Towards Freedom

To my brother faiz, whose ideals are like the stars: I could never reach them, but I chart my course by them. (dedication in Numerical Methods In Engineering Practice)

"Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt." essay in The Public Advertiser, 1749

(Aka meangel; paingel; derangel; strangel; spongel because she's such a softie when she wants to be; braingel when being intellectual; pungel when being punny.)

I was eternally safe in the stillness of forever, which was the ultimate truth.

Guided by your hand, illuminated by your light
You give me courage to do what is right

Love from beyond now I understand
You only want to give when you hold out your hand

When a fork is tuned… it is tuned.

I wasn't sure if I would be able to take a pic of the source of creation on a sony/canon.

Hm… then neither do I!

Is it so much about what I think… or is it pure joy at the gift having been received with pure joy?

Perhaps not so much invisible… because when I point it out… you look in that direction and see it too! Sees the same rainbow

I had a pretty good devil around whom I feel angelic. ;)

The song of your soul crystalised into music. It is like there is such a deep connection to the still centre… that all movement is grounded in that… as that.

Hymn to Her is the perfect title because it is her singing his lyrics… just the way that he wrote them… because tracing his steps makes her feel closer to him… as if they were singing together. She is not making the song her own… she is hearing his song through her own lips… as if their minds are one in that moment.

He continues to lecture himself through her… Lose the image of being 'someone who doesn't do this often'… because it is not even about music… it is about channelling… and when channelling… there is no time… and no image… and no music.

Well… while she's on a role… When one is on the right side… one need not hit home with accuracy… but merely acknowledge that one is already home!

it is about accepting the seemingly extraordinary as ordinary.

== From: Angelkate Rose <angelkaterose@aol.co.uk> Subject: Re: Hey :) To: prad@towardsfreedom.com Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2012 16:59:35 -0400 (EDT)

I have been looking at my false-self because I cannot live with it and have been trying to 'change' it… but I have realised that when I change a perception of myself to it's opposite and supposed 'positive' alternative, I still feel uncomfortable, disconnected and still in ego, plus it doesn't feel authentic because I am also sometimes the 'negative' thing that I am attempting to escape having a part of my identity. So I realised that any identity is a limitation, because I am not just one thing- I am two opposites and I am neither of them, I am everything and I am nothing. An identity is a set of labels and that is my suffering… so perhaps by seeing that I am both I can realise that I am nothing and therefore I can choose what to be in each moment… any preconceived idea that I have of myself veils my awareness of what I exist as in the moment… of what arises.

From: prad <prad@towardsfreedom.com> Subject: Re: Hey :) To: Angelkate Rose <angelkaterose@aol.co.uk> Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:12:55 -0700

why not just pick an image that you find worthwhile and just be it. ==

And then you will be ready to begin the most difficult, the most powerful, the most fun of all. You will be ready to begin to fly up and know the meaning of kindness and love.

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours.

Don't be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.

Here is a test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't.

Jonathan is that brilliant little fire that burns within us all, that lives only for those moments when we reach perfection.

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of the same family grow up under the same roof.

The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?”

Thanks just came back from Thompson no wonder this province is ranked high for many diseases. Obesity is rampant. I honestly believe most humans are not being humans anymore with all the gmo processed foods, meds, booze and drugs the light is on but no one is home in many of them. I think we are in the age of gmo humans.

The operational approach demands that we make our reports and do our thinking in the freshest terms of which we are capable, in which we strip off the sophistications of millenia of culture and report as directly as we can on what happens.

The attitude which the man in the street unconsciously adopts towards science is capricious and varied. At one moment he scorns the scientist for a highbrow, at another anathematizes him for blasphemously undermining his religion; but at the mention of a name like Edison he falls into a coma of veneration.

Coincidence is what you have left over when you apply a bad theory.

[He believed that through such pursuit humanity really will improve, that it would acquire a "courageous nobility"]
And in the end, when man has fully partaken of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, there will be this difference between the first Eden and the last, that man will not become as a god, but remain forever humble.

Life owes us nothing. We owe life everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a [worthwhile] purpose.

The question of whether machines can think is about as relevant as the question of whether submarines can swim.

