Always Seek the Truth

 

Keep the company of those who seek the truth;
run from those who have found it.
- Václav Havel

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,
but not their own facts.
- Daniel Patrick Moynihan

When we blindly adopt a religion,
a political system, a literary dogma,
we become automatons. We cease to grow.
- Anais Nin

If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

Believe those who are seeking the truth.
Doubt those who find it.
- Andre Gide

Facts Don't Change With One's Opinions Or Beliefs.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The presence of those seeking the truth
is infinitely to be preferred
to the presence of those who think they've found it.
- Terry Pratchett

Everyone has an opinion on many subjects
and is ready to share those opinions -
labeling them as "truth."
Sometimes it is relatively easy
to filter out these opinions.
Upon hearing an ad for the latest
weight-loss powder on late-night TV,
our skepticism leaps to our defense.
However, if we have heard the same opinion for years
from our parents, friends,
government officials, or religious leaders,
we are more likely to believe without questioning
than to raise our filter of skepticism
and ask the hard questions.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Be a Seeker

The Illusion of Knowledge

Truth Does Not Convert
   

Connect with Your Fears and Hopes

 

All men should strive to learn before they die,
what they are running from, and to, and why.
- James Thurber

The most difficult phase of life is not when no one understands you,
it is when you don't understand yourself.
- Anonymous

We tell lies when we are afraid...
afraid of what we don't know,
afraid of what others will think,
afraid of what will be found out about us.
But every time we tell a lie,
the thing that we fear grows stronger.
- Williams Tad

A good question is never answered.
It is not a bolt to be tightened into place
but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed
toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.
- John Ciardi

Further reading: A Truly Successful Life

Where Are You Going?

Eyes on the Heavens

To Serve
      

I Wish You Confidence, Courage and Patience

 

This is my wish for you:
Comfort on difficult days,
Smiles when sadness intrudes,
Rainbows to follow the clouds,
Laughter to kiss your lips,
Sunsets to warm your heart,
Hugs when spirits sag,
Beauty for your eyes to see,
Friendships to brighten your being,
Faith so that you can believe,
Confidence for when you doubt,
Courage to know yourself,
Patience to accept the truth,
Love to complete your life.
- Anonymous

Calm provides clarity. Pause to consider
the gifts you have been given,
the difference you have made
and the direction in which you are headed.
- Anonymous

As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand
that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives
for which we should be particularly grateful.
They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness --
just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it;
just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength;
the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.
- Laura Ingalls Wilder

Lord, grant comfort, joy and health
to those I call friend,
to those I call enemy,
and to those I have cursed by my indifference.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation

Give Unconditional Love

The Secret of Happiness

Offering Comfort
   

Think Before You Frame a Question

 

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.
- Francis Bacon

There are no right answers to wrong questions.
- Ursula K. Le Guin

To raise new questions, new possibilities,
to regard old problems from a new angle,
requires creative imagination.
- Albert Einstein

The True Insight is in the Choice of Questions.
When you keep getting the wrong answers,
try asking better questions.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
[For example, instead of asking "how can I win this battle," consider asking "how can I avoid this battle?"
Ask yourself "what assumptions have I baked into this question" before you ask it.]

A good question is never answered.
It is not a bolt to be tightened into place
but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed
toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.
- John Ciardi

When we have arrived at the question,
the answer is already near.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, you ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer.
- Tom Lehrer

We thought that we had the answers,
it was the questions we had wrong.
- Bono

Today's affirmation: I question my questions.

Further reading:  Profound Questions

Many Answers

A Better Plan

What You See

Learn to Listen

Seek the Truth
      

Try Looking at Things from a New Perspective

 

Half the joy of life is in little things taken on the run...
but let us keep our hearts young and our eyes open
that nothing worth our while shall escape us.
- Victor Cherbuliez

Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves
to recognize how good things really are.
- Marianne Williamson

Look for joy in your life; it's not always easy to find.
- Charles Kuralt

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.
- John Barrymore

Often, the greatest joy is to be found not in new things,
but in old things seen through new eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Is your glass of life half empty? Or half full?

Life is Beautiful

What we enjoy constitutes our abundance

How To Be Happy In Life
     

Ask WHY You Believe What You Believe

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.
- Will Durant

Examine, inquire.
Look into the nature of things.
Search out the grounds of your opinions,
the for and against.
Know why you believe, understand what you believe,
and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.
- Frances Wright

Doubt is the incentive to truth, and inquiry leads the way.
- Hosea Ballou

If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.
It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,
something that never has been and never could
have been experienced by anyone else.
- Joseph Campbell

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
- Thomas Paine Look Deeply, Doubt What You Have Long Believed.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Assumptions

Practice Conscious Awareness

Analysis AND Emotion

Quotations as a Spur for Inquiry
   

Challenges Make Us Stronger

 

When life is too easy for us, we must beware
or we may not be ready to meet the blows
which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Overcome obstacles - grow and bloom anyway.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We must free ourselves of the hope
that the sea will ever rest.
We must learn to sail in high winds.
- Aristotle Onassis

Do not pray for easy lives.
Pray to be stronger men.
- John F. Kennedy

You Can't Soar Without a Headwind.
Obstacles are Necessary to a Life Fully Lived
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Opportunity within Crisis

We Must Sail, Not Drift

Serenity rather than Fear

Life Is As Hard As You Think It Is