Need a little inspiration?

I've posted this before so humor me if this is a repeat. I need a little
inspiration to get me into the "giving season" and as I'm feeling the crunch
to get all of my shopping done I realize that these quotes can offer me a
little balance. These quotes remind me that giving is more than just
gift-cards and piles of wrapping paper. Hope you had a wonderful
Thanksgiving.

³There¹s a radical&lsqauo;and wonderful&lsqauo;new idea hereŠ that all children could and
should be inventors of their own theories, critics of other people¹s ideas,
analyzers of evidence, and makers of their own personal marks on the world.²
­ Deborah Meier, educator

[FROM Teens with the Courage to Give]
To laugh often and much,
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends,
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others,
to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let him that would move the world first move himself.
-Socrates

Everybody can be greatŠbecause anybody can serve. You don¹t have to have a
college degree to serve. You don¹t have to make your subject and verb agree
to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Some people see things as they are and ask why. I dream things that never
were and ask why not.
-Robert F. Kennedy

History, although sometimes made up of the few acts of the great, is more
often shaped by the many acts of the small.
-Mark Twain

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your
country.
-John F. Kennedy

[FROM The Complete Guide to Service Learning: Proven, Practical Ways to
Engage Students in Civic Responsibility, Academic Curriculum, & Social
Action]

If you need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of your arm.
-Yiddish Proverb


The job of an educator is to teach students to see the vitality in
themselves.
-Joseph Campbell, Author

No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both
are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be
included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs it
lifeline.
-Kofe Annan, Secretary General, United Nations

A person¹s mind stretched by new ideas never goes back to its original
dimensions.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jurist and Writer

Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, other transform a yellow
spot into the sun.
-Pablo Picasso

From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.
-Arthur Ashe, Athlete

A pitcher cries for water to carry. And a person for work that is real.
-From To Be of Use by Marge Piercy, Poet

If you think you¹re too small to have an impact, try going to sleep in a
room with a mosquito.
-Anita Roddick, Activist and Founder of The Body Shop

Imagine what a harmonious world it could be if every single person, both
young and old, shared a little of what he is good at doing.
-Quincy Jones, Musician

The elders were wise. They knew that man¹s heart, away from nature, becomes
hard; they knew that lack of respect for growing, living things, oon led to
the lack of respect for humans, too.
-Chief Luther Standing Bear of the Lakota Sioux

The Earth is now ours; it is a treasure we hold in trust for future
generations.
-African Proverb

No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helps you.
-Wilma Rudolph, Athlete

Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid of standing still.
-Chinese Proverb