Rumi Quotes

http://wisdomquotes.com/rumi-quotes/


Let silence take you to the core of life.


My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there.


There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you?


Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.


It’s your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.


The spirit is so near that you can’t see it! But reach for it… don’t be a jar, full of water, whose rim is always dry. Don’t be the rider who gallops all night and never sees the horse that is beneath him.


I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.


These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.


When the world pushes you to your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray.


I am not this hair, I am not this skin, I am the soul that lives within.


Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wild flowers will come up where you are.


Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.


As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.


I know you’re tired but come, this is the way.


You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?


You are not meant for crawling, so don’t. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly.


Look at the moon in the sky, not the one in the lake.


There is a life-force within your soul, seek that life. There is a gem in the mountain of your body, seek that mine. O traveller, if you are in search of that, don’t look outside, look inside yourself and seek that.


Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.


Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.


Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.


If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished? 


When someone beats a rug, the blows are not against the rug, but against the dust in it.


Concentrate on the Essence, concentrate on the light.


Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?


The soul has been given its own ears to hear things mind does not understand.


Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death.


Anything which is more than our necessity is Poison. It may be power, wealth, hunger, ego, greed, laziness, love, ambition, hate or anything.


O, happy the soul that saw its own faults.


Do not worry if all the candles in the world flicker and die. We have the spark that starts the fire.


When I run after what I think I want, my days are a furnace of distress and anxiety; If I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me, and without any pain. From this I understand that what I want also wants me, is looking for me and attracting me. There is a great secret in this for anyone who can grasp it.


To me nothing in the world is as precious as a genuine smile, especially from a child.


Whenever sorrow comes, be kind to it. For God has placed a pearl in sorrow’s hand.


Don’t be sad! Because God sends hope in the most desperate moments. Don’t forget, the heaviest rain comes out of the darkest clouds.


Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.


Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place.


Sorrow… It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.


The wound is the place where the light enters you.


Don’t get lost in your pain, know that one day your pain will become your cure.


Be patient where you sit in the dark. The dawn is coming.


Prayer clears the mist and brings back peace to the soul.


Do good to the people for the sake of God or for the peace of your own soul that you may always see what is pure and save your heart from the darkness of hate.


Whatever happens to you, don’t fall in despair. Even if all the doors are closed, a secret path will be there for you that no one knows. You can’t see it yet but so many paradises are at the end of this path…Be grateful! It is easy to thank after obtaining what you want, thank before having what you want.


On a day when the wind is perfect, the sail just needs to open and the world is full of beauty. Today is such a day.


The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.


Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others’ faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you appear.


You have no need to travel anywhere – journey within yourself. Enter a mine of rubies and bathe in the splendor of your own light.


Wherever water flows, life flourishes: wherever tears fall, divine mercy is shown.


How do I know who I am or where I am? How could a single wave locate itself in an ocean.


The Prophets accept all agony and trust it. For the water has never feared the fire.


On what is fear: Non-acceptance of uncertainty. If we accept that uncertainty, it becomes an adventure!


When you go through a hard period, when everything seems to oppose you, when you feel you cannot even bear one more minute, never give up! Because it is the time and place that the course will divert!


Those who don’t feel this love pulling them like a river, those who don’t drink dawn like a cup of springwater or take in sunset like a supper, those who don’t want to change, let them sleep.


Why are you so enchanted by this world, when a mine of gold lies within you?

Chinese proverbs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5w7d7lK4pG9MpBHGT7wgJ6p/eight-chinese-proverbs-to-help-with-modern-life?intc_type=singletheme&intc_location=radio4&intc_campaign=chinesecharacters&intc_linkname=articles_proverbs_contentcard2

'The Chinese are famous for their proverbs, or yànyŭ: words of wisdom gathered from literature or uttered by famous philosophers over the centuries. And, although ancient in some cases, many of these proverbs still provide valuable guidance in the modern age.

1. Different locks must be opened with different keys

Every problem we face in life will require a different set of skills to overcome. In a business context, or when managing relationships, it’s important to recognise that a “one key fits all” approach won’t work! Be flexible and face each new challenge with a fresh outlook and the right tools.

