Optional Quotes

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
- Buddhist proverb

Related topics: Wisdom Life Human-Nature Psychology Buddhist

Recognize that "suffering is optional," and develop daily habits
that support living a joyful and productive life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The greatest force in the human body
is the natural drive of the body to heal itself -
but that force in not independent of the belief system.
Everything begins with belief.
What we believe is the most powerful option of all.
- Norman Cousins

I am trying to own my own opinions
and offer what I know as an option,
just as I would present a tray of appetizers for my guests.
Here are several choices that I have created -
if one looks good you are welcome to take it.
In other words, I am training myself to say,
"May I tell you how it is for me?"
When I ask the question, it means waiting
for the invitation to share.
It also means being prepared for my friend to say,
"No." They don't want to know.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

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Thank you for joining me on this journey we call life,
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Which beliefs bring out the best in you?
Which beliefs hold you prisoner to yesterday
and limit your options for designing a great future?
Test your beliefs with as much objectivity
as you can bring to the subject.
Be willing to let go of those beliefs
that represent your parents' opinions,
or your communities opinions, rather than your own.
Those beliefs that withstand rigorous testing,
should become the foundation of your being -
your reason for living.
Take action on those beliefs.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

What people believe prevails over the truth.
- Sophocles

Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.
- Henry David Thoreau

Most people don't CHOOSE their value system -
they simply inherit the beliefs of their parents and community.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Our grandchildren's grandchildren will shake their heads in shame
at some of the beliefs that we hold most dear today -
the question is, which ones?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

It is not my place to doubt the sincere beliefs of others.
My job is to question my own beliefs.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs.
Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.
- John F. Kennedy

Let light shine through the cracks
in the armor of your staunchest beliefs.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Belief fuels our decisions -
even when we are not clearly aware of those beliefs.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

I am responsible for my thoughts, my beliefs, and my actions.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Everyone believes that their beliefs are the right ones -
that is why they are called beliefs.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Assumptions are beliefs that don't know they are beliefs.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life.
If it be true that optimism compels the world forward,
and pessimism retards it, then it is dangerous to
propagate a pessimistic philosophy.
- Helen Keller

We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic.
Different people, different beliefs,
different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.
- Jimmy Carter

Before moving on, you have to clear away your cherished beliefs.
- Dick Raymond

Have convictions. Be friendly.
Stick to your beliefs as they stick to theirs.
Work as hard as they do.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Irrational beliefs are culturally accepted delusions.
- Robert Todd Carroll

The inherent nature of God
is not changed by our individual beliefs,
our religious institutions,
or our communal traditions.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Each of us holds a different image of God.
There are as many perspectives on
the nature of God as there are people.
However much any of us may choose to argue,
or to fight and kill, for our point of view,
the nature of God is an unanswerable question.
Perhaps there is a specific answer,
that we will never learn - in this lifetime.
Perhaps the nature of God is so complex and multifaceted
that each view of God describes an aspect of the complex whole.
Or perhaps the nature of God is actually defined by our beliefs.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Meddling:
Everything that happens in the world, or doesn't happen,
is NOT my responsibility.
There are more than enough things that are my responsibility.
I am responsible for my thoughts, my beliefs, and my actions -
and that is enough.
It does not serve me to mind anyone else's business.
I can only make myself unhappy by trying to second guess
what anyone else thinks or does.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Recall a recent time when someone was strongly critical
of your opinions (perhaps your political or religious beliefs).
Now, put yourself in their shoes - with compassion.
Try to understand and appreciate their point-of-view -
not to change your own opinions,
but to celebrate all our human differences - in peace.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

In religion and politics, people's belief's and convictions
are in almost every case gotten at second hand,
and without examination
- Mark Twain

Beliefs have evolved based on survival value.
Certain belief systems have been more conducive than others
to people living long enough to reproduce,
and having a high rate of reproduction.
It's that basic.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We are born believing.
A man bears beliefs as a tree bears apples.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

