more quotes, quotations and nice thoughts about today

How we spend our days is,
of course, how we spend our lives.

Annie Dillard

As yesterday is history, and tomorrow may never come, I have resolved from this day on, I will do all the business I can honestly, have all the fun I can reasonably, do all the good I can willingly, and save my digestion by thinking pleasantly. Robert Louis Stevenson

Always begin anew with the day, much as nature does; it is one of the sensible things that nature does. George E. Woodberry Light tomorrow with today. Elizabeth Browning

Life is slipping away with incredible speed. We are racing through space at the rate of nineteen miles every second. Today is our most precious possession. It is our only sure possession. Dale Carnegie

There is only one way really to live, and that is to start out every morning with a firm resolution to get the most out of that day, to live it to the full. No matter what happens or does not happen, what comes or does not come, resolve that you will extract from every experience of the day something good, something that will make you wiser and show you how to make fewer mistakes tomorrow. Say to yourself, "This day I begin a new life. I will forget everything in the past that caused me pain, grief, or disgrace." Orison Swett Marden

It is the saying of holy men that, if we wish to be perfect, we have
nothing more to do that to perform the ordinary duties of the day
well. A short road to perfection--short, not because easy, but
because pertinent and intelligible. There are no short ways
to perfection, but there are sure ones.

John Henry Newman
Meditations and Devotions

quotations - contents - welcome page - obstacles
our current e-zine - the people behind the words - articles and excerpts
Daily Meditations, Year One - Year Two - Year Three - Year Four

Sign up for your free daily spiritual or general quotation ~ ~ Sign up for your free daily meditation

We can fill each day with grasping or with giving;
with griping or with gratitude.

William Arthur Ward

When one cannot be sure that there are many
days left, each single day becomes as important
as a year, and one does not waste an hour
in wishing that the hours were longer, but simply
fills it, like a smaller cup, as high as it will go
without spilling over.

Natalie Kusz

I think, what has this day brought me,
and what have I given it?

Henry Moore

Nothing today need conform to anything of yesterday.

Jesse Jennings

Today is a new day. You will get out of it just what you put into it.

Mary Pickford

We can stop waiting for life to become perfect and start working
with what we’ve got to make it as satisfying as we can. We can accept,
bless, give thanks, and get going. Today, we can begin to call forth the
riches from our everyday life. Procrastination has robbed us of too
many precious opportunities. Call a friend for lunch, begin to read
or even write that novel, organize your papers. Try a new recipe for
dinner, smile at everyone you meet, sit and dream before a blazing fire,
pick up your needlepoint again, act as if you’re grateful to be alive,
scatter joy. Think of one thing that would give you a genuine
moment of pleasure today and do it.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

To awaken each morning with a smile brightening my face; to greet
the day with reverence for the opportunities it contains; to approach
my work with a clean mind; to hold ever before me, even in the
doing of little things, the Ultimate Purpose toward which I am working;
to meet men and women with laughter on my lips and love in my heart;
to be gentle, kind, and courteous through all the hours; to approach
the night with weariness that ever woos sleep and the joy that comes
from work well done—this is how I desire to waste wisely my days.

Thomas Dekker

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference,
ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time,
add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.

Marion Wright Edelman

today - today 2

Sufficient it is to know that the way we lived our yesterday
has determined for us our today. And, again, when the
morning with its fresh beginning comes, all tomorrows should
be tomorrows, with which we have nothing to do. Sufficient
to know that the way we live our today determines our tomorrow.

Ralph Waldo Trine

Let's concentrate on today; it's all we have. Within this day,
we have many choices and a rich texture of experience. We
can't control the outcome; the moment is within our grasp.
We must seize it, savor it, learn from it; it is life itself.

unattributed

You've been given today. Will you use it or will you miss out
on today's wonder because you're too preoccupied with
holding on to things that are beyond your control?

Melody Beattie

How many of us get up in the morning feeling truly grateful for the day? Most of us wish we could turn the clock back and keep sleeping. The truth is, when you are happy to wake up and are grateful for the day, your life does change.
Each new day is an opportunity to pray for your loved ones and to act in a loving manner towards them. I start out by saying my prayer of thanks and asking for guidance and help from all available resources. I find I am always grateful for the new day, no matter how hard it is or will be, because I know I am not ready for my days to end. After all, the alternative to waking up and facing another difficult day is death. For all I know, after death the unenlightened may be sent back to wake up to the glory of the new day and its opportunities.
I want to experience more days and the difficulties and opportunities they will bring. I want the chance to test myself. Maybe this makes me a glutton for punishment, but if I can help one living thing get through the day and not hurt anyone else in the process, I go to sleep thankful for the time I have been given and eager to awaken to tomorrow.

