Blazing You Own Trail

Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

For those men who, sooner or later,
are lucky enough to break away from the pack,
the most intoxicating moment comes
when they cease being bodies in other men's command
and find that they control their own time,
when they learn their own voice and authority.
- Theodore H. White

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinions;
it is easy in solitude to live after your own;
but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd
keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Many people allow their need for other people's approval to control their lives.
They spend their lives worrying about what others think of them.
- Rick Warren

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.
- Elbert Hubbard

Further reading: Have Confidence in Yourself

Only Your Own Approval

Independence - Liberty - Freedom

Be Yourself
     

Ethics Requires Respecting Others

The first step in the evolution of ethics
is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.
- Albert Schweitzer

Kindness is the light that dissolves
all walls between souls, families, and nations.
- Paramahansa Yogananda

Compassion is the basis of morality.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin,
but we all belong to one human race.
- Kofi Annan

Few are the giants of the soul that actually feel
that the human race is their family circle.
- Freya Stark

Never succumb to the notion that others are less important
based on their place of birth.
All of humanity are our brothers and sisters.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Keep the Golden Rule

Their Point of View

Each Other's Eyes

One Human Race
   

Your Own Trail

Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinions;
it is easy in solitude to live after your own;
but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd
keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

For those men who, sooner or later,
are lucky enough to break away from the pack,
the most intoxicating moment comes
when they cease being bodies in other men's command
and find that they control their own time,
when they learn their own voice and authority.
- Theodore H. White

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.
- Elbert Hubbard

Many people allow their need for other people's approval to control their lives.
They spend their lives worrying about what others think of them.
- Rick Warren

Resilience is about believing in yourself,
and trusting your own wisdom
rather than being swayed by the opinions of others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Only Your Own Approval

Be Yourself

Independence - Liberty - Freedom

Have Confidence in Yourself

Blaze Your Own Trail

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinions;
it is easy in solitude to live after your own;
but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd
keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.
- Elbert Hubbard

For those men who, sooner or later,
are lucky enough to break away from the pack,
the most intoxicating moment comes
when they cease being bodies in other men's command
and find that they control their own time,
when they learn their own voice and authority.
- Theodore H. White

Many people allow their need for other people's approval to control their lives.
They spend their lives worrying about what others think of them.
- Rick Warren

Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Resilience is about believing in yourself,
and trusting your own wisdom
rather than being swayed by the opinions of others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Only Your Own Approval

Independence - Liberty - Freedom

Be Yourself

Have Confidence in Yourself

Mark Twain: the really great ...

Pragmatism

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
- Reinhold Niebuhr (Serenity Prayer)

In matters of style, swim with the current;
in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
- attributed to Thomas Jefferson

The way you get meaning into your life
is to devote yourself to loving others,
devote yourself to your community around you,
and devote yourself to creating something
that gives you purpose and meaning
- Mitch Albom

Life is pretty simple:
You do some stuff.
Most fails. Some works.
You do more of what works.
- Leonardo da Vinci

I never considered a difference of opinion
in politics, in religion, in philosophy,
as cause for withdrawing from a friend.
- Thomas Jefferson

Pragmatism vs. Idealism:
There are times to rock the boat,
But mostly it is better to stay dry
than to capsize.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Acceptance

Expectations

Tolerance

Tread Lightly

Perspective

Wisdom

Differences

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds. Mark Twain

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds. - Mark Twain 

To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform. - Theodore H. White 

  It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinions; it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 Attempting to "fit in" is not a worthy objective. There is no point in feeling sad or upset when your plans, your ideas, or even your fundamental nature do not "fit in" with the majority view. Be the courageous hero and stay committed to your greatest ideas and ideals, however they are received by those around you. 

 Further reading: A hero is someone who has given his life to something bigger than himself or something other than himself. - Joseph Campbell 

  Jimmy Yen - My Personal Greatest Hero 

  I do not need anyone's permission to be my true self. - jlh

The Wisdom of Anne Frank

Anne Frank (1929- 1945) was a Jewish girl who was caught up in the Second World War. From 1942 until 1944 she was in hiding in Amsterdam. During that time she wrote in a diary that was found and published after her death. In 1944, she was captured by the Nazis and taken to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where she died of typhus seven months later.

These quotes are from Anne Frank's diary, which she began writing on her 13th birthday:

I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.

I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

No one has ever become poor by giving.

Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.

Whoever is happy will make others happy, too.