Quotes About Perspective

There are two kinds of difficulties. Some are clearly problems to solve, situations that call for compassionate action and direct response. Many more are problems we create for ourselves by struggling to make life different than it is or by becoming so caught up in our own point of view that we lose sight of a larger, wiser perspective. Usually

My life has been filled with terrible misfortunes — most of which never happened. Mark Twain

teaching that states of consciousness are far more crucial than outer circumstances.

As the Persian mystic Rumi instructs us, "When you go to a garden, do you look at thorns or flowers? Spend more time with roses and jasmine.

No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time." No one has lived your life before. It is an adventure worth taking.

Meditation is a practice that can teach us to enter each moment with wisdom, lightness, and a sense of humor. It is an art of opening and letting go, rather than accumulation or struggle. Then, even within our frustrations and difficulties, a remarkable inner sense of support and perspective can grow.

It's sometimes a blessing that great historical figures don't live to see what people do to their visions.

When one sees herself and her kind as the standard of perfection against which all else is measured, it is impossible to have perspective.

It makes absolutely no difference in the scheme of things whether all but a handful of people live or die. No more than the importance of a single flower, or blade of grass, or vegetable, or bird. It would make no difference if those men who held that ancient pass or that equally ancient fort had, instead, died of disease or old age or in a saloon fight. But it made a difference that they died where they did. It mattered. It justified their whole existence.

Each time we come to a book we give it a different reading because we bring a different person to it. It is not you who reads the book, the book reads you.

But the reality is that sometimes a good lie may be what we really need. Provided we can make it sound like truth.

When I am cast in a movie where I feel that the woman's part is more interesting, I usually start thinking about Spencer Tracy and Fred Astaire. They seem to be the most clear actors when working with women.

my mother never saw the irony of calling me a "son of a bitch

Children who are encouraged to play with the same object in a number of different ways develop the kind of flexible thinking that can consider a problem from a number of different perspectives.

If one person tells you you're a horse , they are crazy. If three people tell you you're a horse, There's conspiracy afoot. If ten people tell you you're a horse,it's time to buy a saddle

A gun is just a tool. No better and no worse than any other tool, a shovel - or an axe or a saddle or a stove or anything. Think of it always that way. A gun is as good - and as bad - as the man who carries it.

These few weeks can either be the longest or the shortest in our lives. But when you look back, you would realize that they were also the most rewarding.

My dear child, you have no idea what is happening. Your life, the way you know it, is coming to an end. You just wait and see what is going to happen to us!" I thought to myself, what the hell is she talking about? The Russian soldiers seemed so friendly and kind.

Knowledge is useless unless you know where it ends.

If you don't want to be caught unaware by the future, lose your perspective because everyone from existing and future customers to your current and would-be competitors is likely viewing things from a perspective different than your own.

To gain a fresh perspective on an old industry, it helps to listen and learn from younger people. A great way to formalize this process is to get a reverse mentor—a younger person who has less experience in your industry. (What you might see as a "lack of experience" can be viewed from a different perspective as being unburdened by assumptions, biases, and conventional wisdom.)

LEAD LIKE YOU'RE RIGHT, BUT LISTEN LIKE YOU'RE WRONG

A person's first thought is rarely their own. More often than not, it belongs to a parent, a teacher, a coach, a professor, an old boss, or is something they have recently read in the newspaper or have seen on TV.

The passport to a better life is to think about your death occasionally.