fortitude

At the moment that everything goes dark, the sunset in front of us becomes the whole story. But if we find courage enough to wait until tomorrow morning, we will suddenly come to understand that in reality yesterday__ sunset was only half of the story.

Patience is the antidote to the restless poison of the Ego. Without it we all become ego-maniacal bulls in china shops, destroying our future happiness as we blindly rush in where angels fear to tread. In these out-of-control moments, we bulldoze through the best possible outcomes for our lives, only to return to the scene of the crime later to cry over spilt milk.

It is worth living long enough to outlast whatever sense of grievance you may acquire.

Life is not about getting everything right, as much as it__ about working to live right.

Life has moments that feel as if the sun has blackened to tar and the entire world turned to ice. _It feels as if Hades and his vile demons have risen from the depths of Tartarus solely for the purpose of banding to personally torture you, and that their genuine intent of mental, emotional, and spiritual anguish is tearing you to shreds. _Your heart weighs as heavily as leaden legs which you would drag yourself forward with if not for the quicksand that pulls you down inch by inch, paralyzing your will and threatening oblivion. _And all the while fire and brimstone pour from the sky, pelting only you. _Truly, that is what it feels like. But that feeling is a trial that won't last forever. _Never give up.

We are stronger than we think. We have emotional, spiritual and even physical resources at our disposal. We may get knocked down, but we don__ have to stay down.

How I wish you could have known me in my strength.

Chances are no matter how bad your troubles seem to be, someone somewhere, with less resilience, has successfully conquered a more severe version of your problems.

That Detroit ultimately concentrated on automobiles could be traced to one genius, Henry Ford.... But that the necessary human energy for this development existed in Detroit could be proven through its early history.... I told him what I knew of the settlement in Detroit and of the climate, certainly almost the worst in the United States. Only the very strong could survive.... To defeat the conditions imposed by earth and sky at Detroit required intensive labor by energetic men who were not tempted by pleasure and play.

Apathy is giving up when we need to get up.

the strongest backs bear the heaviest burdens

I lost all I had known and gained a life I was yet to know.

Soyons fermes, purs et fidèles ; au bout de nos peines, il y a la plus grande gloire du monde, celle des hommes qui n'ont pas cédé. [Let us be firm, pure and faithful; at the end of our sorrow, there is the greatest glory of the world, that of the men who did not give in.]

Strong people alone know how to organize their suffering so as to bear only the most necessary pain.

It is not his body which makes a man strong, but his spirit. Nothing on the outside, but only that which comes from within.

We all think of doing something distinctive in life. We all do dream of becoming great and leaving distinctive footprints but, when we get that dream, we must get a clear understanding of what it takes to be great. We must get the real picture of what it takes to live and leave distinctive footprints. We need to understand the real reasons why we must pursue to the end notwithstanding how arduous the journey to greatness may be and the tangible and intangible costs we may have to pay. We must have a nimble mind, move with tenacity and dare without retreating. Though we may be ignorant of the certainty, uncertainty and serendipity we may meet, we must think ahead! Vision shall always be a vision until we take that step of fortitude to make it a reality. When you dream of what is distinctive, make it happen!

We focus on the reasons why we __an___ at the expense of the far greater reasons why we __an_.

At Times I Am A Flower...at times I am a flower ~singularly defined ...