O sun of real peace! O hastening light!
O free and extatic! O what I here, preparing, warble for!
O the sun of the world will ascend, dazzling, and take his height—
and you too, O my Ideal, will surely ascend!
—Walt Whitman
From Epictetus
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
– Epictetus
From Mahatma Gandhi
“There is underlying all that change a Living Power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves, and re-creates. That informing Power or Spirit is God.”
—Mahatma Gandhi
From Jalal al-Din Rumi
“What is the heart? A flower opening.”
—Jalal al-Din Rumi
From Khalil Gibran and Henry David Thoreau
“Tortoises can tell you more about the road than hares.”
—Khalil Gibran
“Nature is slow, but sure; she works no faster than need be; she is the tortoise that wins the race by her perseverance.”
—Henry David Thoreau
From Swami Kamalananda
“Meditation unfolds like a flower, indeed like the rose. Its fragrance will emanate from your heart as wisdom and love, just as perfume does from the flower: unannounced, freely, sweetly, and in all directions.”
—Swami Kamalananda
From the Svetasvatara Upanishad
“Two little birds, linked by mutual friendly bonds, reside in the selfsame tree; one of them is engrossed in the enjoyment of sweet fruit, while the other merely looks on with perfect serenity.”
—Svetasvatara Upanishad
From Rabindranath Tagore
“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”
—Rabindranath Tagore
From Swami Premananda
”As far back in my childhood as I can remember, I always, without a single exception, started my day with prayer unto God. I would not even eat my breakfast unless I had gone into the family temple and offered my prayer. I recall that I would often take my bowl of cereal and sweets with me to the temple and offer it to God for his breakfast and then come out and most joyously eat all of it myself. I felt, even from the earliest days of my childhood, that offering my devotion and prayer unto God was my first duty of the day. Of course, these simple expressions of my love and adoration of God in my early boyhood were utterly instinctive and spontaneous. I worshipped God simply because my heart wanted to do so.”
—Swami Premananda
“The Abode of Peace Within My Consciousness”
From Lao Tzu
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
― Lao Tzu
From the Book of Isaiah
”Arise! Shine! For thy light is come. And the glory of the Lord is risen upon Thee.”
—Isaiah 60:1
From E.E. Cummings
“I thank You God for most this amazing day
For the leaping greenly spirits of trees
And a blue true dream of sky
And for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.”
—E.E. Cummings
From Henry David Thoreau
“These motions everywhere in nature must surely be the circulations of God. The flowing sail, the running stream, the waving tree, the roving wind—whence else their infinite health and freedom. I can see nothing so proper and holy as unrelaxed play and frolic in this bower God has built for us.”
—Henry David Thoreau
From Mahatma Gandhi
“We must spin the gossamer string of love,
the silken net of love being attuned with truth.”
—Mahatma Gandhi
From Swami Premananda
“In the garden of friendship all the virtues and righteousness of our heart and soul blossom forth. Harmony is the beauty of friendship and joy is its fulfillment.”
—Swami Premananda, “The Blessedness of the Inner Life”
From Henry David Thoreau
"I have a room all to myself; it is nature."
—Henry David Thoreau
From Rabindranath Tagore
“A butterfly counts not months but moments and has time enough.”
—Rabindranath Tagore
From Mark Twain
“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”
—Mark Twain
From Aristotle
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
― Aristotle
From Jalaluddin Rumi
“Only from the heart can you touch the sky.”
—Jalaluddin Rumi