"Life's no piece of cake, mind you, but the recipe's my own to fool with."
~Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

"You need not leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need not even listen, simply wait. You need not even wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet."

~Franz Kafka

"I appeal from your customs. I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you. If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If you cannot, I will still seek to deserve that you should. I will not hide my tastes or aversions. I will so trust that what is deep is holy, that I will do strongly before the sun and moon whatever inly rejoices me and the heart appoints. If you are noble, I will love you; if you are not, I will not hurt you and myself by hypocritical attentions. If you are true, but not in the same truth with me, cleave to your companions; I will seek my own. I do this not selfishly but humbly and truly. It is alike your interest, and mine, and all men's, however long we have dwelt in lies, to live in truth."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire."
~Reggie Leach

"Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut."
~Daniel S. Greenberg

"After ecstasy, the laundry."
~Zen statement

"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."
~Robert Louis Stevenson

"Try everything once except incest and folk dancing."
~Thomas Beecham

"I, the fiery light of divine wisdom,
I ignite the beauty of the plains,
I sparkle the waters.
I burn the sun and the moon and the stars,
With wisdom I order all rightly.
I adorn the earth.
I am the breeze that nurtures all things green.
I am the rain coming from the dew
That causes the grasses to laugh
With the joy of life.
I call forth tears, the aroma of holy work.
I am the yearning for good."
~Hildegard of Bingen

"This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life. This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new. . . Thy infinite gifts come to me only on those very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill."

~Rabindranath Tagore

"You can be sure that when the season is right, your desires will manifest."

~Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

"The hero is not fed on sweets

Daily his own heart he eats..."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Women. The world's largest untapped natural resource."

~care.org

"You are born as freedom. It is just that you have been conditioned to forget it."
~Osho (thanks Elaine)

"Where's my &*%@ing boyfriend?! He's so late. . . to my life!"

~Jamie Masters

"Earthquakes show me who I am; and they show that I'm scared little bitch."
~Elaine Reid

"You must learn to get in touch with the innermost essence of your being. This true essence is beyond the ego. It is fearless; it is free; it is immune to criticism; it does not fear any challenge. It is beneath no one, superior to no one, and full of magic, mystery, and enchantment."

~Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

"A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog."
~Jack London

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you."
~Rashi

“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”
~Mother Teresa

"I have the strangest dreams about people below the waste."
~Matthew Oden

“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
~Jack London

"My entire being feels like an exposed nerve; raw and caught in a cold wind." ~Anna Groth-Shive
...

"Good. that means you are alive." ~me

"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it."
~Jean de La Fontaine (thanks jG)

*photo from Clinton Hill Chill

"And I miss him. Of course I miss him: our nest, my love, my heart. But he’ll be back soon enough. Every moment until then I just feel. I feel the wind, I feel the sun, I feel inspired. I feel excited."
~Mel Caselas, on her away-on-tour-rock-star-boyfriend, Kelcey (who is coming home in 6 days!)

"Love is a precious gift 2b shared&treasured&be very gr8ful 4! A quote i found&really like it's simple truth&wisdom 'love matters more.' HUGS&<3!"
~Rosalee Toews (aka Mom), a text in her very unique and special style. Happy birthday Mom! I love you!

"Being at a loss to resolve these questions, I am resolved to leave them without any resolution."
~Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

"None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson