From Dr Matt's
Changing Your Stripes Manual.
the CYS Manual contains over 600 quotes on .
living richly — how to
live your best life!
(Here are some of the 600)
* * * * *
The only true freedom is the freedom to be what you are as a self.
Complete self-responsibility is the only road to complete freedom. As you learn this,
there is less and less choice about what to be. When you can freely be your self,
you are what you are. Your continuing freedom is only to grow and expand,
not to be something else.
An oak tree cannot choose to be a holly bush.
- Thomas Patrick Malone .
* * * * *
Going to a church doesn't make you a Christian
any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
Experience in not what happens to a man;
it is what a man does with what happens to him.
- Aldous Huxley .
* * * * *
If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see,
you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture . . .
that you are a victim of it.
- S. I. Hayakawa .
To endure in faith involves much more than putting up
with difficult circumstances; patient endurance is more than pacing
up and down within the cell of circumstance. True enduring represents
not merely the passage of time, but the passage of soul.
- Neal A. Maxwell .
* * * * *
There are two ways of meeting difficulties:
You alter the difficulties or you alter yourself to meet them.
- Phyllis Bottome .
* * * * *
As we grow old the beauty steals inward.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson .
* * * * *
Middle age is when broadness of the mind
and narrowness of the waist change places.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
Junk is something you keep for years
and throw away a week before you need it.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
If you must choose between two evils,
chose the one that you've never tried before.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
When we talk to God, we're praying.
When God talks to us, we're schizophrenic.
- Jane Wagner .
* * * * *
There is only one way to happiness and that
Is to cease worrying about the things which
are beyond the power of our will.
- Epictetus .
* * * * *
If you believe that feeling bad or worrying will change a past or future event,
then you are residing on another planet.
- William James .
* * * * *
** Dr Matt's Reaction: The absence of worrying about non-control issues is not the primary "way to happiness," let alone the "only" way! Happiness is a natural by product of Integrity: Our ability to be true to Life's inherent harmony, and that inner intuition of goodness will inevitably lead one to the joyful synergy of loving relations--here is happiness.
And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.
I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient
for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
- Jesus Christ .
* * * * *
Happiness is a by-product of function, purpose and conflict;
those who seek happiness for itself seek victory without war.
- William S. Burroughs .
* * * * *
Remember, even monkeys fall out of trees.
- Korean Proverb .
* * * * *
God allows us to fail, so that our weaknesses become apparent.
- Sonja Doneen Mitchell .
* * * * *
I discovered I always have a choice, and sometimes it's only a choice of attitude.
- Judith Knowlton .
* * * * *
For every problem under the sun,
There is a solution, or there is none.
If there's a solution, hurry and find it.
If there is none, then . . . never mind it.
- Le Grand Richards .
Behold, in thy childhood thou hast suffered afflictions and much sorrow,
because of the rudeness of thy brethren. Nevertheless, . . .
thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall
consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.
- Lehi, 570 B.C. .
* * * * *
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
- Kahlil Gibran .
* * * * *
You Need to Put your
Peepers on the Words in My Book.
You'll be so much Smarter and
Happier if you do!
* * * * *
Any concern too small to be turned
into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.
- Corrie ten Boom .
* * * * *
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stand in moments
of comfort and convenience, but where he stands
at times of challenge and controversy.
- Martin Luther King Jr. .
* * * * *
Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time
running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop,
most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, . . . most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.
Life is like an old time rail journey . . . delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts,
interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.
The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.
- Deseret News .
* * * * *
It is no doubt an evil to be full of faults, but it is a still greater evil
to be full of them . . . and unwilling to recognize them,
since this entails the further evil of self-delusion.
- Blaise Pascal .
* * * * *
Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed;
and make you a new heart and a new spirit.
- Ezekiel, 570 B.C. .
* * * * *
When in doubt . . . don't!
- Anon. .
* * * * *
For the justification of sins there exist false arguments,
according to which . . . there would appear to be exceptional
circumstances, rendering the sins not only excusable, but even necessary.
- Leo Tolstoy .
The girl who can't dance says the band can't play.
- Yiddish Proverb .
* * * * *
Don't make excuses . . . make good!
- My Mother .
