What our world most requires now is the kind of education that fosters love for humankind, that develops character - that provides an intellectual basis for the realization of peace and empowers learners to contribute to and improve society.

(Daisaku Ikeda, Founder, Soka Univ. of America in a lecture at the Rajiv Gandhi Found.,N. Delhi, India, Oct. 21, 1997)

If you are humble,
nothing will touch you,
neither praise nor disgrace,
because you know,
what you are.

(Mother Teresa of Calcutta)

Go placidly amid the noise & haste,
& remember what peace there may be in silence.
...Speak your truth quietly & clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull & ignorant;
they too have their story.

...If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain & bitter;
for always
there will be greater & lesser persons than yourself.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment
it is perrenial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit
to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself
with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue & loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

...you have the right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding
as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors & aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of this
keep peace with your soul.

... Be careful. Strive to be happy.

(excerpts from DESIDERATA)

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