c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
Allow yourself to be alive every single day of your life.
— Raphael Zernoff
The greatest joys are found not only in what we do and feel, but also in what we hope for.
— Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
People on corporate conveyor belts, like animals in slaughter-chutes are all part of the same big massacre of joy.
— Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
Through life, I want to walk gently. I want to treat all of life – the earth and its people – with reverence. I want to remove my shoes in the presence of holy ground. As much as possible, I want to walk in peace.I want to walk lightly, even joyfully, through whatever days I am given. I want to laugh easily. I want to step carefully in and out of people's lives and relationships. I don't want to tread any heavier than necessary.And throughout life, I think I would like to walk with more humility and less anger, more love and less fear. I want to walk confidently, but without arrogance. I want to walk in deep appreciation. I want to be genuinely thankful for life's extravagant, yet simple, gifts – a star-splattered night sky or a hot drink on an ice-cold day.If life is a journey, then how I make that journey is important. How I walk through life.
— Steve Goodier
Feeling bad is not the problem.The problem is that we feel bad about feeling bad.Once you begin to let go of feeling bad about feeling bad,and start feeling better about feeling bad,then pretty soon you'll just feel better.And then you'll feel awesome.
— Eric Micha'el Leventhal
Abstractions do us much harm by impelling us to the quest of the absolute in all things. Joy does not exist, but there are joys: and these joys may not be folly felt unless they are detached from neutral or even painful conditions. The idea of continuity is almost self-negating. Nature makes no leaps; but life makes only bounds. It is measured by our heartbeats & these may be counted. That there should be, amid the number of deep pulsations that scan the line of our existence, some grievous ones, does not permit the affirmation that life is therefore evil. Moreover, neither a continuous joy would be perceived by consciousness.
— Rémy de Gourmont, Philosophic Nights in Paris,: Being Selections from Promenades Philosophiques
Transformation occurs when you open your mind to experience freedom. During the process, you transform your thoughts which enable you to leave behind old habits and negative thinking. You are then able to conquer your fears and remove self doubt. This irrevocable tranformation allows you to be seen in a new light. It reveals your unique characteristics and truthfulness.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
My art is an act of creation and destruction, with all the sorrow and joy these engender as well as all the shadow and light these contain.
— Kathryn V. White
My tears of joyhear the raindrops crying,as the rain never wants to pourdown on my cloudy dayswhen I makeour love-dreamsfor the sun to dreamonly for you....(From the poem "Only For You" By Munia Khan)
— Munia Khan
The sweet pleasure of your own joy and success is a cultivation of both the heart and mind.
— Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
Meditation is the basis of a life of splendid health, untiring energy, unfailing love, and abiding wisdom. It is the very foundation of that deep inner peace for which every one of us longs. No human being can ever be satisfied by money or success or prestige or anything else the world can offer. What we are really searching for is not something that satisfies us temporarily, but a permanent state of joy.
— Eknath Easwaran, Take Your Time: How to Find Patience, Peace, and Meaning
Sylvia possessed a deeply conditioned respect for authority. She wanted desperately to live up to the expectations of a society that viewed her as a bright, charming, enormously talented disciple of bourgeois conformity. On the other hand, she ached to experience life in all its grim and beautiful complexity. The poetic eye was always at work examining the nuance and measuring obscure detail, turning conversation into ultimatum (Steiner)
— Elizabeth Winder, Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953
No role brings greater joy or blessing than being a parent.
— Elizabeth George, Moments of Grace for a Woman's Heart
Don't Let Yesterday's Pain Destroy Today's Joy.
— Godfrey Orateng
If your dominant intent is to feel joy while you are doing the work, your triad of intentions-freedom, growth and joy-will come quickly and easily into alignment. See your "career" as one of creating a joyful life experience. You are not a creator of things or a regurgitator of what someone else has created or a gatherer of stuff. You are a creator, and the subject of your creation is your joyful life experience. That is your mission. That is your quest. That is why you are here.
— Abraham Hicks
Start the daily practice of joyful living.
— Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
Because we are always growing, life compounds and magnifies what is already in us. If you are miserable you grow in misery and if you are joyful you grow in joy. This makes self-love is the perfect soil from which to grow love.
— Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
Find your own joy within and then greater joy will be added to you.
— Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
Chasing the external to achieve joy is a death-trap for personal-development.
— Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
The true creator-self is a light-at-heart and care-free child, who accesses destiny as a simple act of joyful play.
— Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
Thankfulness opens the door and ushers in peace and joy like a blessed breeze on a hot and humid Louisiana summer day.
— David P. Ingerson
I would never attempt to dissuade anyone from reading a book. But please, if you're reading something that's killing you, put it down and read something else, just as you would reach for the remote if you weren't enjoying a TV program...All I know is that you can get very little from a book that is making you weep with the effort of reading it. You won't remember it, and you'll be less likely to choose a book over [insert popular contemporary TV program] next time you have a choice.