Historically speaking, the content of philosophy is what is left over after the sciences departed. Nobody took ethics, not even the sociologists; nobody took logic; nobody took esthetics, nobody took (for who would want?) metaphysics. These subjects, therefore, remain part of philosophy's content, despite the fact that the mathematicians eye logic covetously and the gentlemen of the fine arts would like to ravish esthetics. The subjects themselves, I am happy to report, have thus far resisted all blandishments. (from Man Against Myth p.11)

[The following gem is from an address given in 1928 by Dr. Haven Emerson, Columbia University]

Youth is not a time of life. It is a state of mind. It is not a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips and supple knees. It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the motions. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 50 more than in a youth of 20. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair - these are the long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. You are as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice keeps me from feeling isolated. (Courtesy of Miriam)

I believe that animals listen and speak to us if we only have the ear for it. That's how we learn to look after them … I have to tell you a secret that will see you through all the trials that life can offer. Have courage and be kind.
~ Ella's mother

Just because it's what's done doesn't mean it's what should be done!
~ Ella

And so Kit and Ella were married. And I can tell you, as her fairy godmother, that they were counted to be the fairest and kindest rulers the kingdom had known. And Ella continued to see the world not as it is, but as it could be, if only you believe in courage, and kindness, and occasionally, just a little bit… of magic.
~ Ella's fairy godmother

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.

If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who deal likewise with their fellow men. Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission - to be of service to them wherever they require it.

Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love, Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.

Women should be respected as well! Generally speaking, men are held in great esteem in all parts of the world, so why shouldn't women have their share? Soldiers and war heroes are honored and commemorated, explorers are granted immortal fame, martyrs are revered, but how many people look upon women too as soldiers?…Women, who struggle and suffer pain to ensure the continuation of the human race, make much tougher and more courageous soldiers than all those big-mouthed freedom-fighting heroes put together!

I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion, I have a religion and love. Let me be myself and then I am satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inward strength and plenty of courage.

Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn't matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls.

Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction.

People who have a religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things.

Debates [should] be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without […] desire of victory.

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite.

A pessimist, they say, sees a glass of water as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.

Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it - always.

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

My nonviolence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving dear ones unprotected. Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice. I can no more preach nonviolence to a coward than I can tempt a blind man to enjoy healthy scenes.

One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.

Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no consequence.

Experience teaches that animal food is unsuited to those who would curb their passions. But it is wrong to over-estimate the importance of food in the formation of character or in subjugating the flesh.

I hold today the same opinion as I held then. To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.

I hold flesh-food to be unsuited to our species. We err in copying the lower animal world if we are superior to it.

I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants.

A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

However, history shows clearly that humanity is moved forward not by people who stop every little while to try to gauge the ultimate success or failure of their ventures, but by those who think deeply about what is right and then put all their energy into doing it

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.

The influence of a beautiful, helpful character is contagious, and may revolutionize a whole town.

The service we render to others is really the rent we pay for our room on this earth. It is obvious that man is himself a traveler; that the purpose of this world is not "to have and to hold" but "to give and serve." There can be no other meaning.

It is the fate of all good science to be replaced by its progeny.

There is but one right, and the possibilities of wrong are infinite.

The ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment… not authority.

The scientific spirit is of more value than its products, and irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.

The only question which any wise man can ask himself, and which any honest man will ask himself, is whether a doctrine is true or false.

Time, whose tooth gnaws away everything else, is powerless against truth.

Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.

Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.

Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.

Teach a child what is wise, that is morality. Teach him what is wise and beautiful, that is religion!

The politicians tell us, ’You must educate the masses because they are going to be masters.’ The clergy join in the cry for education, for they affirm that the people are drifting away from church and chapel into the broadest infidelity. The manufacturers and the capitalists swell the chorus lustily. They declare that ignorance makes bad workmen; that England will soon be unable to turn out cotton goods, or steam engines, cheaper than other people; and then, Ichabod! Ichabod! The glory will be departed from us. And a few voices are lifted up in favour of the doctrine that the masses should be educated because they are men and women with unlimited capacities of being, doing, and suffering, that it is as true now, as it ever was, that the people perish for lack of knowledge.

What this serves to demonstrate, is that just because an action is more drastic, does not mean that it's more effective. Burning down one factory farm and getting caught doesn't make you a hero to animals, it makes you a hero to your target's competitors.

When you allocate your sloth wisely, productivity ensues.

Make compassion a reflex!

We do not need allies who are more devoted to order than to justice.

Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.

A right delayed is a right denied.

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.

Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. This is the interrelated structure of all reality. You can never be what you ought to be until I become what I ought to be.

One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

There comes a time when silence is betrayal.

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.

I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

I feel that we need assertive affirmations and commanding paragraphs, which take authority and 'slam down' our opponents viewpoints. The reason for this, is that the opposition has some evil memes, and that they need to be broken. the way to do this isn't by defending ourselves from their rants; and thus we explain ourselves to the nth degree: which does the opposite of what we intend. But to face our situations and force them to break their own statements which were irrational, and get them to see the truth in what we're saying…

see, people who advocate animal abuse and animal suffering, through vivisection and experiments, or for what we aren't designed to eat, as food, aren't evil, but mislead and brainwashed, we could easily break their propaganda, which is showing itself in insecurity in their views, and also to be both socially independant and vegan.. see, most of the opposition, that aren't in authority, aren't 'evil' or doing it for cruelty, but that cruelty is a byproduct that they don't actually see each day and thus aren't reminded of it - they do it because it's socially acceptable, and they don't feel secure enough to make their own independent thoughts…

so, the fact is that we need to be authoritative and command subliminallly in our propositions, and our conclusions will naturally form in their minds as if that was their own ideas…

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.

Practically perfect people never allow sentiment to muddle their thinking.

YAAAAAY: You Are An Awkward Animation Are You

Expect and insist on the best from others and you will never be disappointed with yourself.

Might may not be right, but might can certainly make right.

There is no right way to permit a wrong.

Making things happen from within a system is possible. Doing the same from outside the system is also possible. However participating in the system you are trying to change may prove to be difficult simply because there are vested interests that can get in the way.

If one is going for something worthwhile that others cannot see then it is silly to be concerned about what others are thinking.

In any endeavor, it is counterproductive to worry about whether one will be successful or not, for doing so tends to mess up one's strategy. It's a bit like driving in that thinking about the destination is not a good idea when you're supposed to be paying attention to the road.

Those who violate the gold rule are no longer entitled to the protection it offers.

Showing neutrality in the face of brutality is an atrocity.

Peace and love may work fine when the other side cooperates, but if they don't they should be helped.

Engineers don't make mistakes! They only increase their tolerances.

There is little point in appearing to be ethical when fighting that which is unethical: your personal purity is better grown in a petri dish.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing. However, when doing the right thing, there may be nothing wrong in choosing some of the 'wrong' ways.

The 'good' are far too busy acting good to do any good.

No point in being a good person if you are unwilling to be a better one.

Don't complain unless you really have something to complain about. If you do, then figure out what to do about it, instead of complaining.

It is difficult to get on with things that matter when one spends time on those that don't.

The universe waits not for the sanction of our beliefs.

Prefer to be a monster in a good cause than be good in a monstrous one.

Look for the pradeal instead of rushing in.

Love and compassion would have a better chance of taking hold if their advocates were a little less loving and a little less compassionate.

If you want to clean house, you are going to have to get your hands dirty and take out the trash.

True happiness is having our systems work efficiently and effectively.

Being addicted is yet another self-indulgent Act.

Psychological damage is more practical than physical damage.

Perfection is being true to worthwhile values by translating them to action.

Never accept someone for who they are, for they're not.

The Les Miserable phrase "to love another person is to see the face of god" is a reasonably good one, but the order is backwards. Only when you have made yourself worthy to see the face of god, can you actually love.

Hercules, Hunchback, Mermaid by disney bring out very profound ethical values as well as zen. Hercules for instance becomes a 'sage' when he is transformed into a god through his nobility, but chooses to be mortal through understanding and thereby an ordinary man.

Using the excuse that no one is perfect because everyone kills microbes and steps on insects is like whining about background radiation. The physicist tries to minimize it and thereby sees the truth of reality better. You can't do anything about some things, but there's a lot you can do much about - and that's how you do get to see the truth.

Do only that which aligns with your purpose. But you do not define your purpose - you can only do things that are in alignment with your purpose.

It is bad enough that people who know something, talk nonsense about it - it is worse when those who know nothing about something talk the same way.

Rotten apples should not be seen as something for the garbage, but as fuel for the compost.

The only worthwhile opinion is a correct one.

Some have a desperate need to be ridiculous.

Society tends to honour its live conformers and its dead reformers. You don't have to be dead though to be honoured. Radicals do pay the price of being labelled fanatical - that's a pretty good honour.

Reimbursement need not necessarily be made to the benefactor. A societial or evolutionary contribution is often of greater value.

Anything that has the strong potential of evil may well be evil.

When info was scarce, people wanted the truth. Now that it’s not, they want truth to be customized.

Some of us do things on the spur of the last moment.

Planting a curse on someone is likely not going to be an intelligent effort. Without understanding the way mechanisms work, it can be very counterproductive to want things to turn out a certain way. Say there is a certain group of people with a bad member in it. One of them wishes a curse upon the bad person to die miserably and alone. While the idea may possibly have some appeal, it does not take into account the mechanism by which this execution will take place. For instance, one possible scenario is that the entire group dies from a horrible plague with the curse holder going last. Interesting examples were provided in the genie X-Files episode, where the genie kept pointing out that Mulder's wishes were not sufficiently specific. Lack of awareness in this area generally occurs when wishes are made through vindictiveness or lack of control. The same holds true for good wishes - they can be costly as well. Hence, wanting something to be a certain way is better thought out very carefully and not wanting, as per Lao Tse, may be best.

For instance, I pull a ribbon around the corner and carbonicule the cat chases it. As far as his focus is concerned, the tip is moving and there is no awareness that someone is pulling it. In fact, the focus is so strong (and limited for this game) that it matters little when he comes around the corner to find that I was pulling it - he is still interested in the part that's moving and there is no loss in pleasure in chasing it.

If you don't want constipation change your diet.

life isn't about staying still and stagnating.
life is movement and growth, awareness and awakenings.
neither is love about accepting someone for who they are.
love is a gift from the divine for all beings. as such it becomes our duty to channel that gift to those nearest to us, so that they can move and grow, so that they become aware and awake.
you are evolving, carly. have you ever noticed how "love" is contained in the word "evolve"?
your husband has a chance to be bourne in the wake of your transformation … and then add his own ripples in harmony with the ever-flowing stream on which we all journey.
(to carly on 30bad)

I truly would be a great admirer of myself if it were not for my even greater humility.

The key to manipulation is not feeling anything, so that you can feel anything.

Honor noble principles for they are the only ballast in troubled times.

Regarding Angel's insistence that she needs to fast for more than 7 days:
"it took god 7 days to create the world - what makes you think you need longer?"
Unfortunately, she didn't fully appreciate the brillance of the above comment and started arguing absurdly about it (eg you don't believe in that stuff and it isn't factual).

Being full of yourself is a sure recipe for indigestion and makes it easy to get in your own way.

Morality may be the end product of perfect discipline.

If sex really were an expression of spirituality, then sages would have been the ultimate porn stars of history!

It's about how we merge in thought and action with what is right.
It's about how we add our voices in harmony to what is truth.
It's about how we blend into the flow of existence, discovering with humility and contributing with gratitude.

Inspiration is like the battle, while discipline is the war itself. The former carries uncertainities, but through the latter these can be overcome.

As we travel, there may be some moments when i walk behind you to make sure you don't fall; there may be some moments when i walk ahead and reach for your hand so you can take the next step with confidence.

Focus is good, but focus at the expense of awareness isn't.

We do what we do because it needs to be done. We do it without expectation or want … and then the world really does straighten itself.

When two beings see the same rainbow, imagine how close they must be!

No self-respecting enlightened master ever calls him/herself one, for it is not a path of humility. The master therefore each day remains calm for no achievement can ever surpass that state.

May all who do so much for the most worthwhile and essential cause in history, see themselves as they truly must be - undaunted by the irrefutable task at hand and undented by the illusive passage of time.

If something seems too good to be true, it is important to make it so.

Truth does not stop being truth simply because it is spoken by a hypocrite. Even an animal abuser is entitled and correct to speak against animal abuse.

Desire for something in the future is bad enough.
Desire for something in the past is downright idiotic.

You may not like to lose, but if you're fighting the wrong battle, you have already lost.

It's easy for one to pass responsibility to someone else, but you aren't going to pass the consequences.

I will wait for you, but I won't wait with you.

Keep the door open, but don't end up being the doorstop.

Never forget the past. You do so at your own risk!

It's unhealthy to induce vomiting after each meal. Better to exercise so your consumption doesn't become baggage as the past sometimes does for some people.

Always be happy, never be satisfied.

Always forgive, never forget.

Those who have found the way do not hand out business cards.

When dragons come to heal the earth.

From Honor:

Never be yourself, when you can be someone better. ~ Queen Rhae

May the earth befriend you, as have we.
~ Marieke

If we could only be as kind to every soul regardless of what they are wearing in this life.
~ Breena

The one who gives should not remember the giving, but the one who receives must never forget.
~ Vaishobob

Royalty is never born. It is forged from one's attitude and action, from one's courage and conviction.
~ Prince Jestin

From Tryangles:

How should we on this trip abide?
Be always happy, but never satisfied!
~ Barra

So take that chance and make bold your move!
Triumph or disaster, naught do they prove!
~ Ardal

Life's not 'bout the comfort of just lying still.
Reach for those stars and the dharma fulfill!
~ Elysse

Our strengths are stronger than our weaknesses.
~ Elysse

Everything is set in the clear and distinct air. Judgment is without suspension, thought without reflection, action without consideration. (advent song)

Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.

Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind's capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship. We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights, power or a claim to equality, but in a sense, because they don't. They all stand unequal and powerless before us.

I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.

Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.

The true worth of a man is not to be found in man himself, but in the colours and textures that come alive in others.

Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight… the truly wise person is colorblind.

Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.

A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives.

A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.

You must not expect anything from others. It's you, of yourself, of whom you must ask a lot. Only from oneself has one the right to ask everything and anything. This way it's up to you – your own choices – what you get from others remains a present, a gift.

What does Reverence for Life say abut the relations between [humanity] and the animal world? Whenever I injury any kind of life I must be quite certain that it is necessary. I must never go beyond the unavoidable, not even in apparently insignificant things. The farmer who has mowed down a thousand flowers in his meadow in order to feed his cows must be careful on his way home not to strike the head off a single flower by the side of the road in idle amusement, for he thereby infringes on the law of life without being under the pressure of necessity.

Civilization can only revive when there shall come into being in a number of individuals a new tone of mind, independent of the prevalent one among the crowds, and in opposition to it – a tone of mind which will gradually win influence over the collective one, and in the end determine its character. Only an ethical movement can rescue us from barbarism, and the ethical comes into existence only in individuals.

Ethics cannot be based upon our obligations toward [people], but they are complete and natural only when we feel this Reverence for Life and the desire to have compassion for and to help all creatures insofar as it is in our power. I think that this ethic will become more and more recognized because of its great naturalness and because it is the foundation of a true humanism toward which we must strive if our culture is to become truly ethical.

Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.

The most tragic thing in the world is a man of genius who is not a man of honor.

A fashion is nothing but an induced epidemic.

England and America are two countries separated by a common language.

Why should you call me to account for eating decently?

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.

All great truths begin as blasphemies.

No public man in these islands ever believes that the Bible means what it says: he is always convinced that it says what he means.

The sex relation is not a personal relation. It can be irresistibly desired and rapturously consummated between persons who could not endure one another for a day in any other relation.

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport: when the tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity. The distinction between Crime and Justice is no greater.

"Will you be the father of my next child? A combination of my beauty and your brains would startle the world," but he replied: "I must decline your offer with thanks, for the child might have my beauty and your brains."

When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth.

"You see things; you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?"

Animals are my friends…and I don't eat my friends.

Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.

In heaven an angel is no one in particular.

