Be inspired and love what you do

What is the definition of ‘inspiration’? This is a difficult question, as inspiration will always mean different things to different people. Everyone is inspired in unique ways.

So, although the dictionary definition of inspiration may be
'stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity'
ultimately it is up to each of us to determine what inspires us. After all, being inspired is a state of mind. However you will probably agree that you are inspired when

•you have a zest for life
•you make choices that are best for you
•you are living the life you desire

Most successful women admit that they were not blessed with any special talents or abilities that others missed out on. And they admit that being inspired isn’t dependent upon some huge advantage that others don’t have. We all have the ability to be inspired. So the key to inspiration is to determine what inspires us, acknowledge our skills and talents and put them to good use. The hand we are dealt at birth and through life isn’t nearly as important as what we do with it!

Here’s a little blurb that was sent to me recently right along these lines.

If you want to be rich, successful, and great, and you want it all with minimal effort, then your primary focus must be on doing something that meets any one of the following criteria:

* You love doing it.
* It races your blood.
* It challenges your creativity.
* It is absorbing, passion inspiring, and joyful.
* It is so compelling that you would do it even if there were no
money involved.

It's so simple. When you experience any one of the above, it means you are in love with what you do. Once you are in love with what you do, success then unfolds in the following way:

If you love what you are doing, it ceases being work.

The more you love what you are doing, the more you spontaneously
commit to it.

The greater your commitment, the deeper the knowledge you gain.

The deeper the knowledge, the more powerful the knowledge.

The more powerful your knowledge, the easier it is to achieve success, because deep, powerful
knowledge is the key to inspired thinking and finding intelligent
solutions to problems.

And with that deeper knowledge you quickly recognize opportunities
and pounce on the best ones.

But it all starts with loving what you do.

I wish you great inspiration in all that you do.

If you're going to Alice Springs....

If you're going to Alice Springs anytime soon (or later),
I recommend you stop in at the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame that's right downtown. I'm not sure why its in Alice, but strange things happen in the outback.....

If you're NOT going to Alice anytime soon, you
can still take advantage of what they have to offer online at www.pioneerwomen.com.au>

Their site is linked to 40+ women's museums throughout theworld, as well. So you may wish to check out their site before you go travelling and see whether you'll be going through any places that have a women's museum. Always interesting to see what the gals that lived before us did...

Annie's Got A Gun ....

Here's a postcard that relatives in San Diego sent me... It's of Annie Oakley who was the subject of the song 'Annie's Got a Gun' by ?? (I'm terrible at band names). But you know the one - I'd sing the tune here but don't know how to do that (probably a good thing). But I digress...

Annie was apparently a fantastic shot in the days when it wasn't particularly lady-like to, well, be good with a gun. Anyway, in those days - circa 1860 to 1926 - being a good shot would certainly impress the boys. Which Annie sure did.

The postcard says that Annie was nicknamed 'Little Miss Sure Shot' and she travelled with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. As people of that era were impressed with a 'sure shot' thousands flocked to see her astounding show.... she even shot the cigarette from the mouth of Kaiser Wilhlm of Germany at one time.

So, there's a mentor woman for ya as well as a neat story and bit of history. Plus now when you hear that song by ??, you'll know who they're talking about:)

A Bottle of Wine (a very cute story!)

For everyone who is married, was married, wish they were married, or wish they weren't married, this is something to smile about the next time you open a bottle of wine….

Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride. With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car.

Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally…

"What's in the bag?" asked the old woman.

Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, "It's a bottle of wine; I got it for my husband."

The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said, "Good trade."

Queen of the Palm Pilot - Donna Dubinsky

Despite early and expensive industry failures, Donna Dubinksy gambled that consumers really did want a pocket-sized digital daytimer. She was right. Over 400,000 PalmPilots were sold in its debut year. This is Donna’s success story….