Bernie Siegel

The posture we take while
performing our tasks today,
and the attitude we project
toward those who cross our
path, will emphatically
influence what the day brings.
No one else can decide for
any of us what we'll feel or
think about the day. We
have the power to be as
content or as discontent
as we make up
our minds to be.

unattributed

Every morning, when we wake up, we have twenty-four
brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift! We have
the capacity to live in a way that these twenty-four hours will
bring peace, joy, and happiness to ourselves and others.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Each day we can wake up and choose to see life as a gift and to be
fully present in that day. We cannot always control the outcome,
but we can control our reactions. Each day we can bring all we have
to that day, choosing to live it fully, seeing it as a great gift. Each day
we can train our mind not to obsess on regret, nor to worry for tomorrow
but to be in this present moment. Each day we can be grateful for
what has happened that day. And we can choose not to judge our lives
from moment to moment (am I happy, successful, unhappy,
a failure, good, bad) but simply to live our life.

John Izzo

Happy the people, and happy they alone, who can call today
their own; They who are secure within can say, tomorrow
do thy worst, for I have lived today.

John Dryden

One of the illusions of life is that the present hour
is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your
heart that every day is the best day of the year.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Articles and book excerpts on today:

Bless Today: It Will Never Come Again      Charlotte Davis Kasl
Look at Life through the Windshield      Patti LaBelle
Creating and Living Your Ideal Legacy      Steve Brunkhorst
A Different Type of Resolution      tom walsh
Embracing the Everyday      Susie Michelle Cortwright
In This Day      Bob Perks
Living in the Moment      Paul Bauer
The Precious Present      Spencer Johnson
Start Today      Joe Mazzella
Three Wondrous Answers      Lev Tolstoy (retold by Thich Nhat Hanh)
Today Is Today      Jane Mullikin

As soon as I open my eyes I see it--a bright new day has dawned. The
best thing about this gift is that I get to make it whatever I choose.
I begin with gratitude, giving thanks for my life, my breath and the
possibilities of a new beginning. I go about my activities with enthusiasm,
noticing love and beauty and laughter. If a conflict arises, I bring
what I choose to the situation. I add compassion, forgiveness and
understanding. Filled with gratitude for the joy of being alive, I
conclude my day with prayer and meditation. I close my eyes and
I am restored by a night of peaceful rest.

unattributed (The Daily Word)

The first hour of waking is the rudder that guides the whole day.

Henry Ward Beecher

If we fill our hours with regrets of yesterday and with the
worries of tomorrow, we have no today in which to be thankful.

unattributed

It's Fine Today
Charles Malloch

Sure, this world is full of trouble--
I ain't said it ain't.
Lord, I've had enough and double
Reason for complaint;
Rain and storm have come to fret me,
Skies are often grey;
Thorns and brambles have beset me
On the road--but say,
Ain't it fine today?

What's the use of always weepin',
Making trouble last?
What's the use of always keepin'
Thinkin' of the past?
Each must have his tribulation--
Water with his wine;
Life, it ain't no celebration,
Trouble?--I've had mine--
But today is fine!

It's today that I am livin',
Not a month ago.
Havin'; losin'; takin'; givin';
As time wills it so.
Yesterday a cloud of sorrow
Fell across the way.
It may rain again tomorrow,
It may rain--but say,
Ain't it fine today?

If I could only remember that the days were not bricks to be laid row on row,
to be built into a solid house, where one might dwell in safety and peace,
but only food for the fires of the heart.

Edmund Wilson

This, I thought, is how great visionaries and poets see everything--
as if for the first time. Each morning they see a new world before
their eyes; they do not really see it, they create it.

Nikos Kazantzakis

Whatever you envision for your future, it's important not to get
impatient waiting for it to happen. If you spend your time wishing
your days away, you'll miss out on the wonderful things that today
can bring you. More importantly, the steps you take today are
the building blocks with which you create your future.
Take a little time today to stop and smell the roses. . .
and enjoy where and who you are.

Steve Degger and Leslie Ann Gibson

We have some inspiring and motivational books that may interest you. Our main way of supporting this site is through the sale of books, either physical copies or digital copies for your Amazon Kindle (including the online reader). All of the money that we earn through them comes back to the site in one way or another. Just click on the picture to the left to visit our page of books, both fiction and non-fiction!

Today I can:

Encourage someone who needs encouragement–or even someone who doesn’t seem to need it.

Make a promise to a young person. . . and keep it!

Not criticize anyone for anything, but instead look for the sense that I may not understand in things that other people do.

Make myself do without something that I may want.

Make it the first day of my new diet, or exercise program, or reading program; or I can register for a course in college or at a community center.

Buy a copy of a song I’ve wanted to hear for ages, and sing along with it.

Start a book that I’ve been meaning to start reading. . . or writing.

