There is no one who cannot be hated, against whatever odds. Nor anyone who cannot be loved, against all reason.
Ellis Peters
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In every legend and every imagination, at least for men of Celtic stock, all heavens, all sanctuaries of the blessed, lie to the westward.
op cit
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On the evil, on the sadists, on the torturers intent on killing whether the body or the soul ~ the sweetest revenge is to live!.
op cit
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From "The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children" by Marian Wright Edelman:

There is no free lunch. Dont feel entitled to anything you dont sweat and struggle for.

Never work just for money or for power.

Dont be afraid of taking risks or being criticized.

Be honest!

Never give up!

You are in charge of your own attitude.

Never give up!

Always remember you are never alone.

Never give up!

And
Giving up and burnout were not part of the language of my elders. You got up every morning and you did what you had to do and you got up every time you fell down, and tried as many times as you had to, to get it done right. They had grit.
Grit. Thats how the job gets done.

The most important message is that people have no right to give up!

Lovingkindness for the hard to love, even the unlovable, for those that are hurting, for those that are wounded, for those that despair this is the rent we pay for living. Its the purpose in life and not something you do in your spare time.
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Whatever may happen to you, it was prepared for you from all eternity, and the implication of causes was from eternity spinning the thread of your being.
Marcus Aurelius.
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A hair, perhaps, divides the False and the True.
Omar Khayyam

The stars are setting.
And the Caravan starts for the dawn
of Nothing.
Oh! Make haste!
Omar Khayyam
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Pet French-isms
Plus ça change, plus cest la même chose.
[The more things change, the more they stay the same.]
Chacun à son goût. [Each to his own.]
And Latin:
Quis custodiet ispas custodes? [Who will watch the watchers?]
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When an ideal is shattered, everyone is hurt.
Morris West
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Courage is endurance of the soul.
Plato
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Courage is fidelity.
Dick Francis
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No one can be happy and wicked ~ triumphant perhaps, but not happy. If I could teach you that, you might be King.
Arthur to Mordred
in Camelot

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.
Hamlet, Act IV

We're so quick to define ourselves by our failures. We're obsessed with our failures because we're afraid of them.
Kathryn Shannon

Ideals are like the stars. We never reach them; but like mariners upon the sea, we chart our course by them.

anonymous
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Maturity is the ability to stick with a job until its finished; to do a job without being supervised; to carry money without spending it; and to bear an injustice without wanting to get even.

[Note from Kate: hmmmm I never want to expend energy on revenge never. But I wonder if it is not more a kind of spiritual laziness than maturity?]
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Authority without wisdom is like an ax without an edge: fitter to bruise than to polish.
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Nature abhors a vacuum, but it abhors perfect happiness even more.
"Prince of Tides"
Pat Conroy

Silence can be the most eloquent form of lying.
op cit

The greatest grief is not that one lacks genius, but that one is aware of it.
op cit

...though winning is better, it lacks that brittle sublimity, that slight wisdom one takes from a pursuit in which you give all your heart, and your effort falls short.
Losing well is a gift and though winning well is the stuff of authentic manhood, losing is good for a sense of proportion.
op cit
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In every species there is a survival of the ruthless. The biblical creation is also the truth of evolution. Cain exists.
"Twice Shy"
Dick Francis

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Coincidence is God trying to maintain His anonymity.
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Rabelais called the Higher Power The Great Perhaps. And then there are times when one has to take responsibility when the Higher Power is The Great Perhaps Not.
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If God should punish men according to what they deserve, He would not leave so much as a beast on the backbone of the Earth.
The Koran
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If you have tried to do something and failed, you are vastly better off than if you had tried to do nothing, and succeeded.

Give a man a fish, and you feed him a day. Teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.
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In war, victory goes to the side that doesnt give in. Its all very well to fight for freedom, but its intangible, a concept. Against an opponent fighting for its life, it cannot prevail.
Spoken by Sulla
"The Grass Crown" by Colleen McCollough
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It is harder to conceal ignorance than to acquire knowledge.
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There comes a time when it doesnt really matter what someone has done to us. Holding on to it hurts us, not them. To heal, we must take old manure and fertilize the flowers.
Toni Morrison
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If you think about the unthinkable long enough it becomes quite reasonable.
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One must not confuse generosity with kindness. Generosity can be careless and lavish so long as it does not cause inconvenience.
Kindness is an inner quality that not only gives, but gives of oneself.
"Brat Ferrar"
Josephine Tey
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There is an element of masochism in being a Man of Honor.