— Nick Hornby
There are many ways to manifest, but the most effective and joyous creators all create in the space of love.
— Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life
The fatal effects of sin can be removed only by the provision that God has made. The Israelites saved their lives by looking upon the uplifted serpent. That look implied faith. They lived because they believed God's word, and trusted in the means provided for their recover. So to sinner may look to Christ, and live. He receives pardon through faith in the atoning sacrifice. Unlike the inert and lifeless symbol, Christ has power and virtue in Himself to heal the repenting sinner.
— Ellen G. White, Patriarchs And Prophets
Dignity will only happen when you realize that having someone in your life doesn’t validate your worth.
— Shannon L. Alder
A man worth being with is one…That never lies to youIs kind to people that have hurt himA person that respects another’s lifeThat has manners and shows people respectThat goes out of his way to help peopleThat feels every person, no matter how difficult, deserves compassionWho believes you are the most beautiful person he has ever metWho brags about your accomplishments with prideWho talks to you about anything and everything because no bad news will make him love you lessThat is a peacemakerThat will see you through illnessWho keeps his promisesWho doesn’t blame others, but finds the good in them That raises you up and motivates you to reach for the starsThat doesn’t need fame, money or anything materialistic to be happyThat is gentle and patient with childrenWho won’t let you lie to yourself; he tells you what you need to hear, in order to help you growWho lives what he says he believes inWho doesn’t hold a grudge or hold onto the past Who doesn’t ask his family members to deliberately hurt people that have hurt himWho will run with your dreamsThat makes you laugh at the world and yourselfWho forgives and is quick to apologizeWho doesn’t betray you by having inappropriate conversations with other womenWho doesn’t react when he is angry, decides when he is sad or keep promises he doesn’t plan to keepWho takes his children’s spiritual life very seriously and teaches by exampleWho never seeks revenge or would ever put another person downWho communicates to solve problemsWho doesn’t play games or passive aggressively ignores people to hurt themWho is real and doesn’t pretend to be something he is notWho has the power to free you from yourself through his positive outlookWho has a deep respect for women and treats them like a daughter of GodWho doesn’t have an ego or believes he is better than anyoneWho is labeled constantly by people as the nicest person they have ever metWho works hard to provide for the familyWho doesn’t feel the need to drink alcohol to have a good time, smoke or do drugsWho doesn't have to hang out a bar with his friends, but would rather spend his time with his familyWho is morally free from sinWho sees your potential to be greatWho doesn't think a woman's place has to be in the home; he supports your life mission, where ever that takes youWho is a gentlemanWho is honest and lives with integrityWho never discusses your private business with anyoneWho will protect his familyWho forgives, forgets, repairs and restoresWhen you find a man that possesses these traits then all the little things you don’t have in common don’t matter. This is the type of man worth being grateful for.
— Shannon L. Alder
When you forgive those that hurt you, they no longer have control over your future happiness. Their anger keeps them a prisoner to your past, while you enjoy the present.
— Shannon L. Alder
Your dream is to feel good
—  God’s dream is for you to do good.
I believe it all. If I seem not to, it is only that my joy is too great to let my belief settle itself.
— C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle
Your true love for God is demonstrated through your ability to hold onto your faithfulness in the midst of Prosperity and Poverty, Happiness and Hardships, Sickness and Success; in whatever is Appealing or Appalling!
— Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes
Don't worry about what other people think. Do what makes you happy. Do whatever it takes to make the people in your life happy. Court joy as if it were the air that you needed to breath[e].
— Eli Easton, The Enlightenment of Daniel
The practice of Detachment encourages the positive aspects of your life to become dominant, while providing a clear path for the negative aspects to recede.
— Gary   Hopkins
Amazingly, we take for granted that instinct for survival, fear of death, must separate us from the happiness of pure and uninterpreted experience, in which body, mind, and nature are the same. This retreat from wonder, the backing away like lobsters into safe crannies, the desperate instinct that our life passes unlived, is reflected in proliferation without joy, corrosive money rot, the gross befouling of the earth and air and water from which we came.
— Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard
Yet that grief and this joy were alike outside all the ordinary conditions of life; they were loop-holes, as it were, in that ordinary life through which there came glimpses of something sublime. And in the contemplation of this sublime something the soul was exalted to inconceivable heights of which it had before had no conception which reason lagged behind, unable to keep up with it.
— Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Wake up with a purpose and make every effort to succeed. Many people spend their lives just going through the motions. They are satisfied with their daily routines or habitual lifestyles. Don't be complacent with those activities. Challenge yourself to be better, do greater things.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
The potential of controlling and living a successful life according to your terms depends on how you think. Your perception is your world. You can create the life you want and in fact, you can even shape it the way you want it.
— Dee Dee Artner
The festivity had reached that apogee of joy when you face the happy fate of being crushed to death.
