smiles

Those who smile rather than rage
are always the stronger.

Japanese Proverb

   

If a child smiles, if an adult smiles, that is very important.  If in our daily lives we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it.  If we really know how to live, what better way to start the day than with a smile?  Our smile affirms our awareness and determination to live in peace and joy.  The source of a true smile is an awakened mind.

Thich Nhat Hanh

      
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.  What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.  I love the person that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow.

Thomas Paine
  
If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love.  Don't be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning 'Good morning' at total strangers.

Maya Angelou
   

A smile costs nothing but gives much.  It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give.  It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.  None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it.  Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.  Some people are too tired to give you a smile.  Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.

unattributed
  
  
We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.

Mother Teresa

   

Every time a person smiles, and much more when that person
laughs, it adds something to his or her fragment of life.

Laurence Sterne

   

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It's the Songs you sing and the Smiles you wear that
make the Sunshine everywhere.

unattributed
    

A smile is the light in your window that tells others
that there is a caring, sharing person inside.

Denis Waitley

   

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love,
a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

Mother Teresa

   
Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your
husband, smile at your children, smile at each other--
it doesn't matter who it is--and that will help you
to grow up in greater love for each other.


Mother Teresa
   

A woman has two smiles that an angel might envy, the smile that
accepts a lover before words are uttered, and the smile that
lights on the first-born babe, and assures it of a mother's love.

Thomas C. Haliburton

    
Our smile will bring happiness to us and to those around us.  Even if
we spend a lot of money on gifts for everyone in our family, nothing
we buy could give them as much happiness as the gift of our awareness,
our smile.  And this precious gift costs nothing.

Thich Nhat Hanh
    

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.

William Arthur Ward

   

If you see a friend without a smile; give him one of yours.

Proverb

   
The hardest thing you can do is smile when you are ill,
in pain, or depressed. But this no-cost remedy is a necessary
first half-step if you are to start on the road to recovery.

Allen Klein

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.  These are
but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway,
the good they do is inconceivable.

Joseph Addison

   

It’s obvious that smiling shows you are happy but it is, admittedly,
a bit strange to realize that the act of smiling can itself make you
happy.  It’s a perfect illustration of just how close the links are
between the mind and body.  Smiling is infectious, too.  When you
see someone grin, you almost invariably smile back. You can’t help
it.  Think about that for a moment:  just the act of smiling can make
you happy (even if it’s forced); and if you smile, others will smile
back at you, reinforcing your own happiness.  It’s a virtuous circle.

Mark Williams
Mindfulness:  An Eight-Week Plan

    

    
Nobody needs a smile so much as the one who has none to give.
So get used to smiling heart-warming smiles, and you will
spread sunshine in a sometimes-dreary world.

Lawrence G. Lovasik
    

One word or a pleasing smile is often enough to raise up a saddened and wounded soul.

Therese of Lisieux

  
A socially appropriate, unfelt smile is very different from a spontaneous one.  A genuine smile, like a sneeze or a yawn, instigates itself and is not totally under your control.  It goes along with a certain inner sensation, different for each of us but unmistakable when you feel it.  For you, it may be a sense of bubbling pleasure, or a tendency to hum, or a little tickle in your heart.  You may not always smile when you feel it, but you certainly wouldn't mind.  By contrast, any other sort of smile is a small violation of the true self.
   Don't believe it?  Try this:  Put on a big old smile, right now.  How does that feel?  If you were in a pretty good mood already, it may have brightened you up even further, like an emotional tickle.  If you're seriously unhappy, however, you'll probably find that smiling feels not only like an effort, but a betrayal.  Call up the memory of a situations where you felt you had to smile even though you were sad or in pain, and you'll likely recall a sense of profound violation.  Smiling is very serious business to our bodies and hearts, and to practice it, you must treat it with respect.

Martha Beck
The Joy Diet
   

    
You're never fully dressed without a smile.

Martin Charnin
   

There are two kinds of smiles, genuine and artificial.  Very
often we put on smiles, but the heart does not smile, only the
lips and face take part in it.  This is not a real smile.  When
the heart is filled with joy, it is reflected on the face as a
smile.  It is a natural outflow of joy.

Papa Ramdas

  

If you force yourself to smile, you'll end up laughing.
You will be cheerful because you smile.

Kenneth Goode

    

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A wise person laughs and smiles through the eyes. . . . The smile and
laughter through the eyes influence people tremendously.
No energy leaks if you smile through the eyes.

Sivananda
  

Some people are too tired to give you a smile.  Give them one of yours,
as no one needs a smile so much as one who has none to give.

Frank I. Fletcher

  

When we learn to smile at life, we shall find that the problems we encounter dissolve.

Donald Curtis

   

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All life is like a mirror.  Smile at it and it smiles back at you.
I just put a big smile on my face and everyone smiles back.

Peace Pilgrim
  

If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only
we, but everyone will profit from it.  This is the most basic kind of peace work.

Thich Nhat Hanh

   

If you can smile here and now with only that which
is presently available, then life is lived to the fullest.

Narayana

  
If good people would make their goodness agreeable, and smile instead
of frowning in their virtue, how many would they win to the good cause.

James Usher
  

If you're not using your smile, you're like a person with a million
dollars in the bank and no checkbook.

Les Giblin

  

Smiles are contagious. . . . Watch how quickly someone responds to you
when you are smiling at them.  We are all spiritually unified in a joyous universe.

Norma Hawkins 

   

    

          

Found online:
 

 
(Found online images come from a variety of unattributed
sources from various social media pages.  They're too nice
not to share!)

   

Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.

   
   

       

Explore all of our quotations pages--these links will take you to the first page of each topic, and those pages will contain links to any additional pages on the same topic (there are five pages on adversity, for example).

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