* * * * *
There is all the difference in the world between a change in behavior and
a change of heart. A change of heart is the only change that counts; anything less
is merely a variation in the way the individual occupies center stage in the ongoing story
he composes as his life unfolds. . . . No change will make a fundamental difference
until resentful, anxious feelings come to an end—
until the self-justifying story is abandoned.
- C. Terry Warner .
* * * * *
You can view anything in this world with a negative eye, or you can "see"
the blessings and opportunities in every moment--especially the tough times.
- Matt Moody .
* * * * *
The most pathetic person in the world
is someone who has sight, but has no vision.
- Helen Keller .
* * * * *
The eyes are of little use if the mind be blind.
- Arab Proverb .
* * * * *
People only see what they are prepared to see.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson .
* * * * *
Nothing is interesting if you're not interested.
- Helen MacInness .
* * * * *
To the immature, other people are not real.
- Harry and Bonaro Overstreet .
* * * * *
Character is what I am.
Reputation is what people think of me.
- Alfred Armand Montapert .
* * * * *
I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the
formula for failure—which is: Try to please everybody.
- Herbert B. Swope .
A man never discloses his own character so clearly
as when he describes another's.
- Jean Paul Richter .
* * * * *
A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it.
- King Solomon .
* * * * *
Character is made by many acts;
it may be lost by a single act.
Anon. .
* * * * *
One of the most important ways to manifest integrity
is to be loyal to those who are not present. In doing so,
we build the trust of those who are present.
- Stephen R. Covey .
* * * * *
Look to be treated by others as you have treated others.
- Publilius Syrus .
* * * * *
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them.
- Jesus of Nazareth .
* * * * *
Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.
- Thomas Jefferson .
* * * * *
No legacy is so rich as honesty.
- William Shakespeare .
* * * * *
There is a transcendent power in example.
We reform others unconsciously, when we walk uprightly.
- Anne Sophie Swetchine .
* * * * *
True success depends more
on character than on intellect.
- Alfred A. Montapert .
* * * * *
Talent is born in silence but character
is born in the struggle of life
- German Proverb .
* * * * *
The unexamined life is not worth living.
- Socrates .
* * * * *
Character is that which reveals moral purpose,
exposing the class of things a man chooses or avoids.
- Aristotle .
* * * * *
Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident; riches take wing,
those who cheer today will curse tomorrow,
only one thing endures . . . character.
- Horace Greeley .
* * * * *
I cannot conceive otherwise than that He,
the Infinite Father, expects worship or praise
from us, but that He is even infinitely above it.
- Benjamin Franklin .
* * * * *
Let your reason, not your senses, be the rule of your conduct; for
reason will teach you to think wisely, to speak prudently
and to behave yourself worthily on all occasions.
- Confucius .
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Rebuttal: And now we know how he got his name: Confucius is confused! Complements of a Migraine Mental Block, one's "reason" will only "teach" a rationality "to behave" unworthily. As Dostoevsky maintained: "And what does reason know? It knows only what it has had time to learn." If one has not "had time to learn" that true wisdom only comes from He who enlightens our minds, then that man's "reason" . . . will be un-reasonable (Proverbs 3: 5-7).
* * * * *
The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
- Milton, Paradise Lost .
* * * * *
The human mind is a miracle. Once it accepts a new idea or learns a new fact,
it stretches forever and never goes back to its original dimension. It is limitless.
No one has even guessed its potential. Still, so many of us spend a lifetime marking
boundaries and defining limits. Young children in their innocence have not yet learned
their limitations and so joyfully and instinctively stretch to learn, and so should we all!
- Leo Buscaglia .
* * * * *
Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses it purity;
even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.
- Leonardo da Vinci .
* * * * *
You Need to Put your Peepers on the Words in My Book.
You'll be so much Smarter and Happier if you do!
* * * * *
Reading is to the mind
what exercise is to the body.
- Sir Richard Steele .
* * * * *
A man convinced against his will,
is of the same opinion still
- Samuel Butler .
* * * * *
There is no man living who cannot
do more than he thinks he can.
- Henry Ford .