— Émile Zola, The Attack on the Mill and Other Stories
Your happiness is meaningless unless it is linked with the total liberation of people around you! You matter
—  others also matter! Live life so well!
I’ve drawn this as a circle because the seasons will come and go. Joy always leads to another season of romance . . . which always leads to another season of trouble . . . which always leads to disillusionment . . . which always leads to more joy— if you hang in there.
— Kurt Bubna
What is life if not joy?
— Katja Michael
1 John 1:4 "These things [are written] that your joy may be full." I can always measure the amount of time I'm spending in the Scriptures by how much joy (not superficial happiness, but deep down abiding joy) I have. When I find a lack of joy in my life, the first thing I check is how much time I'm spending in God's Word!
— Evelyn Christenson
And the poor lady, so small in her black satin, shrivelled up and sallow, with her funny corkscrew curls, took the little boy on her lap and put her arms around him and wept as though her heart would break. But her tears were partly tears of happiness, for she felt that the strangeness between them was gone. She loved him now with a new love because he had made her suffer.
— W. Somerset Maugham
A good book is like a stream, with which we can flow slowly, playfully, it lets us savor the joy of weaving the magic of lovely thoughts, revealing the secrets of life with beautiful words.
— Balroop Singh
Jaunting off together towards the bedroom doorway, they cast off their clothes, like caps at graduation.
— L.A. Kragie, Vampire Chimeras
I think the idea of simply "enduring to the end" is a terrible philosophy and an awful way to live one's life. How you spend your days is how you live your life, and if you're spending them "enduring" anything then you're doing it wrong.
— James A. Owen, Drawing Out the Dragons: A Meditation on Art, Destiny, and the Power of Choice
Do your kids see your kindness or are you always telling them. "NO?
— Brenda M. McGraw, Joy Beyond: 28 Days to Finding Joy Beyond the Clutter of Life
Every joy is like a piece of mirror: always reflecting..
— Munia Khan
You are the light of the world. Shine brightly. Smile beautifully! Rejoice daily!
— Brenda M. McGraw, Joy Beyond: 28 Days to Finding Joy Beyond the Clutter of Life
God desires to be Lord over you. Not Lord around your schedule. Until you learn to schedule your life around Him you will never know Him. The Lord is inviting His last day children to rediscover the joy of His presence.
— Apostle Dynamique, The Covenant Forces of Faith
May every voice proclaim thy praise.And every knee bow in thy presenceThe tangible promise of our faith.May thy Charity, like a mantle, Lift us to God on high.
— Jessica Coupé, Daystar Rising: A Story of the First Christmas
Some of you say, 'Joy is greater thar sorrow,' and others say, 'Nay, sorrow is the greater.'But I say unto you, they are inseparable.Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
— Kahlil Gibran
Laughter is the only medicine, without side effects.
— Shannon L. Alder
Happiness grows best in the soil of contentment.
— Tim Fargo
We forget that the sweetest joys are found in the simplest acts: hugs, laughter, quiet observation, basic movements, holding hands, pleasant music, shared stories, a listening ear, an unhurried visit, and selfless service. It is sad we forget a truth so elementary.
— Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes
As you travel along the roads in life, there is a certain kind of peace that comes with knowing you're on the right path. And when you are faced with adversity, it challenges you but makes you stronger. The road is not always an easy route. Nevertheless, you must not allow your fears to keep you from reaching the destination.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana, Sweet Destiny
If you are reading this then you have wasted another day of your life day dreaming, rather than planning the life God intended you to live.
— Shannon L. Alder
The moment that you give gratitude is the moment that you find happiness. The moment that you lose gratitude your happiness will vanish and slip through your fingers
— Rasheed Ogunlaru
There is more reason to say grace before beginning a book than there is to say it before beginning to dine.
— Charles Lamb
Who were these people? Where was all this joy, and where does joy go when it leaves your family? Does it go into someone else's family, soak into the earth, or does it dissolve away like your breath in the winter? And if it doesn't leave like this, then why isn't there any left for me?
— Crystal Chan, Bird
When you speak, be sure of what you are speaking. Don't be rambling full of words that have no integrity or truth. Nobody wants to confide in you when they doubt what you say. If you are filled with untruths, those characteristics make it hard for anyone to believe in you.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana, Sweet Destiny
Everyone wants to protect their heart, but without pain, one can never have joy.
— Jaycee Ford
What is the point of our lives? There isn't any. I can't seem to decide how much horror and how much joy lies within that simple truth, but I know it is both of those things at once.
— Ashly Lorenzana
I will not stop singingthe Muses who set me dancing.
— Anne Carson, Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides
When I look over my past, I see that the stages in my life are like the phases of the moon. I've had periods where I was the waxing gibbous: fat with wealth and success. There have been other seasons when my happiness was like the waning crescent and I watched my joy fade away slowly, merging with the atmosphere around me as if it never existed. Then I felt as if I was left with nothing more than an illusion, but happiness returns in time and glows once more in corpulent fullness. It's time that makes the difference.
— Amy Neftzger, Conversations with the Moon
Only the unprotected self can feel joy.
— Siri Hustvedt
Don't just leave your footprints in the sand only to be washed away as the ocean waves come crashing to the shore. You want to impact the lives of others in such a way that you'll be remembered forever. You want to instill values and wisdom in the hearts and minds of others that will never be forgotten. So they may teach their children to carry on from generation to generation.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana, Sweet Destiny
Truth’s nakedness is not concerned with whom it strikes - painfully, or with pleasure; responding appropriately to its ingenuous temperament, however, rewards perceptions of unbiased transparency.
— T.F. Hodge, From Within I Rise: Spiritual Triumph Over Death and Conscious Encounters with "The Divine Presence"
Finding your purpose is a lifelong adventure. Enjoy the journey.
— Todd Stocker, Leading from the Gut: 3 Power Principles of Effective Leaders
Find joy in the faces of children who view life as so magical. Give thanks every day for your life and for your existence. Your life matters, you matter. So many people think and care about you and you’re never really alone! Remember your loved ones are the real gift. I care about you; you have a friend in me. Look forward to knowing that next year is going to be even better than the last…
— James A. Murphy, The Waves of Life Quotes and Daily Meditations
You must take the time to do something that brings you joy. If you are saying to yourself, “I can’t do that because I have to pick up the kids, and run my business, and … and … who’s got time for fun? Are you insane?” If you don’t have time for fun, you’ll be forced to take time for illness. Then what?
— Beth Ramsay, #Networking is people looking for people looking for people
You can be sunk low or as a skunk and still have a joy in your heart. Joy lives like one of those spinning things---a gyroscope in your heart. It doesn't seem to have any connection to circumstance, good or bad.
— Polly Horvath, Everything on a Waffle
Laughter! I remember laughter. I did laughter a lot, he thought. These colours spinning around them are matching their mirth, changing from moment to moment, flaring out as they run and throw and catch. There are silver joy-waves rippling about them
— Esme Ellis, This Strange and Precious Thing
The depth of my sorrow is the height of my joy.
— Genevieve Gerard
Music has always assuaged my lacerations, brightened my hours, added glow to my little joys and given wings to my fantasy flights.
— Balroop Singh
When the sun riseth first, the beams over-gild the tops of green mountains that look toward the east, and the world cannot hinder the sun to rise: some are so near heaven, that the everlasting Sun hath begun to make an everlasting day of glory on them; the rays that come from his face that sits on the throne, so over-goldeth the soul, that there is no possibility of clouding peace, or of hindering daylight in the souls of such.
— Samuel Rutherford, Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself, Or, a Survey of Our Saviour in His Soule-Suffering, His Lovelynesse in His Death, and the Efficacie There
I don't know what being god must feel like, but it can't be much different that being an inventor.There is power in the idea that a certain product never existed before you thought of it, there is joy in the act of bringing the idea into reality and there is contentment in seeing the product come to life when it is being used.
— Soumeet Lanka
The greatest obstruction to our joy in God is not a lack of time.
— Gloria Furman, Treasuring Christ When Your Hands are Full: Gospel Meditations for Busy Moms
Thanks To Those People Who Give A Taste Of Right Ways. ” - Zia Mustafa
— Zia Mustafa
God built lighthouses to see people through storms. Then he built storms to remind people to find lighthouses.
— Shannon L. Alder
I see the life with your sight,O" the love; you're my light.
— Debasish Mridha
If you can't love yourself, how can you love others?
— Debasish Mridha
Every single day, no matter who you meet in the day - friends, family, work colleagues, strangers - give joy to them. Give a smile or a compliment or kind words or kind actions, but give joy! Do your best to make sure that every single person you meet has a better day because they saw you.
— Rhonda Byrne, The Secret Daily Teachings
Talking is great, but don't ignore the value of listening. Pay attention to the words being spoken. Some people just love the sound of their own voice. And, when another person speaks, they are only anticipating to compete, challenge, or question what is being said. You can miss out on some important wisdom always running your mouth.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
Never allow anyone to take advantage of you in no shape form or fashion. People get into relationships for different reasons. And, many are often looking for something in return and it mostly relates to security. Don't unite with any person who only wants to use your possessions and wealth to elevate themselves to the next level. You ought to value yourself much more than that. Each person in a relationship should be able to contribute wholly and completely.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self.
— Mahavira
The End" is just the beginning.
— Kelsey Macke, Damsel Distressed
It is always good to have friends. Friends may be considered as part of the family because you have created and unbreakable bond. But, sometimes we outgrow certain people. We no longer have the same interests or outlook on life. That is when you realize that the friendship has to be maintained from a distance. Therefore, you create a new avenue in your life by removing toxic people who defeat your purpose.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
I have found truly jubilant Christians only in the Bible, in the Underground Church and in prison.
— Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured for Christ N/E
People become desensitized to many things going on around them. It is because they always see it on the tv, hear it on the radio, read or watch it on the internet, hear about it at work etc. Then immoral acts are tuned to a deaf ear. Then no one wants to take action or speak up for what's right. Break the cycle and have moral character.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
You see the bird and you see its flight.You can not see through its eyes. Therefore, you don't know its plight.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana, Sweet Destiny
When you do great things, Expect greater things. None of your works are done in vain. You will achieve what you set forth to accomplish!
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
Every pain is repeated in other places and other lives, every joy is repeated in other places and other lives.
— Doutor Luis Alexandre Ribeiro Branco, Aphorisms of a Restless Soul
Do not allow another person to set you back. Continue moving forward not backwards. When someone pulls you back, be like the arrow to a bow and spring forth greater than ever. And, what they thought would be your disadvantage, you turn it into your advantage.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
Joy comes from using your potential.
— Will Schultz
Had I owned the words I would've told him what my heart intuited - that joy and sorrow often travel the same road and sometimes, whether by grace or misfortune, they meet and become each other's companion.
— Ratner, Vaddey
We are far, far stronger than our pain
— Kamal Ravikant, Live Your Truth
In Sarasota, Florida, Stephen King reminded me of the joy of just writing every day.
— Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane
No matter how hard you try, there are times when things just don't go as planned. And, it's not because you are doing something wrong. It is because the thing you are after is not designed for you. It is not a part of your destiny.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
Today you are lifted higher. Understand that you can go further and be better than you ever thought possible. Start by saying yes to all good things. Doors will open for you filled with unlimited opportunities.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
There is nothing wrong with falling in love. Don't trip and bump your head only to realize you're experiencing infatuation.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
When you don't have the words to say He hears your heart. When you feel like no one understands He carries your pain. When hope seems lost God whispers "Joy is coming.
— Rachel Hamilton
No matter the joy in heaven, its coldness will make you bask beside the flames of hell.
— Michael Bassey Johnson, Classic Quotations From The Otherworlds
If you have a big idea or plan that you desire to execute, don't depend solely on others to appreciate your efforts. You must have the ability to encourage yourself. At times seeking encouragement from others can lead to disappointment which sometimes leads you to neglect your obligation. Never build your hopes and dreams based primarily on the accolades from others. You may discover a rude awakening.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
To feel the joy of life go where your heart is taking you.
— Debasish Mridha
Winning isn’t everything, but losing isn’t anything.
— Charles M. Schulz, The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 9: 1967-1968
Never underestimate the power of kindness. It is very contagious. A person whose heart is saddened by the troubles of this world, the loss of a friend or family member, a hard days work, or the struggle of provision can experience joy through a simple act of kindness. Romans 12: 10-12, Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continually steadfastly in prayer.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
We can block our blessings with one thought, one decision. Sometimes your blessing may require certain actions on your behalf. You asked for the job? Now, you must get dressed and go to the interview and prove yourself worthy of the position. When you move, you activate your faith. And, suddenly everything falls into place. Faith without works is dead.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
You may be going through a storm right now, but understand that the sun will shine again. It is during the storm that you learn the lesson. You can either let it make you or break you. Take this time to reflect on your choices in life. Many times we create our own storms by the choices we make. Right now while you are in the midst, decide to not go backwards, move forward with more positivity.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana, Sweet Destiny
The indescribable pleasure—which pales the rest of life's joys—is abundant compensation for the investigator who endures the painful and persevering analytical work that precedes the appearance of the new truth, like the pain of childbirth. It is true to say that nothing for the scientific scholar is comparable to the things that he has discovered. Indeed, it would be difficult to find an investigator willing to exchange the paternity of a scientific conquest for all the gold on earth. And if there are some who look to science as a way of acquiring gold instead of applause from the learned, and the personal satisfaction associated with the very act of discovery, they have chosen the wrong profession.
— Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Advice for a Young Investigator
Henry had written a novel because there was a hole in him that needed filling, a question that needed answering, a patch of canvas that needed painting—that blend of anxiety, curiosity and joy that is at the origin of art—and he had filled the hole, answered the question, splashed colour on the canvas, all done for himself, because he had to. Then complete strangers told him that his book had filled a hole in them, had answered a question, had brought colour to their lives. The comfort of strangers, be it a smile, a pat on the shoulder or a word of praise, is truly a comfort.
— Yann Martel, Beatrice and Virgil
Let every hindrance to joy become the soil out of which joy blossoms.
— Elizabeth George
You have everything within you to do great things in this world. Maybe, you are inspired to sing a song, write a book or poems, create art in various forms. Or you may decide to find a cure for disease, end world hunger, prevent abuse, or take a stand politically. The question is how to begin the process of fulfilling your vision. Start where you are and use the resources you have to build from there. Inspiration is what motivates you to achieve your remarkable ideas. Also it takes time and dedication to excel to the next level.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
One must be honest with himself. Then it will be much better than it is now.
— Ali A. H. Al-Allaq
The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.
— Carl Sagan
The only rule is that truth must empower you, make you better in every way possible.
— Kamal Ravikant, Live Your Truth
Until 'you' FULLY embrace who 'you are', no amount of money, no person or external things will EVER make you happy or bring you peace.
— Yvonne Pierre, The Day My Soul Cried:  A Memoir
How is there laughter, how is there joy, as this world is always burning?
— Jack Kerouac, Some of the Dharma
More than almost anything else, the experience of parenthood exposes the gulf between our experiencing and remembering selves. Our experiencing selves tell researchers that we prefer doing the dishes -- or napping, or shopping, or answering emails -- to spending time with our kids. (I am very specifically referring here to Kahneman's study of 909 Texas women.) But our remembering selves tell researchers that no one -- and nothing -- provides us with so much joy as our children. It may not be the happiness we live day to day, but it's the happiness we think about, the happiness we summon and remember, the stuff that makes up our life-tales.
— Jennifer Senior, All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood
Today is a new day! Let today be the day you free your mind from the prison of self doubt. Your thoughts can either hinder you or propel you to the next level. Precautions are necessary to maintain your safety and well-being. But fear and precautions are two different things. When you are afraid your doubt is increased. Do what makes you happy in order to satisfy the core of your existence. Fear: to be afraid of something or someone whether the threat is real or imaginedPrecaution: a measure taken in advance to prevent something from happening, prudent foresightDoubt:a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
You perception of a person, place, or thing may not be accurate. Just because it looks good does not mean it is good and vice versa. Always be aware of your surroundings. Pay attention to the people, places, and things around you. Don't allow your misperception to put you in an uncomfortable situation.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
Nothing will ever equal that moment of joyous excitement which filled my whole being when I felt myself flying away from the earth. It was not mere pleasure; it was perfect bliss. Escaped from the frightful torments of persecution and of calumny, I felt that I was answering all in rising abov
— Jacques Charles
I have seen many phases of life; I have moved in imperial circles, I have been a Minister of State; but if I had to live my life again, I would always remain in my laboratory, for the greatest joy of my life has been to accomplish original scientific work, and, next to that, to lecture to a set of intelligent students.
— Jean-Baptiste Dumas
You make the choice concerning who you associate with on a daily basis. Whenever there are people around you who continually gossip or nag, you have the option to entertain that nonsense or leave it alone. The choice is yours. Most of the time people you hang around are a reflection of yourself. We often times attract people with like-minded personalities. So, if you enjoy that type of company it says much about your character.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
Sometimes things will not go as planned, but don't lose hope. Stay focused on whatever you are trying to accomplish. There will be a breakthrough soon. Understand that all things take time. You may not be there yet, but you're on the right path towards success.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
It is not the quantity of your thoughts but the quality of your thoughts that make the difference. Thoughts can either be productive or a hindrance. But, when we focus our attention on faithfulness and truthfulness the restoration process begins.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
Reap your harvest. (Benefits) You have been sowing seeds on good soil. (Working Hard) Your garden is overflowing abundantly.(Successful) Now is the time for you to fill your basket with the fruits of your labor. (Savings). Prepare your soil for new seeds. (Investments)
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
God takes great joy in the passionate romantic love between a husband and wife.
— Jim George
Safety" and "fairness" are the preoccupation of the wounded. "Being" and "joy" are the unconscious realities of the free and living.
— Mea McMahon, Observation on Christianity
When you choose to work with a willing, happy heart, you become a beautiful source of joy to all.
— Elizabeth George
Joy is a sure sign of the presence of God in your life.
— Elizabeth George, A Woman's Walk with God: Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit
Revive your inner spirit! Break free from all things weighing you down, grab hold of your strong rope and lift yourself out of hopelessness!
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
It is so good to have friends who understand how there is a time for crying and a time for laughing, and that sometimes the two are very close together.
— Lois Lowry, A Summer to Die
So let the world go, but hold fast to joy.
— May Sarton, Selected Poems
Every loving word and action create a far reaching ripple effect - like the waves of the ocean.
— Swami Dhyan Giten
And, I think, this greening does thaw at the edges, at least, of my own cold season. Joy sneaks in: listening to music, riding my bicycle, I catch myself feeling, in a way that’s as old as I am but suddenly seems unfamiliar, light. I have felt so heavy for so long. At first I felt odd- as if I shouldn’t be feeling this lightness, that familiar little catch of pleasure in the heart which is inexplicable, though a lovely passage of notes or the splendidly turned petal of a tulip has triggered it. It’s my buoyancy, part of what keeps me alive: happy, suddenly with the concomitant experience of a sonata and the motion of the shadows of leaves. I have the desire to be filled with sunlight, to soak my skin in as much of it as I can drink up, after the long interior darkness of this past season, the indoor vigil, in this harshest and darkest of winters, outside and in.
