Quotes by American Authors - Page 256

Thus with most careful devotionThus with precise attentionTo detail, interfering preparationOf that which is already preparedMen tighten the knot of confusionInto perfect misunderstanding.
T.S Eliot
Was that what she meant? Why she cried? Because he was an animal afraid to leave its cage, no words to say what he thought, no thoughts but muddled mad stupid thoughts?
Laura Kinsale
It's like having explosives on board 24/7, the way I feel. I can't believe when I touch things they don't blow to bits. I can't believe I was so way off.I thought, I don't know, I thought wrong.
Jandy Nelson
The fog eventually clears itself.
Marty Rubin
There was someone there and they had been there. There was no one there. There was someone there and they had been there and they had not left but there was no one there.
Cormac McCarthy
To cut off the confusion and accept an answer just because it's too scary not to have an answer is a good way to get the wrong answer.
Janet Jackson
Satan frequently steals the will of God from us due to reasoning. The Lord may direct us to do a certain thing, but if it does not make sense - if it is not logical - we may be tempted to disregard it. What God leads a person to do does not always make logical sense to his mind. His spirit may affirm it and His mind reject it, especially if it would be out of the ordinary or unpleasant or if it would require personal sacrifice or discomfort.
Joyce Meyer
To be given permission to be confused -- and remain confused -- for as long as it takes would have been a huge gift.
Janet Jackson
I was just stock in the middle, vague and undefined.
Sarah Dessen
Always a trade. Always a compromise. Until there wasn't anything left to bargain with, because neither one us had any clue what to do.
Steph Campbell
Now that I have you thoroughly confused, let me pause to hear your own dismayed cry.
Ray Bradbury
Before I came here, I was confused about this subject. Having listened to your lecture, I am still confused -- but on a higher level.
Enrico Fermi
For those who confuse you, recognize that their confusion is theirs and your clarity is yours.
Barbara Marciniak
I was in a tailspin of confusion I hadn't experienced since the first time I heard George W. Bush speak.
Chelsea Handler
He seemed unaware of the messiness of the arrangement.
J.D. Salinger
I squeezed my eyes shut and took several deep breaths, trying not to smell Jace in front of me, not to taste him on my lips. But it was useless. In that moment, Jace was everywhere. He was in my mind, he was in my heart, and he was in my memory. He smelled good. He tasted good. And the blissful aftershock still throbbing in my most sensitive places felt wonderful, when everything else in my life was an obstacle to be overcome.
Rachel Vincent
He didnt know what was defeating him, but he sensed it was something he could not cope with, something that was far beyond his power to control or even at this point in time comprehend.
Hubert Selby Jr.
I don't know what he means by that, but I nod and smile at him. You'd be surprised at how far that response can get you in a conversation where you are completely confused.
Jodi Picoult
It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to.
J.D. Salinger
Never waste an unsaid word of praise and never praise the said words of anger.
Terry Blakeman
Seek God in the morning. Praise Him during the day. Meditate on Him at night.
Alisa Hope Wagner
No longer bound by fear, how high can we soar? How deep can we dive? How much delight can we experience? Yes, there will be sorrow too—it's a part of the deal—but life gets the final word. Life. Life always gets the final word. Every single time. Forever. Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name!
Stasi Eldredge
Not understanding why affliction occurred has caused many to struggle with their faith. If we knew all the reasons and had the answers to all of our questions we wouldn’t need faith. God wants His children to depend on Him. We are not to work through our struggles with our own strength. Rather, we are to move through our tribulation with the strength God provides.
Cheryl Zelenka
And so dear church, will you trust God with your whole heart? Will you stop leaning into your own understanding? We cannot comprehend His ways for they really are much higher than our own, and His thoughts are not yet within our grasp. He will return for us, but not before every saint predestined to partake is the marriage supper has been saved. How He makes this happen is still a mystery. If it requires the death of some of His most precious and innocent of lambs, the Bride must trust His love for her and keep the oil in her lamp in a constant state of readiness.
Cheryl Zelenka
Will you permit God to stir the Holy Spirit within you today? Are you ready to seek out His perfect will for your life, even if it is contrary to your present hopes, dreams, and desires? Will you submit to any necessary change or refinement the Spirit exposes and requires, so that you may live a more serviceable and righteous witness for Christ? A major heart remodel may be necessary. The renovations could take many, many years to complete but the cathedral He creates within your very being will be magnificent. May His desire for your life be yours as well, from this very moment and throughout all of eternity.
