The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny – it is the light that guides your way.
– Heraclitus http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/31223-the-soul-is-dyed-the-color-of-its-thoughts-think
A lover asked his beloved,
Do you love yourself more
than you love me?
The beloved replied,
I have died to myself
and I live for you.
I’ve disappeared from myself
and my attributes.
I am present only for you.
I have forgotten all my learning,
but from knowing you
I have become a scholar.
I have lost all my strength,
but from your power
I am able.
If I love myself
I love you.
If I love you
I love myself.
– Rumi, http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/659495-a-lover-asked-his-beloved-do-you-love-yourself-more
A fight is going on inside me,” said an old man to his son. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is good. he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you.”
The son thought about it for a minute and then asked, “Which wolf will win?”
The old man replied simply, “The one you feed.”
-Reported by many as “an old Cherokee legend”, but which chief of old times had the Freudian word “ego” in his vocabulary? The quoted version above is from Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, by New York Times best selling children’s book author Wendy Mass.
An interesting essay based on this meme/legend is on the Psych Central site at http://psychcentral.com/lib/2012/the-one-you-feed-helping-your-children-find-their-way/
The difference between the truth and a lie is that both of them can hurt, but only one will take the time to heal you afterward.
– Mira Grant, Feed http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/284489-the-difference-between-the-truth-and-a-lie-is-that
Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
– Pablo Picasso, http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/4673-art-washes-away-from-the-soul-the-dust-of-everyday
Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are.
– Rachel Naomi Remen, http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/491458-healing-may-not-be-so-much-about-getting-better-as
Discipline, like the bridle in the hand of a good rider, should exercise its influence without appearing to do so, should be ever active, both as a support and as a restraint, yet seem to lie easily in hand. It must always be ready to check or pull up, as occasion may require; and only when the horse is a runaway should the action of the curb be perceptible.
— Julius. C. Hare, http://www.bartleby.com/161/629.html