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Rebuttal: While Henry's statement is technically correct, it also implies an "incorrect" approach to life: Our goal is NOT to try to do more than we "think" we can do, this is simply the wrong question, and the wrong starting point. Instead, our focus should be upon living true to the impressions of the heart: One impression at a time, . . . one moment at a time. Nephi taught: "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." We need not be paranoid with thinking,
"I can always do more." When it comes to obeying the "living commandments," the ones that are prompted to our heart in the moment, . . . the way is prepared for us to accomplish them perfectly and completely--with His help.
* * * * *
That which you perceive as real,
is real in its consequences
- W. I. Thomas .
* * * * *
Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose.
- Mary Shelley .
* * * * *
In the morning fix thy good purpose; and at night examine thyself
what thou hast done, how thou hast behaved thyself in word, deed, and thought.
- Thomas a' Kempis .
* * * * *
No one is a firmer believer in the power of prayer than the devil;
not that he practices it, . . . but he suffers from it.
- Guy H. King .
* * * * *
The Lord bless ya, and the devil miss ya
- Ezra Taft Benson .
The finest piece of sculpture that Michelangelo ever carved began with a thought.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
** Dr Matt's Rebuttal: Where did that creative thoughts come from? The finest pieces of art and invention that people ever created began with a conversation! Thoughts do not drop randomly from the sky; rather, then are embedded and born within the everyday dialogue of human relations, and our dialogue with Deity and the Devil. Beyond the conversations we with have with other beings—both seen and unseen—is the informing dialogue we have with plant & animals, the geographic contours of the earth, and material things.
* * * * *
Keep company with those who will make you better.
- English Saying .
* * * * *
Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for
You will never go any higher than you think.
- Benjamin Disraeli .
* * * * *
I will not let anyone walk through
my mind with their dirty feet.
- Mahatma Gandhi .
* * * * *
To have ideas in to gather flowers; to think,
is to weave them into garlands.
- Anne Sophie Swetchine .
* * * * *
The winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am.
Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts
on what they should have done or what they can't do.
- Denis Waitley.
Your physical brain and nervous system make up a servo-mechanism
which operates very much like an electronic computer . . . a mechanical goal-seeking device; . . . programming material into the brain is only effective if it is indelibly
impressed on the memory cells of the subconscious mind.
- Maxwell Maltz .
* * * * *
My will shall shape my future.
Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own.
I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze.
My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny.
- Elaine Maxwell.
* * * * *
The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings,
by changing the inner attitudes of their minds can change the outer aspects of their lives.
- William James.
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Rebuttal: in 1890, William James published the first psychology textbook in the USA. James has been very influential in the emergence of "Fake-it-till-you-make-it" Cognitive Psychology. The truth is that changing "inner attitudes" can only manipulate the external appearances of what you say and what you do-tweaking only cosmetics and choreography. But all the positive mental attitude in the world cannot bring about the only change that matters: A Change of Heart! And that most fundamental change only happens with the help of Heaven.
* * * * *
The only change that matters is a change of heart, every other change
alters us cosmetically but not fundamentally, modifies how we appear,
what we do or what we say, but does not change who we are.
- C. Terry Warner.
* * * * *
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart;
and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts. . . .
These are the things which defile a man.
- Jesus of Nazareth.
* * * * *
Keep thy heart with all diligence;
for out of it are the issues of life.
- King Solomon.
* * * * *
Visualize what you want to achieve. Every time you throw home a mental suggestion
you are giving the subconscious mind a blueprint to go by.
- Henry Miller .
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Rebuttal: Visualizing can be a good thing, especially as your goals are good and your heart is good. But there is really no "subconscious mind" that acts as a servo-mechanism to fulfill the programming that you "throw home." Why so?
Because "unconscious" behavior actually flows from conscious choices. Some incorrectly theorize that a "subconscious" mind must be in charge of unconsciously-unfolding behaviors appear unwittingly in the moment.
No, these behaviors are NOT controlled by a subsoncious mechanism within you; instead, it just YOU being who you are . . . and acting appropriate to the character you are molding (or lack thereof); it's just YOU living out future consequences of all the good and bad choices that you "throw home."
What it means to be mortal is to shoot "arrows of decision" that eventually land sometime tomorrow; and that "landing" is NOT governed by a "subconcious mind," instead, these consequences are set-in-motion by the only mind that you have—the conscious mind.
* * * * *
It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate.
