Words for My Soul

“You don’t have to accept the invitation to get angry. Instead, practice forgiveness, empathy and encouragement.”
—Dan Fallon

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”
—Paul Boese

“The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), pastor, theologian, [...]

“One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.”
-Lucille Ball (1911-1989); actress, producer

“You can do anything you think you can. This knowledge is literally the gift of the gods, for through it you can solve every human problem. It should make of you an incurable optimist. It is the open door.”
-Robert Collier (1885-1950); motivational author

“You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don’t trust enough.”
-Frank H. Crane (1873-1948); stage and film actor, director

“Dare to be true: nothing can need a lie: A fault, which needs it most, grows two thereby.”
-George Herbert (1593-1633); poet, orator, priest

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”
-Anais Nin (1903-1977); author, diarist

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
-Epicurus (341BC-270BC); ancient Greek philosopher

“The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”
-Barbara Kingsolver (b. 1955); author, writer