‎"You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late." 

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." 


Saint Augustine

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly"


- Bobby Kennedy

“Today, like every day, we wake up empty. There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

Rumi

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

-Plato

"I never thought my dreams could come true until I tried as hard as I could from my the crown of my head to the SOLES of my feet. So stop complaining and keep trying harder."

- Leo Johnson 2010

Salutation To The Dawn

Look to this day!

For it is life, the very life of life.

In its brief course

Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:

The bliss of growth,

The glory of action,

The splendor of achievement,

For yesterday is but a dream

And tomorrow is just a vision,

And today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness

And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day!

Such is the salutation to the dawn.

~ Kalidasa

‎"To love chocolate is human, to choose Fair Trade is Divine." 

~ Kojo Aduhene-Tano, Cocoa Farmer, Kuapa Kokoo Fair Trade Cooperative, Ghana

"An artist is no bigger than the size of his mind.." 


Jack Shadbolt, 1909-1998

"We don't accomplish anything in this world alone...Whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something." 


- Sandra Day O'Connor

"He who has never seen himself surrounded on all sides by the sea can never possess an idea of the world, and of his relation to it." 


Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."


~ Mark Twain

"Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it."

~ Mark Twain

Weapons are instruments of fear; they are not a wise man's tools. He uses them only when he has no choice. 


Lao Tzu

"I wish America had more engineers than lawyers" 


 Barrack Obama

‎"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." 

--Albert Pike

‎"The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are." 

~ Joseph Campbell

"Nature is the true revelation of the Deity to man. The nearest green field is the inspired page from which you may read all that it is needful for you to know.” 

- Arthur Conan Doyle Sr.

"Fear came knocking on the door. Faith answered; no one was there."

"Silence is God's first language; everything else is a poor translation." 

 Thomas Keating

“The world is my country, all mankind are my bethren, and to do good is my religion.”
_  Thomas Paine

The nobler sort of man emphasizes the good qualities in others, and does not accentuate the bad. The inferior does the reverse.     

-- Confucius (551-479 BC) 

“You can gain more friends by being yourself than you can by putting up a front. You can gain more friends by building people up than you can by tearing them down. And you can gain more friends by taking a few minutes from each day to do something kind for someone, whether it be a friend or a complete stranger. What a difference one person can make!”

 -Sasha Azevedo

"If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed."

-- David Viscott

"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."

-- Lao Tzu

Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.

-- Abraham Joshua Heschel 1907-1972

"Always fall in with what you're asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever's going. Not against: with."

- Robert Frost

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

- Robert Frost

"The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion."

~ Veteran reporter John Lawton, speaking to the American Association of Broadcast Journalists in 1995

"You teach best what you most need to learn." 


Richard Bach

"Teaching is a difficult profession. Artful teaching has a short shelf life that is not always respected by unions or the granters of tenure. Former libertine artists can be persuaded, as teachers, to cling for dear life to security. I recommend teaching contracts of no more than five years. Much less if the flame is burning low. The widespread practice of impassive teaching quells student curiosity and hatches dullards. Teachers need to be learners."


Robert Genn

"Genuine security arises from actual, first-hand knowledge that one is both capable and worthy of achieving happiness (through conscious, responsible action) and, once having attained it, that he deserves it."

-- Michael J. Hurd

"One must work and dare if one really wants to live." 
~ Vincent Van Gogh

"Virtue means doing the right thing, in relation to the right person, at the right time, to the right extent, in the right manner, and for the right purpose.  Thus, to give money away is quite a simple task, but for the act to be virtuous, the donor must give to the right person, for the right purpose, in the right amount, in the right manner, and at the right time.

-- Aristotle

"The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving."
-Albert Einstein

"Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"

-Martin Luther King Jr.

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

-Theodore Roosevelt

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one."


-Mother Teresa

"To be a hero you have to learn to be a deviant, because you're always going agains the conformity of the group. 

Heroes are ordinary people whose social action is Extra-Ordinary who ACT when others are passive, who give up EGO-centrism for SOCIO-centrism."

~ Philip Zimbardo

"Some people say that dreaming gets you nowhere in life. But I say you
can't get anywhere in life without dreaming."

-- Rose Zadra

“How odd it is that anyone should not see that all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service” 


~ Charles Darwin

"No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader."


~Robert Frost

"For those who can cry, I say, be proud. Humanity is in your tears."
~ Robert Genn, Canadian Painter

"It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain himself. "

~ Epicurus

“Don’t just survive what’s coming at you.  Shape it.”
Gen. Romeo Dallaire

"The finest people marry the two sexes in their own person."