- Henry David Thoreau .
* * * * *
** Dr Matt's Reaction: What you "think" of yourself will mostly contribute to your downward "fate," whereas, your upward "fate" is determined by how you "think" upon true precepts that distill upon your soul as the dew from Heaven. Further, thinking about yourself is counter productive to the aims of self-refinement. Jesus taught "He that will find his life shall lose it: and he that will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 10:39). The fate of man is more directly contingent upon one's ability to quit thinking about self and begin thinking about others--establishing loving relations with them. This IS the "losing" of self for His sake.
* * * * *
How can we communicate love? We must reach out to a person, make contact. We must listen with the heart, be sensitive to the other's needs. We must respond in a language that the person can understand. We must learn to listen and to keep on listening.
- Princess Pale Moon.
* * * * *
When you pray, rather let your heart be
without words, than your words without heart.
- John Bunyan.
* * * * *
Take a tip from nature--your ears aren't made
to shut, but your mouth is.
- Anon..
* * * * *
A sunset unshared, is a dying sunset.
- Anon..
* * * * *
Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.
- Howard W. Newton.
* * * * *
Youth is wasted on young people.
- Anon..
* * * * *
Marriage has less beauty but more safety than the single life. It has more sorrows,
but more joys. It lies under more burdens, but it is supported by all the strengths of love, and those burdens are delightful. In the end, all you can do is commit to the people you love and hope for a little luck, and some good weather.
- from the movie "Forces of Nature".
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Comment: In bad relationships, the sorrows and burdens that we bear come directly from the relationship--the bad behavior of one or both partners. But the ideal marriage relationship should be a source of strength, . . . a foundation. In whole relationships, marriage has much more beauty than the single life! Complete and committed relationships have less sorrows, and more joy. In the end, it's not a matter of "luck" or "good weather," but the making and keeping of covenants between partners that are compatible in curiosity, chemistry, and character. Finding this type of committed, loving relationship is the magic for which we all yearn.
* * * * *
It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.
- Friedrich Nietzsche.
* * * * *
Love is the harmony of two souls singing together
- Gregory P. J. Godek.
* * * * *
We are each of us angels with one wing, and can only fly embracing each other.
- Luciano De Crescenzo.
* * * * *
If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten
that we belong to each other.
- Mother Teresa.
The most important ingredient we put into any relationship
is not what we say or what we do, but what we are.
- Stephen R. Covey.
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Rebuttal: "What we are" is not separate from "what we say" or "what we do." Further, "what we are" includes "what and how we think" and "what and how we see." Who We Are IS the entire synergy of our Thinking, Doing, Seeing, Saying, Feeling, Acting, and Reacting.
In the Bible, the whole, harmonious, unified effort of Christ-like Love is described with the words: Heart, Might, Mind, Strength, and Soul—words that essentially say: When it comes to Gody Love . . . "Give everything you've got!" Because God consistently "gives all" this is precisely why it is said: "God is Love!"
Again, "Who You Are" is NOT separate from "What You Do" and "How You Be."
* * * * *
If I really want to improve my situation,
I can work on the one thing over which I have control—myself.
- Stephen R. Covey.
* * * * *
If you could kick the person responsible for most of your troubles,
you wouldn't be able to sit down for six months.
- Gordon Gray.
* * * * *
The human heart feels
things the eyes cannot see,
and knows what the mind
cannot understand.
- Robert Valett.
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Rebuttal: Nice poetry, but the truth is . . . the human heart is a “blood pump” that resides in the human body. On the other hand, the so-called “heart” that feels and knows, that not a “human” phenomenon at all; most fundamentally, this discernment is made possible by the Creator. The “heart” metaphor really represents an open and honest spiritual relationship with the Father of our spirits--God. Which explains this next quote:
* * * * *
The heart has reasons that reason cannot know.
- Blaise Pascal.
A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and
spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.
- Rita Mae Brown.
* * * * *
Men must constantly strive to master the conditions of their
environment, rather than allow their conditions to master them.
- John Dewey.
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Comment: Brown's entrance into the question of "life" is slightly off. Why so? Because we live in a world of inescapable impact always—"Life is a Set Up!" Mortal life means constantly "responding" to ever-pressing constraints: we cannot escape it, nor do we need to.
Brown's use of the word "fight," reveals the misplaced focus. The best Life we might live, is one that Flows instead of Fights. Flowing with the natural currents of Life that influence, persuade, and invite to do good—the inviting Light that given to every being by the Creator. Again, we need not "fight" for uninfluenced action, but strive to respond to every constraint with the flow of Love and Light.
As to Dewey's goal of striving to "master" one's environment, instead the more fruitful aim is to strive to Be Loving with every thing and every being that resides in one's world—to include plants, animals, the good earth, and material things.
* * * * *
I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word
or painting a picture, by simply molding one's inner life. And that too is a deed.
- Etty Hillesum.
* * * * *
Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dare
believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance.
- Bruce Barton.
* * * * *
Verbosity is boring, succinct is exciting!
- Matt Moody.
* * * * *
Prayer may not change things for you, but it for sure changes you for things.
- Samuel M. Shoemaker.
* * * * *
Ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it.
Then proceed to improve on the worst.
- Dale Carnegie.
* * * * *
This problem too, will look simple after it is solved.
- Charles Franklin Kettering.
* * * * *
No endeavor that is worthwhile is simple in prospect;
if it is right, it will be simple in retrospect.
- Edward Teller.
To hope is to risk despair, and to try is to risk failure. But risks must be taken,
because the greatest risk in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing,
does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering
and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live. Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave. He's forfeited his freedom.
Only the person who risks is truly free.
- Leo Buscaglia.
* * * * *
A turtle makes no progress
unless he sticks his neck out.
- Grand Pa Fin.
* * * * *
What can't be cured . . . must be endured.
- Grand Ma Fin.
* * * * *
Do your best!
- My Dad.
* * * * *
Faint heart never won fair lady
- Uncle Dick.
* * * * *
You Need to Put your
Peepers on the Words in My Book.
You'll be so much Smarter and
Happier if you do!
* * * * *
Drive thy business, let not they business drive thee.
- Benjamin Franklin.
* * * * *
It's natural to believe that
external events upset you. When you're mad at someone,
you automatically make them the cause of all your bad feelings. You say,
"You're annoying me! You're getting on my nerves." When you think like this, you're
actually fooling yourself because other people really cannot make you angry. Yes--you
heard me right. A pushy teenager might crowd in front of you in line at the movie theater.
A con artist might sell you a fake coin at an antique shop. A 'friend' might cheat you out of
your share of a profitable business deal. . . . No matter how outrageous or unfair others
might appear to you, they do not, never did, and never will upset you. The bitter truth
is that you're the one who's creating every last ounce of the outrage you experience.
- David D. Burns, The New Mood Therapy.
* * * * *
Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.
- Eleanor Roosevelt.
* * * * *
Even if you're on the right track,
you'll get run over if you just sit there
- Will Rogers.
* * * * *
One ship sails east and another sails west with the self-same winds that blow.
'Tis the set of the sail and not the gale which determines the way they go.
As the winds of the sea are the ways of fate as we voyage along through life,
'Tis the set of the soul that determines the goal, and not the calm or the strife
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
* * * * *
The greatest thing in this world
is not so much where we are,
but in which direction we are moving.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Stupidity, outrage, vanity, cruelty, iniquity, bad
faith, falsehood / we fail to see the whole array
when it is facing in the same direction as we.
- Jean Rostand.
* * * * *
There's no way we can escape accountability.
We do make a difference—one way or the other.
We are responsible for the impact of our lives.
- Stephen R. Covey.
* * * * *
If they are condemned they bring upon themselves their own condemnation.
Whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; . . . and whosoever doeth iniquity,
doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves;
For behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free.
He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil,
- Samuel the Lamanite.
In the whole history of the world, no oppression or abuse has ever prevented
a person from coming unto Christ, and having burdens lifted and wounds healed.
Can you imagine standing before your Maker on Judgment Day trying to convince
Almighty God that your abuse was so severe, or your upbringing so unfortunate,
that you couldn't choose to follow Jesus and be healed? Such suggests
that He who is All Powerful . . . was not powerful enough!
- Matt Moody.
* * * * *
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:
but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able;
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
- The Apostle Paul.
