Merry Christmas 2011, from the Pacific Northwest

From our house to yours!

Quotes that have left their mark on me.

(click to enlarge)

At one time this was my blog header, and the intent of my blog. I love to read quotes from people that have "lived life" and have a unique perspective on it. Here are just some of the many quotes that have touched me and I hope have made a difference in how I think and live my life on this earth.

Quotes:

My own! :

About the search for the meaning of life: it is not found by pondering endlessly about why we were born and wondering what our purpose is. It is rather found in our connection with others and this earth. Sharing joy & pain with others - loving and being kind to others, being in the great outdoors, breathing fresh air & working with the soil. It is found by taking the time to savor the feeling of happy times and looking at the beautiful world around us & being thankful that we get this opportunity to "FEEL" & "BE ALIVE".

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." Henry David Thoreau

"Far better it is to Dare mighty things, to win Glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

“Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.” Hafiz

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift” Steve Prefontaine

“Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience” Paulo Coelho

“My philosophy on running is, I don’t dwell on it, I do it” Joan Samuelson

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies within us while we live.”

 Norman Cousins

“Ways to tame butterflies: If I’m nervous, it means I had to work hard to get there….So I try to stop and be proud of getting to live in that moment” Maria Sharapova

“Believe that you can run farther and faster. Believe that you’re young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so on  to accomplish everything you want to do. Don’t let worn out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself” John Bingham, “Tools and Rules”, Runners world

“It is not uncommon for people to spend their whole life waiting to start living. “ Eckhart Tolle

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all.” –Eduard Christoff Philippe Gèrard Renaldi in “The Princess Diaries” (2001).

“For every runner who tours the world running marathons, there are thousands who run to hear the leaves and listen to the rain, and look to the day when it is suddenly as easy as a bird in flight.”
George Sheehan

“Whatever you may be missing right now - a person, a place, a feeling, maybe you are injured and missing running - whatever it is, have peace and take heart - remember that any goodbye makes room for a hello.”  Kristin Armstrong, Author and runner

“The truly great tragedy is the destruction of our human resources by our failure to fully utilize our abilities, which means that most men and women go to their graves with their music still in them.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

“The people that love us the most are the first ones to say can't. What they don't know.....can is always a possibility. There is comfort in the safe zone, but there is freedom outside the box.” Author?

“Being willing is not enough; we must do.”  Leonardo da Vinci

“The marathon lifestyle promotes doing rather than watching...by adopting the marathon lifestyle you can confront your own lions, be your own hero, fight your own battles, challenge yourself. “

Richard Benyo - Making the Marathon Your Event

“I don't think you can become an outstanding runner unless you get a certain amount of enjoyment out of the suffering. You have to enjoy absorbing it, controlling it and—ultimately—overcoming it. “

Derek Clayton in The Masters of the Marathon

“Those who succeed say what they "want" to happen. Those who fail say what they "feel" will happen. “ Author ?

“The more you frame your long run as a stressful experience, the more negative messages you'll receive. But it's just as easy to frame it as a positively challenging journey. “ Author ?

“Cut the anchor loose: The only way to grow is to move forward, we can't do that with an anchor around our mind, heart and soul. “ from Sharon Woerz’ blog Quirkeries

“It takes faith and the courage to risk failure in order to realize one's destiny. Having had my share of failures throughout my career I know that it is well worth the risk.”

- Ryan Hall, American long distance runner and winner of the 2008 United States Olympic

“In the midst of regular life, running is the touchstone that breathes adventure into my soul. I can feel the trail under my feet, the press of the hill, the gallop of the track, the burn of my lungs, the stir of wonder and possibility. Running reminds me that there is more to me than what is readily apparent much of the time. I don't always need to see it, but oh how I need to know it's there. Like having an alter ego, or a super-cool super-hero identity. “

Kristin Armstrong, Author and runner

“Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired...You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going.”

George S. Patton

"Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death." ~ Anais Nin 1903-1977

“When I don't move my own life along, when I allow others to make choices for me, I stagnate. Inaction is still a choice...so don't gripe about the outcome.” Author ?

"Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind." ~ Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519

“The music of a marathon is a powerful strain, one of those tunes of glory. It asks us to forsake pleasures, to discipline the body, to find courage, to renew faith and to become one's own person, utterly and completely. “ George Sheehan

“People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said ~ but they will always remember how you made them feel.”  Author ?

"In Germany, they first came for the gypsies, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a gypsy. Then they came for the Bolsheviks, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Bolshevik. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics. I didn't speak up then because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up." - Martin Niemoller, A Lutheran Pastor arrested by the Gestapo in 1937

"When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice."  William James