We cut the throat of a calf and hang it up by the heels to bleed to death so that our veal cutlet may be white; we nail geese to a board and cram them with food because we like the taste of liver disease; we tear birds to pieces to decorate our women's hats; we mutilate domestic animals for no reason at all except to follow an instinctively cruel fashion; and we connive at the most abominable tortures in the hope of discovering some magical cure for our own diseases by them.

I don't know if there are men on the moon, but if there are they must be using the earth as their lunatic asylum.

The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not.

In general, when modeling phenomena in science and engineering, we begin with simplified, incomplete models. As we examine things in greater detail, these simple models become inadequate and must be replaced by more refined models.

A knight is sworn to valor and virtue. His blade defends the good, and his might upholds the weak. His temper shall be led by patience, and his kindness will give aid to those who seek it.

This is a variation of the knight's code (from The Library of Knighthood):

The knight is sworn to valor.
His heart knows only virtue.
His blade defends the helpless.
His might upholds the weak.
His words speak only truth.
His wrath undoes the wicked.
The right can never die,
If one man still recalls
The words are not forgot,
If one voice speaks them clear.
The code forever shines,
If one heart holds it bright

150 years ago, they would have thought you were absurd if you advocated for the end of slavery. 100 years ago, they would have laughed at you for suggesting that women should have the right to vote. 50 years ago, they would object to the idea of African Americans receiving equal rights under the law. 25 years ago they would have called you a pervert if you advocated for gay rights. They laugh at us now for suggesting that animal slavery be ended. Some day they won't be laughing.

You may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.

The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity and the ways our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.

A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.

Women have two choices: Either she's a feminist or a masochist.

A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.

Women have always been an equal part of the past. We just haven't been a part of history.

Law and justice are not always the same. When they aren't, destroying the law may be the first step toward changing it.

Emacs outshines all other editing soft-ware in approximately the same way that the noonday sun does the stars. It is not just bigger and brighter; it simply makes everything else vanish. (In the Beginning… Was the Cammand Line)

Centering on human-made abstractions above all, instead of on the animals themselves as individuals is oddly anthropocentric.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where the words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action - Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service.

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.

Every man is the builder of a temple called his body.

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.

However mean your life is, meet it and live it: do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. God will see that you do want society.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

In wildness is the preservation of the world.

It is never too late to give up your prejudices.

Most are engaged in business the greater part of their lives, because the soul abhors a vacuum and they have not discovered any continuous employment for man's nobler faculties.

Who thinks that they can kill time without injuring eternity?

For me what works is service. i feel that i am here to serve animals and be their voice. i rescue domestic animals from abuse, which gives me a sense of direct action and do much in the way of spreading veganism, with farm walks, handing out literature, and postings at pet stores. Also do fur protests, circus protests and protested at our medical college to end the use of pigs.

everywhere i go i talk with people about the atrocities to animals raised for food and always have a trunk full of pamphlets and dvds such as meet your meat and earthlings.

we have 11 rescued animals which keep us from getting overwhelmed with animal suffering since they need much care, exercise and love.

it is unacceptable to me that some people take longer than others to stop eating animals. most people who would see an injured bird would try to help him/her so why not extend that compassion to the rest of the animals. people don't have to do anything except change their eating habits, nothing compared to the hell on earth animals are living.

i no longer waste my time with those who aren't receptive to our message, there are too many others who need to hear it.

i used to go to bed and start feeling guilty that i was warm, comfortable and safe and would think of all the animals suffering in barren cages, cold, afraid and unable to even turn around. it was stupid, since my not getting a good nights sleep wasn't helping the animals and would prevent me from being productive.

now when i go to bed i clear my mind and rest. if negative thoughts enter i acknowledge them and let them pass though not giving them the attention or light they need to persist. i fall asleep within minutes.

keep doing what you can for the animals and continue to spread your message to everyone you meet. as long as we are doing what we can, we can keep moving forward without getting bogged down with hatred of people and frustration. there are still times i become misanthropic, but realize there are many good humans i love and don't focus on what is out of my hands.

In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, Brave, Hated and Scorned. When his cause succeeds however, the timid join him, for then it costs NOTHING to be a Patriot.

Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the and the blind can see.

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up.

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Let me set out my stand right now; this kind of crap disgusts me.

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.

Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

If you're going through hell, keep going.

Freedom must be armed better than tyranny.