— Mark Doty, Heaven's Coast: A Memoir
Again, where the people are absolute rulers of the land, they rejoice in having the openness and exuberance of youth, while a tyrant counts this a danger, and seeks to slay or silence those possessed of spirit, while the discreet fear his power and violence.
— Euripides, Suppliant Women
But tears are an indulgence. Memory sings.
— May Sarton, Selected Poems
Perhaps there had been joy for them in finding that sugar could be made from blood.
— Edwidge Danticat, The Farming of Bones
Sadly, many storytellers and artists are still addicted to the old delusions (happy is boring, evil is interesting) about the risks of good mental health. Even those who don’t view peace of mind as a threat to their creative power often believe that it’s a rare commodity attained through dumb luck….It’s possible to define a more supple variety of happiness that does not paralyze the will or sap ambition….the number one trait of happy people is a serious determination to be happy. Bliss is a habit you can cultivate, in other words, not an accident.
— Rob Brezsny
Set your goals and along the way learn ride the chaotic waves of the universe without resistance. Its scheduling and course may not be what you hoped for or anticipated, but embrace it anyway with sincere welcoming joy. At the end of the day it will inevitably turn out to be the ideal timing and path all divinely designed for you.
— Carl Henegan, Darkness Left Undone
Let today be the day you control your emotions. Don't let them get the best of you. Whatever you are feeling right now should not be overwhelming. Don't allow others to dampen your spirit. You are entitled to enjoy peace.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
Noelle slid up Rachel's body and turned her face with a gentle hand on her cheek. "Ace has to make his choice," she murmured, stroking Rachel's lips. "He doesn't get to lock you away from pleasure because he's all tangle up. You're made for joy.
— Kit Rocha, Beyond Jealousy
It's because when God adopts you into His family, you belong to Him. He stamps His name on you. A name that comes with His protection. And His birthright, which is eternity and the power to live with joy on this earth.
— Susan May Warren, Baroness
I’ve been moving a little to the music while I worked …and then I realize I am actually dancing. It feels wonderful, though I can feel how stiff my muscles are, how rigidly I’ve been holding myself…Mostly I’ve been moving cautiously, numbly, steeled because I know, at any moment, I may be ambushed by overwhelming grief. You never know when it’s coming, the word or gesture or bit of memory that dissolved you entirely…It happens every day at first, then not for a day or two, then there’s a week when grief washes in every morning, every afternoon.
— Mark Doty, Heaven's Coast: A Memoir
Standing beside you,I took an oathto make your life simpler by complicating mineand what I always thought would happen did:I was lifted up in joy.
— David Ignatow
One last mystery: on one of the little ponds, this morning, I saw wind riffling the first of the waterlily leaves. They haven’t all emerged yet, but new circles tattoo the water, here and there, a coppery red. When the wind lifted their edges, each would reveal a little shadowy spot, a dot of black which seemed to flash on the water, and so across the whole surface of the pond there was what could only be described as the inverse of sparkling; a scintillant blackness. Shining blackly, black but rippling, lyrical: the sheen and radiance of death-in-life.Is that my work, to point to the world and say, See how darkly it sparkles?
— Mark Doty, Heaven's Coast: A Memoir
Quoting geneticists, Guy Murcia says we’re all family. You have at least a million relatives as close as tenth cousin, and no one on Earth is further removed than your fiftieth cousin. Murcia also describes out kinship though an analysis of how deeply we share the air. With each breath, you take into your body 10 sextillion atoms, and-owing to the wind’s ceaseless circulation- over a year’s time you have intimate relations with oxygen molecules exhaled by every person alive, as well as everyone who ever lived. (The Seven Mysteries of Life)
— Rob Brezsny, Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You With Blessings
Put love in everything you do and you’ll find joy, happiness and success.
— Dee Dee Artner
If you love another person, you have to become a no-self, a nothing. When you love, you have to become a nobody. When you are a nobody, love happens. If you remain somebody, love never happens.One becomes afraid of love, because love opens the inner emptiness.Love is not an effort. If love is an effort, it is not love.It is the same case with the ultimate experience, it happens when you do not make an effort. Then you can simply float with the river to the Ocean.
— Swami Dhyan Giten
Happiness is the satisfaction you feel. There's delight, joy, excitement and pleasant surprise.
— Dee Dee Artner
It doesn't matter how many friends I have because my best friend is God. And, he is a Super Friend. People come and people go, but God's love for you will remain the same. Embrace it, Cherish it, and Spread it everywhere you go. Let your light shine brightly for all the world to see.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
People love for so many different reasons. Some love you for only what you can do for them. Others love you for how much money you have or various material things. Love is sometimes tossed around like throwing a bone to a dog. And, some people have love confused with lust or infatuation. Those are both temporary and artificial, not genuine.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
At that moment when you feel like giving up, take a look and search deep inside in oder to understand how far you've come. Don't give up now! Success is right around the corner.
