I have quotes hanging up all over our house. I collected them. I typed them in pretty fonts, printed them out and laminated them. I read many of them every day. Beyond that, I don't really think about them much. But, they are something that everyone else who comes into our house notices and comments on right away. Our ten year old female neighbor even lamented (with a sigh) one day, that her house doesn't have any quotes at all. Besides the ones that are hanging, I've collected many more. Sometimes I swap them out, just to surprise the kids. It started when a read a book a few years ago. (I'm a total sucker for books about any stay at home mother who has more children than I do!) The author said that she collected quotes that inspired her, so I started doing the same thing. I've actually loved collecting quotes since I was a teenager. I'm not sure if anyone I know as an adult knows this (not even Ted,) but I used to share quotes with a girlfriend in high school. We collected them, wrote them in a folded up, loose-leaf paper note, and delivered them to each other many days. We kept it up from junior high into high school.
The quotes I have around the house fall into all different catgories; some are clearly meant for the kids, others for me. But, they all have one thing in common. They embody the messages that I hope my children with take with them when they leave this home. Since so many people have asked for my list, I'm sharing it here. Happy reading!
Many hands make light work.
The real magic wand is the child’s own mind.
-Jose Ortega y Gasset
When we feel grateful, we feel full - full of love, full of inspiration, full of ideas and full of creative spirit.
Logic will get you from A to B.
Imagination will take your everywhere.
-Albert Einstein
If we did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
-Thomas Edison
In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep it to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don’t try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.
-Tao Te Ching
Earth, we thank you for this food,
For rest and home and all things good,
For wind and rain and sun above,
But most of all for those we love.
The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn’t been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.
-Pablo Casals
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
-Pablo Picasso
There is enough on earth for everybody’s need, but not enough for everybody’s greed.
-Mahatma Gandhi
If we are peaceful, if we are happy, we can smile and blossom like a flower, and everyone in our family, our entire society, will benefit from our peace.
-Thich Nhat Hanh
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
-Theodore Roosevelt
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.
-Edmund Burke
The least used words by an unselfish person are I, me, my, and mine.
Prayer does not cause faith to work; faith causes prayer to work.
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.
Men give advice; God gives guidance.
It doesn’t take strength to hold a grudge; it takes strength to let go of one.
Humility before God gives confidence before men.
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
1 John 3:18
An anxious word weighs man down, but a kind word cheers him up.
Proverbs 12:25
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!
Lord, I trust in you!
Do small things with great love.
-Mother Teresa
If we are together nothing is impossible.
If we are divided all will fail.
-Winston Churchill
You can’t save time, but you can invest it.
Listening to your heart,
finding out who you are
is not simple.
It takes time for the
chatter to quiet down.
In the silence of “not doing”
we begin to know what we feel.
If we listen and hear
what is being offered,
then anything in life
can be our guide.
Listen.
When I stop speeding through life, I find the joy in each day’s doings, in the life that cannot be bought, but only discovered, created, savored, and lived.
In stillness, we find our peace.
Knowing peace at home, we bring peace into the world.
In simplicity there is freedom –
freedom to do less and enjoy more.
Right now, I have everything I need.
When I honor life’s gifts with my children, I teach them abundance and strengthen their faith that their own needs will be met.
Breathing in I calm my body.
Breathing out I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is a wonderful moment.
-Thich Nhat Hanh
In order to listen, we must first be quiet.
Earth who gives to us this food, sun who makes it ripe and good, dearest earth and dearest sun, we’ll not forget what you have done. Blessings on our meal and each other.
Amen.
At feasts, remember that you are entertaining two guests: body and soul. What you give to the body, you presently lose; what you give to the soul, you keep forever.
-Epictetus
Work is love made visible.
“Things” are easy to give. It is much harder to give ourselves.
Nothing is too small to be noticed, and once noticed, there is nothing that can’t also be extraordinary.-Elizabeth Spencer
Prayer for Little Children
From my head to my feet
I am the image of God.
From my heart to my hands
I feel the breath of God.
When I speak with my mouth
I follow God’s will.
When I behold God
Everywhere, in mother and father,
In all dear people,
In beast and flower,
In tree and stone,
Nothing brings fear,
But love to all
That is around me.
-Rudolph Steiner
How easy it is to find ourselves sprinkling droplets over a field, spreading ourselves too thin, giving without replenishing, accomplishing nothing of real value. And so I strive to keep my garden small, but to care for it joyfully and well. We bloom here.
-Katrina Kenison
Sometimes is seems, there are discernible changes overnight. The boy who meets my gaze at the breakfast table is not the same one whose cheek I kissed the night before. And even as I marvel at the latest incarnation, I grieve for yesterday’s child, already a memory. To love them is always to let them go, bit by bit, day after day.
-Katrina Kenison
Everything requires effort; the only thing you can accomplish without it is failure.
Keep trying!
Give others a piece of your heart, not a piece of your mind.
The best way to show my gratitude to God is to accept everything, even my problems, with joy.
Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it!
I compared notes with one of my friends who expects everything of the universe... and I found that I begin at the other extreme, expecting nothing, and am always full of thanks for moderate goods.
We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.
Forgiveness brings freedom.
The person who loses their conscience has nothing left worth keeping.
The generous man enriches himself by giving; the miser hoards himself poor.
