Crescendo: "The Wind Beneath my Wings" "Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." -- Charles Dickens "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened." "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." -- Winston Churchill (1874-1965) "A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age." -- Robert Frost "Laughter is the closest distance between two people." -- Victor Borge "It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving." "I have found that if I love until it hurts, there is no hurt but only move love." -- Mother Teresa "We are as great as our faith and as small as our ego." -- Shimon Peres "We should not only use all the brains we have -- but all that we can borrow." -- Woodrow Wilson "Unless I am expandable, I am expendable." "Surrender your stress to God's care, and your sins to God's cross." A Prayer: "Lord, today help me to make my words tender and sweet. Because tomorrow I may have to eat them." -- Dr. Robert Schuller "In the shadow of 9/11, we see more clearly our need to face any tragedy by standing shoulder-to-shoulder. We should teach our people to approach a crisis in the life of another as if it is their own -- offering tangible support and consistent encouragement." -- Rick Warren "True freedom consists in the liberation of the human person from the shackles of ignorance, oppression and vice...What overcomes ignorance is knowledge and the object of knowledge is truth -- empirical, moral, spiritual. 'Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.'" -- Robert P. George "...Have more than thou showest, Speak less than thou knowest." -- Fool, in Shakespeare's "King Lear" "Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused." -- Anonymous "The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting the first one." "Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind see." --Mark Twain "There is a wonderful, mystical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life—happiness, freedom, and peace of mind—are always attained by giving them to someone else." Anonymous "Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity." -- Frank Leahy "I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues." -- Duke Ellington "Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards." -- Vernon Sanders Law "Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have." -- Doris Mortman 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, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson "Whatever you are, be a good one." -- Abraham Lincoln "When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'" -- --Erma Bombeck "The winds of fate. One ship sails East and another sails West. With the selfsame winds that blow. Tis the set of the sails and not the gales, That determine the way they go. Like the winds of the sea are the waves of fate, As we voyage along through life. Tis the set of the soul that decides the goal, And not the calm or the strife." -- Ella Wheeler Wilcox "Storms make trees take deeper roots." "We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails." "If you want the rainbow, you've got to put up with the rain." -- Dolly Parton "Yesterday is history.Tomorrow is a mystery.Today is a gift.That is why they call it the present." "The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people." -- G.K. Chesterton Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open. --Sir James Dewar, Scientist (1877-1925) Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. --John Wooden Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. --Ronald Reagan Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Whoever would make of himself a distinctive individual must be keen to perceive what he is not. --Friedrich Schleiermacher Do what thy manhood bids thee do,From none but self expect applause:He noblest lives and noblest diesWho makes and keeps his self-made laws. --Sir Richard Francis Burton The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer. --Henry David Thoreau Admitting you were wrong cleanses the mind and makes one strong. We can make the world a better place by colouring our own little corner. Death robs us of our loved one but is unable to rob us of our sweet memories of that love. --Joan Adams Burchell Believe in God, serve God, but don't try to understand God's essence. You will get nothing from your painful efforts except disappointment and fatigue. Do not even strive to find out whether God exists; just serve as if this were true, as if God were present everywhere. Nothing else is necessary. --3rd Century Greek Playwright Philemon I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him. --Booker T. Washington-- Standard traffic laws apply on the road of success. Speed too fast and you'll crash. Cut people off and you'll struggle. Pay attention, keep driving and you'll enjoy the ride. It's even better if you can get others to ride with you in the carpool lane. --Simon Cooper It's when your tear-stained cheeks are pale And sunshine hurts your eyes, That out of heartbreak and despair A miracle supplies New strength, new hope, new joy from pain -- You stand, and calmly live again." --Anonymous THE MEANING OF ALOHA A - Akahi -- Kindness to be expressed with tenderness. L - Lokahi -- Unity to be expressed with harmony. O - Olu'olu -- Agreeability to be expressed with pleasantness. H - Ha'aha'a -- Humbleness to be expressed with modesty. A - Ahonui -- Patience to be expressed with perseverence. I am grateful for this quote from Slackkeyman from Kaua'i. Happiness keeps You Sweet, Trials keep You Strong, Sorrows keep You Human, Failures keeps You Humble, Success keeps You Glowing, But Only God keeps You Going! OLD AGE Old age, I decided, is a gift. I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometimes despair over my body ... the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror, but I don't agonize over those things for long. I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less