Catalyst Quotes

“Let Your Deeds Be Judged”

 

“Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but … life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.”   (Gabriel García Márquez)

 

---

---

 

“Life is tragic simply because the earth turns, and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time.  Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, the only fact we have.  It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death — ought to decide, indeed, to earn one’s death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life.  One is responsible for life:  It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return.”    (James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time)

 

---

---

 

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.”    (C. G. Jung)

 

---

---

 

“Every man’s life ends the same way.  It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.”    (Ernest Hemingway)

 

---

---

 

“If other people do not understand our behavior — so what?  Their request that we must only do what they understand is an attempt to dictate to us.  If this is being ‘asocial’ or ‘irrational in their eyes, so be it.  Mostly they resent our freedom and our courage to be ourselves.  We owe nobody an explanation or an accounting, as long as our acts do not hurt or infringe on them.  How many lives have been ruined by this need to ‘explain,’ which usually implies that the explanation be ‘understood,’ i.e. approved.  Let your deeds be judged, and from your deeds, your real intentions, but know that a free person owes an explanation only to himself — to his reason and his conscience — and to the few who may have a justified claim for explanation.”    (Erich Fromm, The Art of Being)

 

---

---

 

“Who are you to judge the life I live?
I know I’m not perfect – and I don’t live to be –
but before you start pointing fingers… make sure your hands are clean!”    (Bob Marley)

 

---

---

 

“We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers – but never blame yourself.  It’s never your fault.
But it’s always your fault, because if you wanted to change you’re the one who has got to change.”    (Katherine Hepburn, Me, Stories of My Life)

 

---

---

 

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”    (St. Francis of Assisi)

 

---

---

 

The muscle of kick-assery is like any other muscle.  You have to use it or lose it.”  (Jen Sincero)

 

---

---

 

“If we did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”    (Thomas A. Edison)

 

---

---

 

“Life’s Journey / Know Yourself”

 

“Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece.”   (Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita)

---

---

 

“When we are young we squander time as though it were unlimited; when we grow older, then like beggars, we wish for crumbs of remembrance… .”    (Nannette L. Avery)

---

---

 

“One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.”    (Antonio Porchia)

---

---

 

“There comes a time in your life when you have to choose to turn the page, write another book or simply close it.”    (Shannon L. Alder)

---

---

 

“unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.”    (Charles Bukowski)

---

---

 

“Life is too short, or too long, for me to allow myself the luxury of living it so badly.”    (Paulo Coelho)

---

---

 

“Please, keep looking.  Not for a person, but for your passion, your love, your courage, your goals, your dreams, your happiness, yourself.

Keep looking.  Explore yourself before you explore another.  Know your worth, know yourself.

Only then will you know what you need over what you want.  You need yourself to become your own.”    (Unknown Author)

---

---

 

“Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid sideways totally worn out, shouting ‘holy shit … what a ride!’”   (Hunter S. Thompson)

 

---

 

---

 

“Make Your Spirit Glow Out Loud”

 

 

“I’ve been making a list of the things they don’t teach you at school.  They don’t teach you how to love somebody.  They don’t teach you how to be famous.  They don’t teach you how to be rich or how to be poor.  They don’t teach you how to walk away from someone you don’t love any longer.  They don’t teach you how to know what’s going on in someone else’s mind.  They don’t teach you what to say to someone who’s dying.  They don’t teach you anything worth knowing.”    (Neil Gaiman, The Kindly Ones)

 

---

 

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”     (C. G. Jung)

 

---

 

“When I do good, I feel good.  When I do bad, I feel bad.  That’s my religion.”  (Abraham Lincoln)

 

---

 

“The practice of assertiveness means acting.  Act as if you are already the healthiest person you can be.  Do not wait until you feel better about yourself or until you believe you have what it takes.  Act as if you are self-actualized and your beliefs will follow suit.  Act while you fear rather than waiting until you feel unafraid.  ‘Acting as if’ is a form of playfulness.  Play successfully combines contrasts and opposites.  When we act as if we are already more advanced than we imagine ourselves to be, we are creatively playing with an old, habitual self-image and welcoming a new self that wants to emerge.  This new self is encouraged into existence by the image we are displaying when we ‘act as if.’”    (David Richo, How to Be an Adult)

 

---

 

