We start with gifts. Merit comes from what we make of them.

We start with gifts. Merit comes from what we make of them.

It sounds like stories from the land of spirits,
If any man obtain that which he merits,
read more

It sounds like stories from the land of spirits,
If any man obtain that which he merits,
Or any merit that which he obtains.

If you can look back on your life with contentment, you have one of man's most precious gifts -- a read more

If you can look back on your life with contentment, you have one of man's most precious gifts -- a selective memory.

Happy the man, and happy he alone, he who can call today his own; he who, secure within, can say, read more

Happy the man, and happy he alone, he who can call today his own; he who, secure within, can say, tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.

We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of read more

We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.

Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.

Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.

True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.

True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.

There are two kinds of discontent in this world. The discontent that works, and the discontent that wrings its hands. read more

There are two kinds of discontent in this world. The discontent that works, and the discontent that wrings its hands. The first gets what it wants. The second loses what it has. There's no cure for the first, but success and there's no cure at all for the second.

Whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and read more

Whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only increased my desire to be free, and set me to thinking of plans to gain my freedom.