As you know I am a great believer in the power of words.

Words can hurt or heal; they can lift us up or throw us into the darkest chasm; words can do most anything.

Right now times are tough and too many of the people I hear from are down or depressed and some are close to giving up. And words can help that, too.

When times are tough I’ve found some of my best inspiration from Eleanor Roosevelt. I find her comments to be pithy and filled with common sense; stuff that’s so solid you can grab hold and it will carry you through the rapids of life. She was an amazing woman.

The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences. (It’s the one thing on which you should always pig out.)

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die. (It’s been said many times in many ways, but no matter how bad your situation there’s someone in worse straits whom you can help.)

I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life. (That which you ignore will ignore you.)

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility. (I call it MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) and it’s the one thing in life over which you have complete control; where it goes and how it grows are always your choice.

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Did you read the links from yesterday? I hope so, because some of these quotes play off those articles.

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” –Agatha Christie (Good words to remember these days.)

“A woman is like a tea bag, you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” –Eleanor Roosevelt (This is one of my all-time favorites; it’s stood me in good stead for a long time now.)

“The naked truth is always better than the best-dressed lie.” –Ann Landers (I don’t know where the naked truth is hiding, but the lies were running the banks.)

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” –Mother Teresa (True. You don’t know how good a leader is until after the fact, but you should know yourself.)

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” –Sally Berger (So you can keep crying in your beer or get started, get moving and kick butt!)

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Image credit: sxc.hu