By 1996, Silicon Valley had spent nearly $1 billion trying to develop a handheld computer, and about all there was to show for it was a rather rotten Apple Newton. It seems basic now, but no one had made the logical leap that this organizer was a PC accessory, not a stand-alone PC.

Then along came Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins. Jeff glued together bits of mahogany and cardboard in his garage and transformed them into the first PalmPilot. Donna was excited to go out and sell the idea, even though bigger companies with deeper pockets had already spent about $1 billion developing PDAs like Apple's Newtons. But because of the history of the Apple Newton, the idea wasn't very salable. Basically, people were skeptical, and they just didn't buy it. Plus the timing was bad. The Internet had just taken off, and people were very excited about that, not about the potential of a PDA.

However, from the garage-built PalmPilot to it’s debut, Donna built up Palm Computing and turned the wooden experiment into one of the most successful consumer electronics product launches in history, selling 400,000 units during its 1996 debut.

Dubinsky repeated herself in 1998, when she and Hawkins left Palm Computing to start Handspring Inc. Donna was a brave entrepreneurially minded 47-year-old, ready to start anew. So Donna and Jeff left Palm Computing, took three days off, and then Jeff and Donna got together and said, 'Okay, what next?' And they started creating Handspring Inc.

Donna did the corporate things, like financing, finding office space, and negotiating with 3Com to license the Palm operating system. They were primed, but didn't have a product, so decided to focus on the low end of PDA’s and innovate there. They decided to create something low cost, familiar, but still new. Jeff made a list of the things he wanted the new device to do. Their newly engineered device enabled them to create a product that could become a phone, an MP3 player, a digital camera, and almost anything consumers might want.

Venturing out on their own paid off. By undercutting Palm's prices by as much as 30%, Handspring's Visor gained market share quickly, representing one out of every four personal digital assistants sold after just a year in business. Within 12 months Donna and Jeff were selling a differentiated product and captured 28% of the market with one of the first alternatives to a PalmPilot.

Has Donna’s success to date been solely due to technological advances? Unlikely. As the following interview by a leading business magazine shows, Donna has a very sharp business mind. Her management style obviously appeals to many employees and she has some great strengths that she brings to her business dealings. A Mentor Women indeed.

Interview with Donna Dubinsky

Donna: You have to be nimble. I doubt there's any entrepreneur who's succeeded on her original business plan. Situations change, the dynamic changes, the competitive environment changes, the technologies change.

You have to be able to adapt. You also have to be able to stop things. One of the disciplines I'm most proud of at Handspring is that we kill projects. That is so hard to do when people have invested their time and effort. And they're good projects. But you have to decide, hey, when we started, it made a lot of sense. Today, for whatever reason, it doesn't. We can't keep doing it just because it's got momentum.

To keep your edge, you also have to get everyone who works for you invested and involved. Luckily, building a culture like that is very natural to us. Everything we do is always challenging and asking questions and probing things and trying to understand what the best course of action is.

We do lots of management by walking around. I do these things called Dine With Donna, where I get groups of employees together -- sort of a group of a dozen or so -- and get wonderful information about what the real issues are and what's going on in the company. I also have lunch in the cafe almost every day. It sounds like a stupid little thing, but to me it's one of the most incredibly important things I do. I could go off and have big honcho business lunches, but I sit out in our cafe because I can be with different employees and be accessible. That philosophy of easy access permeates the entire company.

And with success like what she has had, it's easy to see that Donna's management practices and charisma have stood her in good stead.

Joan Bradley - Australian Conservationist Extraordinaire

Using her ecological savvy, Joan Bradley figured out how to restore large tracts of Australian bushland that have been ravaged by introduced species. A conservationist extraordinaire, this is Joan’s story…

The name Joan Bradley is synonymous with bush regeneration in Australia. First publicized in the 1960’s, the ‘Bradley Method’ of bush regeneration is still the most successful way to conserve Australian bush. But to understand Joan’s important contribution to science, you have to know a bit about the Australian bush.

