Archives - March 2003

A spirit of harmony can only survive if each of us remembers, when bitterness and self-interest seem to prevail, that we share a common destiny.

Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time. No one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom.

There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting.

A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.

Never continue in a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. And if you have that, along with physical health, you will have had more success than you could possibly have imagined.

Don't reserve your best behavior for special occasions. You can't have two sets of manners, two social codes --- one for those you admire and want to impress, another for those whom you consider unimportant. You must be the same to all people.

The reason grandparents and grandchildren get along so well is that they have a common enemy.

Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year.

Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

Ireland is rich in literature that understands a soul's yearnings, and dancing that understands a happy heart.

The weak are the most treacherous of us all. They come to the strong and drain them. They are bottomless. They are insatiable. They are always parched and always bitter. They are everyone's concern and like vampires they suck out life's blood.

It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not.

Do not be awe struck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be you as efficiently as you can.

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

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.

St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time --- a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic.

While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.

Laughter is much more important than applause. Applause is almost a duty. Laughter is a reward.

I can honestly say that I was never affected by the question of the success of an undertaking. If I felt it was the right thing to do, I was for it regardless of the possible outcome.

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Television has done much for psychiatry by spreading information about it, as well as contributing to the need for it.

In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs.

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.

Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward failure.

We allow our ignorance to prevail upon us and make us think we can survive alone, alone in patches, alone in groups, alone in races, even alone in genders.

One of the best hearing aids a man can have is an attentive wife.

The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant --- and let the air out of the tires.

When you read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see more in you than there was before.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.