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Archives - May 2003

May 1, 2003

I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions.

– Dorothy Day, THE LONG LONELINESS, 1952

May 2, 2003

To resist the frigidity of old age one must combine the body, the mind and the heart --- and to keep them in parallel vigor one must exercise, study and love.

– Karl von Bonstetten

May 3, 2003

Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.

– Sir Winston Churchill

May 4, 2003

Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life.

– Dr. David M. Burns

May 5, 2003

All married couples should learn the art of battle as they should learn the art of making love. Good battle is objective and honest --- never vicious or cruel. Good battle is healthy and constructive, and brings to a marriage the principle of equal partnership.

– Ann Landers

May 6, 2003

If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.

– Anna Quindlen

May 7, 2003

If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

– Herodotus

May 8, 2003

If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.

– Dale Carnegie

May 9, 2003

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.

– Oprah Winfrey, <em>Good Housekeeping</em>

May 10, 2003

My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that 'achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that's nice, too, but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success.'

– Helen Hayes

May 11, 2003

A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.

– Agatha Christie

May 12, 2003

Seize the moment of excited curiosity on any subject to solve your doubts; for if you let it pass, the desire may never return, and you may remain in ignorance.

– William Wirt

May 13, 2003

Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music --- the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.

– Henry Miller

May 14, 2003

You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.

– Malcolm X, MALCOLM X SPEAKS, 1965

May 15, 2003

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.

– Cyril Connolly

May 16, 2003

You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success --- but only if you persist.

– Isaac Asimov

May 17, 2003

The first duty of a human being is to assume the right relationship to society --- more briefly, to find your real job, and do it.

– Charlotte Perkins Gilman

May 18, 2003

If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.

– Carl Schurz

May 19, 2003

If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever that search may lead us. The free mind is not a barking dog, to be tethered on a ten-foot chain.

– Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.

May 20, 2003

Some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.

– Gilda Radner

May 21, 2003

You're alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act.

– Barbara Hall, A SUMMONS TO NEW ORLEANS, 2000

May 22, 2003

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get --- only what you are expecting to give --- which is everything. What you will receive in return varies. But it really has no connection with what you give. You give because you love and cannot help giving.

– Katherine Hepburn

May 23, 2003

Live all you can --- it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that, what have you had?

– Henry James, THE AMBASSADORS, 1903

May 24, 2003

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

May 25, 2003

The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn't behave that way you would never do anything.

– John Irving

May 26, 2003

And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me and I'll proudly stand next to him to defend her still today, 'cause there ain't no doubt I love this land, God bless the U.S.A.

– Lee Greenwood, &quot;God Bless the U.S.A&quot;

May 27, 2003

There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and your youth. Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself, 'It all depends on me.'

– Andre Gide

May 28, 2003

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.

– Louisa May Alcott

May 29, 2003

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one.

– Leo J. Burke

May 30, 2003

Bringing up a family should be an adventure, not an anxious discipline in which everybody is constantly graded for performance.

– Milton R. Saperstein

May 31, 2003

A woman is like a tea bag --- you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.

– Eleanor Roosevelt