Your life is not going to be easy, and it should not be easy. It ought to be hard. It ought to be radical; it ought to be restless; it ought to lead you to places you'd rather not go.
        Henri Nouwen

Frodo Baggins: I can't do this Sam.

Sam Gamgee: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding on to Sam?

Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.
        Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

He is a [sane] man who can have tragedy in his heart and comedy in his head.
        G. K. Chesterton

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "Press On" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
        President Calvin Coolidge

Triumph is just "umph" added to try.
        God's Little Instruction Book for Students

The impossible exists only because one was afraid to chase after their dreams.
        Sarah Ruth

Beware the naked man who offers you his shirt
        Harvey Mackay

Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
        Mark Twain

If people are kicking you in the behind, at least you're in front of them.
        Billy Graham

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
        President Abraham Lincoln

Failure is the foundation of truth. It teaches us what isn't true, and that is a great beginning. To fear failure is to fear the possibility of truth.
        Joan Chittister

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
        President Theodore Roosevelt

To me, success can be achieved only through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success represents the 1% of your work that results from the 99% that is called failure.
        Soichiro Honda

What you really have to do, if you want to be creative, is to unlearn all the teasing and censoring that you've experienced throughout your life. If you are truly a creative person, you know that feeling insecure and lonely is par for the course. You can't have it both ways: You can't be creative and conform, too. You have to recognize that what makes you different also makes you creative.
        Arno Penzias, 1978 Nobel Prize winner for physics

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
        Jim Elliot

Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.
        John Wesley

Some critics will write "Maya Angelou is a natural writer"--which is right after being a natural heart surgeon.
        Maya Angelou

The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.
        Robert Cromier

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me."
        Erma Bombeck

A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.
        Jim Watkins

Do to us what you will, and we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and as difficult as it is, we will still love you. But we assured that we'll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves, we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.
        Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am not discouraged because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.
        Thomas Edison

God has created me to do him some definitive service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission.
        John Henry Newman

God never simply buries our dead and broken dreams because He'd be burying our hearts along with our dreams. One of two positive things will happen. Either the dream will become fertilizer for something even better, or the Lord will give me the gumption and oomph to bring my dream to fruition. I can't lose either way!
        Noni Joy Tari

That person is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent people, and the love of children; who has filled a unique niche and accomplished his or her task; who leaves the world better than before, whether by a perfect poem or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of the earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he or she had.
        Adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson

I would rather have lofty dreams that are never fulfilled than lowly goals that are easily accomplished.
        Jim Watkins

I'm glad God has all the answers, 'cause I barely understand the questions.
        Barbara Johnson

In this crazy world, there's an enormous distinction between good times and bad, between sorrow and joy. But in the eyes of God, they're never separated. Where there is pain, there is healing. Where there is mourning, there is dancing. Where there is poverty, there is the kingdom.
        Henri Nouwen

Some things never make sense, but neither does God's love.
        Patsy Engle

God is never late, but He sure is slow.
        Jim Watkins

The truth will set you free but first it will make you miserable.
        Jamie Buckingham

God is a refiner, not an arsonist.
        Neva Coyle

To serve in the clergy, you have to be either called or crazy--and sometimes it helps to be both.
        Jim Watkins

The things we pray for, good Lord, give us grace to labor for.
        Thomas More

Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.
        William Eardley, IV

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
        2 Corinthians 4:7-9, NIV

Cracked pots allow the treasure to shine forth.
        Jim Watkins

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose . . . to be conformed to the likeness of his Son . . .
        Romans 8:28-29, NIV

God evaluates by this criterion: How much love you invest in what you do is more important than how you do. The one who loves much is actually the one who does much.
        Thomas 'a Kempis, paraphrased by Donald Demaray

A heart that desires to give is the one that succeeds.
        Sasha Azevedo

If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.
        Betty Reese

Men go forth to wonder at the height of mountains, the huge waves of the sea, the broad flow of the ocean, the course of the stars--and forget to wonder at themselves. Beware of despairing about yourself: you are commanded to put your trust in God, and not in yourself.
        Augustine

I am not what I ought to be;
I am not what I would like to be;
I am not what I hope to be.
But I am not what I once was,
and by the grace of God, I am what I am.
        John Newton

You will only be remembered for two things: the problems you solve or the ones you create.
        Mike Murdock

A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that if we have received His fullness, 'rivers of living water' will flow out from us, reaching in blessing even 'to the end of the earth' regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow . . . God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.
        Oswald Chambers

Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light somewhere nearby.
        Ruth E. Renkee

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
        Philippians 4:6-7, NIV

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
        Ephesians 3:16-21, NIV

Do you have a quip or quotation that gives you courage and encouragement? E-mail it to me with proper credit line and, if it's appropriate, I'll include it on this page.
© Copyright James N. Watkins



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