If you don't set a baseline standard for what you'll accept in life, you'll find it's easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life that's far below what you deserve. ...Anthony Robbins

You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. ...Michael Jordan

She's beautiful, and therefore to be wooed; She is woman, and therefore to be won (Play - Henry IV) Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind (Play – Midsummer’s night dream) [newpage] Love is blind, and lovers cannot see, The pretty follies that themselves commit (Play – Merchant of Venice) Oh, how this spring of love resembleth, The uncertain glory of an April day, Which now shows all beauty of the Sun, And by and by a cloud takes all away (Play – Two Gentlemen of Verona)

It's no use saying, "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary. ...Winston Churchill

She's beautiful, and therefore to be wooed; She is woman, and therefore to be won (Play - Henry IV) Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind (Play – Midsummer’s night dream) Love is blind, and lovers cannot see, The pretty follies that themselves commit (Play – Merchant of Venice) Oh, how this spring of love resembleth, The uncertain glory of an April day, Which now shows all beauty of the Sun, And by and by a cloud takes all away (Play – Two Gentlemen of Verona) A heart to love, and in that heart, Courage, to make's love known (Play – Macbeth)

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times, in life after life, in age after age forever.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. ...Mahatma Gandhi

I’m scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I’m with you. (Dirty Dancing) I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it. (City of Angels) Destiny is something we’ve invented because we can’t stand the fact that everything that happens is accidental. (Sleepless in Seattle)

If you work just for money, you'll never make it, but if you love what you're doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours. ...Ray Kroc

SHALL I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed:

But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. .....William Shakespeare

But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. .....William Shakespeare

felt myself a pure part of the abyss, I wheeled with the stars, my heart broke loose on the wind. ...Pablo Neruda

I saw the heavens unfastened and open, planets, palpitating plantations, shadow perforated, riddled with arrows, fire and flowers, the winding night, the universe. And I, infinitesimal being, drunk with the great starry void, likeness, image of mystery,

I did not know what to say, my mouth had no way with names, my eyes were blind, and something started in my soul, fever or forgotten wings, and I made my own way, deciphering that fire, and I wrote the first faint line, faint, without substance, pure nonsense, pure wisdom of someone who knows nothing, and suddenly

And it was at that age ... Poetry arrived in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where it came from, from winter or a river. I don't know how or when, no they were not voices, they were not words, nor silence, but from a street I was summoned, from the branches of night, abruptly from the others, among violent fires or returning alone, there I was without a face and it touched me.

They all sting my poetry with relentless forks seeking, without doubt, a fly, I Am afraid. I am afraid of everyone, of the cold water, of the death. I am like all the mortals, unavoidable. And for that, in these short days I am not going to pay attention to them, I am going to open myself up and shut myself in with my more perfidious enemy, ....Pablo Neruda

They all ask me to jump to invigorate and to play soccer, to run, to swim and to fly. Very well. They all advise me rest, they all send me to the doctor, looking at me a certain way. What happens? They all advise me to travel, to come and to leave, to stay, to die and not to die. It does not matter. They all see the difficulties of my surprised bowels by awful X-rayed portraits. I do not agree.

A new one forms in its wake To bind us closer and keep us strong In a special world, where we belong. - Sheelagh Lennon -

A special world for you and me A special bond one cannot see It wraps us up in its cocoon And holds us fiercely in its womb. Its fingers spread like fine spun gold Gently nestling us to the fold Like silken thread it holds us fast Bonds like this are meant to last. And though at times a thread may break

What happens to a dream deferred1? Does it dry up like a raisin2 in the sun? Or fester3 like a sore— And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. ......Or does it explode?. ...Langston Hughes

The course of true love never did run smooth. William Shakespeare

Pleasure of love lasts but a moment, Pain of love lasts a lifetime. ...Bette Davis

There is only one happiness in life -- to love and to be loved. ....George Sand

Special quotes for the families of the 9/11 victims: The attacks of September 11th were intended to break our spirit. Instead we have emerged stronger and more unified. We feel renewed devotion to the principles of political, economic and religious freedom, the rule of law and respect for human life. We are more determined than ever to live our lives in freedom. -Rudolph W. Giuliani America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. - Harry S. Truman [newpage] Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you. -Denis Waitley The city is going to survive, we are going to get through it, it’s going to be very, very difficult time. I don't think we yet know the pain that we're going to feel when we find out who we lost, but the thing we have to focus on now is getting this city through this, and surviving and being stronger for it. -Rudolph Giuliani [newpage] Continuous, unflagging effort, persistence and determination will win. Let not the man be discouraged who has these. -James Whitcomb Riley When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. -Kahlil Gibran Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. -Abraham Lincoln

Queensboro Bridge view from New York City

As time has passed, it is pretty clear that you have drifted further and further away from me. I guess it is finally time for me to acknowledge, to you and myself, that our futures will take different paths. My hope that destiny would bring us back together meant that I never really had to say goodbye. As much as that saddens me,

Dear Eve, I seems odd to start a letter with Dear Eve rather than My Love, Sweetheart or Princess. My, life has certainly taken quite a turn. Though we have been apart these months, I always believed that life would bring us back together. That hope was a comfort and gave me the patience to wait for that future.

bewitched by the twinkle in you eye and overcome by the passion of your kisses.You certainly had an affect on me. There will always be a place in my heart that you will be fondly, fondly remembered, but it is now time for me to seek my own future. I wish you the brightest future and I hope you find all that you are looking for... With all my love, Adam

I think it is really time for me to say goodbye to you. Your entry into my life breathed life into me. It gave me an excitement for each new day and I looked forward with anticipation to each time I could see you. In all of life, I have never really felt so at peace as when I was in your arms. I was enthralled by the beauty of you smile,