#ear

Government leaders are amazing. So often it seems they are the last to know what the people want. ↗

— Aung San Suu Kyi

#democracy #fearless #freedom #liberty #freedom

When our hopes for performance are not completely met, realistic optimism involves accepting what cannot now be changed, rather than condemning or second-guessing ourselves. Focusing on the successful aspects of performance (even when the success is modest) promotes positive affect, reduces self-doubt, and helps to maintain motivation (e.g., McFarland & Ross, 1982).... Nevertheless, realistic optimism does not include or imply expectations that things will improve on their own. Wishful thinking of this sort typically has no reliable supporting evidence. Instead, the opportunity-seeking component of realistic optimism motivates efforts to improve future performances on the basis of what has been learned from past performances. ↗

— Sandra L. Schneider

#expectations #improvement #learning #optimism #performance

Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s what part of it means to be alive. But inside our heads — at least that’s where I imagine it — there’s a little room where we store those memories. A room like the stacks in this library. And to understand the workings of our own heart we have to keep on making new reference cards. We have to dust things off every once in a while, let fresh air in, change the water in the flower vases. In other words, you’ll live for ever in your own private library. ↗

— Haruki Murakami

#library #life #little-room #loss #lost-opportunity

They lived happily ever after. It said so. In the book. They were the last words on the page. Happily ever after. Despereaux was sure that he had read exactly those words time and time again. Lying on the floor with the drum beating and the mice shouting... Despereaux had a sudden, chilling thought: Had some other mouse eaten the words that spoke the truth? Did the knight and the fair maiden really not live happily ever after? ↗

— Kate DiCamillo

#inspirational #writing-from-the-heart #inspirational

The first step of any journey must be taken with daring in your heart. Don't let fear clog your arteries. ↗

— T.S. Welti

#humor #inspiration #inspirational

Has there ever been a more revealing moment this year? Let me just put this in fairly simple terms: Al Jazeera now broadcasts the words of Senator Durbin to the Mideast, certainly putting our troops in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals. ↗

— Karl Rove

#al #been #broadcasts #certainly #danger

You learn real early to make a film and then duck, and basically that's how I go about it. ↗

— Alan Rudolph

#basically #duck #early #film #go

In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and even clothes, the discussion of fur is childish. ↗

— Karl Lagerfeld

#chanel #childish #clothes #clothing #create

We acknowledge but one motive - to follow the truth as we know it, whithersoever it may lead us; but in our heart of hearts we are well assured that the truth which has made us free, will in the end make us glad also. ↗

— Mortimer Adler

#also #assured #end #follow #free

The public made me and then encouraged me for many years, and my future even now depends upon it. ↗

— Placido Domingo

#encouraged #even #even now #future #made