The Paradoxical Commandments (by Kent M. Keith)

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centred, love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives, do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies, succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow, do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable, be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds, think big anyway.

People favour underdogs but follow only top dogs, fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight, build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them, help them anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth, give the world the best you have anyway.

In the Embers (by Sleeping at Last)

We live and we die

Like fireworks

Our legacies hide

In the embers

May our stories catch fire

And burn bright enough

To catch God’s eye

We live and we die

Like fireworks

We pull apart the dark

Compete against the stars

With all of our hearts

Till our temporary brilliance turns to ash

We pull apart the darkness while we can

May we live and die

A valorous life

May we write it all down

In cursive light

So we pray we were made

In the image of a figure eight.

*

Quotes from Erich Fromm

‘There is no meaning to life except the meaning man gives his life by the unfolding of his powers.’

‘One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very often.’

‘Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.’

‘Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age?’

Image