2. A blind horse always frightens itself

Most of us will have – at some point or another – wound ourselves up into a state of anxiety or fear when going in to a situation ill-informed. Feeling unprepared and out of one’s depth can easily lead to panic. This proverb reminds us that learning the lay of the land will help us to keep calm and know what plan of action to take.

3. You must enter the tiger’s den to catch his cubs

This is an animal-based alternative to the expression “no pain, no gain” or “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” And it reminds us that success in any enterprise requires taking a few risks – sometimes we need to make ourselves vulnerable in order to get what we want. 

4. Dig the well before you are thirsty

The message here is simple: plan ahead. Prepare for any eventuality before it occurs to avoid any unwelcome scenarios!

5. The longer the string, the higher the kite will fly

Play the long game. Making a long-term plan, rather than rushing into things or expecting instant results, will reap benefits over time. In the digital age, many of us expect instant gratification – but remember – good things come to those who wait!

6. A single conversation with a wise man is worth a month’s study of books

In an age when we spend all day with our eyes glued to our phones or laptops, it’s important to remember the value of a good old conversation. Rather than getting the information you need from the internet, talk to an expert. Personal experience is a valuable resource that we should all tap!

7. Women hold up half the sky

It was Chairman Mao who came up with this snappy ode to women’s equality. “Today men and women are equal,” the communist leader also pronounced more than half a century ago. 

8. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now

Don’t put things off. If you want success and growth in the future, the best time to act is now. .'

'Illness is neither an indulgence for which people have to pay, nor an offence for which they should be penalised, but a misfortune the cost of which should be shared by the community' Aneurin Bevan

RIP Prof. Stephen Hawking

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”




“In my case, medical care, personal life and scientific life are all intertwined.” 




His foundation, which includes fundraising for supporting independence for those with MND - e.g. voice banking, and adapted wheelchairs.

http://www.stephenhawkingfoundation.org/research-support-for-those-living-with-motor-neuron-disease-mnd/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/18/nhs-scientist-stephen-hawking

The NHS saved me. As a scientist, I must help to save it

Stephen Hawking

The crisis in the health service has been created by politicians who want to privatise it – when public opinion, and the evidence, point in the opposite direction

Fri 18 Aug 2017 18.00 BSTLast modified on Wed 14 Mar 2018 11.13 GMT

Like many people, I have personal experience of the NHS. In my case, medical care, personal life and scientific life are all intertwined. I have received a large amount of high-quality NHS treatment and would not be here today if it were not for the service.

The care I have received since being diagnosed with motor neurone disease as a student in 1962 has enabled me to live my life as I want, and to contribute to major advances in our understanding of the universe. In July I celebrated my 75th birthday with an international science conference in Cambridge. I still have a full-time job as director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology and, with two colleagues, am soon to publish another scientific paper on quantum black holes.

Last year my personal experience of the NHS and my scientific life came together when I co-signed a letter calling for healthcare policy to be based on peer-reviewed research and proper evidence. The specific issue addressed in the letter was the “weekend effect”. Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, had claimed that thousands of patients died unnecessarilybecause of poor hospital care at the weekend, and used this to argue that we needed to implement a seven-day NHS. I had mixed feelings about the issue. Having spent a lot of time in hospital, I would like there to be more services available at weekends. Also, it seems possible that some patients spend more time in hospital than is necessary because certain diagnostic tests can only be done on weekdays.

However, as we showed in the letter, Hunt had cherry-picked research to justify his argument. For a scientist, cherry-picking evidence is unacceptable. When public figures abuse scientific argument, citing some studies but suppressing others to justify policies they want to implement for other reasons, it debases scientific culture. One consequence of this sort of behaviour is that it leads ordinary people to not trust science at a time when scientific research and progress are more important than ever.

This problem goes beyond the weekend effect. The NHS is in a crisis, and one that has been created by political decisions. These political decisions include underfunding and cuts, privatising services, the public sector pay cap, the new contract imposed on junior doctors, and removal of the student nurses’ bursary. Political decisions such as these cause reductions in care quality, longer waiting lists, anxiety for patients and staff, and dangerous staff shortages. Failures in the system of privatised social care for disabled and elderly people have placed an additional burden on the NHS.

So what is to be done? A physicist like me analyses a system in terms of levels of approximation. To a first approximation, one can see the situation facing healthcare in this country in terms of forces with different interests.

On the one hand, there is the force of the multinational corporations, driven by their profit motive. In the US, where they are dominant in the healthcare system, these corporations make enormous profits, healthcare is not universal, and it is hugely more expensive for the outcomes patients receive than in the UK. We see the balance of power in the UK is with private healthcare companies, and the direction of change is towards a US-style insurance system.

On the other hand, there is the force of the public, and of democracy. Opinion polls consistently show a majority in favour of a publicly provided NHS, and opposed to privatisation and a two-tier system. Therefore, the best way to support the NHS is to empower the public. There are two priorities. First, clear information that public provision is not only the fairest way to deliver healthcare, but also the most cost-effective. Second, a loud voice and the political power to make politicians act on our behalf.

If that all sounds political, that is because the NHS has always been political. It was set up in the face of political opposition. It is Britain’s finest public service and a cornerstone of our society, something that binds us together. People value the NHS, and are proud that we treat everyone equally when they are sick. The NHS brings out the best in us. We cannot lose it.

• Stephen Hawking, the author of A Brief History of Time, is director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, where he was Lucasian professor of mathematics

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in - Greek proverb

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in - Greek proverb 

Quote - Chinese proverb: If there is....

“If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in the character.
If there is beauty in the character, there will be harmony in the home.
If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nations.
When there is order in the nations, there will peace in the world.”

"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." -- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
-- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

"Much medical training is about information and knowledge and less about traveling the more difficult path of feeling…it’s crucial for doctors to stay with the feeling, listen feelingly, and not turn away from the pain and suffering in patients and themselves. There is one shining difference between knowledge and understanding: We doctors may forget knowledge, but we never forget what we understand. We understand through feeling."

- Samuel Shem, “Fiction as Resistance”

https://www.brown.edu/academics/medical/education/other-programs/clinical-arts-humanities/courses-and-seminars

Hope

Josie Long ‏@JosieLong  Nov 9

quote on smoking from 412 years ago...

From King James I of England - declared smoking to be:

'A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse'.

Taken from the BMJ 21/5/16, which in turn, was taken from NEJM.

Quotes and proverbs

'It is always the impossible that happens' - old French proverb
'Cross the river before you abuse the crocodile' - old African proverb
'The birds of sadness may fly overhead but don't let them nest in your hair' - old Chinese proverb
'Daylight will peep through a very small hole' - old Japanese proverb.
'Don't think of the shortness of the day, but of the length of the year' - old Madagascan proverb
'Pray to God, but keep rowing to the shore' - old Lore.

'In garden arrangement, one has not only to acquire a knowledge of what to do, but also to gain some wisdom in perceiving what is well to let alone'.

'In garden arrangement, one has not only to acquire a knowledge of what to do, but also to gain some wisdom in perceiving what is well to let alone'.
Gertrude Jekyll, landscape gardener, born London 1843

"'I'm grateful for all my victories, but I'm especially grateful for my losses, because they made me work harder.” - Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali ‏@MuhammadAli  1 Jun 2015

"'I'm grateful for all my victories, but I'm especially grateful for my losses, because they made me work harder.”

2,163 retweets2,526 likes

 

 

 

“What counts in the ring is what you can do after you’re exhausted. The same is true to life.” - Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali ‏@MuhammadAli  22 Jun 2015

“What counts in the ring is what you can do after you’re exhausted. The same is true to life.” #MuhammadAli

1,916 retweets1,993 likes

 

 

 

"You don’t really lose when you fight for what you believe in." - Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali ‏@MuhammadAli  17 Sep 2015

"You don’t really lose when you fight for what you believe in." #MuhammadAli

1,670 retweets1,808 likes