There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.

--Napoleon Hill

Let me be a man

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Today I'm 23

1. I will be honest to myself and to others.
2. I will pour my soul into music.
3. I will not let the way others treat me, or talk about me, affect who I am and what I believe in.
4. I will love you and I will never give up on us.
5. I will live with no regrets, no fears, and revel in the beauty of each day that I am blessed with life.
6. I will not compare, I am my own, and do what I can to the best of my ability.
7. No matter how I feel, no matter how sad, or angry, or alone I may feel….. I will not show it.
8. I will let little things make me happy again.
9. I will smile even when I feel like crying… I will smile.
10. I will never give up dreaming….

This I pledge to you.

With all my love,


Yours.

We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake.
Marie B. Ray

Imagine...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
- John Lennon

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The longer I live

The longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between the great and insignificant is energy—invincible determination—a purpose once fixed and then death or victory.—Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton