Now More Than Ever

We have to believe in ourselves,
but we mustn't suppose that the path will be easy.
It's tough.
Life is painful, and rain falls on the just.

Mr. Churchill was not being a pessimist when he said,
"I have nothing to offer, but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

He had a great deal more to offer,
but as a good leader he was saying it isn't going to be easy,
and he was also saying something that all great leaders say constantly -
that failure is simply a reason to strengthen resolve.

We cannot dream of a Utopia in which all arrangements are ideal and everyone is flawless.
Life is tumultuous - an endless losing and regaining of balance,
a continuous struggle, never an assured victory.
Nothing is ever finally safe.
Every important battle is fought and refought.

You may wonder if such a struggle, endless and of uncertain outcome,
isn't more than humans can bear.

But all of history suggests that the human spirit

is well fitted to cope with
just that kind of world."-John Gardner

Be Interested

Everyone wants to be interesting but the vitalizing thing is

to be interested.

Keep a sense of curiosity.

Discover new things.

Care.

Risk failure.

Reach out.-John Gardner

What I Know About You

There's something I know about you that you may or may not know about yourself.

You have within you more resources of energy than have ever been tapped,

more talent than has ever been exploited,

more strength than has ever been tested,

more to give than you have ever given. -John Gardner

The Meaning Of Your Life

"Meaning is not something you stumble across,

like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt.

Meaning is something you build into your life.
You build it out of your own past,
out of your affections and loyalties,
out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you
out of your own talent and understanding,
out of the things and people you love,
out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something.
The ingredients are there.
You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you.
If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account."
-John Gardner

The Fullness of Your Life

"Life is an endless unfolding

and,

if we wish it to be,

an endless process of self-discovery,

an endless and unpredictable dialogue between our own potentialities

and the life situations in which we find ourselves.

By potentialities I mean not just success as the world measures success,

but the full range of one's capacities for learning,

sensing,

wondering,

understanding,

loving and aspiring."

John Gardner