“Because, from the beginning, God said, ‘I’m gonna put this world into your hands. If I run everything, then that’s not you.’  So, we were created with a piece of divinity inside us, but with this thing called free will, and I think God watches us every day, lovingly, praying we will make the right choices.”    (Mitch Albom, Have a Little Faith: A True Story)

 

---

 

“Be happy about your own life and you’ll be amazed at just how much more beautiful you’ll find it to be.”    “Do whatever makes your spirit glow out loud.”    (TemitOpe Ibrahim)

 

---

 

“Life is a creation, not a discovery.”    (Neale Donald Walsch)

 

---

 

“Oh, what we might accomplish, were it not for an exaggerated sense of our own unimportance.”    (Robert Brault, Round Up the Usual Subjects)

 

---

 

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”     (C. S. Lewis)

 

 

---

 

“Don’t Exist” / “You Were Born with Wings”

 

“If you wait for inspiration you’ll be standing on the corner after the parade is a mile down the street.”    (Ben Nicholas)

 

---

 

“Begin somewhere; you cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.”    (Liz Story)

 

---

 

“You don’t expect to hit the jackpot if you don’t put a few nickels in the machine.”   (Flip Wilson)

 

---

 

“To see what is right, and not do it, is want of courage.”    (Confucius)

 

---

 

“In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result.”    (James Lane Allen)

 

---

 

“You can’t build a reputation on what you intend to do.”    (Liz Smith)

 

---

 

“You create your reality with your intentions.
You gain or lose power according to the choices that you make.”    (Thoughts from the Seat of the Soul)

 

---

 

“Excellence is never an accident.  It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”    (Aristotle)

 

---

 

“Don’t exist.
Live.
Get out, explore.
Thrive.
Challenge authority.  Challenge yourself.
Evolve.
Change forever.
Become who you say you always will.  Keep moving.  Don’t stop.  Start the revolution.  Become a freedom fighter.  Become a superhero.  Just because everyone doesn’t know your name doesn’t mean you don’t matter.
Are you happy?  Have you ever been happy?  What have you done today to matter? Did you exist or did you live?  How did you thrive?
Become a chameleon – fit in anywhere.  Be a Rockstar – stand out everywhere.  Do nothing, do everything.  Forget everything, remember everyone.  Care, don’t just pretend to.  Listen to everyone.  Love everyone and nothing at the same time.  It’s impossible to be everything, but you can’t stop trying to do it all.
All I know is that I have no idea where I am right now.  I feel like I am in training for something, making progress with every step I take.  I fear standing still.  It is my greatest weakness. …

Make this moment your reckoning.  Your head has been held under water for too long and now it is time to rise up and take your first true breath.
Do everything with exact calculation, nothing without meaning.  Do not make careful your words, but make no excuses for what you say. … Set a goal for everyday and never be tired.”    (Brian Krans, A Constant Suicide)

 

---

 

“You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.
You have wings.
Learn to use them and fly.”     (Rumi)

---

 

“And Will You Succeed?”

 

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.  The mind is everything. What we think, we become.”   (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi)

 

---

 

“When a caterpillar bursts from its cocoon and discovers it has wings, it does not sit idly, hoping to one day turn back.   It flies.”   (Kelseyleigh Reber)

 

---

 

“… and then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”   (Anais Nin)

 

---

 

“Let’s borrow life preservers and jump over.  I think we should do something spectacular.  I feel that all our lives have been too restrained.”   (F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night)

 

---

 

“Go inside and listen to your body, because your body will never lie to you.  Your mind will play tricks, but the way you feel in your heart, in your guts, is the truth.”   (Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom)

 

---

 

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”   (Wayne W. Dyer)

 

---

 

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.”   (Bob Dylan)

 

---

 

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are.  When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”   (Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist)

---

 

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”   (Eleanor Roosevelt)

 

---

 

“And will you succeed?  Yes indeed, yes indeed!  Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed!”   (Dr. Seuss)

 

 

---

 

“Don’t Give Up” / “Whatever You Give, You Get”

 

“We aren’t who we want to be.  We are what society demands.  We are what our parents choose.  We don’t want to disappoint anyone.  So, we smother the best in us.”   (Paulo Coelho)

 

---

 

“I’d like to believe that for all the harm I’ve caused, I’ve also done some good. Maybe the angels need a sharp sword too.”   (Amanda Waller)

 

---

 

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.  You wait, and you watch, and you work:  You don’t give up.”   (Anne Lamott)

 

---

 

“To empower another, is to empower yourself.