Give thanks for the day and all the beauty and wonder that it contains–and try to see all of each that I can.

Recognize that everyone is going through their own trials and realize that I can have no idea at all of what they’re feeling–what kind of pain they’re in, or what kind of sorrow they feel. And I can feel and show compassion for them all.

Listen to someone else without putting my two cents’ worth in.

Enjoy the day for the truly precious gift that it is, and enjoy the other people in my world for the truly precious gifts that they are, whether I see their gifts or not!

I'm a huge proponent of living for today, of taking care of today's tasks
in the here and now and not worrying about what the future will bring.
But sometimes it's quite obvious that today's task is making plans for tomorrow;
otherwise, we'll face problems tomorrow that definitely can bring us down.

tom walsh

We take spiritual responsibility for our day when we pray that it
be blessed. More than the way we look, more than the clothes
in our closet, more than whether or not our papers are organized,
this simple request--that our lives be reflections of an eternal
love--releases us from the confines of yesterday and frees us to
unlimited possibilities today. Every single morning we can receive
from the universe an entirely new day, in every sense of the word.
That's exactly what's available to us, and courage lies in claiming it.

Marianne Williamson

I have always been delighted at the prospect of
a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps
a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.

J.B. Priestley

This day is all I have and these hours are now my eternity. I greet
this sunrise with cries of joy as a prisoner who is reprieved from death.
I lift mine arms with thanks for this priceless gift of a new day. So too,
I will beat upon my heart with gratitude as I consider all who greeted
yesterday's sunrise who are no longer with the living today. I am
indeed a fortunate man and today's hours are but a bonus, undeserved.
Why have I been allowed to live this extra day when others, far better
than I, have departed? Is it that they have accomplished their purpose
while mine is yet to be achieved? Is this another opportunity for me
to become the man I know I can be? Is there a purpose in nature?
Is this my day to excel?
I will live this day as if it is my last.

Og Mandino
The Greatest Salesman in the World

Tomorrow
Edgar Guest

He was going to be all that a mortal should be tomorrow.
No one should be kinder or braver than he tomorrow.
A friend who was troubled and weary he knew,
Who'd be glad of a lift and who needed it, too;
On him he would call and see what he could do, tomorrow.

Each morning he stacked up the letters he'd write, tomorrow,
And thought of the folks he would fill with delight, tomorrow.
It was too bad, indeed, he was busy today,
And hadn't a minute to stop on his way;
More time he would have to give others, he'd say, tomorrow.

The greatest of workers this man would have been, tomorrow.
The world would have known him, had he ever seen tomorrow.
But the fact is he died and he faded from view,
And all that he left here when living was through
Was a mountain of things he intended to do, tomorrow.

In terms of days and moments lived, you’ll never again be as young
as you are right now, so spend this day, the youth of your future, in a
way that deflects regret. Invest in yourself. Have some fun. Do something
important. Love somebody extra. In one sense, you’re just a kid, but a
kid with enough years on her to know that every day is priceless.

Victoria Moran
Younger by the Day

today - today 2

How much of our lives are. . . well. . . so daily. How often our hours are
filled with the mundane, seemingly unimportant things that have to be done,
whether at home or work. These very "daily" tasks could become a
celebration of praise. "It is through consecration," someone has said,
"that drudgery is made divine."

Gigi Graham Tchividjian

From the spiritual side:

Every day we live is a priceless gift from God, loaded with
possibilities to learn something new, to gain fresh insights.

Dale Evans Rogers

To-Day

With every rising of the sun
Think of your life as just begun.
The past has shrived and buried deep
All yesterdays; there let them sleep,
Nor seek to summon back one ghost
Of that innumerable host.

Concern yourself with but to-day;
Woo it and teach it to obey
Your wish and will. Since time began
To-day has been the friend of man.
But in his blindness and his sorrow
He looks to yesterday and to-morrow.

You and to-day! a soul sublime
And the great pregnant hour of time.
With God between to bind the twain!
Go forth, I say--attain, attain.
With God between to bind the twain!

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Most mornings when I awake, I am pleasantly surprised to find
I’m still alive. On occasion I have been known to wake up
mean and irritable, but even then I can choose not to stay
that way. Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may not come.
Today is the only slot of time I really have. What a shame
to blow it. I want to make today the very best possible. . . .
Before I crawl out of bed, I thank the Lord for another day
and ask for strength. Maybe I’m to clean the house, or
work at the office, or talk with a friend over lunch.
The tasks aren’t the issue; my attitude is.

Marabel Morgan

No matter what looms ahead, you can eat today, enjoy the
sunlight today, mix good cheer with friends today;
enjoy it and bless God for it. Do not look back
on happiness--nor dream of it in the future.

Henry Ward Beecher