Quotes From Simple Truths

Miles Athey Originals is a proud
affiliate of Simple Truths, the
leading source of inspirational
and motivational movies, books
and other significant resources.

You can access this wonderful
site by going to our LINKS page.

Anonymous


Life is not a journey to the grave
with the intention of arriving safely
in a pretty and well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways,
thoroughly used up, totally worn
out, loudly proclaiming, 
"Wow...what a ride!"

Edmund Burke

The Deadly Sin of Apathy

"The only thing necessary for the
triumph of evil, is for good men
to do nothing."

Winston Churchill

If you will not fight for
the right when you can
win without bloodshed,
if you will not fight when
your victory will be sure
and not so costly, you
may come to the moment
when you will have to fight
with all the odds against
you and only a precarious
chance of survival.
There may be a worse
case. You may have to
fight when there is no
chance of victory,
because it is better to
perish than to live
as slaves.

Unknown Author

World's Population

If you scaled down the world's
population to a room filled with
100 people here is how it would
look:

57 people from Asia
21 from Europe
14 from Western hemisphere
8 from Africa

80 live in substandard housing
70 cannot read
65 never made a phone call
50 suffer from malnutrition
20 never had a clean drink of water
15 live on less than a $1.00 per day
1 has a college education

Yogi Berra

Baseball is 90% mental,
the other half is physical. 

I didn't really say
everything I said.

It ain't over 'til it's over.

No one goes there
nowadays, it's too
crowded.

The future ain't what
it used to be.

This is like deja vu
all over again.

When you come to
a fork in the road,
take it.

If the fans don't wanna
come out to the ballpark,
no one can stop 'em.

You can observe a
lot just by watching.

Andy Rooney

Computers make it
easier to do a
lot of things, but
most of the things
they make it easier
to do don't need
to be done.

Don't rule out
working with your
hands. It does
not preclude
using your head.

Making duplicate
copies and computer
printouts of things
no one wanted
even one of in
the first place
is giving America
a new sense
of purpose. 

George Carlin
HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers.
This includes age, weight and
height. Let the doctors worry about
them. That is why you pay them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The
grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about
the computer, crafts, gardening,
whatever. Never let the brain idle. 
"An idle mind is the devil's
workshop." And the devil's name is
Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh
until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve,
and move on. The only person who
is with us our entire life, is ourselves.
Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you
love, whether it's family, pets,
keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies,
whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health. If it is good,
preserve it. If it is unstable, improve
it. If it is beyond what you can
improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip
to the mall, even to the next county;
to a foreign country but NOT to
where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you
love them, at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is
not measured by the number of
breaths we take, but by the
moments that take our breath away.

Jimmy Valvano

American Sports Award, March 1993
Jimmy Valvano Acceptance Speech
Arthur Ashe Award for Courage

To me there are three things
everyone should do every day.
Number one is laugh. You should
laugh every day. Number two is
think--spend some time in thought.
Number three, you should have
your emotions move you to tears.
If you laugh, think and cry, that's a
heck of a day.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said,
"Nothing great was ever achieved
without enthusiasm." I urge all of
you to enjoy your life, to be
enthusiastic every day. To keep
your dreams alive in spite of your
problems.

Now I look where I am and what I
want to do. With ESPN's support, we
are starting the Jimmy V Foundation
for cancer research. It's motto is
"Don't give up. Don't ever give up."
That's what I'm going to try to do
every minute I have left. I will thank
God for the day and the moments
I have.

I know I gotta go. But I have one last
thing to say. Cancer can take away
all my physical abilities. It cannot
touch my mind, it cannot touch my
heart and it cannot touch my soul.
And those three things are going to
carry on forever.


North Carolina State University
1983 NCAA Basketball Champions 
Jimmy Valvano, Basketball Coach
(March 10, 1946--April 28, 1993)

Stephen Hawking

Equations are just the boring part of
mathematics. I attempt to see
things in terms of geometry.

I think computer viruses should
count as life. I think it says
something about human nature
that the only form of life we have
created so far is purely destructive.
We've created life in our own image.

We are just an advanced breed of
monkeys on a minor planet of a very
average star. But we can understand
the Universe. That makes us
something very special.

