Some of the happiest people I know have none of the things the world insists are necessary for satisfaction and joy.
Joseph B. WirthlinRead
Our destiny and ultimate fate depend upon our daily decisions. . . .Tomorrow's joy or tomorrow's despair has its roots in decisions we make today. . . . Those who stand at the threshold of life always waiting for the right time to change are like the man who stands at the bank of a river waiting for the water to pass so he can cross on dry land.
Interpretation
Our current choices shape our future experiences.
This quote emphasizes the profound impact of our daily decisions on our future. It highlights that the quality of our lives tomorrow—be it joy or despair—stems from the choices we make today, and warns against procrastination in the face of necessary change, likening it to waiting for ideal conditions that may never arrive.
In practice
This quote can inspire a group discussion about personal growth during a workshop.
Some of the happiest people I know have none of the things the world insists are necessary for satisfaction and joy.
If we only look around us, there are a thousand reasons for us not to be happy, and it is simplicity itself to blame our unhappiness on the things we lack in life. It doesn’t take any talent at all to find them. The problem is, the more we focus on the things we don’t have, the more unhappy and more resentful we become.
Love is the beginning, the middle, and the end of the pathway of discipleship. It comforts, counsels, cures, and consoles. It leads us through valleys of darkness and through the veil of death. In the end love leads us to the glory and grandeur of eternal life.
Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character. We like to be around those who are grateful. They tend to brighten all around them. They make others feel better about themselves. They tend to be more humble, more joyful, more likable.
We will never make a journey of a thousand miles by fretting about how long it will take or how hard it will be. We make the journey by taking each day step by step and then repeating it again and again until we reach our destination.
The true greatness of a person, in my view, is evident in the way he or she treats those with whom courtesy and kindness are not required.
In the summer of 1988, my father took me up to look at the remains of our home, the dream house that he'd built. It was my first time since our family left four years earlier. Political and obscene graffiti covered the half-torn walls. There was no ceiling and surprisingly no floor: the parquet, the stone, the marble, all looted.
You felt it as a depth of ease in certain boys, their innate, affable assurance that they would not have to struggle for a place in the world; that is already reserved for them.
...my heart may have been in it but my soul was not.
I like to read away as much of the afternoon as possible, until real life rears its ugly head.
There are so many rumours about so many of us in the public eye. Sometimes it's too hard to deny what is not true.
To be left alone on the tightrope of youthful unknowing is to experience the excruciating beauty of full freedom and the threat of eternal indecision. Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity. It becomes easier to die and avoid conflict than to maintain a constant battle with the superior forces of maturity.
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