Wordsworth’s magnum opus is generally considered to be The Prelude, a semi-autobiographical poem of his early years which he revised and expanded a number of times. It was posthumously titled and published, prior to which it was generally known as the poem “to Coleridge”. Wordsworth was Britain’s Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.

1. It’s never crowded along the extra mile.

2. Judgements prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.

3. There is no way to prosperity, prosperity is the way.

4. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

5. You are always a valuable, worthwhile human being — not because anybody says so, not because you’re successful, not because you make a lot of money — but because you decide to believe it and for no other reason.

6. When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It’s to enjoy each step along the way.

7. Live one day at a time emphasizing ethics rather than rules.

8. Maxim for life: You get treated in life the way you teach people to treat you.

9. The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.

10. There’s nothing wrong with anger provided you use it constructively.

11. You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, ‘I release the need for this in my life’.

12. When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.

13. Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.

14. Your children will see what you’re all about by what you live rather than what you say.

15. People who want the most approval get the least and people who need approval the least get the most.

16. The fact that you are willing to say, ”I do not understand, and it is fine,” is the greatest understanding you could exhibit.

17. All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won’t succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy.

18. Real magic in relationships means an absence of judgment of others.

19. Successful people make money. It’s not that people who make money become successful, but that successful people attract money. They bring success to what they do.

20. Self-worth comes from one thing – thinking that you are worthy.

21. What comes out of you when you are squeezed is what is inside of you.

22. I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside.

23. Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy.

24. Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.

25. You cannot be lonely if you like the person you’re alone with.

26. When I chased after money, I never had enough. When I got my life on purpose and focused on giving of myself and everything that arrived into my life, then I was prosperous.

27. You’ll seldom experience regret for anything that you’ve done. It is what you haven’t done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear. Do it! Develop an appreciation for the present moment. Seize every second of your life and savor it. Value your present moments. Using them up in any self-defeating ways means you’ve lost them forever.

28. Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul.

29. A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the universe.

1. You are a beautiful person, you deserve a beautiful life.

2. Afterwards, she lies nestled against me, her hair tickling my face. I stroke her lightly, memorizing her body. I want her to melt into me, like butter on toast. I want to absorb her and walk around for the rest of my days with her encased in my skin. I want. I lie motionless, savoring the feeling of her body against mine. I’m afraid to breathe in case I break the spell.

3. We lean against the wall in silence, still holding hands. After about an hour she falls asleep, sliding down until her head rests on my shoulder. I remain awake, every fiber of my body aware of her proximity.

4. Sometimes I think if I had to choose between an ear of corn or making love to a woman, I’d choose the corn.

5. Age is a terrible thief. Just when you’re getting the hang of life, it knocks your legs out from under you and stoops your back. It makes you ache and muddies your head and silently spreads cancer throughout your spouse.

6. When will people learn that just because you can make something doesn’t mean you should?

7. Dear God. Not only am I unemployed and homeless, but I also have a pregnant woman, bereaved dog, elephant, and eleven horses to take care of.

8. Life is the most spectacular show on earth.

9. …if you expect people to try to do things your way, you’re going to have to give some hints as to what that way is.

10. I look after those who look after me.” He smacks his lips, stares at me, and adds, “I also look after those who don’t.

During the last few days while I was surfing through blogs, I have read tributes to this great man. How he had brought Americans through many great moments; the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, and the Apollo 11 Moon landing. And in another blog post, the lady wrote how he had inspired her to write from a young age. I believe he has inspired many more in a lot of ways.

In a statement by President Barrack Obama, “For decades, Walter Cronkite was the most trusted voice in America. His rich baritone reached millions of living rooms every night, and in an industry of icons, Walter set the standard by which all others have been judged.”

Quotes originally from EVliving.com

During his lifetime he befriended many people who are now part of the 19th-century literary canon, including Charles and Mary Lamb, Stendhal, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth.