grey hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. THE BUCK STOPS HERE President Harry S. Truman popularized the phrase during his White House years, from 1945 to 1953. The individual on whose desk the buck rests must take responsibility and not "pass the buck" on to someone else.The original "buck" was a marker passed around the table in poker games. It was placed in front of the player whose turn it was to deal and to see that the antes for all players were placed in the pool. WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND I recently got an email from a reader that pointed me to a Winston Churchill web site that gave conclusive proof that this story is a myth, and I accept that, but it is such a good myth that I have left it on the page. Just Click on The Churchill Web Site. TJ His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life." "No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel. "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of." And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin. Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill. Someone once said what goes around comes around. When you help someone else you are bringing joy into your life also....... Story sent to me via e-mail by G. Ron Pirtle Under the skies beneath these trees Here lies the body of Jonathan Pease. It's not really Pease, it's just the pod Pease shelled out and went to God. Thanks to Claudia Stafford for this one. THE TROUBLE TREE The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss. Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier. "Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing for sure, troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again. Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there ain't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before." WHERE GOD IS One day a stranger came to a village and said to the Rabbi, "I've searched all over for God and I cannot find Him anywhere." The Rabbi said to the stranger. "Since God is here, you've come to the right place." He was offered board and lodgings with an old widow, and for payment the stranger chopped wood for her fire, and helped other villagers in need. Each day the stranger would seek out the Rabbi and ask, "Is God here, and will I see Him today?" And each time the Rabbi would reply, "God is here, and you've come to the right place". One day, after walking back from the next village the Rabbi was disturbed from his rest by the sound of voices. Looking up he saw the stranger talking to a man, dusty from many days of travel. As the Rabbi listened he heard the travel-dusty man say to the stranger, "Please help me, I'm looking for God, and I cannot find Him anywhere." The Rabbi smiled and his kindly eyes filled with tears as he heard the stranger reply, "You have come to the right place because God is here. Stay with us and you will find Him." For me the moral of that little story is, we don't need to look for God because He is here in our friends and in all the deeds we do. When a person smiles, He is there. He may be in the stranger who helps you or in the pretty flower that pushes up through the frozen ground in Spring. When I was returning from the funeral of my fiance, I'd passed my local shopping centre and felt bewildered. The March sun was shining, the spring flowers were blooming, people were walking around, smiling and talking. At first I'd felt hurt, like no one cared that my world had ended. But then I remembered how much I loved the sunshine and how happy I would have been on any other sunny day--and somehow it made me smile. God was there in those shoppers, and it was His way of reminding me He was there; the sun was still there, and one day I'd be able to enjoy life again. We need never look for Him, He's with us every moment of every day, it's only up to us to recognise Him. By Sue Stirling (in England) from Sue's Special Spot Work like you don't need the money Love like you've never been hurt Dance like nobody's watching AN OLD MULE'S TALE A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer's well, and the farmer heard the mule braying loudly. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back ... a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up!" He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL! From Steve in the Grandparents' Web Ring Newsletter CHIEF YELLOWHAWK'S PRAYER O Great Spirit, Whose voice I hear in the winds, and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me, I come before you, one of your children. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made, my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught my people, the lesson you have hidden in every leaf and rock. I seek strength not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy, myself. Make me ever ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes, so when life fades as a fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame. ------- Chief YellowHawk From IrishBelle in Grandparents' Web Ring Newsletter If you would like to read a few Toasts that I have, then click on the TOASTS button. MOST OF THE GRAPHICS ON THIS PAGE ARE © ARTTODAY. © 1998 -- 2009 by the 4 Star Listening Post. SOME LINKS TO COLLECTIONS OF QUOTATIONS Phrases Worth Considering Quotation Central Shakespeare Search Engine for Quotes The Quotation Archive A List of Wedding Toasts The Land of Quotes This Is The QUOTES PAGE.Just Click On A Box To Go To Another Page.Click On The SITE MAP For A Brief Summary Of All The Pages. Home Page Site Map My Life Fly Fishing Jokes, p.1 Jokes, p.2 Jokes, p.3 Jokes, p.4 Hats Off Page My Religion Friends' Banners My Banner Gardening Web Rings Merced California Notes Quotes and Stories Graphics Links Awards Fun Things to Do SIGN MY GUEST BOOK VIEW MY GUEST BOOK Please come and visit again. If you do not hear the music and you want a LiveUpDate Crescendo Plug-In, Click Here.
