This is a collection of inspirational thoughts I have collected over the last 30 years. None of them originated from me. Unfortunately, I don't know who most of the original authors are. But I offer them for your enjoyment.
Last Update: 27 Sep. 2000
Being An Adult
When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard.
My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff, you can wish on.
When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money and I look away.
My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back.
When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry a tune and don't have much rhythm so I sit self consciously and listen.
My kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words. If they don't know them, they make up their own.
When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk.
My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.
When I pray I say thee and thou and grant me this, give me that.
My kids say, "Hi God!!! Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don't want to go to Heaven yet. I would miss my Mommy and Daddy."
When I see a mud puddle I step around it. I see muddy shoes and clothes and dirty carpets.
My kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross and worms to play with.
I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from? No wonder God loves the little children!!
God left the world unfinished -- the pictures unpainted,
the songs unsung, and the problems unsolved --
that man might know the joys of creation.
-- Thomas S. Monson
THE OYSTER
There once was an oyster whose story I tell,
Who found that some sand had got into his shell. It was only a grain,
but it gave him great pain
For oysters have feelings although they're so plain.
Now, did he berate the harsh workings of fate
that brought him to such a deplorable state?
Did he curse at the government, cry for election,
And claim that the sea should have given him protection?
No- he said to himself as he lay on a shell,
Since I cannot remove it I shall try to improve it.
Now the years have rolled around, as the years always do.
And he came to his ultimate destiny: stew.
And the small grain of sand that had bothered him so
Was a beautiful pearl all richly aglow.
Now the tale has a moral, for isn't it grand
What an oyster can do with a morsel of sand?
What couldn't we do if we'd only begin
with some of the things that get under our skin.
- Anonymous
"A friend is someone, who, when you make a fool of yourself,
doesn't think you've done a permanent job"
"Do it! Do it right! Do it right now!" - Joseph Fielding Smith
"Be thankful for your problems;
if they were less difficult, someone with less ability would have them."
"A good teacher is one who can understand those not very good at explaining,
and explain to those who are not very good at understanding"
"After all is said and done,
there is usually a lot more said than done."
"I had rather men should ask why no statue has been erected in my honor, than why one has."
"Happiness happens on your face,
when all your inside joy starts sneaking out."
"The world is full of two kinds of people; the givers and the takers.
The takers eat well - but the givers sleep well."
"The next best thing to knowing something,
is knowing where to find it."
Golden Rules for Living:
1. If you open it, close it.
2. If you turn it on, turn it off.
3. If you unlock it, lock it up.
4. If you break it, admit it
5. If you can't fix it, call in someone who can.
6. If you borrow it, return it.
7. If you value it, take care of it.
8. If you make a mess, clean it up.
9. If you move it, put it back.
10. If it belongs to someone else, get permission to use it.
11. If you don't know how to operate it, leave it alone.
12. If it's none of your business, don't ask questions.
"If fifty million people say a foolish thing,
it is still a foolish thing."
"Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end. For then the journey is over and it is too late. The time for happiness is today, not tomorrow." Joseph Smith Jr.
"You cannot lift a person until you are standing on higher ground than he is." Spencer W. Kimball
"Every member a missionary." David. O. McKay
"No other success no matter how great, can compensate for failure in the home". Harold B. Lee
"There are dozens of plans for success,
but none of them work unless you do."
"Pray as though everything depends on the Lord,
and work as though everything depends on you."
"You can not pray a lie." Mark Twain
"It is better to say, I don't know, than to lie about it."
"A little smile adds a great deal to your face value."
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil,
is for good people to do nothing."
"He who laughs last,
probably didn't get the joke."
"If you treat a man as he is, he will stay as he is. But if you treat a man as he should be, he will become that bigger and better man." Goethe
"The best way to kill time,
is to work it to death."
The most important commandment of God,
is that one that you're having the most difficulty keeping today." Harold B. Lee
"When you lose yourself in the service of others,
you find the real you."
"Attention is the mother of memory."
"Nothing is more terrible, than ignorance in action."
"Fear knocked at the door, faith answered. No one was there."
"Courage is said to be fear that has said its prayers."
"Let him that would move the world, first move himself." Socrates
"One day for religion, six days for fun. The odds of going to heaven; six to one."
"Whenever I pass our little ward, I like to linger for a visit.
So that when I'm carried in, the Lord won't say, "Who is it?"
"If you got something for nothing,
someone got nothing for something."
"Success consists in not another falling,
but in rising every time you fall."
"Some people are easily entertained.
All you have to do is sit and listen to them."
"Sometimes it is human nature to magnify the weakness in others in order to minimize our own."
"It is a deplorable fact that the eye of the gossip and the slander sees not only no good in others, but sees evil where no evil exists." David. O. Mckay
"People have a tendency to oppose the things they do not understand."
"What you are speaks so loud, I cannot hear what you say." Emerson.
"A wise man will make more opportunities than he sees."
"Men have hunches, and women have intuition."
"The reason why most people don't accomplish more is because they do not attempt more."
"If at first you don't succeed, Fail, Fail again." Mark Twain
"A chain is no stronger than its weakest link."
"Music prepares the soul for the gospel." David O. Mckay
"He didn't know the meaning of the word fear.
He was too scared to ask."
"Do the words of the prophet come from God? For those who believe in revelation, there is no question. For those who do not believe in revelation, there is no answer."
"If we were meant to have a permissive society, God would have given us ten suggestions instead of ten commandments."
"A person of true character is someone who does the right thing when nobody is watching."
"Faith is what makes you feel the comfort of the hearth while you're chopping the wood."
"The goal in a good marriage is not to think alike, but to think together."
"Probably a man's most profitable words are those spent praising his wife."
"Children are not things to be molded, but people to be unfolded."
"There's one thing to be said for inviting trouble; it usually accepts."
"He who cannot forgive others, destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass."
"Oh what a tangled web do parents weave,
when they think their children are naive."
"My wife will probably live forever.
She has nothing but dresses she wouldn't be caught dead in."
"As the missionary said when the cannibals put him in the pot,
'At least they'll get a taste of religion.'"
"In the game of life, as in other sports, you can always pick out the winners -
They're the ones who aren't complaining about the officiating."
"Life is like a tennis match -
He who serve best, wins."
"We make our friends, we make our enemies;
but God makes our next door neighbors."
"A good sermon leaves you wondering how the preacher knew all about you."
"He's a very forthright person.
He's right about a fourth of the time."
"If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself."
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him."
"Rumor is the one thing that gets thicker as you spread it."
"It takes less time to do a thing right , than to explain why you did it wrong."
"This is sure; that come what may, who does God's work will get God's pay."
"There'll always be something in life for the person who can take his lunch outside and call it a picnic."
"Some folks in looks take so much pride, they don't think much of what's inside. Well, as for me, I know my face can never be made a thing of grace; and so, I rather think I'll see how I can fix the inside of me. So folks'll say, 'He looks like sin, but ain't he beautiful within?'"
"I don't believe scientists have discovered anything that God didn't already know." Harold B. Lee
"It is easier to tell the truth than to have to remember what you said later on."
"The principle difference between men and boys, is the price of their toys."