#ness

Let go of certainty. The opposite isn't uncertainty. It's openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow. ↗

— Tony Schwartz

#certainty #curiosity #growing #learning #letting-go

The unhappy person resents it when you try to cheer him up, because that means he has to stop dwelling on himself and start paying attention to the universe. Unhappiness is the ultimate form of self-indulgence. When you're unhappy, you get to pay a lot of attention to yourself. You get to take yourself oh so very seriously. ↗

— Tom Robbins

#unhappiness #universe

Women's liberation is one thing, but the permeation of anti-male sentiment in post-modern popular culture - from our mocking sitcom plots to degrading commercial story lines - stands testament to the ignorance of society. Fair or not, as the lead gender that never requested such a role, the historical male reputation is quite balanced. For all of their perceived wrongs, over centuries they've moved entire civilizations forward, nurtured the human quest for discovery and industry, and led humankind from inconvenient darkness to convenient modernity. Navigating the chessboard that is human existence is quite a feat, yet one rarely acknowledged in modern academia or media. And yet for those monumental achievements, I love and admire the balanced creation that is man for all his strengths and weaknesses, his gifts and his curses. I would venture to say that most wise women do. ↗

— Tiffany Madison

#feminism #life #maleness #modernity #philosophy

This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. ↗

— Elizabeth I Tudor

#thankfulness #historical

I used to think of you that way, you know. Like the sun. My personal sun. You balanced out the clouds nicely for me." He sighed. "The clouds I can handle. But I can't fight with an eclipse. ↗

— Stephenie Meyer

#cheerfulness #companionship #balance

...the face has limited space. My mother used to say, if you fill your face with laughing, there will be no more room for crying. ↗

— Rohinton Mistry

#balance

Happiness. It comes on unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really, any early morning talk about it. ↗

— Raymond Carver

#poetry #unexpected

Don’t let the opinions of the average man sway you. Dream, and he thinks you’re crazy. Succeed, and he thinks you’re lucky. Acquire wealth, and he thinks you’re greedy. Pay no attention. He simply doesn’t understand ↗

— Robert Allen

#business-ebooks-and-audiobooks #digital-ebooks #inspirational-ebooks #motivational-ebooks #business

What can I do with my happiness? How can I keep it, conceal it, bury it where I may never lose it? I want to kneel as it falls over me like rain, gather it up with lace and silk, and press it over myself again. ↗

— Anaïs Nin

#fall

It's all a matter of paying attention, being awake in the present moment, and not expecting a huge payoff. The magic in this world seems to work in whispers and small kindnesses. ↗

— Charles de Lint

#kindness #magic #present