I think that it's important for
scientists to explain their work,
particularly in cosmology. This
now answers many questions
once asked of religion.

If human life were long enough to
find the ultimate theory, everything
would have been solved by previous
generations. Nothing would be left
to be discovered.

It is a waste of time to be angry
about my disability. One has to get
on with life and I haven't done badly.
People won't have time for you if
you are always angry or
complaining. 

Miles Athey

Essay: Patriots And Loyalists

Many of you do not
speak or act because
of your fear. You
witness travesties,
tragedies and
injustices but
consciously choose
to say or do
nothing. 

Apathy is another
way of not saying
or doing what you
believe because
of the fear
of rejection,
ridicule or
reprisal.

To be in support
of these most
reprehensible of
human conditions
is equal to being
guilty of treason,
thus deserving not
a whit of respect
or compassion,
but isolation,
perhaps even
death!

Mahatma Gandhi

Always aim at complete harmony
of thought and word and deed. 

Always aim at purifying your
thoughts and everything will
be well.

As long as you derive inner help
and comfort from anything, keep it.

Freedom is not worth having if it
does not include the freedom to
make mistakes.

Happiness is when what you
think, what you say, and what
you do are in harmony.

Honest differences are often a
healthy sign of progress.

I believe in equality for everyone,
except reporters and photographers.

I object to violence because when
it appears to do good, the good is
only temporary; the evil it does is
permanent.

I want freedom for the full
expression of my personality.

In the attitude of silence the soul
finds the path in a clearer light, and
what is elusive and deceptive
resolves itself into crystal clearness.

Our life is a long and arduous
quest after truth.

Indolence is a delightful but
distressing state; we must be
doing something to be happy.

It is better to be violent, if there is
violence in our hearts, than to put
on the cloak of nonviolence to
cover impotence.

It is unwise to be too sure of one's
own wisdom. It is healthy to be
reminded that the strongest might
weaken and the wisest might err.

One needs to be slow to form
convictions, but once formed they
must be defended against the
heaviest odds.

Strength does not come from
physical capacity. It comes from
an indomitable will.

Whatever you do will be
insignificant, but it is very
important that you do it.

When I despair, I remember that
all through history the ways of
truth and love have always won.
There have been tyrants, and
murderers, and for a time they
can seem invincible, but in the
end they always fall. Think of
it--always.

You must be the change you
want to see in the world.

You must not lose faith in
humanity. Humanity is an
ocean; if a few drops of the
ocean are dirty, the ocean
does not become dirty.

Victory attained by violence is
tantamount to a defeat, for it
is momentary.

An eye for an eye makes the
whole world blind.

Thomas Jefferson

When we get piled upon
one another in large
cities, as in Europe,
we shall become as
corrupt as Europe.

The democracy will
cease to exist when
you take away from
those who are willing
to work and give to
those who would not. 

It is incumbent on
every generation to
pay its own debts as
it goes. A principle
which if acted on
would save one-half
the wars of the world. 

I predict future
happiness for Americans
if they can prevent the
government from wasting
the labors of the
people under the
pretense of taking
care of them. 

My reading of history
convinces me that
most bad government
results from too much
government. 

No free man shall
ever be debarred
the use of arms. 

The strongest reason
for the people to
retain the right to
keep and bear arms
is, as a last resort,
to protect themselves
against tyranny in
government. 

The tree of liberty
must be refreshed
from time to time
with the blood of
patriots and tyrants. 

To compel a man to
subsidize with his
taxes the propagation
of ideas which he
disbelieves and
abhors is sinful
and tyrannical. 

I believe that banking
institutions are more
dangerous to our
liberties than standing
armies. If the American
people ever allow
private banks to control
the issue of their
currency, first by
inflation, then by
deflation, the banks
and corporations that
will grow up around
the banks will deprive
the people of all
property until their
children wake-up
homeless on the
continent their
fathers conquered.

Ogden Nash

A door is what a dog
is perpetually
on the wrong side of.

A family is a unit
composed not only
of children but of
men, women, an
occasional animal,
and the common cold.

I think that I shall
never see a billboard
lovely as a tree. Perhaps,
unless the billboards
fall, I'll never
see a tree at all.

Middle age is when
you've met so many
people that every
new person you
meet reminds you
of someone else.

Parents were invented
to make children
happy by giving them
something to ignore.

People who have what
they want are fond
of telling people who
haven't what they
want that they
really don't want it.

People who work
sitting down get
paid more than
people who work
standing up.

Progress might have
been all right once,
but it has gone
on too long.

Candy is dandy,
but liquor is
quicker.

In far Tibet
There live a lama,
He got no poppa,
Got no mamma,
He got no wife,
He got no chillun,
Got no use For penicillin,
He got no soap,
He got no opera,
He don't know
Irium From Copra,
He got no songs,
He got no banter,
Don't know Jolson,
Don't know Cantor,
He got no teeth,
He got no gums,
Don't eat Spam,
Don't need Tums,
He love to nick him
When he shave,
He also got
No hair to save.
Got no distinction,
No clear head,
Don't call for Calvert,
Drink milk instead.
He use no lotions
For allurance,
He got no car
And no insurance,
No Winchell facts,
No Pearson rumor
For this self-centered
Non-consumer.
Indeed, the Ignorant Have-Not
Don't even know
What he don't got.
If you will mind
The Philco, comma,
I think I'll go
And join that lama.

Ben Franklin

A countryman between two lawyers is
like a fish between two cats.

A slip of the foot you may soon recover,
but a slip of the tongue you may never
get over.

All human situations have their
inconveniences. We feel those
of the present but neither see nor
feel those of the future; and hence
we often make troublesome
changes without amendment,
and frequently for the worse.

All would live long, but none
would be old.

Anger is never without Reason,
but seldom with a good One.

At 20 years of age the will reigns,
at 30 the wit, at 40 the judgment.

Be civil to all; sociable to many;
familiar with few; friend to one;
enemy to none.

Be slow in choosing a friend,
slower in changing.

Beware of the young doctor
and the old barber.

Drive thy business or
it will drive thee.

Educate your children to self-
control, to the habit of holding
passion and prejudice and evil
tendencies subject to an upright
and reasoning will, and you
have done much to abolish
misery from their future and
crimes from society.

Employ thy time well, if thou
meanest to get leisure.

Energy and persistence
conquer all things.

Genius without education is
like silver in the mine.

Glass, china, and reputation
are easily cracked, and never
well mended.

Having been poor is no shame,
but being ashamed of it, is.

He is ill clothed that is
bare of virtue.

He that blows the coals in
quarrels that he has nothing
to do with, has no right to
complain if the sparks fly
in his face.

He that can have patience
can have what he will.

He that falls in love with
himself will have no rivals.

He that is good for making
excuses is seldom good
for anything else.

He that is of the opinion
money will do everything
may well be suspected of
doing everything for money.

He that lives upon hope
will die fasting.

He that would live in peace and
at ease, must not speak all he
knows nor judge all he sees.

Hide not your talents, they for
use were made. What's a
sun-dial in the shade?

We are all born ignorant, but one
must work hard to remain stupid.

Jay Leno

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED
the 1930s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s

First, we survived being born to
mothers who smoked and/or drank
while they were pregnant. They
took aspirin, ate blue cheese
dressing, tuna from a can and
didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were
put to sleep on our tummies in
baby cribs covered with bright
colored lead-based paints. 

We had no childproof lids on
medicine bottles, doors or
cabinets and when we rode
our bikes, we had no helmets,
not to mention, the risks we
took hitchhiking. As infants and
children we would ride in cars
with no car seats, booster seats,
seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on
a warm day was always a special
treat. We drank water from the
garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four
friends from one bottle and NO ONE
actually died from this. 

We ate cupcakes, white bread and
real butter and drank Kool-aid made
with sugar but we weren't overweight
because WE WERE ALWAYS
OUTSIDE PLAYING! We would leave
home in the morning and play all
day as long as we were back when
the streetlights came on. No one
was able to reach us all day. And
we were okay. 

We would spend hours building our
go-carts out of scraps and then ride
down the hill only to find out we
forgot the brakes. After running into
the bushes a few times we learned
to solve the problem. 

