REFLECT JUST A MOMENT !
Learning
1) As the twig is bent so grows the tree.-old saying.
2) Learning brings about equality among human beings.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
3) Those called figures and letters, the wise declare,
Are eyes to live with.
verse 392: Thirukural
4) A well dug in sand yields water as dug-
So learning, wisdom.
verse 396: Thirukural
5) Why does one stop learning till he dies
When it makes all lands and places his?
verse 397: Thirukural
6) The wealth which never declines
Is not riches but learning.
verse 400: Thirukural
7) 'You should procure the thorn of knowledge in order to remove the
thorn of ignorance'
Sri Ramakrishna
8) 'Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to
diminishing returns'
J.M. Clark
9) 'Any expansion is life, all contraction is death'.
Swami Vivekananada
10) ' Where all think alike, none thinks very much'
W. Lippmann
Learning prevents exploitation and poverty
1) The easiest way to make money is to stop losing it.-Ann Landers
Effort
1) The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Frost.
Choice
1) I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads divered in a wood, and I-
I took the ones less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost.
Action
1) The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for the good men to
do nothing.
anonymous
2) I believe in anything that is necessary to corect unjust conditions-
political, economic, social, physical, anything that's necessary. I
believe in it - as long as it's intelligently directed and designed to
get results.
Malcolm X
3) Poem by Swami Vivekananda
Hold on yet a while, brave heart!
If the sun by the cloud is hidden a bit,
If the welkin shows but gloom
Still hold on yet a while, brave heart,
The victory is sure to come
No winter was but summer came behind,
Each hollow crests the wave,
They push each other in light and shade;
Be steady then brave.
The duties in life are sore indeed,
And its pleasures fleeting, vain,
The goal is shadowy seems and dim,
Yet plod on through the dark, brave heart,
With all thy might and main.
Not a work will be lost, no struggle vain,
Though hopes be blighted, powers gone;
Of thy loins shall come the heirs to all,
Then hold on yet a while, brave soul,
No good is e'er undone.
Though the good and wise in life are few,
Yet theirs are the reins to lead,
The masses know but late the worth;
Heed none and gently guide.
With thee are those who see afar,
With thee is the Lord of might,
All blessings pour on thee, great soul,
To thee may all come right!
4) "We must be the change that we wish to see in the world"
Mahatma Gandhi
5) "Now is the time to open the doors of oppurtunity to all of God's
children"
Martin Luthur King, August 28, 1963
6)
Poem by Anjan Maitra-Sinha
(appeared in Hindu, Dec 30 95)
" Now's the time for doing what you can for somebody;
Now's the time for warming hearts and living cheerfully;
Today's the only day that you can really count upon;
Take its oppurtunities before the chance has gone;
The chance to show affection in a way that's true and kind;
Leaving not regrets but happy memories behind."
Preamble to the constitution of India
We the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into
a Sovereign Socialistic Secular Democratic Republic and to secure to all
its citizens:
Justice, social, economic and political;
Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
Equality of status and of oppurtunity;
and to promote among all
Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and
integrity of the nation ..."
Charity
1) The plough that cleaves the soil produces nurture;
He that bestirs his feet completes his journey.
The speaking brahmin earns more than the silent;
A friend who gives is better than the niggard.
To Daana, Rita (the law of the world), Rig Veda.
2) Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and
whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give
what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under
compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all
grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that
you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever."
The Holy Bible, 2 Corinthians 9.
3) They ask thee
What they should spend
(In charity). Say: Whatever
Ye spend that is good,
Is for parents and kindered
And orphans
And those in want
And for wayfarers.
And whatever ye do
That is good- Allah
Knoweth it well.
Surah 2, Al Baqarah, The Holy Kuran.
4) The only gift is giving the poor;
All else is exchange.
verse 221: Thirukural
5) Pity is painful till one sees the face
Of the suppliant lit with joy.
verse 224: Thirukural
6) "Give a man a fish,
and he will eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish,
and he will eat for a lifetime."
Social Obligation/Social service
1) Duty is not for reward:
Does the world recompense the rain-cloud
verse 221: Thirukural
2) How rare to find in heaven or earth
A joy to excel beneficence!
verse 213: Thirukural
3) The want the liberal-minded feel
Is not to be able to help others.
verse 219: Thirukural
4) There is nothing more glorious than to persist
In the advance of the community.
verse 1021: Thirukural
5) Ceaseless zeal and wisdom-these two-
Advance the community.
verse 1022: Thirukural
6) Fate itself girds up its loins and rushes
To help one bent on social service.
verse 1023: Thirukural
7) Success will come of itself
To the hard social worker.
verse 1024: Thirukural
8) The world will flock round one devoted
To honest social service.
verse 1025: Thirukural
9) True manliness is the taking on
Of the leadership of one's people.
verse 1026: Thirukural
10) In social work as in the battlefield
The burden falls on the fit.
verse 1027: Thirukural
11) There is no set time for social service:
To put off and be finical is ruinous.
verse 1028: Thirukural
12) "Must my body be a cup of bitterness?"
Might well be the reformer's cry.
verse 1029: Thirukural
13) Society will crash axed by misfortune
Without good men to support it.
verse 1030: Thirukural
14) ' I do not care for liberation, I would rather go to a hundred
thousand hells, "doing good to others (silently) like the spring" -
this is my religion'
Swami Vivekananada
15) "It is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he should lift himself
by his own bootstraps. It is even worse to tell a man to lift himself
by his own bootstraps when somebody is standing on the boot."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of
women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on only one
wing."
Swami Vivekananda
The Indian Dream
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depths of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary
desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and
action -
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Rabindranath Tagore
Imagine, by John Lennon of the Beatles.
Imagine there's no heaven,
It is easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky.
Imagine all the people livin' for today,
I-hi.
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,
Yoo hoo, you may say I'm a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one.
I hope some day 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,
Yoo hoo, you may say I am a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one.
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one.
Last modified: Dec 31, 1998