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."
"I have found that if I love until it hurts, there is no hurt but only move love."
"Surrender your stress to God's care, and your sins to God's cross."
A Prayer: "Lord, today help me to make my words tender and sweet. Because tomorrow I may have to eat them."
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind see."
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, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Like the winds of the sea are the waves of fate, As we voyage along through life. Tis the set of the soul that decides the goal, And not the calm or the strife."
"We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails."
"If you want the rainbow, you've got to put up with the rain."
We can make the world a better place by colouring our own little corner.
Death robs us of our loved one but is unable to rob us of our sweet memories of that love.
A - Akahi -- Kindness to be expressed with tenderness. L - Lokahi -- Unity to be expressed with harmony. O - Olu'olu -- Agreeability to be expressed with pleasantness. H - Ha'aha'a -- Humbleness to be expressed with modesty. A - Ahonui -- Patience to be expressed with perseverence.
I am grateful for this quote from Slackkeyman from Kaua'i.
Happiness keeps You Sweet, Trials keep You Strong, Sorrows keep You Human, Failures keeps You Humble, Success keeps You Glowing, But Only God keeps You Going!
Old age, I decided, is a gift. I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometimes despair over my body ... the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror, but I don't agonize over those things for long. I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less grey hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.
The original "buck" was a marker passed around the table in poker games. It was placed in front of the player whose turn it was to deal and to see that the antes for all players were placed in the pool.
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog.
He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life." "No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer.
At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel. "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of."
And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.
Someone once said what goes around comes around. When you help someone else you are bringing joy into your life also.......
As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.
Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier. "Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing for sure, troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again. Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there ain't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."
The Rabbi said to the stranger. "Since God is here, you've come to the right place." He was offered board and lodgings with an old widow, and for payment the stranger chopped wood for her fire, and helped other villagers in need. Each day the stranger would seek out the Rabbi and ask, "Is God here, and will I see Him today?" And each time the Rabbi would reply, "God is here, and you've come to the right place".
One day, after walking back from the next village the Rabbi was disturbed from his rest by the sound of voices. Looking up he saw the stranger talking to a man, dusty from many days of travel. As the Rabbi listened he heard the travel-dusty man say to the stranger, "Please help me, I'm looking for God, and I cannot find Him anywhere." The Rabbi smiled and his kindly eyes filled with tears as he heard the stranger reply, "You have come to the right place because God is here. Stay with us and you will find Him."
For me the moral of that little story is, we don't need to look for God because He is here in our friends and in all the deeds we do. When a person smiles, He is there. He may be in the stranger who helps you or in the pretty flower that pushes up through the frozen ground in Spring.
When I was returning from the funeral of my fiance, I'd passed my local shopping centre and felt bewildered. The March sun was shining, the spring flowers were blooming, people were walking around, smiling and talking. At first I'd felt hurt, like no one cared that my world had ended. But then I remembered how much I loved the sunshine and how happy I would have been on any other sunny day--and somehow it made me smile. God was there in those shoppers, and it was His way of reminding me He was there; the sun was still there, and one day I'd be able to enjoy life again. We need never look for Him, He's with us every moment of every day, it's only up to us to recognise Him.
By Sue Stirling (in England) from Sue's Special Spot
Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back ... a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back HE SHOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP! This he did, blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up!" He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!
It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL!
From Steve in the Grandparents' Web Ring Newsletter
my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught my people, the lesson you have hidden in every leaf and rock. I seek strength not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy, myself. Make me ever ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes, so when life fades as a fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame. ------- Chief YellowHawk From IrishBelle in Grandparents' Web Ring Newsletter
From IrishBelle in Grandparents' Web Ring Newsletter
If you would like to read a few Toasts that I have, then click on the TOASTS button.
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