Reflections

	International Children's Heart Fund
	Reflections

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Anyway

A sign on the wall of Shishu Bliavan,
the children's home in Calcutta

"A cemetery is a repository for unfulfilled dreams,
great ideas never formulated
and potential energy never realized, nor acted upon."

Wandering star -

"Snow can burn your eyes,
but only people can make you cry"

Lee Marvin, Paint your Wagon

"All men dream; but not equally. Those who dream by
night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the
day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the
day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream
with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did."

T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom

"If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool the pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain."

Emily Dickinson

"One hundred children, brave boys and girls
They come from nations all over the world
One hundred children marching along
One hundred children singing their song"

100 Children, by Tom T Hall

"Windows are very good things to have.
They let you look out,
And see all the different things.
And they let you look in,
To see all the other different things.
And do you know what is the most
Special window of all?
The window in your heart,
That's between the Heaven-in-the-earth,
And the Heaven-in-the-sky."

Mattie Stepanek

"Happiness is a continuation
of happenings
which are not restricted"

Deepak Chopra

Let us become beneficiaries
and not victims of our experiences.

Life is an opportunity,
benefit from it.
Life is a beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.

Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is life, fight for it!

--- Mother Teresa

Will the future ever arrive?...Should we continue to look upwards? Is the light we can see in the sky one of those which will presently be extinguished? The ideal is terrifying to behold, lost as it is in the depths, small isolated, a pin-point, brilliant but threaten on all sides by the dark forces that surround it; nevertheless, no more in danger than the star in the jaws of the clouds.

Victor Hugo

"Toto, I have a feeling
we're not in Kansas anymore."

Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz

A leader....takes people where they want to go.
A great leader.... takes people where they don't
necessarily want to go, but ought to be

Rosalyn Carter

"I believe that you only really pay attention
to what you discover for yourself"

Chris Matthews, Hardball

"Our goal is to create a path and
leave a trail for others to follow"

"We are not human beings with spiritual experiences.
We are spiritual beings on a human journey."

Teilhard de Chardin

One of these days, it won't be long,
he'll call your name, and you'll be gone.

Sam Penny, bartender, Worcester, MA

Quotation from Ralph Marston

"Give of your talents without expectation of compensation other than the blessings and feelings that one always receives from giving. The most meaningful work that you will do during your professional career will usually be that which you do without pay"

Donald B. Doty M.D.

God, grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Niebuhr

Selfless
Fearless
Timeless
Priceless

Do not go where the path may lead,
go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The grand essentials
to happiness in this life are something to do,
someone to love and something to hope for

Joseph Addison

"There's never been anybody exactly like you before,
and there will never be anybody exactly like you in the future. You're the only one."

Fred Rogers

The ultimate measure of a man
is not where he stands in moments
of comfort and convenience,
but where he stands at times of
challenge and controversy

Martin Luther King Jr.

"People want to find a "meaning" in everything
and everyone. That's the disease of our age, an age
that anything but practical but believes itself to be
more practical than any other age."

Pablo Picasso

"for those who are searching,
join us and together let us make
the network to help children with heart disease
globally big enough to be equal to the task."

Ami Cohen MD

I hear, I know
I see, I remember
I do, I understand

Confucius

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.

Albert Einstein

Don't part with your illusions.
When they are gone you may still exist,
but you have ceased to live.

Mark Twain

Lord, be the pilot that guides and controls my life!

Robert H. Schuller

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understandings;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And he shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

-Thomas Grey

Be Someone For Somebody\

-Mother Teresa

If you don't like something, change it.
If you can't change it, change your attitude

Maya Angelou

"I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who"

Rudyard Kipling

"… reflection is, as the word indicates, the power acquired by a consciousness to turn in upon itself, to take possession of itself as of an object endowed with its own particular consistence and value: no longer merely to know, but to know oneself; no longer merely to know, but to know that one knows."

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
The Phenomenon of Man

God, grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Niebuhr

To lead in the 21st century...
You will be required both character and competence.

General H Norman Schwarzkopf

Courage, Strength, Character, Discipline, Justice

Compassion, Care, Mercy, Understanding

Cooperation/Collaboration/Consensus

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
At all the time you can.

Anonymous

It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual
than to labor diligently for the salvation of the masses.

Dag Hammaraskjold

Four Steps to intention;
Discipline
Wisdom
Love
Surrender

Dr Wayne W. Dyer

People are admired for what they do,
respected for what they say,
and remembered for their creative efforts.

He's Dead, I'm Crippled, Your Lost -
I guess it's always like that - War

Richard Burton
The Longest Day, 1961

You got to be very careful if you don’t know where
you are going because you may not get there!

Yogi Bera

The graveyard is the richest place;
so many people die full of potential.

Curtis Martin

Ability is what you are capable of doing;
Motivation determines what you do;
Attitude determines how well you do it.

Lou Holtz

The way of a superior man is three fold:
Virtuous, he is free from anxieties;
wise, he is free from perplexities;
bold, he is free from fear.

Confucius

The secret of success in life is for a man
to be ready for it when it comes

Benjamin Disraeli

Poverty in itself does not make men into a rabble;
a rabble Is created only when there is joined
to poverty a disposition of mind,
an inner indignation against the rich, against society,
against the government.

George Hegel (1770—1831),
The Philosophy of Right, 1821

The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face
and know them for what they are.

Marcus Aurelius

He too serves a certain purpose who only stands and cheers.
Henry Brook Adams (1838—1918).
The Education of Henry Adams, 1907

How happy is the little stone
That rambles in the road alone,
And doesn’t care about careers,
And exigencies never fears;
Whose coat of elemental brown
A passing universe put on;
And independent as the sun,
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute decree
In casual simplicity.

Emily Dickinson

...men go to greater lengths to avoid fear
than to obtain what they desire

Da Vinci Code

"American people generally do the right thing
after first exhausting every other alternative"

Winston Churchill

Our Cardiothoracic Surgery Legacy
(in 7 languages)
Size: 1152x2880 (650k)

Our Cardiothoracic Surgery Legacy
(in 7 languages)
Size: 600x1500 (254k)

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Lord Action (1834-1902),
letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887

Surgeons must be very careful. When they take the knife!,
underneath their fine incisions, stirs the Culprit - Life!

Emily Dickinson

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow,
Learn as if you were to live forever"

Sarah A. Wilkinson,
Clark University Graduate, Worcester, MA

Goals / Attitude / Focus

The Chain Linked Fence

...sow a thought and reap an act,
sow an act and reap a habit,
sow a habit and reap a character,
sow a character and reap a destiny;
sow a destiny and reap a legacy

Hindu saying

It must be realized that there is nothing more difficult to plan,
more uncertain of success,
or more dangerous to manage
than the establishment of a new order of things

Niccolo Machiavelli

You can accomplish anything in life
provided you don't mind who gets the credit.

Harry S. Truman

Each day we Reflect on the things we have to do,
should do, and want to do.

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody too?
Then there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They banish us, you know

Emily Dickinson

Innocence always calls mutely for protection
when we would be so much wiser to guard ourselves against it:
Innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world,
meaning no harm.

Graham Greene

By three methods we may learn wisdom:
First by reflection, which is noblest;
Second by imitation, which is easiest;
Third by experience, which is the bitterest.

Confucius

"It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday
is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow"

Robert Goddard

Suffering is not increased by numbers
one body can contain all the suffering the world can feel.

Graham Greene

When men are pure, laws are useless;
when men are corrupt, laws are broken.

Benjamin Disraeli

Everything is transactional -
Obsession with money can trip you up.
Obsession with love can let you down.

Maureen Dowd

Bearing yet not possessing, working yet not taking credit,
leading yet not dominating. This is the primal virtue

Lao-Tzu

Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.

Richard Lovelace

The long sighs
Of the violins
Of autumn
Hurt my heart
With a languor
Of sameness

Paul Verlaine

Always do the right thing.
It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

Mark Twain.

"Only the man who will not climb the mountain will never fall".

"Solamente los hombres que no suven la montaña nunca se caen".

Old Guatemalan Teacher

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.

Boy Scout Oath

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It’s gonna be a bright, bright
Sun-Shiny day.

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone
All of the bad feelings have disappeared
Here is the rainbow I’ve been praying for
It’s gonna be a bright, bright
Sun-Shiny day.

Look all around, there’s nothing but blue skies
Look straight ahead, nothing but blue skies.

Johnny Nash

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace

Amazing Grace,
John Newton

Who knows whether the best of men be known.
Whether there be not more remarkable persons forgot
than any that stand remembered in the known account of time.

Sir Thomas Brown.

Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

John Keats

Silence is a true friend who never betrays.

Confucius

“Let’s eschew obfuscation and espouse elucidation”
(avoid being unclear !!)

The best thing about the future is
that it comes only one day at a time.

Abraham Lincoln

Autumn Song

The sobbing calls
from the fall's
fiddles' moan
through my breast
languidest
monodrone.

All out of breath
and pale, as
hours fly
my eyes behold
the days of old,
and I cry,

and I'll be gone
to wild winds thrown,
tossed aside
once to, once fro:
like wild winds blow
leaves that died.

Paul Verlaine

Chanson d’automne

Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l'automne
Blessent mon cœur
D'une langueur
Monotone.

Tout suffocant
Et blême, quand
Sonne l'heure,
Je me souviens
Des jours anciens
Et je pleure;

Et je m'en vais
Au vent mauvais
Qui m'emporte
Deçà, delà,
Pareil à la
Feuille morte.

The challenge of multitasking is recognizing
and separating out the priorities

Variability is the law of life, and so as no two faces are the same, so no two bodies are alike, and no two individuals react alike and behave alike under the abnormal conditions we know as disease.

William Osler

A civilized man is one who will give a serious answer to a serious question.
Civilization itself is a certain sane balance of values.

Ezra Pound

………everything can be taken from man but one thing:
The last of his freedoms---to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Victor E. Frankl

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability
to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time
and still retain the ability to function.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Obstacles are those frightful things you see
when you take your eyes off your goal.

Henry Ford

Learning is finding out what you already know.
Doing is demonstrating that you know it.
Teaching is reminding others that
they know it just as well as you.
You are all learners, doers, teachers.

Richard Back

“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
In regione caecorum rex est luscus”.

Desiderius Erasmus

There comes a special moment in everyone’s life,
a moment for which that person was born.
That special opportunity, when he seizes it,
will fulfill his mission, a mission for which he is uniquely
qualified. In that moment, he finds greatness.
It is his finest hour.

Winston Churchill.

Brevity in writing is the best insurance for its perusal.

Rudolf Virchow

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting different results.

Albert Einstien

A Prince never lacks legitimate reasons
to break his promise.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Create constancy of purpose.

W. Edwards Deming

Variability is the law of life, and so as no two faces are the same,
so no two bodies are alike, and no two individuals react alike
and behave alike under the abnormal conditions
we know as disease.

William Osler

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future,
concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Buddha

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
Amazing Grace,

John Newton

I learned again that the mind-body-spirit connection
has to be in balance.

Wynonna Judd

If you do not change direction,
you may end up where you are heading.

Lao Tzu

Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles

Voltaire

Count That Day Lost

If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went --
Then you may count that day well spent.

But if, through all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay --
If, through it all
You've nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face--
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost --
Then count that day as worse than lost.

George Eliot

It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind
that determines which way we will go.

Jim Rohn

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike the inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Thomas Gray

My shoulders ache beneath my pack
Lie easier, Cross, upon His back.

I march with feet that burn and smart
Tread, Holy Feet, upon my heart.

Men shout at me who may not speak
They scourged Thy back and smote Thy cheek.

I may not lift a hand to clear
My eyes of salty drops that sear.

Then shall my fickle soul forget
Thy agony of Bloody Sweat?

My rifle hand is stiff and numb
From Thy pierced palm red rivers come.

Lord, Thou didst suffer more for me
Than all the hosts of land and sea.

So let me render back again
This millionth of Thy gift.

Amen.

Joyce Kilmer

“I've been going a long time now
along the way I've learned some things.

You have to make the good times yourself
take the little times and make them into big times
and save the times that are all right
for the ones that aren't so good.”

― Rod McKuen, Listen to the Warm

All truth passes through three stages.
First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say,
abstains from giving worldly evidence of the fact.

George Eliot

I want to be all used up when I die.
I rejoice in life for its own sake.

George Bernard Shaw

As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway,
think big.

Donald Trump

You can tell the size of a man
by the size of the thing that makes him made.

Adlai Stevenson

A people that values its privileges
above its principles soon loses both.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

A friend is someone
who is there for you when
he’d rather be anywhere else.

Len Wein

Beauty depends on simplicity-
I mean the true simplicity of rightly and nobly ordered mind and character.
He is a fool who seriously inclines to weigh the beautiful
by any other standard than that of the good.
The good is the beautiful.
Grant me to be beautiful in the inner man.

Plato

In the fields of observation,
chance favors only the prepared mind.

Louis Pasteur

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

Carl Sagan

Before you embark on a journey of revenge,
dig two graves.

Confucius.

Don’t be so humble—you are not that great.

Golda Meir

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die! The child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety.

William Wordsworth

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.

Martin Fraquar Tupper.

Consistency of purpose with economy of motion

No, it’s not the things you do;
It’s the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you the bit of heartache At the setting of the sun.

Margaret E. Sangster

Senza Soldi is Nati Non Fanno Miracoli
Without money the saints don’t perform miracles

(Old Italian saying)

If you don’t know where you are going,
then any road will get you there.

Lewis Carroll

I expect to pass through this world but once;
Any good thing I can do,
or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature,
let me not defer or neglect it,
for I shall not pass this way again.

Stephen Grellet

If you do not change direction,
you may end up where you are heading.

Lao Tzu