The Australian bush is unique, as it’s located on an island continent, disconnected from the large ‘Gondwana’ landmass for millions of years. As such, the bush has developed in isolation, and many plant species are found only in Australia. These unique plant species support animals that are also unique to the Australian land mass. You don’t find kangaroos anywhere else, do you ??!

Also, the Australian climate is particularly harsh. Strong direct sunlight, vast deserts, both dry and wet rainforest areas, and even areas in the north where the Aborigines recognize six seasons (wet through dry and everything in between). So you can imagine how disruptive introduced plant species would be to the native bushland. They disrupt the delicate ecological balance between native vegetation and animal life, leading to declining native populations.

Unfortunately, Australia has many ‘weed’(non-native) plant species that are rampant, as well an introduced rabbits, foxes, wild cats, toads, goats, camels etc etc. And it’s these introduced species that decimate the native plant (and animal) species as well as change the native habitat so that the native species are unable to survive. To combat this effect, Australians face huge challenges controlling introduced species – particularly weeds. And it was here that Joan made her mark.

In the 1960, when women were not accepted in the scientific field, Joan doggedly experimented with bush regeneration. Using her extensive knowledge of Australian native bush and incredible work ethic, she trialed many methods of regeneration, trying to determine what would work best. Finally, after years of work, Joan developed and published the very successful Bradley Method of bush regeneration. It was Joan’s understanding of ecology, willingness to work hard, and exceptional patience, that were so notable. As restoring degraded areas of bush (forest) is not for the faint at heart. It is a daunting task that often defeats the most dedicated conservationists.

However, Joan figured out that native plants will re-grow after weeds are hand-cleared from small patches of bush. What a lot of hard work you say ! Yes, that is exactly the point. There are no shortcuts to Joan’s method, but….. it works. It works so well, that in 1976 the National Trust in New South Wales, Australia employed Joan to restore large tracts of bushland using her method.

Following Joan’s successes restoring larger tracts of bushland, government agencies and community groups recognized The Bradley Method as the best way to re-grow native bushlands. Their adherence to these principles continues today, proving how successful and well regarded the method has become.

Although Joan contributed immensely to conservational science in Australian, she was very well known for her cheerful and extroverted personality. And as you can well imagine, her motto of ‘slow and steady wins the race’ helped, too !

The mother of Mother's Day - Anna Jarvis

In 1907, long before feminism was even a word, Anna created Mother’s Day in the USA, to celebrate the importance of women and their work inside the home.

On May 10, 1907, the first Mother’s Day celebration was held at Anna Jarvis’s mother's church, St. Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, Virginia, USA.

Anna had gained recognition for the day by sheer determination and hard work. At a time when women were not granted equality or power outside the home, Anna wrote innumerable letters to influential people and distributed endless pamphlets to advertise her cause. Her strength of purpose was founded on inspiration by her deceased mother.

Mrs. Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis (Anna’s mother) had helped develop "Mothers Friendship Day" to assist in the healing of the USA after the Civil War. So after the death of her mother, Anna Jarvis dedicated her life to her mother's cause - establishing Mother's Day to "honor mothers, living and dead". At the original 'Mother's Day' ceremony, Anna passed out more than 500 white carnations, one for each mother in the congregation. A white carnation was worn to honor deceased mothers and a red one to honor a living mother. Anna chose the white carnation because to her, it represented the purity of a mother's heart.

With the encouragement and financial support of a Philadelphian philanthropist, the Mother’s Day movement grew. In 1912 West Virginia became the first state to adopt an official Mother's Day, and in 1914 a resolution signed by President Woodrow Wilson established Mother's Day throughout the USA. Despite the success of Mother’s Day celebrations, Anna was very concerned with the increasing commercialization of the day. Her holiday was meant to be a "noble and true" celebration, but Anna felt that it had been exploited for profit. However, the very involvement of Anna Jarvis and other female activists brought the role of mothers and homemakers into the public eye. And women gained positive exposure, acknowledgment, and public admiration.

