Reflect on Life

What do you think?

“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.” Louisa May Alcott, Little Women. Are you becoming more confident as you learn how to manage difficulties in life?

“A baby has brains, but it doesn’t know much. Experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get.” L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. What have you learned about life, not from parents or teachers but from your own experiences?
“I think you are wrong to want a heart. It makes most people unhappy. If you only knew it, you are in luck not to have a heart.” L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Have you ever been hurt in a relationship? Do you think it would be better not to have friends so that you could never be hurt?
“You have plenty of courage, I am sure,” answered Oz. “All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.” L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Have you ever done what is right even in the face of possible danger?

“I knew who I was this morning, but I’ve changed a few times since then.” Lewis Carroll. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Has your view of yourself ever changed?

“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly….If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” Roald Dahl, The Twits. Do you agree with the author that a positive attitude will affect your outlook on life?

“Her contempt for me was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it.”  Charles Dickens, Great Expectations. Has anyone ever treated you so unkindly, or spoken to you so harshly, that you started to doubt your own abilities or your own worth in life?

“Morning made a considerable difference in my general prospect of Life, and brightened it so much that it scarcely seemed the same.” Charles Dickens, Great Expectations. Have you ever gone to bed discouraged and woken up feeling more hopeful?

“You will profit by the failure, and will avoid it another time. I have done a similar thing myself, in construction, often. Every failure teaches a man something, if he will learn.” Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit. Have you ever made a mistake and realized that you would never make that same mistake again?

“The day was made for laziness, and lying on one’s back in green places, and staring at the sky till its brightness forced one to shut one’s eyes and go to sleep.” Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop. Have you ever had a day in which you simply relaxed? Didn’t use any technological device or accomplish any task but just rested?

“It’s never the wrong time to call on Toad. Early or late he’s always the same fellow. Always good-tempered, always glad to see you, always sorry when you go!” Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows. Do you have any friends who are always glad to see you and always have time for you?

“I like it better here where I can sit just quietly and smell the flowers.” Munro Leaf, The Story of Ferdinand. Do you ever get tired of being around other people, and doing what is expected of you, and want to go away to spend some time all alone?

“You’re braver than you believe,  stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh. Have you ever discovered you could achieve more than you first expected?

“Grab a chance and you won’t be sorry for a might-have-been.” Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons. Have you ever taken an opportunity to do something new, even though you were at first reluctant, and discovered you’d made a good decision?

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” Antoine de Saint Exupéry, The Little Prince. Do you agree with the author that the most important things in life are things you feel rather than things you see?

“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!” Dr. Seuss, Oh! The Places You’ll Go! Have you ever started a day, knowing there were challenges ahead, and you faced with them with courage and determination?

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”  Dr. Seuss, Oh! The Places You’ll Go.  Do you think you have the power to change your own behaviour?

“Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.”  Jules Verne, Journey to the Center of the Earth.  What mistakes have you made that have led you to learn more about the reality of life?

“It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.” Judith Viorst, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Do you ever have a day in which nothing seems to go well?

“Once you are real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.” Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit. Have you ever met someone who at first seemed unusual or odd but turned out to be a wonderful person?

 

 

 

 

 

 

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.”
Italo Calvino, The Uses of Literature

 

“I suggest that the only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little further down our particular path than we have yet gone ourselves.”
E.M. Forster

 

“The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.”
Charles Dickens

“Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!”
Anne Frank

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