~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted - a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul."

- Rabbi Harold Kushner"

"Gratitude is the sign of noble souls" 


- Aesop

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." 


- Cicero

"The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!" 


- Henry Ward Beecher

"When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude." 
- Elie Wiesel

"In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but the gratefulness that makes us happy."
- Albert Clarke

"The great man is he who does not lose his child's heart."

-- Mencius (371-291 B.C.)

"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." 
- Mark Van Doren

"The supreme art of the teacher is to awaken joy."


- Albert Einstein

"Nothing is more endangered in the modern world than the powerful combination of hard work toward meaningful goals joined with an exuberant embrace of the present moment."

-- Tom Morris

"There is no substitute for attentive repetition."
Daniel Coyle

"Fear is the opportunity for courage, not proof of cowardice."

-- John McCain

"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals."

-- Samuel Ullman

"Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die."
-- Carrie Fisher

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect, has intended us to forego their use."

Galileo

"I have always had a curious nature; I enjoy learning, but I dislike being taught."


~ Winston Churchill

"If success is not on your own terms - if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your own heart - it is no success at all."

-- Anna Quindlen

"We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers." 
~ Seneca

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Louis Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."
-- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

"It's not shameful not to know, but it's shameful not to ask."

~Azerbaijani Proverb

"With mirth and laughter, let old wrinkles come."
-- Shakespeare  

"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive."
 - Dalal Lama    

"The most common way people give up their power is thinking they don't have any."
- Alice Walker      

"It is no measure of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society."
 - Krishnamurti 

"Three things cannot be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."
- Buddha

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
- Voltaire

"Knowledge speaks but wisdom listens."
- Jimi Hendrix    

"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists."
- Abbie Hoffman      

"The Devil can site scripture for his own purposes."
~William Shakespeare

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get the people to stop reading."

~ Ray Bradbury

We Are More
by Shane Koyczan
When defining Canada
you might list some statistics
you might mention our tallest building
or biggest lake
you might shake a tree in the fall
and call a red leaf Canada
you might rattle off some celebrities
might mention Buffy Sainte-Marie
might even mention the fact that we've got a few
Barenaked Ladies
or that we made these crazy things
like zippers
electric cars
and washing machines
when defining Canada
it seems the world's anthem has been
"been there done that"
and maybe that's where we used to be at
it's true
we've done and we've been
we've seen
all the great themes get swallowed up by the machine
and turned into theme parks
but when defining Canada
don't forget to mention that we have set sparks

we are not just fishing stories
about the one that got away
we do more than sit around and say "eh?"
and yes

we are the home of the Rocket and the Great One
who inspired little number nines
and little number ninety-nines
but we're more than just hockey and fishing lines
off of the rocky coast of the Maritimes
and some say what defines us
is something as simple as please and thank you
and as for you're welcome
well we say that too
but we are more
than genteel or civilized
we are an idea in the process
of being realized
we are young
we are cultures strung together
then woven into a tapestry
and the design
is what makes us more
than the sum total of our history
we are an experiment going right for a change
with influences that range from a to zed
and yes we say zed instead of zee
we are the colours of Chinatown and the coffee of Little Italy
we dream so big that there are those
who would call our ambition an industry
because we are more than sticky maple syrup and clean snow
we do more than grow wheat and brew beer
we are vineyards of good year after good year
we reforest what we clear
because we believe in generations beyond our own
knowing now that so many of us
have grown past what used to be
we can stand here today

filled with all the hope people have
when they say things like "someday"

someday we'll be great
someday we'll be this
or that
someday we'll be at a point
when someday was yesterday
and all of our aspirations will pay the way
for those who on that day
look towards tomorrow
and still they say someday

we will reach the goals we set
and we will get interest on our inspiration
because we are more than a nation of whale watchers and lumberjacks
more than backpacks and hiking trails
we are hammers and nails building bridges
towards those who are willing to walk across
we are the lost-and-found for all those who might find themselves at a loss
we are not the see-through gloss or glamour
of those who clamour for the failings of others
we are fathers brothers sisters and mothers
uncles and nephews aunts and nieces
we are cousins
we are found missing puzzle pieces
we are families with room at the table for newcomers
we are more than summers and winters
more than on and off seasons
we are the reasons people have for wanting to stay
because we are more than what we say or do
we live to get past what we go through

and learn who we are
we are students
students who study the studiousness of studying
so we know what as well as why
we don't have all the answers
but we try
and the effort is what makes us more
we don't all know what it is in life we're looking for
so keep exploring
go far and wide
or go inside but go deep
go deep
as if James Cameron was filming a sequel to The Abyss
and suddenly there was this location scout
trying to figure some way out
to get inside you
because you've been through hell and high water
and you went deep
keep exploring
because we are more
than a laundry list of things to do and places to see
we are more than hills to ski
or countryside ponds to skate
we are the abandoned hesitation of all those who can't wait
we are first-rate greasy-spoon diners and healthy-living cafes
a country that is all the ways you choose to live
a land that can give you variety
because we are choices
we are millions upon millions of voices shouting
"keep exploring... we are more"
we are the surprise the world has in store for you
it's true

Canada is the "what" in "what's new?"
so don't say "been there done that"
unless you've sat on the sidewalk
while chalk artists draw still lifes
on the concrete of a kid in the street
beatboxing to Neil Young for fun
don't say you've been there done that
unless you've been here doing it
let this country be your first-aid kit
for all the times you get sick of the same old same old
let us be the story told to your friends
and when that story ends
leave chapters for the next time you'll come back
next time pack for all the things
you didn't pack for the first time
but don't let your luggage define your travels
each life unravels differently
and experiences are what make up
the colours of our tapestry
we are the true north
strong and free
and what's more
is that we didn't just say it
we made it be.
-Shane Koyczan

In what other climate does the Queen of Silence
Show us more splendor?
I love, Oh Canada, night, the vast plain
Shining with whiteness!
Francois-Xavier Garnot, [French translation]


I came to Canada as a refugee.
Forty-five years later, for me, Canada is a refuge still.
Joe Schlesinger
Testimonial at Pier 21 Museum, Halifax


The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air
The fragrance of the grass, speaks to me…
And my heart soars
Chief Dan George




 I would walk to the end of the street and over the prairie with the clickety grasshoppers bunging in arcs ahead of me, and I could hear the hum and twang of wind in the great prairie harp of telephone wires…Standing there with the total thrust of prairie sun on my vulnerable head, I guess I learned – at a very young age – that I was mortal.
W.O. Mitchell


“A Lifetime is not enough to explore this country, A man is too small to feel it’s size. The poet has not been born to sing its song, nor the painter picture it.”
George Vancouver 

"The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow won't wait while you finish the work."

-- Pat Clifford

"If a man be gracious to strangers, it shows that he is a citizen of the world, and his heart is no island, cut off from other islands, but a continent that joins them."
-- Francis Bacon

"Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine." 
(Buddha) 

The God Who Only Knows Four Words 


Every child has known God.  
Not the God of names.  
Not the God of don't.  
Not the God who ever does anything weird.  
But the God who only knows four words.  
And keeps repeating them, saying: 'Come dance with me.'  
Come 
Dance. 


~Hafiz (16th century Sufi poet)

"Becoming is superior to being." 
~ Paul Klee

"Where there is love and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance."

----- Saint Francis

"Let the good in me connect with the good in others,

until all the world is transformed through the compelling power of love."

----- Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

"Spread love everywhere you go.

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier."

----- Mother Teresa

“The heart is not simply suspended in a body but in a culture, a place, a time.”
~ Mimi Guarneri

"If successful people have one common trait, it's an utter lack of cynicism. The world owes them nothing. They go out and find what they need without asking for permission; they're driven, talented, and work through negatives by focusing on the positives."

-- Mike Zimmerman

"The one resolution, which was in my mind long before it took the form of a resolution, is the key-note of my life.  It is this, always to regard as mere impertinences of fate the handicaps which were placed upon my life almost at the beginning.  I resolved that they should not crush or dwarf my soul, but rather be made to  blossom, like Aaron's rod,  with flowers.

- Helen Keller (1880-1968)

"Trees have a secret life that is only revealed to those who are willing to claim them."

~ Reinaldo Arenas

"To get something you've never had, you have to do something you've never done."

"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems."

-- Mahatma Gandhi

 “There is no tomorrow. There is only today, and living for today. Because we just don’t know what can happen tomorrow.”


~ Cristobal, Haitian Staff (driver), for Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

"People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering."

----- Saint Augustine

"Even if it's a little thing, do something for those who need help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it."

-- Albert Schweitzer

 "In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." 


Eric Hoffer

"Don't wish for things you can't do, just do what you can."

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today to make a new ending.”

"There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less."

-- Kurt Hahn

"I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing."
~ William James