Victor Borge: "Laughter is the shortest..."

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."

—Victor Borge

Coldplay: "So come over..."

So come over
Just be patient
And don't worry
And don't worry

No I don't wanna battle
From beginning to end
I don't wanna cycle
Recycle revenge
I don't wanna follow
Death and all his friends

—Coldplay, "Death and All His Friends" from Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends

J. M. Barrie: "God gave us memory..."

"God gave us memory that we might have roses in December."

—J. M. Barrie, quoted in Safe Return Home: An Inspirational Book for Caregivers of Alzheimers by Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers

Thomas Paine: "My country is the..."

"My country is the world... and my religion is to do good."

—Thomas Paine

Elizabeth Gilbert: "Happiness is the consequence..."

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lazy about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."

—Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

John Mayer: "You know it's nothing new..."

"You know it's nothing new
Bad news never had good timing
Then the circle of your friends
Will defend the silver lining

Pain throws your heart to the ground
Love turns the whole thing around
No, it won't all go the way, it should
But I know the heart of life is good"

—John Mayer, "Heart of Life" from Continuum

Voltaire: "Don't let the perfect..."

"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

—Voltaire

Marianne Williamson: "Our deepest fear is..."

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others."

—Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

Unknown: "The will of God..."

“The will of God will never take us

where the grace of God cannot protect us.”

—Unknown, Folk Wisdom

Bill Withers: "You can't get to..."

"You can't get to wonderful without passing through alright."

—Bill Withers in Wisdom

Unknown: "Before going to war..."

"Before going to war, say one prayer.
Before going to sea, say two prayers.
Before getting married, say three."

—Unknown, Old Polish Adage

Alan W. Watts: "You do not play..."

"You do not play a sonata to reach the final chord...
And if the meanings of things were simply in the ends,
composers would write nothing but finales."

—Alan W. Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity

Benjamin Disraeli: "There is no greater..."

"There is no greater risk than matrimony.
But there is nothing happier than a happy marriage."

—Benjamin Disraeli (1870) in a letter to Queen Victoria's daughter Louise, congratulating her on her engagement

Elizabeth Gilbert: "America: a fast-moving..."

"America: a fast-moving, multicultural, ever-evolving, maddeningly contradictory, creatively challenging, and fundamentally alive sort of place."


—Elizabeth Gilbert, Committed