* * * * *
Everything we need to know in order to experience a change of heart, we know already,
It is a truth always available, a possession we have as part of the human family.
This means there are no experts. The secret of life is everyone's possession.
We do not need to go in search of it, only to stop resisting it. No matter
how much we are willing to spend, we cannot find it in any other way.
- C. Terry Warner.
* * * * *
Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness,
the people in whose heart I have written my law.
- Isaiah, 740 B.C..
* * * * *
I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.
- Jeremiah, 628 B.C..
* * * * *
He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
- King Solomon, 1015 B.C..
* * * * *
Men are never so likely to settle a question
rightly as when they discuss it freely.
- Thomas B. Macaulay.
Nothing is more terrible than activity without insight
- Thomas Carlyle.
* * * * *
If the issues people pursue in
Life are not right and relevant,
then the adjoining answers are as chaff in the wind:
A wrong question can never result in a right answer.
But if one finds issues that are important and purposeful, those issues will stand
through a lifetime as a beacon of light illuminating the pathway to wisdom and truth.
- Matt Moody.
* * * * *
Our plans miscarry because they have no aim.
When a man does not know what harbor he
he is heading for, no wind is the right wind.
- Seneca.
* * * * *
If you don't know where you're going,
any road will get you there.
- Anon..
* * * * *
There is only one success—to be able to spend your life in your own way.
- Christopher Morley.
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Rebuttal: If the secular humanists were right, i.e., big bang, man evolving from dolphins, no God, and no devil, . . . then this selfish creed . . . would be a good one, indeed. Morley is preaching the "religion" of Hedonism: Saturate yourself in "your own way." But, since there really is a Creator who has a plan and a purpose for His creations . . . if we would realize lasting "success," then we will live in harmony with the Bright White standards that He has put in place.
* * * * *
Many persons have the wrong idea about what constitutes true happiness.
It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose
- Hellen Keller.
* * * * *
What we usually pray to God is not that His will be done, but that He approve of ours.
- Helga Bergold Gross.
* * * * *
Before we can pray, "Lord, Thy Kingdom come,"
we must be willing to pray, "My Kingdom go."
- Alan Redpath.
* * * * *
Some people think that prayer just means asking for things, and
if they fail to receive exactly what they asked for,
they think the whole thing is a fraud.
- Gerald Vann.
* * * * *
Test everything I say her against your own experience.
If you are honest about that experience, what is true will ring true—
you will not have to rely on my say-so or anybody else's. No authority
on earth
will serve you better than your own straightforward sense of what is right.
- C. Terry Warner.
* * * * *
It's not a bargain, if you don't need it.
- Grand Pa Fin.
* * * * *
The trick is to respect yourself
and the other person at the same time.
- Stephen C. Paul.
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Rebuttal: One need not balance and portion out amounts of "respect" between self versus others: This is the wrong question. The real "trick" is to do the right thing according to the intuitions of the heart, and thus your very "being" IS respect. Being loving with others IS the highest expression of self-respect, self-fulfillment, and self-refinement.
* * * * *
Besides the noble art of getting things done,
there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The
wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.
- Lin Yu Tang.
* * * * *
He who cannot rest, cannot work;
he who cannot let go, cannot hold on;
he who cannot find footing, cannot go forward.
- Harry Emerson Fosdick.
* * * * *
A man is rich in proportion to the things he can afford to let alone.
- Henry David Thoreau.
* * * * *
If you want to feel rich, just count all
the things you have . . . that money can't buy.
- Anon..
* * * * *
We make a living by what we get,
we make a life by what we give.
- Winston Churchill.
* * * * *
Collect adventures and experiences, not things. Things will burden you.
- William D. Montapert.
* * * * *
Money will buy a pretty good dog, but it won't buy the wag of his tail.
- Josh Billings.
* * * * *
We know the worth
of a thing when we have lost it
- French Proverb.
* * * * *
People of character don't allow
the environment to dictate their style.
- Lucille Kallen.
* * * * *
** Dr Matt's Comment: At first glance, I thought Lucille was trying to say something profound, but on second thought, she may be trying to say something fairly shallow. The way she's worded it, a person of high character, like Abraham Lincoln, would absolutely not allow environment to keep him from wearing his stove pipe hat--even though its "style" is most atrocious. Abe is a person of character? The words "character" and "style" are incongruent. Character is tied to moral values and integrity, whereas style is a broad word that can include such non-essentials as the way you dress, dance, or dine. Lucille could have said "People of character don't allow the environment to dictate their character." I guess she didn't want to be profound!
