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    “When I left New York City for the backstreets of Japan, I figured I’d be growing poorer in terms of money, amusements, social life, and obvious prospects, but I’d be richer in what I prize most: days and hours.” ~ Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness

      “Half the confusion in the world comes from not knowing how little we need.” ~ Admiral Richard E. Byrd

        “Writers, of course, are obliged by our professions to spend much of our time going nowhere.  Our creations come not when we’re out in the world, gathering impressions, but when we’re sitting still  turning those impressions into sentences.  Our job, you could say, is to turn, through stillness, a life of movement into art.  Sitting still is our workplace, sometimes our battlefield.” ~ Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness

          “The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war.” ~ Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

            “Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.” ~ Michel de Montaigne

              “Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” ~ Winston Churchill

                “How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” ~ Maya Angelou

                  “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.” ~ Billy Graham

                    “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” 
~ John F. Kennedy

                      “When friends ask me for suggestions about where to go on vacation, I’ll sometimes ask if they want to try Nowhere, especially if they don’t want to have to deal with visas and injections and long lines at the airport.  One of the beauties of Nowhere is that you never know where you’ll end up when you head in its direction, and though the horizon is unlimited, you may have very little sense of what you’ll see along the way.  The deeper blessing is that it can get you as wide-awake, exhilarated, and pumping-hearted as when you are in love.” ~ Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness

                        “It matters not where or how far you travel – the farther commonly the worse – but how much alive you are.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

                          “So much of our lives takes place in our heads – in memory or imagination, in speculation or interpretation – that sometimes I feel that I can best change my life by changing the way I look at it.  As America’s wisest psychologist, William James, reminded us, ‘The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.’  It’s the perspective we choose – not the places we visit – that ultimately tells us where we stand.  Every time I take a trip, the experience acquires meaning and grows deeper only after I get back home and, sitting still, begin to convert the sights I’ve seen into lasting insights.” ~ Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness

                           

                            “The idea behind Nowhere – choosing to sit still long enough to turn inward – is at heart a simple one.  If your car is broken, you don’t try to find ways to repaint its chassis; most of our problems – and therefore our solutions, our peace of mind – lie within.  To hurry around trying to find happiness outside ourselves make about as much sense as the comical figure in the Islamic parable who, having lost a key in his living room, goes out into the street to look for it because there’s more light there.” ~ Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness