"I will persist without exception. I will continue despite exhaustion. I know the outcome I desire. I hold fast to my dreams. I will stay the course. I do not quit."

I have come to realize how little it matters whether or not I am understood. Much more importantly I want to begin to understand the world and all of it's mysteries. I want to have experiences that will broaden my perspective of life. I want to fall in love with people all over the world. I want to expand my family to include people I never knew existed. I want to breathe the different currents of the air. I want to swim in rivers with names I cannot pronounce. I want to get lost in mountains, in forests, in cities, in oceans, in deserts, in jungles, in volcanoes and in the stories of everyone I meet. I want to do this and so much more. I simply want to live! For all these reasons and for reasons I have yet to think of - I am running away and I may never come back.

Life doesn't GET better, you have to MAKE it better.

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." -Goethe


“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~Mark Twain

"How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it." -Adam Smith, "The Theory of Moral Sentiments"

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. ~Groucho Marx

Any system's complexity is directly proportional to its probability for inherent flaws. Maybe that's why I like to keep things simple, most of all my life.

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he's willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. So aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.

There is a problem with the term: "Have a nice day." It puts all the pressure on you. Now you have to go out and somehow arrange to have a positive experience. All because of some loose-lipped clerk. Have a nice day, indeed! Maybe I don't like feel like having a nice day. Maybe, just maybe, I've had 27 nice days in a row and I'm ready for a crappy day. You never hear that, do you?