The resolve and resilience of Anna Jarvis and her mother towards their causes and beliefs are truly inspiring. It is a great irony that the woman who worked so hard for recognition of all women couldn't become a mother herself. But through her work, Anna Jarvis earned the title of the "Mother of Mother's Day". A title as grand as her beautiful cause.

The HEART of Makybe Diva

Makybe Diva
Never heard of her? Maybe a four-legged animal doesn’t belong in these pages. But Makybe Diva is internationally renowned in horse-racing circles for her ‘heart’. She gave her all during her career - and soundly beat the boys in the process. Meet a legend….

On 1 November, 2005, Makybe Diva won the hearts of a nation...and galloped into history. With her ears out sideways and a glazed look in her eye as she dug deeper than she ever had in her life, she won the Melbourne Cup for a record third time in a row. It gave this spectator goose-bumps to see a horse try so hard.

On the first Tuesday of November at around 3pm local time, all of Australia pauses to watch one of the country's greatest sporting events, the Melbourne Cup race - 'the race that stops a nation'. The Melbourne Cup is the peak of the Spring Racing Carnival, held in Melbourne every year since 1861. The Cup is the southern hemispheres’ Kentucky Derby. It has become a date on the international horse-racing calendar too, with horses from Europe and Asia competing. The race attracts 130,000 spectators, and schools and workplaces across the country stop to watch.

In 1895 American author Mark Twain said ‘nowhere in the world have I encountered a festival of people that has such a magnificent appeal to the whole nation. The Cup astonishes me.’

But a bit about the Diva....
Makybe Diva was conceived in Irelend and born in Britain. She was taken to Australia after failing to attract any bids in England. Her new owner, Tony Santic, a South Australian tuna fisherman, asked five of his employees to help name her. They came up with her name by combining the first two letters of each of their first names - Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Dianne and Vanessa. Hence Makybe Diva.

In 2003, Makybe Diva won her first Melbourne Cup, which is a difficult feat for any horse and less likely to be accomplished by a mare than a gelding or stallion.
In 2004, she won national acclaim by winning her second Melbourne Cup and beating the competitive Irish horse Vinnie Roe.

In 2005 despite being the punters' favourite for the Melbourne Cup, many Australians doubted that she would win again. It seemed too much to ask. At seven years old, she would be one of the oldest horses to win the Cup, if indeed she did. And no other horse had ever won the Cup three times in a row.

Adding to Australia’s sceptisicm was the footing of the racecourse. The Flemington Racecourse was wet in 2003 and 2004, and Makybe performed better on softer racecourses. In 2005, if the organisers hadn't made a controversial decision to water the racetrack at the last minute, the course would have been dry.

In 2005, the total prize money offered at the Carnival was AU$5.1 million (approximately £2 million). Over AU$200 million (approximately £79 million) worldwide bets were placed on the races over the four-day event - including an AU$1 million bet on Makybe Diva herself !

But Makybe Diva overcame all the scepticism and questions to win the Melbourne Cup for the third time in a row, an achievement that has never before occurred in the history of the race. All Australia stopped to watch, and the after-race parties went on for days.

Only two other seven-year-old mares have won the race in its entire history - Archer in 1861 and Acrasia in 1904. Makybe Diva is also the first horse since 1890 to win both the Sydney Cup and Melbourne Cup in the same year.

So what makes Makybe Diva so special? In one word, heart. She wins because she gives more than she has. Maykbe Diva has more determination to win than her competitors, and simply runs right by them. What an inspiration.

Inspirational Quotes, and lots of them !