People that seem so glorious are all show;
underneath they are like everyone else.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

To the people who love you,
you are beautiful already.
This is not because they're
blind to your shortcomings
but because they so clearly see your soul.
- Victoria Moran

Fear defeats more people than
any other one thing in the world.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

People only see what they are prepared to see.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

To go against the dominant thinking of your friends,
of most of the people you see every day,
is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform.
- Theodore H. White

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
- Mother Teresa

You can't stop the music, nobody can stop the music.
- Village People

When dealing with people, remember you are
not dealing with creatures of logic,
but creatures of emotion.
- Dale Carnegie

Whenever you're in conflict with someone,
there is one factor that can make the difference
between damaging your relationship and deepening it.
That factor is attitude.
- William James

Knowing your own darkness is the best method
for dealing with the darknesses of other people.
- Carl Jung

A common denominator of all religions is that
they have the power to bring out the best and the worst in people.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget
how you made them feel.
- Maya Angelou

There are three classes of people:
those who see,
those who see when they are shown,
those who do not see.
- Leonardo da Vinci

"Go to the people and live among them
in order to know them and learn from them.
- Jimmy Yen

You cannot hate other people without hating yourself.
- Oprah Winfrey

Conventional people are roused to fury
by departure from convention,
largely because they regard such departure
as a criticism of themselves.
- Bertrand Russell

People do not seem to realize that
their opinion of the world
is also a confession of character.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

That you may retain your self-respect, it is better
to displease the people by doing what you know is right,
than to temporarily please them by doing what you know is wrong.
- William J. H. Boetcker

People seem not to see that
their opinion of the world
is also a confession of character.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don't try to manage people;
You manage things; You lead people.
- Grace Hopper

Many people love in themselves what they hate in others.
- E. F. Schumacher

You can have anything you want in life if you
just help enough other people get what they want.
- Zig Ziglar

People rarely succeed unless they
have fun in what they are doing.
- Dale Carnegie

The most successful people in life
are generally those who have the best information.
- Benjamin Disraeli

Instead of worrying about what people say of you,
why not spend time trying to accomplish
something they will admire.
- Dale Carnegie

It had long since come to my attention
that people of accomplishment
rarely sat back and let things happen to them.
They went out and happened to things.
- Leonardo da Vinci

Some people care too much. I think it's called love.
- A. A. Milne (Winnie-The-Pooh)

By not caring too much about what people think,
I'm able to think for myself
and propagate ideas which are very often unpopular.
And I succeed.
- Albert Ellis

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture.
Just get people to stop reading them.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

An instructed and intelligent people
are always more decent and orderly
than an ignorant and stupid one.
- Adam Smith

In matters of truth and justice,
there is no difference between large and small problems,
for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.
- Albert Einstein

I must dedicate my life to teaching my people,
for only education would make their lot less bitter,
their latent power more strong.
- Jimmy Yen

Small is the number of people who
see with their eyes
and think with their minds.
- Albert Einstein

Go to the people
Live among them
Learn from them
Love them
Serve them
Plan with them
Start with what they know
Build on what they have.
- Jimmy Yen (Y. C. James Yen)

The way to happiness is what I call Zero-Based Gratitude.
Each day be happy and grateful for what you have,
independent of yesterday and of other people.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Mind what people do, not only what they say,
for deeds will betray a lie.
- Terry Goodkind

It is only in adventure that some people
succeed in knowing themselves -
in finding themselves.
- Andre Gide

People love chopping wood.
In this activity one immediately sees results.
- Albert Einstein

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you,
whose presence calls forth your best.
- Epictetus

Successful people ask better questions,
and as a result, they get better answers.
- Tony Robbins

Know that all people are your brothers and sisters.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Successful people are simply those with successful habits.
- Brian Tracy

People understand me so poorly that they don't even understand
my complaint about them not understanding me.
- Soren Kierkegaard

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May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie