Daily Inspiration 1-19-12

"I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one

advances confidently in the direction of his dreams,

and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined,

he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary;

new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish

themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded,

and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will

live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion

as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less

complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty,

nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air,

your work need not be lost; that is where they should be.

Now put the foundations under them."

-- Henry David Thoreau

Today I was thinking about encouraging words. I love that old song, Home On The Range and my favorite line, "where never is heard, a discouraging word." As I was thinking about it, I thought I would share with you three quotes that are in my top ten of encouraging quotes.

I've heard the Thoreau quote hundreds of times, but rarely in the fullness of the way it was written in Walden, so I thought I would share it the way it was written.

Here is number two about living fully. I remember recording this quote in a booklet over 30 years ago that contained a number of quotes and I called it my inspirational book. Here it is from one of my favorite authors, Jack London:

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."

And the third quote below is at the top of quotes that have moved me in my life, and it is just as powerful now as it was when I first read it. Here it is:

"There Is A Tide In The Affairs Of Men, When Taken At The Flood, Leads On To Fortune." -- William Shakespeare

Spread Some Joy Today--Enjoy your day as if you only had a handful left. . .