
Suffering is the noblest art, the quieter the better.
Chang-rae Lee
One of the few times in a man's life when he is not full of shit!!The morning of a colonoscopy. Enough said!
Jim Lawrence
When we are young, we spend much time and pains in filling our note-books with all definitions of Religion, Love, Poetry, Politics, Art, in the hope that, in the course of a few years, we shall have condensed into our encyclopaedia the net value of all the theories at which the world has yet arrived. But year after year our tables get no completeness, and at last we discover that our curve is a parabola, whose arcs will never meet.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Why, he was so handsome and brave that no one would ever have suspected that he was bookish!
Gerald Morris
I hold with those who favor fire.But if it had to perish twice,I think I know enough of hateTo know that for destruction iceIs also great
Robert Frost
Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible-it cannot be seen or measured yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment and offer you more joy than any material possession could.
Barbara De Angelis
...didn't need to waste so much time envisioning some vague horribleness awaiting me in my future.
Dan Harris
Don't quit. A wind from nowhere could turn it.
Johnnie Dent Jr.
To ask a child to feel sympathy for the poor is harder than getting him to feel sympathy for a chicken or a goat—at least you can see a goat being slaughtered.
Karan Mahajan
A champion always prepares to win.
D.C. Gonzalez
Happiness does not come from a job. It comes from knowing what you truly value, and behaving in a way that’s consistent with those beliefs.
Mike Rowe
Ah, don't let us undo what you've done!' she cried. 'I can't go back now to that other way of thinking. I can't love you unless I give you up.
Edith Wharton
If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience.
Woodrow Wilson
You've been away from home too long if you can get lost on the way from the harbor to the palace.
David Eddings
One of the greatest keys to happiness is realizing it has no doors.
Curtis Tyrone Jones
Decisions of character come from understanding that they are accountable to God only, not to family, spouses, religious leaders, corporations, public opinion or your own ego.
Shannon L. Alder
Grace is an attitude of generosity toward our fellow humans. We are not easily offended and do not look to judge and label others. With a spirit of graciousness, we are amiable, benevolent, and charitable.
Susan C.Young
Odd names: Winter, Autumn—they almost sound as if someone just made them up.” —Dubb
Richard Due
And this is a Buddhist country?” said Matt, “This is a country of lovingkindness and compassion? Hah. I think the Americans would call this ‘tough love.’ ”“That is the paradox of Buddhism,” said Ranjit, “As a young doctor I would see these violent things and wonder why they happened, knowing that it was not something that Buddhists should do. Then I realized we are not born Buddhist. All the focus on channeling anger and dealing with hardship did not emanate from these people…. It was a lesson to these people. We are a land of Buddhists because we need to hear the lessons of Buddha, not because we follow Buddha.”-spoken by Ranjit, the surgeon, after an episode of violence....
Joe Niemczura
Bakersville was never going to be the same. She'd been to other small towns where the residents all thought serial killers looked like monsters, that no member of their community could hide such dark desires. Once upon a time, she'd lived in one.And the monster there had ripped her life apart.
Elizabeth Heiter
He who despises himself esteems himself as a self-despiser.
Susan Sontag
Facts are never as salient as feelings.
Glenn Hodges
The only way your child will grow out of their dependency into self-sufficient adults is for you to essentially abandon your own independence for 20 years or so.
Timothy J. Keller
I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees and her book in my hands. Like a lot of things in my life, I'd just about worn it out, but it was worn out with love, and that's the best kind of worn-out there is. Maybe we're like all those used cars, broken hand tools, articles of old clothing, scratched record albums, and dog-eared books. Maybe there really isn't any such thing as mortality; that life simply wears us out with love.
Craig Johnson
I had a ritual—and having any ritual sounded so mature that I told everyone about it, even the regulars. On my days off I woke up late and went to the coffee shop and had a cappuccino and read. Then around five p.m., when the light was failing, I would take out a bottle of dry sherry and pour myself a glass, take out a jar of green olives, put on Miles Davis, and read the wine atlas. I didn't know why it felt so luxurious, but one day I realized that ritual was why I had moved to New York—to eat olives and get tipsy and read about Nebbiolo while the sun set. I had created a life that was bent in service to all my personal cravings.
Stephanie Danler
Zeena Schreck believes that the right-hand path and the left-hand path have traditionally had the same end goal; it is only the method that is different and the fact that adepts on the lefthandpath seek liberation in this life.--About Zeena Schreck by Malin Fitger 'Contemporary notions of Kundalini, its background and role within new Western religiosity,' University of Stockholm, 2004
Zeena Schreck
Worrying is like praying for crap!
Erin Fall Haskell
Every day is important for us because it is a day ordained by God. If we are bored with life there is something wrong with our concept of God and His involvement in our daily lives. Even the most dull and tedious days of our lives are ordained by God and ought to be used by us to glorify Him.
Jerry Bridges
He invaded my consciousness in the same way the ocean washes up on the beach, with sweeping tides of longing and regret, and with such power and raw force, I often woke with the taste of salt from my tears clinging to my skin." Joanna about Ben
Vicki Pettersson
I could only defend myself so much. It was my word against his. There was no evidence, nor was there any proof. My word meant very little.
