Quotes From "The Road Less Travelled"

"The Road Less Travelled" was a gift from my investment banking staff for my 44th birthday. I don't recall any of them asking me before about my taste for books, so I was only too delighted to receive this bestseller which, thankfully, I have not bought yet. My copy, if you'll see it, is dog-eared and highlighted in many pages. See if you'll like what I liked in these pages.

On Discipline:

"Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life's problems. Without discipline we can solve nothing. With only some discipline we can solve only some problems. With total discipline we can solve all problems."

On Problems:

"Problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure. Problems call forth our courage and wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and wisdom. It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually."

On Delaying Gratification:

"Delaying gratification is a process of scheduling the pain and pleasure of life in such a way as to enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with. It is the only decent way to live."

On Reality:

"Our view of reality is like a map with which to negotiate the terrain of life. If the map is true and accurate, we will generally know where we are, and if we have decided where we want to go, we will generally know how to get there. If the map is false and inaccurate, we generally will be lost."

On Wisdom:

"The life of wisdom must be a life of contemplation combined with action."

On Human Nature..Part 1:

"The tendency to avoid challenge is so omnipresent in human beings that it can properly be considered a characteristic of human nature."

On Human Nature..Part 2:

"Another characteristic of human nature - perhaps the one that makes us most human - is our capacity to do the unnatural, to transcend and hence transform our own nature."

On Falling In Love:

"Falling in love is not an act of will. It is not a conscious choice. No matter how open to ar eager for it we may be, the experience may still elude us."

On Falling Out Of Love:

"...the experience of falling in love is invariably temporary. No matter whom we fall in love with, we sooner or later fall out of love if the relationship continues long enough."

On Serendipity:

"The paradox that we both choose grace and are chosen by grace is the essence of the phenomenon of serendipity. Serendipity was defined as 'the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for'."

--M. Scott Peck

More One-liners From "Jacob's Journey"

I bought "Jacob's Journey" in September 1995 -- a year of changes, transition and adjustment in my personal life. My father passed away in February of that year. I also reluctantly left my corporate planning work to enter the brave new world of investment banking around July of that same year. It is no wonder then that when I randomly picked up a copy of Noah ben Shea's book at National and read the sub-title on its cover, I knew I had to pay for it right away. The sub-title reads: "Wisdom to Find the Way, Strength to Carry On". Allow me to share with you what quotations I highlighted in this book because of the wisdom and inspiration I was trying to draw from it at that point in time in my life:

On living one's Life:

"Hope for the best and make peace with the rest."

On Patience:

"Patience is the shortest route on a long journey."

On Kindness:

"It is wiser to be kind than to be wise."

On Parents:

"Some parents love knowing. Others know love."

On Growing Old:

" 'Growing old' is a contradiction in terms."

On Work and Love:

"There is only work and love in life...If we are fortunate, we love our work. If we are wise, we are willing to work at love."

On Life:

"Life is a gift...Open yours."

On Fear:

"Fear makes us not only less than we might be but less than we think we are."

On being Alone:

"A man who is alone with himself is not without company."

On Success:

" Have you ever met a man whose success is not also a burden?"

On what is Valuable:

"The way to discover what is of value in life is by taking the time to treasure the moments."

On Relationships:

"A relationship is not a way for us to exhibit our strength but to find our balance."

On Children:

"...your children are a gift to you, and only expectation can find disappointment in gifts that have not yet been opened."

On Journeys:

"Wherever a man stops on his journey, the first person he meets is himself."

On Wisdom:

"Wisdom arrives when we are willing to journey to our ignorance."

On Lies:

"In the seed of a lie is a forest of deceit."

On Self:

"Only when we place too much importance on who we are do we misplace our self."

On Problems:

"Often in life, the solution to our problems comes not so much from what we start doing but from what we stop doing."

On Age:

"Age is not the mark of time but how we mark our time."

On Friends:

"A friend is someone who allows you distance but is never far away."


--Noah ben Shea

One-liner Quotes From "The Alchemist"

"The Alchemist" was a book I could not put down, so I devoured it in one sitting. It is a very easy and engaging read that's full of wisdom and metaphors which can guide one's everyday life. More specifically, it covers many of the topics that have made me a bookworM: a quest, a dream, an adventure, and destiny. These are the highlighted quotes in my copy of this book.

On Life:

"It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."

On Happiness:

"If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man."

On one's Destiny:

"God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens that he left for you."

On one's Soul:

"Your eyes show the strength of your soul."

On Dreams:

"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."

On the World's Greatest Lie:

"...at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate."

On Blessings:

"...every blessing ignored becomes a curse."

--Paulo Coelho