* * * * *
We do not suddenly become . . .
what we do not cooperate in becoming.
- William J. Bennett.
* * * * *
You wouldn't worry about what people think of you,
if you only knew . . . how seldom they do.
- Grand Pa Fin.
* * * * *
PRAY, verb. To ask that the laws of
the universe be annulled in behalf of a
single petitioner confessedly unworthy.
- The Devil's Dictionary, 1911 .
* * * * *
Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow.
The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
- Abraham Lincoln .
* * * * *
The greater the difficulty,
the more glory in surmounting it.
Skillful pilots gain their reputation
by navigating storms and tempests.
- Epicurus, 341 B.C. .
* * * * *
Who you become is your greatest possession;
make it your masterpiece.
- Matt Moody .
* * * * *
You Need to Put your Peepers on the Words in My Book.
You'll be so much Smarter and Happier if you do!
* * * * *
Nothing worthwhile ever happens quickly and easily.
You achieve only as you are determined to achieve . . .
and as you keep at it until you have achieved.
- Robert H. Lauer .
* * * * *
If you want to kill time, try working it to death.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
Man who sit with mouth open and legs crossed,
waiting for roast duck to fly in, have long wait.
- Confucius .
* * * * *
The quality of every man's life has got to be a full measure
of that man's personal commitment to excellence and to victory,
regardless of what field he may be in.
- Vince Lombardi .
* * * * *
We are told that talent creates its own opportunities.
But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates
not only its own opportunities—but its own talents
- Eric Hoffer .
* * * * *
In every triumph, there's a lot of try.
- Frank Tyger .
* * * * *
A man is poor, not because he has nothing,
but because he does nothing
- Anon. .
* * * * *
The woods would be very silent if no birds sang . . . except those who sang best.
- John James Audubon .
* * * * *
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
- Theodore Roosevelt .
* * * * *
Do not learn the tricks of the trade, . . .
just learn the trade.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
The future belongs to those who prepare for it
- Ralph Waldo Emerson .
* * * * *
We must never get too busy sawing to take time to sharpen the saw,
never too busy driving to take time to get gas.
- Stephen R. Covey .
* * * * *
The first hour of waking is the rudder
that guides the whole day.
- Henry W. Beecher .
* * * * *
I have been driven many times to my knees
by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.
- Abraham Lincoln .
* * * * *
Prayer gives a man the opportunity of
getting to know someone he hardly ever meets.
I do not mean his Maker, . . . but himself.
- William Inge .
* * * * *
If we could all hear one another's prayers,
God might be relieved of some of his burdens.
- Ashleigh Brilliant .
* * * * *
The value of consistent prayer is not that
He will hear us, but that we will hear Him.
- William McGill .
* * * * *
Trouble and perplexity drive me to prayer
and prayer drives away perplexity and trouble.
- Philip Melanchthen .
* * * * *
Deep down in me I knowed it was a lie, and He knowed it.
You can't pray a lie.
- Mark Twain .
* * * * *
Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire, that trembles in the breast.
- James Montgomery .
* * * * *
Remember in the dark
what God has told you in the Light.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
God's way may seem harder to do,
but it will be easier on you.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
Know the true value of time; snatch, seize,
and enjoy every moment of it.
No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination:
never put off till tomorrow
what you can do today.
- Lord Chesterfield .
* * * * *
When the time to perform arrives,
the time to prepare is past.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
Do not allow idleness to deceive you;
for what you give him today, he
steals from you tomorrow.
- H. Crowquill .
* * * * *
Shun idleness.
It is the rust that attaches itself
to the most brilliant metals.
- Voltaire .
* * * * *
You can't escape the responsibility
of tomorrow by evading it today.
- Abraham Lincoln .
* * * * *
God has promised forgiveness to your repentance; but
He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.
- St. Augustine .
* * * * *
On the Plains of Hesitation,
lie the bleached bones of countless millions, who
on the Dawn of Victory, paused to rest,
and there resting, died.