Far away, there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. Louisa May Alcott

Toughness…is not dependent on being crude or cruel. You can be feminine and tough. I love my femininity – as much as I rely on my toughness. What others call tough, I call persistent. Estee Lauder

I believe in life after birth! Maxie Dunham

Your real security is yourself. You know you can do it, and they can’t ever take that away from you. Mae West

Just as you are about to give up, take one step forward and then another… Mandi Upward

Real women don’t have flushes, they have power surges. Sandra Cabot

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Muriel Strode

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. Mother Teresa

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. Mother Teresa
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. Helen Keller

I believe that there are certain attributes in a woman that give her some advantages over a man. Women are usually more honest, more sensitive to issues and bring a stronger sense of commitment and dedication to what they do. Maybe because they were mothers, and being a mother you have that special attention for the family, for the young, for children. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit. Helen Keller

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. Marie Curie

Sometimes the poorest woman leaves her children the richest inheritance. Ruth E. Renkel

One of the most valuable things we can do to heal one another is listen to each other's stories. Rebecca Falls

You don’t get to choose how you die. Or when. You can only decide how you’re going to live. Now. Joan Baez

We all procrastinate at one time or another. The most unfortunate procrastination of all is to put off being happy. Maureen Mueller

What if we smashed the mirrors and saw our true face? Elsa Gidlow
Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose – a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.
Mary Shelley

Only she who says she did not choose, is the loser in the end. Adrienne Riche

Life is not the way it is supposed to be. It is the way it is. The way you cope with it makes the difference. Virginia Satir

Without fanaticism, one cannot accomplish anything. Eva Peron

I have a personal motto that I live by, which is feel the fear and do it anyway. If you fail, you get up and you keep trying again. Tamara Mellon

You don't do anybody any favours by being less than you are. Fiona Wood


Compassion, kindness, and concern can be found everywhere in America.
And if we have learned nothing else from this [Sept. 11th] tragedy,
we have learned that our time on earth is short, so there is simply
no time for hate. Sandra Dahl, wife of Jason Dahl, pilot of Flight 93

We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw
little torches out to lead people through the dark. Whoopi Goldberg
What you should want from life is an arena big enough to express your talents and gifts. Pleasant Rowland

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

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. Barbara DeAngelis

I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by...those who...struggle to make one small difference after another. Ellen Goodman

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
We look at problems happening halfway across the world and we think, 'Well, that's their problem.' But it's not. … When you solve somebody else's problem, you're solving a problem for yourself because our world today is so interconnected. Queen Rania of Jordan

The only real disability in life is losing your mind. Wesla Whitfield

Beauty is something inside of us. If you love yourself and accept yourself, that shows on the outside. Beauty is an act—it's how you carry yourself. Gisele Bundchen

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Bonnie Jean Wasmund

Power is the ability to do good things for others. Brooke Astor

Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you're exactly the same. Audrey Hepburn

To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given the chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. Bette Davis

It's not the having, it's the getting. Elizabeth Taylor

Why grab possessions like thieves, or divide them like socialists, when you can ignore them like wise (wo)men? Nancy Clifford Barney.

When one team member succeeds, the entire team succeeds. Stacey Allison
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single minute before starting to improve the world. Anne Frank Love

Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. Barbara DeAngelis

I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by...those who...struggle to make one small difference after another. Ellen Goodman

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It never was between you and them anyway. Mother Teresa

Compassion, kindness, and concern can be found everywhere in America. And if we have learned nothing else from this [Sept. 11th] tragedy, we have learned that our time on earth is short, so there is simply no time for hate. Sandra Dahl, wife of Jason Dahl, pilot of Flight 93
When you choose your thoughts, you choose results. Imelda Shanklin

How many of us go through our days parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we're really standing knee-deep in the river of abundance? Sarah Ban Breathnach

The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us. Ashley Montagu

Getting what you go after is success; but liking it while you are getting it is happiness. Bertha Damon

To have that sense of one's intrinsic worth…is potentially to have everything… Joan Didion

The older I get, the more I feel almost beautiful… ! Sharon Olds

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face…You must do the thing you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and…confidence in ourselves. Marie Curie

We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark. Whoopi Goldberg

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but she did it backwards and in high heels. Faith Whittlesey

