When the sun rises, I go to work;
When the sun goes down, I take my rest;
I dig the well from which I drink,
I farm the soil that yields my food.
I share the creation, Kings can do no more.

~ Chinese, 2500 B.C.

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I am standing on the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she is only a ribbon of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. There! She’s gone! But someone at my side says, “Gone where?” From our sight, that’s all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left our side; and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished side is in us, not in her. Just the the moment when you say, “There! She’s gone!” other voices are ready to take up the glad shout: “There she comes!” And that is what we call dying.

~ Source unknown
from “Loving and Living the Good Life”
by Helen Nearing

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Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

~ T. Roosevelt

:::

“There is a criterion by which you can judge whether the thoughts you are thinking and the things you are doing are right for you. The criterion is: Have they brought you inner peace? If they have not, there is something wrong with them / so keep seeking! If what you do has brought you inner peace, stay with what you believe is right.”

~ Peace Pilgrim

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Лев Толстой о воспитании детей:

«Я о воспитании никогда не писал, потому что полагаю, что воспитание сводится к тому, чтобы самому жить хорошо, то есть самому двигаться, воспитываться, только этим люди влияют на других, воспитывают их. И тем более на детей, с которыми связаны. Быть правдивым и честным с детьми, не скрывая от них того, что происходит в душе, есть единственное воспитание.

Педагогика же есть наука о том, каким образом, живя дурно, можно иметь хорошее влияние на детей, вроде того есть наша медицина – как, живя противно законам природы, все-таки быть здоровым.

Науки хитрые и пустые, никогда не достигающие своей цели. Все трудности воспитания вытекают из того, что родители, не только не исправляя своих недостатков, но и оправдывая их в себе, хотят не видеть эти недостатки в детях».

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“Much of the pain in life comes from having a life plan that you’ve fallen in love with and when it doesn’t work out, you become angry that you now have to pursue a new life plan. If you want to tame your inner demons, you must not become attached to any particular life plan, and remain open to there being a better, happier life plan.”

~Karen Salmansohn

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Do more than belong: participate
Do more than care: help
Do more than believe:  practice
Do more than be fair: be kind
Do more than forgive: forget
Do more than dream: work

~ William Arthur Ward

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“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

~ Mother Theresa

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“The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see.”

~ Alexandra K. Trefnor

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Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

~ Benjamin Franklin

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In times of change, learners inherit the Earth… while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. – Eric Hoffer

Во времена перемен Землю наследуют те, кто учится… а те, кто уже выучился, обнаруживают себя прекрасно вооружёнными разбираться с миром, которого больше не существует. – Эрик Хоффер

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“Happiness isn’t always the best way to be happy.” – on the affirmation of anger in Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and by Spike Jonze