READING ROOM
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Bathroom Wall quotes. Suggestions
are welcomed for consideration. Every step we take
we walk on sacred ground. Follow
the grain in your own wood. -Howard Thurman Let Nature be our teacher. -Wordsworth In nature, sunsets replace
TV sets Honor all beings. -Thessalonians We must be
stewards to our own hearts and to one another as well as to the earth. -Shoal
Sanctuary No child left inside -U.S. Fish & Wildlife A weed is a plant with undiscovered virtues. -Ralph Waldo Emerson Earth laughs in flowers. -Ralph Waldo Emerson The universe is like a safe
with the combination locked inside. -Peter
DeVries Biocracy, biosphere democracy,
is dawning. -Michael Dowd Adopt the pace
of nature; her secret is patience.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson Our piece of the puzzle fits
into the Big Picture. -Shoal
Sanctuary Life is a verb. -Shoal
Sanctuary Facts are the fibers which weave reality. Perceptions fray facts. Clothed in concealing conjecture, we see only our illusions of life. The longing for naked Truth is the need to know reality, stripped of
its disheveled attire. -Shoal
Sanctuary Reality is for those who lack imagination. -Lily Tomlin
We are the universe, conscious of itself. -Einstein Behind your eyes, a unique
point in the universe looks out. God is too big to fit into
any one religion. The interconnectedness of ALL
is too big to be encompassed by a single theory. Live as though everything is
a miracle - Albert Einstein We search for the Truth as
if concealed, but in common things Truth stands revealed. All things in the spirit must
live together as one.
- Black Elk The clearest
way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. - John Muir All religions, arts, and sciences
are branches of the same tree. -Albert
Einstein Facts are God’s native tongue. -Michael Dowd Science is empirical theology. -Michael Dowd Evolution, the guiding principle of the universe, grounds hope and bridges science / religion. Reality is that which, even
when we stop believing in it, refuses to go away -Philip K. Dick Silence is affirmation; Speak
out! -Grandmothers
for Peace In antiquity hopscotch symbolized
the labyrinth in which one tosses a white stone- soul- toward the exit,
vanishing point of cloudless sky. -
Solitude, My Mother by Charles Simic Disorder is sacred.
-Street-Corner Theology
by Charles Simic We are fragments of an unutterable
whole. -Street-Corner
Theology by Charles Simic Meaning is in search of itself.
-Street-Corner Theology
by Charles Simic Making art is about saving
one’s soul. -Street-Corner
Theology by Charles Simic Common sense is genius dressed
in working clothes. -Ralph Waldo Emerson Nature’s peace flow into you as sunshine into trees. Winds
blow freshness into you; cares drop like autumn leaves. -John Muir Give people a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach people to fish and you feed them until the river is contaminated or shorelines seized for development. Teach people to organize and,
whatever the situation, they can join together in community & design
their own solutions. -Shoal
Sanctuary Sometimes you win; sometimes
you learn. -Robert
Kiyosaki Poverty is the worst form of
violence; generosity is the greatest form of love.
-Shoal Sanctuary Practice asking unconditionally positive questions. Awaken to our relationship to the stupendous universal process that brought us into being. -Thomas Berry
Imagination is a preview of
life’s coming attractions -Einstein Life goes where energy flows. Try loafing. If it hurts,
you’re doing it wrong. Life is a succession of deaths
& resurrections. -Lucien
Price “We belong to the eternal
here & now. We did not begin when we were born; our origin
goes back to the beginningless beginning of all things.”
-Raymond Baughan Blessed are the unloved, the
poor, the hungry, the meek, the pure at
heart, the sorrowful, the forgiving, the peacemakers, and all
who strive for justice. -Matthew
5 & Luke 6 Love everyone as yourself.
- Galatians 5:14 Everyone is
perfect and could use a little improvement. -Zen
master Suzuki May the forest be
with you. Hear me four quarters of the
world, relative are we.-
Black Elk A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and
sings it to you when you forget the words. Harmonize with
the Universal Rhythm. We are more
Pluribus than Unum. Too much sanity may be insanity, and the most insane of all is to see the world as it
is, rather than as it should be.
-Cervantes All the darkness in the world cannot dispel even the smallest candle. -Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese Nobel Peace
Laureate Darkness in the world is merely
an absence of light.