Auden grew up in Birmingham in a professional middle class family and read English literature at Christ Church, Oxford. His early poems, written in the late 1920s and early 1930s, alternated between telegraphic modern styles and fluent traditional ones, were written in an intense and dramatic tone, and established his reputation as a left-wing political poet and prophet. He became uncomfortable in this role in the later 1930s, and abandoned it after he moved to the United States in 1939, where he became an American citizen in 1946. His poems in the 1940s explored religious and ethical themes in a less dramatic manner than his earlier works, but still combined traditional forms and styles with new forms devised by Auden himself. In the 1950s and 1960s many of his poems focused on the ways in which words revealed and concealed emotions, and he took a particular interest in writing opera librettos, a form ideally suited to direct expression of strong feelings.

1. A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.

2. A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them. Even a rich man thinks he has to go down to the office everyday. Not because he likes it but because he can’t think of anything else to do.

3. A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it goes on to become.

4. Choice of attention – to pay attention to this and ignore that – is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be.

5. Every autobiography is concerned with two characters, a Don Quixote, the Ego, and a Sancho Panza, the Self.

6. Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as what they most want to do.

7. Good can imagine Evil; but Evil cannot imagine Good.

8. In a world of prayer, we are all equal in the sense that each of us is a unique person, with a unique perspective on the world, a member of a class of one.

9. Men will pay large sums to whores for telling them they are not bores.

More than 100 articles, poems and meditations written by Ward have been published in such magazines as Reader’s Digest, This Week, The Upper Room, Together, The Christian Advocate, The Adult Student, The Adult Teacher, The Christian Home, The Phi Delta Kappan, Science of Mind, The Methodist Layman, Sunshine, and Ideals.

His column Pertinent Proverbs has been featured in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and in numerous service club publications throughout the United States and abroad. He is one of the most frequently quoted writers in the pages of Quote, the international weekly digest for public speakers.

Born and reared in Louisiana, Ward entered the United States Army as a private in 1942 and rose to the rank of captain. Part of his four years of military service was spent in the Philippines.

A graduate of McMurry College, he received his master’s degree at Oklahoma State University. He worked toward the doctorate at the University of Texas and at North Texas State University. In 1962 Oklahoma City University honored him with the Doctor of Laws degree in recognition of his professional achievement, literary contributions and service to others.

Ward served as Assistant to the President of Texas Wesleyan College in Fort Worth beginning in 1955. In addition to his professional responsibilities, he was for two years the Director of Methodist Men for the Central Texas Conference, and for four years he taught the 140-member Sigler Bible Class at Polytechnic Methodist Church, where he also served as Sunday School Superintendent and Church Lay Leader.

He was a professional member of Sigma Delta Chi, American College Public Relations Association, Religious Public Relations Council and Phi Delta Kappa. In Fort Worth he was on the Board of Directors of numerous organizations including Rotary, Red Cross and Boy Scouts of America.

His biography appears in Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who in Public Relations, and Who’s Who in the South and Southwest. He was a member of the International Platform Association.

Also by William Arthur Ward: For This One Hour, Thoughts of a Christian Optimist, Prayer Is

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” -William Arthur Ward

Inspirational Maxims by William Arthur Ward

1. The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.

2. Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate.

3. Friendship flourishes at the fountain of forgiveness.

4. Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records.

5. A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities.

6. Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work.

7. Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination; on cooperation, not intimidation.

8. Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service, and character.

9. When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.

10. Teaching is more than imparting knowledge, it is inspiring change. Learning is more than absorbing facts, it is acquiring understanding.

11. Nothing limits achievement like small thinking; nothing expands possibilities like unleashed imagination.

12. A friend is one with whom you are comfortable, to whom you are loyal, through whom you are blessed, and for whom you are grateful.

13. It is wise to direct your anger towards problems — not people; to focus your energies on answers — not excuses.

14. Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hate. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.

15. Faith sees a beautiful blossom in a bulb, a lovely garden in a seed, and a giant oak in an acorn.

16. Lose yourself in generous service and every day can be a most unusual day, a triumphant day, an abundantly rewarding day!

1. Everybody thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor but they couldn’t possibly all have good taste.