All goals must presuppose values. And the measures of success should be very specific.
I love these:
- To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with an open heart;
- To appreciate beauty;
- To seek elegance rather than luxury;
- To live content with small means;
- To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;
- To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
- To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
- To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, never in a hurry;
- To find the best in others;
- To give of oneself without the slightest thought of return;
- To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a rescued soul, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
- To play with enthusiasm and sing with exaltation;
- To laugh often and much;
- To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
- This is to have succeeded…
- to have filled my niche and accomplished all my tasks;
- leaving this world better than I found it.
- This is to have succeeded…
(The above is a re-ordering and generalization of quotations often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. See http://wiki.43folders.com/index.php/User:Gochess/quotes
for specific history of alleged authors.)
