"When you laugh ...."

“Place in matter and in flesh the least of the values, for these are the things that hold death and must pass away. Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption. Encourage virtue in whatever heart it may have been driven into secrecy and sorrow by the shame and terror of the world. Ignore the obvious, for it is unworthy of the clear eye and the kindly heart.”

“When you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.”

William Saroyan

"... idleness ...."

… idleness – both the idleness that is forced upon us and the idleness we choose – is actually one of old age’s greatest gifts.  It gives us time for that wondrous human activity, play.

Epicurus

"Reflect on your present blessings ...."

Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

Charles Dickens

"The Prayer"

My brother kneels, so saith Kabir,

To stone and brass in heathen-wise,

But in my brother’s voice I hear

My own unanswered agonies.

His God is as his fates assign,

His prayer is all the world’s – and mine.

Rudyard Kipling

Thank you

For each morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

Ralph Waldo Emerson