To celebrate another, is to celebrate yourself.

And to free another is to free yourself.

I say empower, celebrate, and free them all.

See the trend?  Whatever you give, you get.  (signed)   The Universe”    (Note from The Universe, Mike Dooley 9.27.17)

 

---

 

“When it comes to being gentle, start with yourself.  Don’t get upset with your imperfections.  Being disappointment by failure is understandable, but it shouldn’t turn into bitterness or spite directed at yourself.  It’s a great mistake because it leads nowhere – to get angry because you are angry; upset at being upset; disappointed because you are disappointed.”    (St. Frances de Sales)

 

---

 

“For me, I am driven by two main philosophies:  know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others.  You’d be surprised how far that gets you.”    (Neil deGrasse Tyson)

 

---

 

“Each of us has a unique part to play in the healing of the world.” (Marianne Williamson)

 

 

---

 

“Go Inside and Listen to Your Body”

 

“Imagine you are walking in the woods and you see a small dog sitting by a tree. As you approach it, it suddenly lunges at you, teeth bared. You are frightened and angry. But then you notice that one of its legs is caught in a trap. Immediately your mood shifts from anger to concern: You see that the dog’s aggression is coming from a place of vulnerability and pain.
This applies to all of us. When we behave in hurtful ways, it is because we are caught in some kind of trap. The more we look through the eyes of wisdom at ourselves and one another, the more we cultivate a compassionate heart.”   (Tara Brach)

 

_____________

 

“Every time I judge someone else, I reveal an unhealed part of myself.” (Anonymous)

 

____________

 

“And how deceived was I to think that what I feared was in the world, instead of in my mind.”   (A Course in Miracles)

 

____________

 

“Rafael?”
“Yeah?”
“Do we all have monsters?”
“Yes.”
“Why does God give us so many monsters?”
“You want to know my theory?”
“Sure.”
“I think it’s other people who give us monsters. Maybe God doesn’t have anything to do with it.”  (Benjamin Alire Saenz, Last Night I Sang to the Monster)

 

_____________

 

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.”   (Pablo Casals)

 

_____________

 

“Go inside and listen to your body, because your body will never lie to you. Your mind will play tricks, but the way you feel in your heart, in your guts, is the truth.” (Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I Have Seen Life as it Is”

 

 

“I have lived nearly fifty years, and I have seen life as it is. 

Pain, misery, hunger … cruelty beyond belief.  I have heard the singing from taverns and the moans from bundles of filth on the streets.  I have been a soldier and seen my comrades fall in battle … or die more slowly under the lash in Africa.  I have held them in my arms at the final moment.  These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing.  No glory, no gallant last words … only their eyes filled with confusion, whimpering the question, “Why?”  I do not think they asked why they were dying, but why they had lived.  

When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?  Perhaps to be too practical is madness.  To surrender dreams — this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash.  Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all:  to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”          (Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha, Miguel Cervantes)

 

 ______________

 

“There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”   (Edith Wharton)

 

______________ 

 

“An old Grandfather, whose grandson came to him with anger at a schoolmate who had done him an injustice, said, ‘Let me tell you a story.   I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do.   But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy.   It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die.   I have struggled with these feelings many times.’

He continued, ‘It is as if there are two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm.   He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended.  He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.  But the other wolf, ah!  He is full of anger.   The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper.   He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason.   He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great.   It is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.’

The boy looked intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, ‘Which one wins, Grandfather?’

The Grandfather solemnly said, ‘The one I feed.’”     (Azriela Jaffe)

 

______________ 

 

“Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.”   (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

 

______________ 

 

“When you understand that what most people really, really want is simply to feel good about themselves, and when you realize that with just a few well-chosen words you can help virtually anyone on the planet instantly achieve this, you begin to realize just how simple life is, how powerful you are, and that love is the key.     (signed)   The Universe”   (Mike Dooley, Notes from the Universe, 9.1.14)

 

______________ 

 

“Are you scared?  Or are you not ready?  There is a difference.”   (Unique Quietness)

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~