Quotes About Serenity

Finché giunsi in vista del mare. Il mare mi turbò, e mi misi a piangere. Nulla, né fiume, né pianura, né montagna, e neppure un albero, neppure una nuvola, dà l'idea della libertà quanto il mare.

It was a peaceful scene in the little garden. The heat was trapped there, reflected off the soft, flaky red brick of the walls, and the air was drowsy with the sound of bees, attracted by the marigolds and lavender which had been planted there to fetch them; for fruit will not be born without the bee, and the garden was given over to fruit. All

She stood to drink in the darkness and the air fallen still after a snowfall. The clouds had all blown away. Faint moonlight silvered the fresh snow. Stars shone in a black sky, like jewels on a Lady's cloak. The garden lay shrouded in silver white silence, all its roughness made smooth. Such snow, Gwyn thought, had a way of turning the world into what it was not and making it seem safe. Such snow masked the true face of the world.

Looked at from where she sat unsleeping, the sky seemed walled in by forest. It looked as if there was a river of sky matching the water river below.

Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone.

Like a cat asleep on a chair at peace, in peace and at one with the master of the house, with the mistress, at home, at home in the house of the living

He had reached the point where all he wanted on earth was to be alone.

With Mrs. Morel it was one of those still moments when the small frets vanish, and the beauty of things stands out, and she had the peace and the strength to see herself.

All our troubles, says somebody wise, come upon us because we cannot be alone.

Like the sun illuminating and refreshing the world, this sitting removes obscurities from the mind and lightens the body so that exhaustion is set aside.

There is only one way to happiness," Epictetus taught the Romans, "and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.

prayer:   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.

I knew, of course, that I had nothing to worry about—personally, at least. But

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

SEVEN WAYS TO PEACE AND HAPPINESS

Beyond, a rise of sand and saw grass is creased by a rivulet of clear water in which swim blue crabs and cat-eye snails. Over the hillock lies the open sea. The difference is very great: first, this sleazy backwater, then the great blue ocean. The beach is clean and a big surf is rolling in; the water in the middle distance is green and lathered. You come over the hillock and your heart lifts up; your old sad music comes into the major.

The key to serenity is forgiveness.

I think . . . the secret is to just settle for the shape your life takes.

Loafe with me on the grass—loose the stop from your throat; Not words, not music or rhyme I want—not custom or lecture, not even the best; Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice.

Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?

Solitary the thrush, The hermit withdrawn to himself, avoiding the settlements, Sings by himself a song. Song of the bleeding throat!

What will be will be well — for what is is well, To take interest is well, and not to take interest is well.

After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, love, and so on — have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear — what remains?" "Nature remains.

I am he that walks with the tender and growing night, I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night. Press close bare-bosom'd night—press close magnetic nourishing night! Night of south winds—night of the large few stars! Still nodding night—mad naked summer night. — Walt Whitman, from "Song of Myself, 21," Leaves of Grass: The Deathbed Edition (BOMC, 1992)