Catalyst Quotes

“Life is Short. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

“There are all these books that say we create our own destiny and what we believe is what we manifest. You’re supposed to walk around with this perpetual bubble over your head thinking happy thoughts and then everything is going to be sunshine and roses. Nope, sorry, don’t think so. You can be as happy as you’ve ever been in your life, and shit is still going to happen. But it doesn’t just happen. It knocks you sideways and crushes you into the ground, because you were stupid enough to believe in sunshine and roses.”   (Chevy Stevens, Still Missing)

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“Of all the joys on earth, few compare to the crowning glory of achieving against the odds, succeeding in the face of peril, or triumphing over adversity.

Wouldn’t you say?

Yet in every such case, without exception, the poor odds, the peril, and the adversity must come first.”   (Mike Dooley, Notes From the Universe)

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“There are worse things than being alone but it often takes decades to realize this and most often when you do it’s too late and there’s nothing worse than too late.”   (Charles Bukowski)

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“That’s what you taught me – we don’t have to accept destiny ….  We can create our own future, all of us.  We have the power to rule our lives – we just have to make the choice to use it.”   (Darren Shan, Sons of Destiny)

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“There are two paths of which one may choose in the walk of life; one we are born with, and the one we consciously blaze.  One is naturally true, while the other is a perceptive illusion. Choose wisely at each fork in the road.”   (T. F. Hodge)

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“Life is short.  Break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile.  Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover.”   (Mark Twain)

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“Life is a Challenge, Meet It!”

“Talent is God-given.  Be humble.

Fame is man-given.  Be grateful.

Conceit is self-given.  Be careful.”   (John Wooden)

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“People who lack the clarity, courage, or determination to follow their own dreams will often find ways to discourage yours.  Live your truth and don’t EVER stop!”    (Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free)

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“Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.”   (Terry Pratchett)

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“I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.

I believe in love even when not feeling it.

I believe in God even when He is silent.”   (Inscription on a cellar well in Cologne, Germany where Jews hid from Nazis during World War II)

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“You may be sitting around waiting for God to change your circumstances.  Then you’re going to be happy, then you’re going to have a good attitude, then you’re going to give God praise. But God is waiting on you to get up on the inside. When you do your part, He’ll begin to change things and work supernaturally in your life.”   (Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now:  7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential)

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“Life is a challenge, meet it!

Life is a dream, realize it!

Life is a game, play it!

Life is Love, enjoy it!”   (Sathya Sai Baba)

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“You Are Responsible for Your Actions”

“There’s always pressure, from other people and yourself.  We keep thinking up new things and finding better ways of doing things because we’re not happy with what we’re given.”  (Natalie Portman)

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“You are responsible for your actions.  Whether you shine or not is entirely up to you.  No one else.”   (I Wrote This for You)

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“In each of us lie good and bad, light and dark, art and pain, choice and regret, cruelty and sacrifice.  We’re each of us our own chiaroscuro, our own bit of illusion fighting to emerge into something solid, something real.  We’ve got to forgive ourselves that.  I must remember to forgive myself.  Because there is a lot of grey to work with.  No one can live in the light all the time.”   (Libba Bray)

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“You could be right.  You could be wrong.  Remember this.  Especially the second part.  Being wrong allows you to take responsibility for your actions.  It allows you to change.  Constantly needing to be right doesn’t.”   (I Wrote This for You)

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“I found out that the things that hurt us the most can become the fuel and the catalyst that propel us toward our destiny.  It will either make you bitter or it will make you better.”   (T. D. Jakes)

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“Lily:  ‘I can never go backwards.  I can only go forward.’

Robin:  ‘No, you’re wrong.  You can go anywhere.  The question is where do you want to go?”   (How I Met Your Mother)

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“Live As If This Is All There Is / Thank You”

“Live with intention.

Walk to the edge.

Listen Hard.

Practice wellness.

Play with abandon.

Laugh.

Choose with no regret.

Appreciate your friends.

Continue to learn.

Do what you love.

Live as if this is all there is.”   (Mary Anne Radmacher)

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“Two of the most powerful words in the English language for bringing about change, are “thank you.”  Especially when offered before the change even occurs and everything still looks pretty much like it did yesterday.

You’ll have to think of something to say afterwards on your own.

Thank you.”   (Mike Dooley, ‘Notes from the Universe’)

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“Do you really want to be happy?  You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you’ve got.”   (Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh)

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“The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.”   (Paulo Coelho, Veronika Decides to Die)

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“Certainly, none of us enjoy going through struggles, but you have to understand that your struggle may be an opportunity for advancement and promotion.  The very thing you are fighting against so tenaciously may be the springboard that catapults you to a new level of excellence.  Your challenges may become your greatest assets.”   (Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now:  7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential)

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“There’s no way I could pay you back but my plan is to show you that I understand you are appreciated.”   (Tupac Shakur)

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“Be Very Still and Open Your Mind”

“A learning experience is one of those things that say, ‘You know that thing you just did?  Don’t do that.’”   (Douglas Adams)

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“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”   (Albert Einstein)

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“Maybe the thing to do after you roll the dice – and lose – is simply pick them up and roll again.”   (Something Borrowed)

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“This is about all the bad days in the world.  I used to have some little bad days and I kept them in a little box.  And one day, I threw them out into the yard.  ‘Oh, it’s just a couple little innocent bad days.’  Well, we had a big rain.  I don’t know what it was growing in, but I think we used to put eggshells out there and coffee grounds, too.  Don’t plant your bad days.  They grow into weeks.  The weeks grow into months.  Before you know it you got yourself a bad year.  Take it from me.  Choke those little bad days.  Choke ‘em down to nothing’.  They’re your days.  Choke ‘em!”   (Tom Waits)

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“Life is a series of pulls back and forth.  You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else.  Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn’t.  You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted.  A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band.  And most of us live somewhere in the middle.”  (Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie)

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“Never expect; always give the benefit of doubt; give better than your best; be open to everything; don’t expect the worst but if it happens, embrace it; do your karma by giving but never let the person know; never crush your creativity; don’t live life with blinkers on; and learn at least one new thing every day.”   (Rekha)

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“All your pain comes simply from a futile search for what you want, insisting it must be found outside you.”  …  “Listen in deep silence.  Be very still and open your mind.”   (A Course in Miracles)

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“Life is Simple / Life is Delicious Ambiquity”

“Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road.  A heavy rain was still falling.

Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.

‘Come on, girl,’ said Tanzan at once.  Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.

Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple.  Then he could no longer restrain himself.  ‘We monks don’t go near females,’ he told Tanzan, ‘especially not young and lovely ones.  It is dangerous.  Why did you do that?”

‘I left the girl there,’ said Tanzan.  ‘Are you still carrying her?’”   (Nyogen Senzaki, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones:  A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings)

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“Guilt is a wasted emotion.  Look back on the past but don’t stare.”   (Wally Lamb, We Are Water)

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“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation.  It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.”   (Paulo Coehlo)

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“Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time.  This is not just a nice story or a fable, it is true.”   (Thomas Merton)

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“Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.  Delicious Ambiguity.”   (Gilda Radner)

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