A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Like water which can clearly mirror the sky and the trees only so long as its surface is undisturbed, the mind can only reflect the true image of the Self when it is tranquil and wholly relaxed.
—Indra Devi (1899–2002) Russian-American Yoga Teacher
The benefits of becoming fluent in a foreign tongue are as underestimated as the difficulty is overestimated. Thousands of theoretical linguists will disagree, but I know from research and personal experimentation with more than a dozen languages that (1) adults can learn languages much faster than children when constant 9-5 work is removed and that (2) it is possible to become conversationally fluent in any language in six months or less. At four hours per day, six months can be whittled down to less than three months.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Each of us wrestles with the dark giant in our own way.
—Connie Zweig (b.1949) American Minister, Columnist, Psychotherapist
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.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.
—Ken Blanchard (b.1939) American Author, Management Consultant
A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man’s life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars. What are threescore years and ten hurriedly and coarsely lived to moments of divine leisure in which your life is coincident with the life of the universe?
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
To this military attitude of the soul we give the name of Heroism… It is a self-trust which slights the restraints of prudence, in the plenitude of its energy and power to repair the harms it may suffer. The hero is a mind of such balance that no disturbances can shake his will…
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Rest, rest, shall I have not all eternity to rest.
—Antoine Arnauld (1612–94) French Philosopher, Lawyer, Mathematician, Theologian
Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it…that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
How many inner resources one needs to tolerate a life of leisure without fatigue.
—Natalie Clifford Barney (1876–1972) American Playwright, Poet, Novelist
Someone once inquired of a Far Eastern Zen master, who had a great serenity and peace about him no matter what pressures he faced, “How do you maintain that serenity and peace?” He replied, “I never leave my place of meditation”. He meditated early in the morning and for the rest of the day, he carried the peace of those moments with him in his mind and heart.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
It should be noted that children’s games are not merely games. One should regard them as their most serious activities.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
If one sheep puts its head through the gap the rest will follow.
—Irish Proverb
In our play we reveal what kind of people we are.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
To make knowledge productive, we will have to learn to see both forest and tree. We will have to learn to connect.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
Leisure is a beautiful garment, but it will not do for constant wear.
—Unknown
If you are losing your leisure, look out! You are losing your soul.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
Rest unto our souls!—’tis all we want—the end of all our wishes and pur suits: we seek for it in titles, in riches and pleasures—climb up after it by am bition,—come down again and stoop for it by avarice,—try all extremes; nor is it till after many miserable experiments, that we are convinced, at last, we have been seeking everywhere for it but where there is a prospect of finding it; and that is, within ourselves, in a meek and lowly disposition of heart.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
One non-revolutionary weekend is infinitely more bloody than a month of permanent revolution.
—Unknown
The personal power that comes from principle-centered living is the power of a self-aware, knowledgeable, proactive individual, unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviors, and actions of others or by many of the circumstances and environmental influences that limit other people.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Put off thy cares with thy clothes; so shall thy rest strengthen thy labor; and and so shall thy labor sweeten thy rest.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
Leisure may be defined as free activity, labor as compulsory activity. Leisure does what it likes, labor does what it must, the compulsion being that of Nature, which in these latitudes leaves men no choice between labor and starvation.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
The rhythm of the weekend, with its birth, its planned gaieties, and its announced end, followed the rhythm of life and was a substitute for it.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
Rest is a good thing, but boredom is its brother.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
They talk of the dignity of work. The dignity is in leisure.
—Herman Melville (1819–91) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist, Poet
Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
The art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men.
—James Arthur Hadfield (1882–1967) British Psychoanalysts
He that can take rest is greater than he that can take cities.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Employ thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure; and since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour. Leisure is time for doing something useful, and this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the lazy man never, for a life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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