We did not have Playstations,
Nintendos or X-boxes; no video
games at all, no 150 channels on
cable, no movies or DVDs, no
surround-sound or CDs, no cell
phones, no personal computers,
no Internet or chat rooms. WE HAD
FRIENDS and we went outside
and found them! 

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke
bones and teeth and there were
no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made
from dirt and the worms did not live
in us forever. We were given BB
guns for our 10th birthdays, made
up games with sticks and tennis
balls and, although we were told it
would happen, we did not put out
very many eyes. 

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's
house and knocked on the door or
rang the bell or just walked in and
talked to them! 

Little League had tryouts and not
everyone made the team. Those who
didn't had to learn to deal with
disappointment. Imagine that!! The
idea of a parent bailing us out if we
broke the law was unheard of. They
actually sided with the law! 

These generations have produced
some of the best risk-takers,
problem-solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an
explosion of innovation and new
ideas. We had freedom, failure,
success and responsibility and we
learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! 

If YOU are one of them,
CONGRATULATIONS! You might
want to share this with others who
have had the luck to grow up as
kids before the lawyers and the
government regulated so much
of our lives for our own good. 

While you are at it, share this with
your kids so they will know how
brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run
through the house, doesn't it? 

With hurricanes, tornados, fires out
of control, mud slides, flooding,
severe thunderstorms tearing up
the country from one end to the
other, and with the threat of bird flu
and terrorist attacks, are we sure
this is a good time to take God out
of the Pledge of Allegiance?

              Vivian Greene

                 Life is not about waiting
                 for the storms to pass...
                  it's about learning to
                    dance in the rain!

                 Regina Brett

 1.  Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
 2.  When in doubt, just take the
         next small step.
 3.  Life is too short to waste
         time hating anyone.
 4.  Your job won't take of you when
         you are sick. Your friends and
         parents will. Stay in touch.
 5.  Pay off your credit cards
         every month.
 6.  You don't have to win every
         argument. Agree to disagree.
 7.  Cry with someone. It's more
         healing than crying alone.
 8.  It's OK to get angry with
         God. He can take it.
 9.  Save for retirement starting
         with your first paycheck.
 10. When it comes to chocolate,
         resistance is futile.
 11. Make peace with your past so
         it won't screw up the present.
 12. It's OK to let your children
         see you cry.
 13. Don't compare your life to
         others. You have no idea
         what their journey is
         all about.
 14. If a relationship has to be
         secret, you shouldn't be in it.
 15. Everything can change in a
         blink of an eye. Don't worry;
         God never blinks.
 16. Take a deep breath. It
         calms the mind.
 17. Get rid of anything that isn't
         useful, beautiful or joyful.
 18. Whatever doesn't kill you
         really does make you stronger.
 19. It's never to late to have a
         happy childhood. But the second
         one is up to you and no one else.
 20. When it comes to going after
         what you love in life, don't
         take no for an answer.
 21. Burn the candles, use the
         nice sheets, and wear the
         fancy lingerie. Don't save
         it for a special occasion.
         Today is special.
 22. Over prepare, and then go
         with the flow.
 23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait
         for old age to wear purple.
 24. The most important sex
         organ is the brain.
 25. No one is in charge of
         your happiness but you.
 26. Frame every so-called disaster
         with these words, "In five
         years, will this matter?"
 27. Always choose life.
 28. Forgive everyone everything.
 29. What other people think of you
         is none of your business.
 30. Time heals almost everything.
         Give time, time.
 31. However good or bad a situation
         is, it will change.
 32. Don't take yourself so seriously.
         No one else does.
 33. Believe in miracles.
 34. God loves you because of who
         God is, not because of anything
         you did or didn't do.
 35. Don't audit life. Show up and
         make the most of it now.
 36. Growing old beats the
         alternative...dying young.
 37. Your children get only
         one childhood.
 38. All that truly matters in the
         end is that you loved.
 39. Get outside every day. Miracles
         are waiting everywhere...
 40. If we all threw our problems in
         a pile and saw everyone else's,
         we'd grab ours back.
 41. Envy is a waste of time. You
         already have all you need.
 42. The best is yet to come.
 43. No matter how you feel, get
         up, dress up and show up.
 44. Yield.
 45. Life isn't tied with a bow,
         but it's still a gift.