-Aung San Suu Kyi We are never alone so long
as there are trees. Follow the pretense of
accident. -Trungpa
Rinpoche Reveal the meaning of what otherwise would remain an unbearable sequence of sheer
happenings. -Hannah Arendt Hope becomes faith through
love. -Kierkegaard Each word has an echo.
So does each silence.
-John Paul Sartre Earth can be borrowed but not bought, used but not owned. We are tenants not possessors,
lovers and not masters. -Marjorie
Kinnan Rawlings Live as if you were to die
tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
- Mahatma Gandhi Skills are contagious. We have the power to make this
the best or the last generation in human history. Every blockade is a potential
ramp. Every act has sacramental possibilities. Mind effects molecules; moon
effects matter. The price of peace is economic
justice for all. -
UUs for Just Economic Community Nature holds precious, intangible
value. - John Muir The only limits to the human
mind are those we believe in.
-Willis Harman Self-ing is something Infinity
does for fun.
-Jean Houston War is terrorism with a big
budget. The future is not what will
come, it’s what we create. We are the ones we’ve been
waiting for. -Hopi Elders For take thy balance if thou be so wise And weigh the wind that under heaven doth blow; Or weigh the light that in the east doth rise; Or weigh the thought that from
man's mind doth flow.
-Voltaire You cannot put your foot into the same stream of consciousness twice. -
Heraclitus & William James, together at Shoal Sanctuary The negative principle negates;
the positive principle creates.
-Norman Vincent Peale Memory is our effort to get
acquainted with the stranger which was us a long time ago. Poetry begins with delight
and ends with wisdom.
-Robert Frost A poem is a momentary stay
against confusion. -Robert
Frost I am only one; I cannot do everything. But I can do something and will do what I can. God is a comedian, playing
to an audience too afraid to laugh.
-Voltaire Sorrow looks back.
Worry looks around. Faith looks forward. Act always as if the future of the Universe depended on you, while laughing at yourself for thinking that
your action makes any difference.
-Buddhist saying The greatest thing we have
to give is ourselves.
-Shoal
Sanctuary Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting “holy moly...what a ride!”
-John Mann, FL Public Service Commission War is the ultimate human failure.
Love is the ultimate human achievement. -Shoal
Sanctuary The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all
be as happy as kings.
-Robert Louis Stevenson Goals are dreams with deadlines -Diana
Scharf Hunt If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost . . . put foundations under them. -Henry David Thoreau, Walden,
1854 We may learn & grow & profit from the wisdom of those called the opposition. -
Nobel Peace Laureate Martin Luther King, Jr. Every moment we are happy is
a gift to humanity. -
Harry Palmer Great composers do not work because they are inspired; they become inspired because they work. Everything will be fine in the end; if it isn’t fine, it isn’t the end. -Martha Colameco Every stumbling block is a potential stepping stone. -Shoal SanctuaryThe only constant is change.
Life f lux. It is always sunrise somewhere -John Muir Worry gives a small thing
a BIG shadow.
-Swedish Proverb Worry- Paying interest
on a debt not due. -Pat
Cummins Enemy- An adversarial
ally who teaches us about ourselves. -Pat
Cummins Fear- A backwards way
of trying to help ourselves learn. -Pat
Cummins Ohnosecond
- That minuscule fraction of time when you realize you've made a BIG
mistake. Your past is not who you are,
it is part of who you are becoming. People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle when the sun is out. When darkness sets in, their beauty is revealed only by light from within. Pain is weakness leaving the
body.
-Kyle Maynard, 17yo multiple amputee Strive. Never expect
or accept failure. Keep trying.
-Kyle Maynard The world keeps ending but new people keep showing up as if the fun has just begun. Between moments of anguish there are gaps of reprieve. Caught in a hurricane, there are breaks between squalls. During labor, there are breathers
between contractions. It is never too late to be
who you might have been. - George Eliot Happiness is an inside job. -Lily Tomlin It’s never too late
to have a happy childhood. Happiness is hard to come by until we realize it is not our right to be happy. Life is filled with many misfortunes,
most of which never happen. -Samuel
Clemens Life is too short to be little.
-Benjamin Disraeli Life is very interesting, if
you make mistakes. - Georges
Carpentier Friendship multiplies joy,
divides sorrow. Anger is radiance
trying to find a way out. -Robert
Bly There is a
crack in everything; that is how the Light gets in. In this age,
nonconformity is a noble service. -
John Stuart Mill Peace is a way of life. -
Nobel Peace Laureate Oscar Sanchez Compassion abides within us like tinder, waiting only for a spark. - Nobel Peace Laureate Albert Schweitzer Feelings are facts. Thoughts are impressions. Actions are choices. Map out your future, but do
it in pencil. -Jon
Bon Jovi Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. God is love. - I John 4: 7-8 One planet, one people. - Shoal Sanctuary War breaks all the things fought
for and all the things we failed to appreciate.
