Catalyst Quotes

“The Boss of My Underpants”

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“The book that I shall make people read
is the book of the heart,
which holds the key
to the mystery of life.” (Meher Baba)

‘Alter Your Life by Altering Your Attitude of Mind’

“Fear is like being invited to a party by a complete stranger to celebrate the life of someone you’ve never met, when you had other plans.

Should you choose to attend, however irrational it may surely seem, upon presenting your invitation at the gate you’d notice that it was in your own handwriting.  Then you’d be warmly greeted by the most wonderful, familiar faces – everyone so excited, like you, because, it turns out, you’re about to meet the person you’ve always dreamed you’d one day become.

Surprise!!

Fear, good.

  (signed)  The Universe”    (Mike Dooley, Notes from the Universe, June 21, 2013)

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“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind.  If you can change your mind, you can change your life.”    (William James, psychologist)

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“I dream.  Sometimes I think that’s the only right thing to do.”    (Haruki Murakami)

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“If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it.”    (Marcus Aurelius)

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“What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence.  The only thing of consequence is what we do.”    (John Ruskin)

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“Your own words are the bricks and mortar of the dreams you want to realize.  Your words are the greatest power you have.  The words you choose and use establish the life you experience.” (Sonia Croquette)

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“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy.  It is what you think about.”    (Dale Carnegie)

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“Be Daring, Be Different; And I Hope You Surprise Yourself.”

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the common place, the slaves of the ordinary.”    (Cecil Beaton)

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“You are a hero who helped her people.  You are a beautiful woman who loved an ugly man. Really, really loved me. You find goodness in others, and when it’s not there you create it. You make me want to go back – back to the best version of me.  And that never happened to me before. …  So when you look in the mirror, and you don’t know who you are, that’s who you are.”    (Rumple)

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“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness.  I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art – write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can.  And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”    (Neil Gaiman)

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“Every act of kindness gets the nod, opens the heart, dampens the fear, turns the page, ups the ante, tips the point, heightens the joy, changes the world, rows the boat, adds to the love, and if you’ve been rather extraordinary lately, turns Thursdays into Fridays.  See?” (signed)  The Universe    (Mike Dooley, Notes from the Universe, June 12, 2013)

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“Life, he realized, was much like a song.  In the beginning there is mystery, in the end there is confirmation, but it’s in the middle where all the emotion resides to make the whole worthwhile.”    (Nicholas Sparks)

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“That’s the thing about the Earth:  It doesn’t stop to acknowledge the daily disasters of the living.  It just keeps spinning and sucking.  I think that’s what drives people towards faith, that unsettling realization that the physical world goes on without them, before them, after them, without recognition or sympathy.”     (Jim Lynch, The Highest Tide)

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“An Explanation of Human Behavior?”

“I am convinced that attitude is the key to success or failure in almost any of life’s endeavors.  Your attitude – your perspective, your outlook, how you feel about yourself, how you feel about other people – determines your priorities, your actions, your values.  Your attitude determines how you interact with other people and how you interact with yourself.”  (Carolyn Warner)

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“It’s a common belief that positive thinking leads to a happier, healthier life.  As children we are told to smile, be cheerful and put on a happy face.  As adults we are told to look on the bright side, to make lemonade and see glasses as half full.  Sometimes reality can get in the way of our ability to act the happy part though.  Your hope can fail, boyfriends can cheat, friends can disappoint … In these moments, when you just want to get real, drop the act, and be your true scared unhappy self.”    (Meredith Grey)

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“One thing:  you have to walk, and create the way by your walking; you will not find a ready-made path.  It is not so cheap, to reach to the ultimate realization of truth.  You will have to create the path by walking yourself; the path is not ready-made, lying there and waiting for you.  It is just like the sky: the birds fly, but they don’t leave any footprints.  You cannot follow them; there are no footprints left behind.”    (Osho)

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“Nothing has turned out as we expected!  It never does.  Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect.  We take what we get and are thankful it’s no worse than it is.”    (Gone With the Wind)

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“We must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties, which we assume only accessorize our days are in fact here for a much larger and nobler cause.  They are here to save our lives.”    (Emma Thompson)

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“Are you expecting me to offer an explanation of human behavior?”    (Sheldon Cooper)

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“A Simple Philosophy – Fill …, Empty … and Scratch … .”

“If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for.”    (Thomas Merton)

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“There are powers far beyond us, plans far beyond what we could have ever thought of, visions far more vast than what we can ever see on our own with our own eyes, there are horizons long gone beyond our own horizons.  This is courage – to throw away what is our own that is limited and to thrust ourselves into the hands of these higher powers – God and Destiny.  To do this is to abide in the realm of the eternal, to walk in the path of the everlasting to follow in the footprints of God and demi-gods.  The hardest part for man is the letting go.  For some reason, he thinks himself big enough to know and to see what’s good for him.  But in the letting go … is found freedom.  In the letting go …  is found the flight!”   (C. JoyBell C.)

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“We are the makers of our own lives.  There is no such thing as fate.  Our lives are the result of our previous actions, our karma, and it naturally follows that, having been ourselves the maker of our karma, we must also be able to unmake it.”    (Vivekananda)

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“What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.”    (Charles Bukowski)   

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“The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart.  The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace.”    (Carlos Santana)

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“I have a simple philosophy:  Fill what’s empty.  Empty what’s full.  Scratch where it itches.”  (Alice Roosevelt Longworth)

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“The Mystery of Human Existence”

“The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.”    (Charles Bukowski, Tales of Ordinary Madness)

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“My soul will find yours.”   (Jude Deveraux, A Night in Shining Armor)

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“I don’t believe in circumstances.  The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want.”    (George B. Shaw)

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“There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them.  But they are there for a reason.  Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.”    (Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain)

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“The past has no power over the present moment.”    (Eckhart Tolle)

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“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.  It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.”    (William J. Bryan)

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“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”    (Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov)

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“Listen to Your Life”

“Pooh looked at his two paws.  He knew that one of them was the right, and he knew that when you decided which one of them was the right, then the other was the left, but never could remember how to begin.”    (Winnie the Pooh)

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“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.”    (Charles Bukowski)

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“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.”    (Eckhart Tolle)

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“Listen to your life.  See it for the fathomless mystery it is.  In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”  (Frederick Buechner)

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“No one’s life should be rooted in fear.  We are born for wonder, for joy, for hope, for love, to marvel at the mystery of existence, to be ravished by the beauty of the world, to seek truth and meaning, to acquire wisdom, and by our treatment of others to brighten the corner where we are.”    (Deen Koontz, Life Expectancy)

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“Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly.”   (Mother Teresa)

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“In the Time of Your Life, Live.”

“Life has three rules:  Paradox, Humor, and Change.

 – Paradox:  Life is a mystery; don’t waste your time trying to figure it out.

– Humor:  Keep a sense of humor, especially about yourself.  It is a strength beyond all measure.

– Change:  Know that nothing ever stays the same.”    (Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior:  A Book That Changes Lives)

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“The first step to the knowledge of the wonder and mystery of life is the recognition of the monstrous nature of the earthly human realm as well as its glory, the realization that this is just how it is and that it cannot and will not be changed.  Those who think they know how the universe could have been had they created it, without pain, without sorrow, without time, without death, are unfit for illumination.”    (Joseph Campbell)

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“We must be willing to fail and to appreciate the truth that often ‘Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.’”    (M. Scott Peck)

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“In the time of your life, live — so that in that good time there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself or for any life your life touches.  Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding place and let it be free and unashamed.

Place in matter and in flesh the least of the values, for these are the things that hold death and must pass away.  Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption. Encourage virtue in whatever heart it may have been driven into secrecy and sorrow by the shame and terror of the world.  Ignore the obvious, for it is unworthy of the clear eye and the kindly heart.

Be the inferior of no man, or of any men be superior.  Remember that every man is a variation of yourself.  No man’s guilt is not yours, nor is any man’s innocence a thing apart. Despise evil and ungodliness, but not men of ungodliness or evil.  These, understand.  Have no shame in being kindly and gentle … .

In the time of your life, live — so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it.”    (William Saroyan, The Time of Your Life)

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