“Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful.” —Gertrude Stein “To see things in their true proportion, to escape the magnifying influence of a morbid imagination, should be one of the chief aims of life.” — William Edward Hartpole Lecky, The Map of Life (1899)

“The constant remaking of order out of chaos is what life is all about, even in the simplest domestic chores such as clearing the table and washing the dishes after a meal…but when it comes to the inner world, the world of feeling and thinking, many people leave the dishes unwashed for weeks so no wonder they feel ill and exhausted.” — May Sarton, Recovering “I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the mind.” — Einstein

“A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.” — William Blake

“The secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have, and to be able to lose all desire for things beyond your reach.” — Yutang Lin

“One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats.” — Iris Murdoch “The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.“ — Rainer Maria Rilke

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.” — Gandhi
“I once thought it was not worth sitting down for a time as short as [ten minutes]; now I know differently and, if I have ten minutes, I use them, even if they bring only two lines, and it keeps the book alive.” —Rumer Godden, A House with Four Rooms

“Nothing is ever the same as they said it was. It’s what I’ve never seen before that I recognize.” — Diane Arbus

“Do not hurry; do not rest.” — Goethe

“Never hurry, never worry.” — Charlotte’s Web

♦

Now go eat some chocolate. (see Iris Murdoch instruction above)