Cheryl Zelenka
Only God satisfies. ONLY GOD SATISFIES. Let this truism settle down deep inside your heart. It is the unveiled truth. Feed this truth to your spirit. Force it down and command it to chase down, repel, and extricate all lies the Devil has successfully planted inside your spirit. Will it to sleigh your flesh. Forget about finding happiness and fulfillment in your spouse, friend, or child. Fulfillment comes only when you are totally invested in your relationship with God. When you are facing a trial or walking through a storm, it is God who will comfort and satisfy your soul with boundless and extraordinary love and guidance. Within God’s love there is an all-embracing grace.
Cheryl Zelenka
The wonderment found in the act of obedience is in the transformation power it holds. We become new creations the minute we are born again, through our spiritual rebirth. However, sanctification takes a lifetime. Believers must continually strive to be renewed. As every willful thought and personal desire is laid at the feet of Jesus, we become more and more like Him. And through our refinement, our desires aligned themselves with His perfect will. What we thought to be needs no longer exist. We grasp the secret of contentment and find peace within all situations and circumstances. Our contentment comes in trusting God’s will for us and in knowing every need will be met by a faithful and loving Father.
Cheryl Zelenka
Your mind, your motion and your expression is an animation to marvel and to praise.
Bryant McGill
Every time you praise something, every time you appreciate something, every time you feel good about something, you are telling the Universe, "More of this, Please." You need never again make another verbal statement of this intent, and if you were allowing your cork to float - all good things would flow to you.
Abraham-Hicks
She had become so much more accustomed to hard work and opposition than to adulation that the only emotion she had felt had been one of acute discomfort.
Margaret Landon
Hope prevails in the dark. Like a lighthouse calling out to a lost ship at sea, hope will bring you through every personal storm. It is our encouragement and guide to safety. Hope is found in the arms of God.
Cheryl Zelenka
Timing is a big factor in seeing our desires met, and God’s timing is perfect. Do not give up on a dream if it seems impossible or out of reach. Nothing is impossible for Yahweh! However, because man has the gift of free will and continually chooses rebellion and sin over submission, the heavenly Father may need time to align events and transform hearts. It takes time to mold self-willed lumps of clay into vessels of honor and gratitude.
Cheryl Zelenka
When we live a life of contentment and satisfaction we provide the enemy with fewer foot holes to tempt us with. A fulfilled life leaves the adversary little room for traps. Temptation is harder to achieve with a saint living peacefully with what God has provided. Evil will readily slip past the door of a contented man and seek out easier and less satisfied prey to devour.
Cheryl Zelenka
There is a fear of God that adoration enfolds with arms of thanks. It acknowledges the absolute power of the Creator and the inconsequence of man. This holy and reverent fear is the beginning of wisdom, for it is wise to know one’s place in this world...and in the next.
Cheryl Zelenka
Kindness and Truth should always hold hands. Together they are powerful and fully capable of spreading insight and revelation, while also generating conviction and true repentance. However, one without the other is never as beneficial or profitable.When truth is spoken in a callous manner, or merely in a hurried fashion, discourse will most likely follow. By forgetting to speak honest words with the love and kindness of God behind them, our candor will put folks off. This in turn hinders our effectiveness and the work of the Holy Spirit
Cheryl Zelenka
Hope is born in the dark. Like a lighthouse calling out to a lost ship at sea, hope will bring you through every personal storm. It is our encouragement and guide to safety. Hope is found in the arms of God.
Cheryl Zelenka
An all-powerful and sovereign Creator, who wants to have an intimate relationship with His creation, loves mankind beyond measure. God did not create the human race out of boredom or on a whim. No, He made us for His good pleasure and great delight. His attachment to us is so great that He longs for our fellowship and will one day live among us in paradise. He enjoys our company! Although we are corrupt and sinful in nature, He refuses to abandon that which His breath made alive. We are His. We belong to a King! He made a commitment to us…. we are His beloveds. In Him alone we find all hope.
Cheryl Zelenka
Our most valuable victories are those which go without praise.
Chris Matakas
Being thankful for the things we take for granted, is worth taking pause to understand that they can be taken away within a moment.
Ellen Jean Barrier
Praising children's intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance.
Carol S. Dweck
If a stranger saying we are "dependable" activates the reward system, imagine what praise from a boss, a parent, or even an unaccomplished slightly older graduate student will do. Of course, we all know that praise is a good thing, as long as it isn't too unconditional, but until very recently, we had no idea that praise taps into the same reinforcement system in the brain that enables cheese to help rats learn to solve mazes. And positive social regard is a renewable resource. Rather than having less of something after using it, when we let others know we value them, both parties have more.
Matthew D Lieberman
he reminded himself as he turned another corner — glancing automatically into the shadows to see if anyone lurked there — the deed was the thing, not the praise.
Raymond E. Feist
And if I please you so, my lover,Remember praise is comely.
Countee Cullen
I'm tired of praise; and love is very sweet, when it is simple and sincere like this.
Louisa May Alcott
I've read your summary.""And?""It's not incompetent."Be still, my heart, so I don't faint from such faint phrase. "Did you expect it to be written in crayon?
Ilona Andrews
Hadn't another wise man, the Buddha himself, warned about the evils of attachment?
Manil Suri
The Buddha referred to married people as “householders.” He even gave clear instructions as to how one should be a good householder: Be nice to your spouse, be honest, be faithful, give alms to the poor, buy some insurance against fire and flood . . . I’m dead serious: The Buddha literally advised married couples to buy property insurance.
Elizabeth Gilbert
Built on the foundation of concentration is the third aspect of the Buddha’s path of awakening: clarity of vision and the development of wisdom.
Jack Kornfield
The next-to-last sentence that the Buddha is reported to have spoken as he was dying, before his final sentence of encouragement to his community, was “Transient are all conditioned things.
Sylvia Boorstein
In Buddha’s opinion, to train in staying open and curious—to train in dissolving our assumptions and beliefs—is the best use of our human lives.
Pema Chödrön
The Buddha’s criteria for Wise Speech include—in addition to the obvious expectation that speech be truthful— that it be timely, gentle, motivated by kindness, and helpful.
Sylvia Boorstein
The path of awakening begins with a step the Buddha called right understanding.
Jack Kornfield
The Buddha said that there are three times that a person should consider the consequences of any action: before, during, and after. “One should reflect thus,” he said. “‘Is what I am about to do . . .’ or ‘Is what I am currently doing . . .’ or ‘Is what I just did . . . for my own well-being and for the benefit of all others?
Sylvia Boorstein
Mindfulness, the aware, balanced acceptance of present experience, is at the heart of what the Buddha taught.
Sylvia Boorstein
Buddha also said that the Dharma, like a bird, needs two wings to fly, and that the wing that balances Wisdom is compassion.
Sylvia Boorstein
[Lena Lees describes from trance her experience of Kuan Yin]:“I see Kuan Yin. She is like Venus, statuesque and standing in front of a beautiful pink half-shell. Quickly, she walks in front of me, pointing the way. We are entering the mouth of a cave. It’s so interesting. I see stairs carved out of rock in the cave. We walk up the stairs to a door. I know somehow this is just another entrance, a doorway to another time, place. Perhaps at another historical time monks lived there. Now, I’m seeing a huge image, a beautiful statue of Kuan Yin right at the top of the mountain. There are stairs leading up to her and it is as if I’m right on location, standing alongside a group of worshipers. I feel the potency of her energy. In these places, perhaps China or Vietnam, there is a palpable sense of being immersed in and supported by her presence. There is a need by the people to know more, to pick up and accumulate wisdom. I’m suddenly feeling a need to be in that kind of energy. Suddenly it is Kuan Yin who is speaking: “Some believe I am in servitude to Buddha. However, Buddha doesn’t see it like that. We’re more like brother and sister. I’m showing, Lena, my abode, a place on earth where humans can visit me and be in my potency. Lena is looking at my statue and then at my form. There’s a difference. I come to people in many forms, forms constructed from people’s own perceptions of how I should come to them. And it is individual spiritual needs that create these unique perceptions. In the end, it does not matter what form I take.”“Kuan Yin wants me to know that I can have the most divine life imaginable,” whispers Lena, still very deep in trance. “She’ll be here until the last soul passes off the earth. She remains in deity form to assist people in transcending their materialistic nature, to help them attain their highest spiritual level.
Hope Bradford
Be your own lamp, seek no other refuge but yourself, Let truth be your light." ~Buddha
Buddha Monk
Remember my words: Be truthful, be kind to one another, and you will attain peace. We will meet again in another life.
Jeanne M. Lee
It doesn't matter what Christ or Buddha said, it matters how they lived.
Marty Rubin
The words of the Buddha offer this truth: ∼ Hatred never ceases by hatred but by love alone is healed.
Jack Kornfield