- George W. Cecil.
* * * * *
You cannot run away from a weakness;
you must at sometime fight it out or perish.
And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?
- Robert Louis Stevenson .
* * * * *
All generalizations are always accurate and applicable, . . .
except when they're not.
- Matt Moody .
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Comment: Some of these quotes are "generalizations" and others are statements of "true principle." Generalizations are descriptions of world realities that apply to only a percentage of people and things. In contrast, "true principles" apply 100% of the time to 100% of the population. Instead of merely trying to describe "what's happening in the world," whether tremendous or trivial, principles specifically declare and describe the plan, the promises, and the parameters that the Creator of the Universe has put in place-principles are true 100% of the time, because the Creator keeps all His promises perfectly. You can know a principle is true by the fruit that flourishes from its faithful application; further, the Creator will confirm the truth all principles to your soul in the very moments you sincerely contemplate them: What is True . . . will ring true! But it's NOT the principle per se that is "the truth," rather "the Truth" IS the living reality to which the principle testifies. (See What is Truth? in the "Perspective" Chapter). Some of the quotes herein are neither generally correct nor universally true, and in those cases, I added a comment to clarify.
* * * * *
When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant
I could hardly stand to have the old man around,
but when I got to be twenty-one,
I was astonished at how much
he had learned
in seven years.
- Mark Twain .
* * * * *
A smile is rest to the weary,
daylight to the discouraged,
sunshine to the sad, an antidote for trouble.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
Education is the instruction of
the intellect in the laws of Nature.
- Thomas Henry Huxley .
* * * * *
What men usually ask of God when they
pray is that two plus two will not equal four.
- Anon. .
* * * * *
Two things are infinite: the universe & human stupidity;
and I'm not sure about the universe.
- Albert Einstein .
* * * * *
An intellectual . . . is a man who
takes more words than necessary
to tell more than he knows.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower .
* * * * *
A person's true wealth is the good
he or she does in the world.
- Mohammed .
* * * * *
Vitam Impendere Vero
- Montesquieu .
Inside myself is a place where I live all alone, and
that's where you renew your springs that never dry up.
- Pearl S. Buck .
* * * * *
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your
own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; Who looks inside, awakes.
- Carl Jung .
* * * * *
** Dr Matt Rebuttal: "The heart" is a poetic metaphor that represents communion and harmony with spiritual realities, all which exist "outside" of you. Because the heart is a life-sustaining organ in the body, referring to matters of "heart" is to speak of core realities that are vital and central-matters of life! The look "inside" yourself is also a metaphor and not something you can actually do-it's a just a way of talking. "Inside" you will only find a couple of kidneys and a lung or two; you will NOT find your "dreams" or "springs that never dry up." You live in a tangible world and you can't really live "inside" yourself. You can try to withdraw from sociality, yet . . . YOU are never alone: You may be with your bathtub and a book, or with the birds by the brook; or, you may be in the solitude of a closet, praying to God. Being human means being-with other beings and things, always. Finally, the only "springs" of water that will "never dry up" come from the Creator, who is the well of "living water," the fount of every blessing, and the power by which we draw our daily breath.
* * * * *
The only true wisdom is in
knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates.
What is Real loses all appeal,
when Life is perceived through selfish need.
The blessings of the Sun are shunned
by those desiring darkness.
- Matt Moody.
* * * * *
I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate
in men's minds without their being aware of the fact.
- Claude Levi-Strauss.
* * * * *
It is in the darkness of their eyes
that men get lost.
- Black Elk.
* * * * *
Turn your face to the sun,
and the shadows fall behind you."
- Maori Proverb.
* * * * *
For the Lord your God is gracious
and merciful, and will not turn away
his face from you, if ye return unto him.
- Hezekiah, 728 B. C..
* * * * *
Don't it always seem to go, that you
don't know what you've got till it's gone.
Pave paradise, . . . put up a parking lot.
- Joan Collins.
* * * * *
If you thoughtfully peruse the Table of Contents of the Changing Your Stripes Manual,
you will find particular topics that will enrich your life.
Enjoy over 200 Quotes by Dr Matt from his book "Changing Your Stripes."
Read even More Fantastic, Inspiring Quotes from the CYS Manual