Motivation Inspiration Quotations "Apple Seeds" April, 2006

inspiration, motivation, Apple Seeds, [Apple]

Volume 21, # 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April, 2006

inspiration, motivation, Apple Seeds, [Apple]

Plant these "seeds" well and water often. Enjoy!

motivation, inspiration, quotations, apple seeds, appleseeds, April 2006
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Your Profession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vincent Van Gogh

    "Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling."

Spring Forward – April 2, 2006

At the Moment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Morley, The Practical Cogitator, p. 412

    "A man does not become celebrated in proportion to his general capacity, but because he does or says something which happened to need doing or saying at the moment."

Test of Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous

"There is no better test of people’s character than their behavior when they are wrong."

Open–Closed Minds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich, p. 41

    "There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it. The state of mind must be belief, not mere hope or wish. Open-mindedness is essential for belief. Closed minds do not inspire faith, courage, or belief."

Oil the Gears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ben Holden

"Preparation and enthusiasm oil the gears that help us conquer unhealthy fears."

Character Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phillips Brooks

   "Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process."

Two Powerful Warriors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leo Tolstoy

"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."

One’s Mission in Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Viktor Frankl

    "Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as his specific opportunity to implement it."

Joseph Ratzinger: Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . Manfred Schell, 30 DAYS, July–Aug. 1988, p. 54

    …"In a time in which the essential model of behavior is ‘can do,’ one is tempted to say: ‘Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work on building the Church.’ But the Church does not need to be built, it needs to be lived."

Gain–Lose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ralph Waldo Emerson

    "For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something else."

Do One’s Duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Somerset Maugham

    "To do one’s duty sounds a rather cold and cheerless business, but somehow in the end it does give one an odd sort of satisfaction."

Wholeness–Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Gardner, Stanford Univ. Commencement, 1991

    "The goal is not to achieve wholeness by suppressing diversity, nor to make wholeness impossible by enthroning diversity, but to preserve both. Each element in the diversity must be respected, but each element must ask itself sincerely what it can contribute to the whole. I don’t think it is venturing beyond the truth to say that ‘wholeness incorporating diversity’ defines the transcendent task for our generation."

When Words Fail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ernest Kurtz, Spirituality of Imperfection, p. 16

    "When words fail, where can we turn? In order to understand spirituality, in order to live a spiritual life, we must first be able to imagine ("image-in") such a life, to form a mental picture (a "re-presentation") of what it might look and feel like. But to do that, to see and feel spirituality, we need a deeper level of language to help us fathom our experience. And so, as people have done throughout the ages, we turn to metaphors, images, and stories."

Live Up to Your Best . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr. John Catoir

    "Strive by the grace of God to improve yourself and your world, and everybody benefits. Live up to the best that is in you, especially when it comes to setting a good example. And don’t be afraid of your weakness.…
    As one individual, you can do much by prayer, word and deed to bring peace, unity and order to this world. Let the Holy Spirit guide you. Just do your part little by little, day by day to make a better world—and a happier life."

God Looks For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elbert Hubbard

"God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars."

One’s Conscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Talmud

    "There is a difference between the person who does no misdeeds because of one’s own conscience and the person who is kept from wrong-doing because of the presence of others."

Mistakes are Instructive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bits & Pieces, Vol. M, # 11

    "Successful managers don’t have enough fingers to count all the mistakes they’ve made. That’s one reason they are successful—because they possess the spark and courage to take action where others hesitate. When they do commit an error, they don’t chalk it up as a complete loss—they try to learn something from that will sharpen their judgment the next time around. Mistakes are painful, but also instructive."

A Little Relaxation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leonardo da Vinci

    "Every now and then go away—even briefly. Have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer; since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power."

Responsibility for Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anonymous

    A University professor gave his students an opportunity to evaluate his course at the end of the semester. One student said, "I liked the course, but I feel very strongly that the professor put too much of the responsibility for learning on the students."

    That’s a cogent thought, the problem we have is that we like God’s Course—we wouldn’t be here today if we didn’t—but we act as though we feel very strongly that God has put too much responsibility for learning on us. But that is precisely what He does. He puts a heavy burden of responsibility for learning on each individual student—on you and on me.

A Man Whose Spirit is Hot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Voicings Publication
                                                                                           "Sunday Sermons: The Millennium CD-ROM Edition"

    A foreman in a steel mill was guiding a new employee on a plant tour. They came into an area where molten metal was being poured into huge crucibles. Each crucible was made of a translucent material which glowed like fire when hot. The foreman took a heavy sledge hammer and, holding it in both hands, delivered a powerful blow against one of the empty but still hot crucibles. Again and again he struck, but he could do no more than make tiny dents in the huge container.

    Then he picked up a small hammer and approached a crucible that had completely cooled off. With a short motion of the wrist, he tapped the cold crucible and shattered it. "Nothing can break one of those crucibles when they’re hot," he explained, "but anything can break them when they’re cold."

    Then taking on the role of a philosopher, he added, "It’s pretty hard to break a person whose spirit is hot, but even little things will break him wide open when his spirit goes cold."

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