Brenda Perlin
In intimate conversation I am as supportive and positive as the next man, but gatherings of happy people make me miserable. I long to share in the collective joy, but instead I am racked with anxiety.
Joel Derfner
There’s a big difference between being numb to something and being immune to it.
Michael Monroe
It was the most fleeting time of day, and maybe that was why it was her favorite. Because if you blinked, if you closed your eyes or turned your head for even the briefest of moments, you might just miss it. And like most things in life, the transient, fleeting nature of the moment made it all the more special.
Kelseyleigh Reber
When our institutions lack movement to propel them forward, the Spirit, I believe, simply moves around them, like a current flowing around a rock in a stream...without that soul work that teaches us to open our deepest selves to God and ground our souls in love, no movement will succeed and no institution will stand...it is the linking of action and contemplation, great work and deep spirituality, that keeps goodness, rightness, beauty, and aliveness flowing...as Pope Francis has said, this moment calls for social poets: sincere and creative people who will rise on the wings of faith to catch the wind of the Spirit, the wind of justice, joy, and peace. (p. 180)
Brian D. McLaren
As a confirmed melancholic, I can testify that the best and maybe only antidote for melancholia is action. However, like most melancholics, I suffer also from sloth.
Edward Abbey
My uncle Ernie didn't believe in God.At least that's what he said. But he alwaysWent to church on Christmas. Which I thoughtSeriously compromised his atheism.
Eugene H. Peterson
It's never been true, not anywhere at any time, that the value of a soul, of a human spirit, is dependent on a number on a scale. We are unrepeatable beings of light and space and water who need these physical vehicles to get around. When we start defining ourselves by that which can be measured or weighed, something deep within us rebels. We don't want to EAT hot fudge sundaes as much as we want our lives to BE hot fudge sundaes. We want to come home to ourselves. (p. 174-5)
Geneen Roth
Once our souls collided and caught fire, there was no turning back. Love is a collision of two stars -- it's as simple and as complicated as that.
Melody Lee
Our conduct is an advertisement for or against Jesus Christ. That’s why unity in the body of Christ is so important.
Elizabeth George
Sometimes the words that are left unspoken are the ones that most needed to be said.
Vi Keeland
She was afraid of nothing and demanded everything.
Cassandra Clare
Changing your outside world cannot make you happy if you are an unhappy person. The real personal change can only happen from the inside out. If you firstly create the change within yourself, you can turn your life around.
Roy T. Bennett
Life was a short window and there was no sense in doing the wrong thing over and over even if it was so difficult to stop.
Anna Godbersen
Keep in mind the roots of violence: Lust, envy, anger, avarice, and vengeance...the taproot...the killer's ultimate and truest motivation...is the hatred of truth...the hatred of truth is a vice. From it comes pride and an enthusiasm for disorder.
Dean Koontz
The greatest gift we have ever received, and ever will or could receive, is the Spirit of God Himself. He enters the essence of our human form and changes us from within. He fills us with joy, love and peace. He subdues our passions and transforms our very being into the likeness of Christ.
David Paul Kirkpatrick
Being the best is rarely within our reach. Doing our best is always within our reach.
Charles F. Glassman
The ritual sacrifice of children has been taboo for thousands of years. Yet tragically it is practiced every day across our world. We sacrifice children on the altars of our most destructive sins. When the sickness of pornography has run to its most evil and destructive end, it takes the form of child pornography. When prostitution reaches its sickest, most depraved form, it becomes child prostitution.
Wess Stafford
Covetousness puts money above manhood. It shackles its devotee and makes him its victim. It hardens the heart and deadens the noble impulses and destroys the vital qualities of life.
Billy Graham
...It's who you are. You're like a hummingbird, defying reality, a beautiful mystery, spreading your sweetness to all the needy flowers. Well, I'm no pretty garden blossom and I don't need your brand of sugar.
Karin Kallmaker
I don't have a car."His eyes sliced into mine. "I walked here," I explained. "I'm on foot.""Angel," he said in a way that sounded like he sincerely hoped I was joking.
Becca Fitzpatrick
Demoralizing self-talk leads to a self-destructive mindset, making everything in life more difficult. Not only that, how you feel about yourself oozes out of your pores and makes a bad impression on others.
Susan C.Young
Probably you should stay out of my head. It’s not a friendly place.
Kiersten White
The difference between superlative pie and a wish for cake is crust. Understand that pie is a generous but self-centered substance. It likes attention, not affection. Do not hug your crust. Do not rub its back or five its high. Don't fuss with refrigerators every step oft he way. Keep the water and butter cold, and remember what a wise baker once said: The goal is pie.
Kate Lebo
Part of abandoning the all-or-nothing mentality is allowing yourself room for setbacks. We are bound to have lapses on the road to health and wellness, but it is critical that we learn how to handle small failures positively so that we can minimize their long-term destructive effects. One setback is one setback—it is not the end of the world, nor is it the end of your journey toward a better you.
Jillian Michaels
Seeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end of the ocean.
David Searls