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun. Katherine Hepburn

I think the key is for women not to set any limits. Martina Navratilova

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. Eleanor Roosevelt

Thoughts are energy and you can make or break your world by your thinking. Susan Taylor

Just try to do something – just being there, showing up – is how we get braver. Self-esteem is about doing. Joy Browne

Women are like tea bags; put them in hot water and they get stronger! Eleanor Roosevelt

A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for. Grace Hopper

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. Hannah More

Ultimately, we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom. Marilyn Ferguson

It ain’t braggin’ if you really done it. Dizzy Dean

A good goal is like a strenuous exercise – it makes you stretch. Mary Kay Ash Power

Power is the ability not to have to please. Elizabeth Janeway

You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at one time. Oprah Winfrey

I believe that we are solely responsible for our choices, and we have to accept the consequences of every deed, word, and thought throughout our lifetime. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

One kind word can warm three winter months. Japanese Proverb

I am a woman above all else. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Lessons from life - quotes, quotes and more quotes

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. Ambrose Redmoon

A minor moment of triumph does not signify automatic success. Catharine Hartley

It doesn’t happen all at once…You become. It takes a long time. Margery Williams

Leadership is never given on a silver platter, one has to earn it. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

The only journey is the one within. Rainer Maria Rilke

You catch more bees with honey than you do with acid. Estee Lauder

Live the questions now. Rainer Maria Rilke

Moral courage and character go hand in hand….a (wo)man of real character is consistently courageous, being imbued with a basic integrity and a form sense of principle. Martha Boaz

That action is best which provides the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Francis Hutcheson

1)Be discoverers 2) Be ready helpers 3) Be friend makers The Brownie ‘B’s, Girl Scouts

We never know how high we are, til we are called to rise. And then, if we are true to plan, our stature touches the skies. Emily Dickinson
You are what you do. Anonymous
When you’re blasé you’re finished. *Estee Lauder*

We are free up to the point of choice. Then the choice controls the chooser. Mary Crowley

People waste more time waiting for someone to take charge of their lives than they do in any other pursuit. Gloria Steinham

Ethnicity should enrich us; it should make us a unique people in our diversity and not be used to divide us. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. Ellen Parr

Dreams are really attainable, given ruthless perseverance. Catharine Hartley

Success is important only to the extent that it puts one in a position to do more things one likes to do. Sarah Caldwell

Jesus, please teach me to appreciate what I have before time forces me to appreciate what I had. Susan L. Lenzkes

Self-respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased. It is never for sale. It cannot be fabricated out of public relations. It comes to us when we are alone, in quiet moments, in quiet places, when we suddenly realize that, knowing the good, we have done it; knowing the beautiful, we have served it; knowing the truth, we have spoken it. Whitney Griswold

Women are not inherently passive or peaceful. We’re not inherently anything but human. Robin Morgan

Because women's liberation is a movement of the powerless for the powerless, its attraction is not immediately clear to the powerless, who feel they need alliance with the powerful to survive. Rosemary O'Grady

I truly believe that everyone in the world has a use, somewhere, and is going to be good at something. *Estee Lauder*

In solitude we give passionate attention to our lives, to our memories, to the details around us. Virginia Woolf

Integrity is honesty carried through the fibres of the being and the whole mind, into thought as well as action so that the person is complete in honesty. That kind of integrity I put above all else as an essential to leadership. Pearl S. Buck


Surviving means being born over and over. Erica Jong

Yet it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that truth sometimes comes to the top. Virginia Woolf

The most exhausting thing in my life is being insincere. Ann Morrow Lindbergh

Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense. Gertrude Stein

Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. Abigail Adams

Life goes so fast, and there is so much to do. But the moments that have enriched my life the most came when I slowed down and connected with the people I care about. Maria Bello

How many of us go through our days parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we're really standing knee-deep in the river of abundance? Sarah Ban Breathnach
No person is your enemy, no person is your friend, every person is your teacher. Florence Scovel Shinn