— Amaka Imani Nkosazana
We're so accustomed to laughing. It's harder for us when the time comes that we can't laugh.
— Lois Lowry, A Summer to Die
With great love comes occasions of pain. You can't skip the pain; without it, you would never know what a precious thing love is. You wouldn't know to hang onto it. You wouldn't know to fight for it. You embrace the pain because the love makes it all worthwhile.
— Theresa  Smith
Desire I think has less to do with possession than with participation, the will to involve oneself in the body of the world, in the principle of things expressing itself in splendid specificity, a handful of images: a lover’s irreplaceable body, the roil and shimmer of the sea overshot with sunlight, a handful of cherries, the texture and weight of a word. The word that seems most apt is partake… We can say we partake of something but we may just as accurately say we take part in something’ we are implicated in another being, which is always the beginning of wisdom, isn’t it- that involvement which enlarges us, which engages the heart, which takes out of the routine limitations of self?
— Mark Doty, Heaven's Coast: A Memoir
The things you can take with you: Love, Trust, Respect, Joy,.The things you leave behind: Everything else.
— Robert Charles Waldron
That's what love is like when you're young. Like spinning, filling you with excitement and joy, losing yourself in the moment. But if you don't have a focus point to keep you stable, you lose your balance and before you know it, you're falling and you can't see who you're taking down with you because you've been too busy spinning to see what else has been going on." (Nora)
— Theresa  Smith, Somebody I Used to Know
The most important quality in the man you decide to marry should be the ability to make you laugh. Beauty fades, careers end, money comes and goes, religions change, children grow up and move away, spouses get sick, struggles happen, family members die, senility sets in when your older, but the ability to make you giggle every day is the most precious gift God can give you to get through all of it.
— Shannon L. Alder, 300 Questions LDS Couples Should Ask Before Marriage
Most people are about as happy as their self confidence will allow them to be.
— Shannon L. Alder
Happiness. We're tearing our hair out to try to find a definition of it, for heaven's sake. Is it joy? People will tell you that it isn't, that joy is a fleeting emotion, a moment of happiness, which is always welcome, mind you. And then what about pleasure, huh? Oh, yes, that's easy, everybody knows what that is, but there again it doesn't last. But is happiness not the sum total of lots of small joys and pleasures, huh?
— François Lelord, Hector and the Search for Happiness
Tears are my joy to hide my pain
— like thunder hides the sound of rain.
I write because there is nothing as joyful as writing, even when the writing is twisted and full of hate, the self-hate that makes writing not only possible but necessary. I hate myself, I hate the people around me, but what I crave is the fulfillment of some ideal.
— Gary Shteyngart, Little Failure
God's gift to his sorrowing creatures is a joy worthy of their destiny.
— Johann Sebastian Bach
No one was ever born without that light or flame of life. Some event, some person stifles or drowns it altogether. I was always tempted to resuscitate such men by my own joyousness or luminosity.When I break glasses in a night club, as the Russians do, when my unconscious breaks out in wild rebellions, it is against life which has crippled these idealistic, romantic men. I respect these men, cold, pure, faithful, devoted, moral, delicate, sensitive, and unequal to life, more than I respect the tough-minded ones who return three blows to one received, who kill those who hurt them.
— Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934
We gardeners are healthy, joyous, natural creatures. We are practical, patient, optimistic. We declare our optimism every year, every season, with every act of planting.
— Carol Deppe, The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times
Joy is not a requirement of Christian discipleship, it is a consequence. It is not what we have to acquire in order to experience life in Christ; it is what comes to us when we are walking in the way of faith and obedience.
— Eugene H. Peterson, Perseverance: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
Personal discipline is a most powerful character quality and one worthy of dedicating your life to nurturing.
— Elizabeth George
Do what makes YOU happy. Focus on what brings YOU joy. Appreciate and do more things that make YOU smile. Live your life for yourself. You matter! You count! You’re deserving of true happiness! This is YOUR life. Live it to the fullest! Live life with no regrets.
— Stephanie Lahart
The girl laughed again. The joy of a caged bird was in her voice.
— Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy. (Page 57)
— Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
The fragrance of meditation is enlightenment.
— Swami Dhyan Giten
The winners of life's game always set and have goals in focus that they score to fulfill their purposes of existence and making the planet earth to celebrate joy
—  the losers make life bitter for others by tormenting their senses of joy and peace!
Why not laugh again, and let your joy be my monument?
— stephanie   roberts, As We Are
Model the qualities that you want your children to show to each other.
— Elizabeth George
Why are you alive? To discover joy and to share that joy with others.
— Toni Sorenson