-
“The War” Our conscience is delicate and easy to stifle but clear and impossible to mistake Procrastinate now
Peace is unity in diversity. - Nobel Peace Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev
Increase thePeace. Motivation requires that our
reach exceed our grasp. Art is the attention we give
to the wholeness of life.
- Shoal Sanctuary Kindred spirits all Making war makes war; to achieve
peace, make peace.
-War Resisters League Enjoy every idle hour.
- John Boswell If there is to be peace in
the world, there must be peace in our hearts.
-Lao Tsu We are in the world to change the world.
Promises are permanent. Contracts are written assurance
in the hope that promises will be kept. Green blessings Heal the PAST Love the PRESENT Make the FUTURE Live, love, laugh and be happy Black bears killed nearly three dozen people across North America last century. However, chances of being killed by domestic dogs, bees, or lightning are far greater. And being killed by a fellow human being is 90,000 times more likely than by a bear. -Mark Wexler, Editorial Director, National Wildlife Magazine, (703) 438-6527
The most radical
act is to introduce someone to something new. Infinity is time on an ego
trip. -Lily Tomlin Reality is a collective hunch. -Lily Tomlin
No matter how cynical,
we can never keep up. -Lily
Tomlin “Speak
your mind, even if your voice
shakes.” -Maggie Kuhn,
Gray Panthers You must live with yourself
so be sure you are in good company.
- Charles Hughes The world’s greatest feats are accomplished by those unable to comprehend impossibility. Everyone is capable of anything. May your troubles be less, your blessings more, & may nothing
but happiness come through your door.
-Irish Blessing The best things in life aren’t
things. Savor life’s
“Holy Moley” moments. Every single
moment we are reborn and die. Happiness is
only possible here & now. Life is like a roll of toilet
paper; the closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes. Every camp of human or beast
has this glorious starry firmament for a roof
-John Muir No words ever written can compare
with the sound of wind in pine trees. - Thomas Merton We need not know the meaning
of life to appreciate all we have for the time being. War is costly; peace is priceless. Harmonize with
the Universal Rhythm. If given the
facts, if shown the light, people will
find their own way. Practice solidarity
and cooperation with ALL life. Help make violence obsolete.
“Justice doesn’t roll in on the wheels of inevitability.”-MLK, Jr. Reconciliation, not annihilation. Seek the good in every adversary. Loving our enemies is key to
life. War is technology put to the
service of hate. –Matthew
Fox Organizing is empowering.
Organization is power. Forgiveness is a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean
again. -Dag Hammarskjold War will end when soldiers
refuse to fight.
-Tolstoy I have a dream, not a complaint. Pursue peaceful ends through
peaceful means. -Martin
Luther King, Jr. Love’s Paradox:
“If I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.” -Mother Teresa We must not only give what
we have, we must also give what we are. -Desire-Joseph
Mercier Hope is faith holding out its
hand in the dark. -George
Iles If the simple things in nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive. Courage is to bear unflinchingly
what heaven sends.
-Euripedes Integrity is the only path
upon which one never gets lost.
-M.H. McKee Kindness is the language which
the deaf can hear & the blind can see. -Mark
Twain Human doing, not just human
being. The worth of a life is not
indicated by a single failure or success, no matter
how momentous. Green Collar
Workers unite! Shared wealth nurtures the
common good. Generosity of spirit enhances
human solidarity. No act of kindness,
no matter how small, is ever wasted.
- Aesop Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful & committed people can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever
has. - Margaret
Mead The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the
heart. - Helen Keller Life is too important to be
taken seriously. -Oscar
Wilde Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gif.t -Eleanor Roosevelt That’s why it’s called
“the present.” May the beauty we love be what
we do. - Rumi I am a verb. -Buckminster Fuller Outside of a dog, books are man's best friend; inside of a dog, of course, it's too dark to read. A journey of ten thousand miles
begins with a single step. -Lao
Tzu Mighty oaks from little acorns
grow . . .with the help of forgetful squirrels -HD
Thoreau My task - if anything that passes through this night can still grow fairer or bear fruit and flower again in days to come. For I too am a steward. - JRR Tolkien
What would the world look like
if we took seriously God’s love for all?
-UU Pator Rod Debs If essential liberty is given up to obtain safety, liberty is lost and safety is only temporary. My life is my message. -Gandhi Dread forms when pain of the past meets fear of the future. Hope forms when joy of the
past meets thrill of the future. Religious faith
can become the servant of our lowest instincts, but encodes the highest
aspirations of the human race.
-Salmon Rushdie Catch a Leaf We need not think alike to
love alike. -Francis David Grace Happens Around the block in 80 days. -Pat Cummins My Beloved disarmed my Loyal
Soldier. -Trebbe Johnson Tenacity Gumption Mindful Atuned Spirit-centered Aware Enthralled with Life Alert
to possibilities I
’m happy to have been here-and better for it. -Roger
Vaughan People are thrilled or disturbed
not by things, but by their view of things.
-Epictetus We have so little time, we
must proceed very slowly. -Buddhist
Saying Within everyone lies the pure, honest heart of the child they once were. Stand for peace, rather than fight against war. -Mother Teresa(Said to a high school assembly
just before military recruiters’ presentation:) You
are about to be told that you are our nation’s most valuable resource.
Do you know how our government treats its most valuable resources? -Singer Utah Phillips Children mirror their nation’s
character. If you look forward to a future in which we all pledge allegiance to Mickey Mouse, by all means vote for a Republican or Democrat. I prefer the American Dream. -Martin Baker, October 2000 We are the unwilling, led by the unqualified, doing the unnecessary, for the ungrateful. Peacemaking is not possible by fighting against war.PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE I pledge allegiance to the world of the planet Earth of the universe and to the web of life to which I belong EVERY nation, under God indivisible, with
liberty and justice for ALL. Lead, follow, or go your own
way. Vision becomes clear only when
we look into our own hearts. -Carl
Jung Through faith, hope becomes
deed. Opportunities are not found;
they are created. Enthusiasm precedes every great
achievement. Life is
like acting lessons received during the on-stage
performance. We’d free the incarcerate human race that loneliness endures could only you unlock my skull,
or I creep into yours. -
Ogden Nash Reality is what refuses to
go away even when we stop believing in it. -Stephanie
Kauffman Reality is that which, even
when we stop believing in it, refuses to go away. -Philip K. Dick What is essential is invisible
to the eye. -Antoine
de Sanit Exupery Strangers are friends yet to
be known. Sacrifice for good reason is
something lost for something gained. Focus on the gains. Longing for what we want
can sabotage what we have. Everything you can imagine
is real. -Picasso Why vacation when you can have
an experience? Only when the
power of love is stronger than the love of power
will there be peace. -Jimi
Hendrix We are a much nobler country
than our narrowest minds and loudest mouths suggest. -Barbara Kingsolver Do unto future
generations as you would have had previous generations do to your own. -Environmental Golden Rule Never argue with a fool; listeners
may not be able to tell the difference. Humanized business
transaction are good exercises in sanity. If a person
falls in the forest, do the trees hear?
- Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek There’s no time like the
pleasant. We are not separate beings, you and I. We are different strands of the same Being." -Leonard Peltier, Prison Writings Another planetary patriot. Treasure every
“Annie Dillard moment.” Renewing our membership in
the Animal Kingdom.
-Barbara Kingsolver, High Tide in Tucson The way we treat children defines the shape of the world tomorrow. -Barbara Kingsolver, High Tide in Tucson Gasp
and feel lucky. Make mountains out of nature’s exquisite molehills.
-Barbara Kingsolver, High
Tide in Tucson Be it ever so humble, there’s
no face like your own.
-Anna Martin My face, I don’t mind it
because I’m behind it. -Anna
Martin According to a recent survey
by the Academy of Incomplete Research, 9 out of 10. Q:
How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb
? A: A fish. A Freudian
slip is when you say one thing but you mean your mother. When
all you have is a hammer,
every problem looks like a nail. -Abraham Maslow If your mind goes you can just
forget it. Did you ever stop to think,
and then forget to start again? You aren’t fully living until you reach 60. Courtesy is love shown in common, everyday acts.Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone. Earth teach me limitations as the ant which crawls on the ground. Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. Earth teach me to forget myself as the snow forgets its life. -Ute Indians of North America Saying Computers are fast, accurate, and dumb ; Humans are slow, inaccurate, and smart. Judge not each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. |