They sicken of the calm, those who know the storm. Dorothy Parker

My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. Ayn Rand

The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you. Bette Midler

Imagination has always had powers of resurrection that science can’t match. Ingrid Bengis


If success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all. Anna Quindlen

Failure follows the person whose wishbone is where their backbone is. Anonymous

You'll be surprised how much better you feel about the world when you feel better about your self. Wynonna Judd

It's important to do things that scare you to death! Reese Witherspoon

Our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves. Wilhelm von Humboldt

Someone's got to break the glass ceiling, and once it's broken, everybody else comes clamouring up behind. Helen Clark

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate. Oprah Winfrey

Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. Anonymous

The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me. Ayn Rand

We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomal. Margaret Attwood


Our ability to respond positively to setbacks, fuels our creativity and lays the foundation for future successes. Stacey Allison

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction. Rachel Carson

When you walk into your memories, you are opening a door to the past; the road within has many branches and the route is different every time. Xinran

You can bloom wherever you’re planted, if you put enough effort into it. Hilary Rodham Clinton

To undo mistakes is always harder than not to create them originally, but we seldom have foresight. Therefore, we have no choice but to try to correct our past mistakes. Eleanor Roosevelt

Human rights are women’s rights; and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all. Hilary Clinton

To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own. Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Kindness is for all times in all situations -- not just when it suits you. Audray Landrum

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. Audrey Hepburn

Fame and fortune does not mean anything if you don't have a happy home. Ava Gardner

Old age is no place for sissies. Bette Davis

Success is a great deodorant. It takes away all your past smells. Elizabeth Taylor

There are two basic agents when defining us as human beings – one, sharpness of mind. Two is kindness of heart – hearing and sharing the grief of others. Princess Diana of Wales

As much as we need a prosperous economy, we also need a prosperity of kindness and decency. Caroline Kennedy Schlossburg

Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away. Unknown (If you know whose quote this is, please let me know!)
I broke a lot of rules because I didn’t know the rules. Pleasant Rowland

Only when we accept full responsibility for our lives will we have confidence and courage to risk. Stacey Allison

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it's at the end of your arm, as you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others. Audrey Hepburn

Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless. Mother Teresa

When we appreciate how much we have, we feel the urge to pare down, get back to basics, and learn what is essential for our happiness. We long to realize what's really important. Sarah Ban Breathnach

So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind,
Is all the sad world needs.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart. Helen Keller

A kind word never broke anyone's mouth. Irish Proverb
Our vices are the excesses of our virtues. Pleasant Rowland

Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only what you are expecting to give. Katherine Hepburn

Appreciation can make a day - even change a life, Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary. Margaret Cousins

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. Marian Wright-Edelman

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. Mother Teresa

Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day. Sally Koch

You can spend your life looking over your shoulder or you can look ahead. I choose to look ahead Pleasant Rowland

It is difficult to experience moments of happiness if we are not aware of what it is we genuinely love. Sarah Ban Breathnach

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile. Mother Teresa

Women want men, careers, money, children, friends, luxury, comfort, independence, freedom, respect, love and three dollar pantyhose that won’t run. Phyllis Diller

I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves. Mary Wollstonecraft

If I had my life to live again, I’d make the same mistakes only sooner. Tallulah Bankhead

Women will always be dependent until she holds a purse of her own. Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Money can’t buy happiness but it can make you awfully comfortable while you’re being miserable. Clare Boothe Luce

We women don’t care too much about getting our pictures on money, as long as we can get our hands on it. Ivy Baker Priest

You can learn new things at any time in your life if you’re willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you. Barbara Sher

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end. Margaret Thatcher

If you educate a man, you educate a person; if you educate a women, you educate a family. Ruby Manikan

Independence I have long considered the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue. Mary Wollstonecraft

From birth to age 18 a girl needs good parents. From 18 to 35, she needs good looks. From 35 to 55 she needs a good personality. And from 55 on, she needs good cash. Sophie Tucjer