"Know thyself," said the old philosopher, "improve thyself," saith the new. Our great object in time is not to waste our passions and gifts on the things external that we must leave behind, but that we cultivate within us all that we can carry into the eternal progress beyond.
quote by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Alicia Nuncamas
As I walked by myself,
And talked by myself.
Myself said unto me:
Look to thyself,
Take care of thyself,
For nobody cares for thee.
I answered myself,
And said to myself.
In the selfsame repartee:
Look to thyself,
Or not look to thyself,
The self same thing will be!
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Sonnet LXXXVI: Lost Days
The lost days of my life until to-day,
What were they, could I see them on the street
Lie as they fell? Would they be ears of wheat
Sown once for food but trodden into clay?
Or golden coins squandered and still to pay?
Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet?
Or such spilt water as in dreams must cheat
The undying throats of Hell, athirst alway?
I do not see them here; but after death
God knows I know the faces I shall see,
Each one a murdered self, with low last breath.
“I am thyself,—what hast thou done to me?”
“And I—and I—thyself,” (lo! each one saith,)
“And thou thyself to all eternity!”
poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
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(Reflection Poem) A Look At Thyself
To trust first one must trust thyself.
To love one first must love thyself.
To hate one must first hate thyself.
To lie one must first lie to thyself.
To cheat one must first cheat thyself.
For an outward expression reflects inwards.
No matter how we try to hide who we are it is seen through our actions towards others.
poem by Ace Of Black Hearts
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When I lose Myself
When thus I lose myself in Thee, my God,
Then do I see, and know,
That all Thy universe reveals Thy beauty,
All living beings, and all lifeless things,
Exist through Thee.
This whole vast world is but the form
In which Thous showest us Thyself,
Is but the voice
In which Thyself Thou speakest unto us.
What need of words?
Come, Master, come,
And fill me wholly with Thyself.
poem by Sant Tukaram
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Faith To Move Mountains
Did you ever hear inspired stories
about poor swamp frogs who dreamed;
of becoming a real prince or princess
pipe dreams of people impossibilities?
Walt Disney dreaming of Disneyland
a fantasy happiness magical wonderland;
is power of imaginative transformation
to gift hope kindness possibilities won.
Faith to move mountains is personality individually done
improve the world improve thyself it is microcosm done.
Change thyself to change the world it is inspiration done
when your soul is measured weighed which values won?
poem by Terence George Craddock
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O Fool
O Fool, try to carry thyself upon thy own shoulders!
O beggar, to come beg at thy own door!
Leave all thy burdens on his hands who can bear all,
and never look behind in regret.
Thy desire at once puts out the light from the lamp it touches with its breath.
It is unholy---take not thy gifts through its unclean hands.
Accept only what is offered by sacred love.
poem by Rabindranath Tagore
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Fool
O Fool, try to carry thyself upon thy own shoulders!
O beggar, to come beg at thy own door!
Leave all thy burdens on his hands who can bear all,
and never look behind in regret.
Thy desire at once puts out the light from the lamp it touches with its breath.
It is unholy---take not thy gifts through its unclean hands.
Accept only what is offered by sacred love.
poem by Rabindranath Tagore
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Compare not thyself with those that have less than thyself, but look on those that have far exceeded thee.
quote by William Gurnall
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Rhythm Of Life
Welcoming world, with the birth thyself thee get;
With a genial-sweet happiness thee made.
A pestilence revelation objective thou you hates;
That is the Rhythm of the Life thyself you gets.
Understand the monstrous schooled meaning,
Thyself expected from the ordiance having.
Work hard with the worth you arrayed;
Try the picture of the future thy made.
Arrange your surrounding with a vista tags,
Buy thy Age with the degree thee has.
Make sure life give us only a chance;
To make history as long as you can.
Don't obsure about the thrill of death,
It's the ultimate truth of the life thyself you get...
poem by Kumarjeet Basu
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Hymn 116
Love to God and our neighbor.
Matt. 22:37-40.
Thus saith the first, the great command,
"Let all thy inward powers unite
To love thy Maker and thy God
With utmost vigor and delight.
"Then shall thy neighbor next in place
Share thine affections and esteem,
And let thy kindness to thyself
Measure and rule thy love to him."
This is the sense that Moses spoke,
This did the prophets preach and prove;
For want of this the law is broke,
And the whole law's fulfilled by love.
But O! how base our passions are!
How cold our charity and zeal!
Lord, fill our souls with heav'nly fire,
Or we shall ne'er perform thy will.
poem by Isaac Watts
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Revere thyself, and yet thyself despise.
quote by Edward Young
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Love Thyself Last
Love thyself last. Look near, behold thy duty
To those who walk beside thee down life’s road;
Make glad their days by little acts of beauty,
And help them bear the burden of earth’s load.
Love thyself last. Look far and find the stranger,
Who staggers ‘neath his sin and his despair;
Go lend a hand, and lead him out of danger,
To heights where he may see the world is fair.
Love thyself last. The vastnesses above thee
Are filled with Spirit Forces, strong and pure.
And fervently, these faithful friends shall love thee:
Keep thou thy watch o’er others, and endure.
Love thyself last; and oh, such joy shall thrill thee,
As never yet to selfish souls was given.
Whate’er thy lot, a perfect peace will fill thee,
And earth shall seem the ante-room of Heaven.
Love thyself last, and thou shall grow in spirit
To see, to hear, to know, and understand.
The message of the stars, lo, thou shall hear it,
And all God’s joys shall be at thy command.
poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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Soto! Explore thyself!
832
Soto! Explore thyself!
Therein thyself shalt find
The "Undiscovered Continent"—
No Settler had the Mind.
poem by Emily Dickinson
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I Know You Not
O Christ, the Vine with living Fruit,
The twelvefold-fruited Tree of Life,
The Balm in Gilead after strife,
The valley Lily and the Rose;
Stronger than Lebanon, Thou Root;
Sweeter than clustered grapes, Thou Vine;
O Best, Thou Vineyard of red wine,
Keeping thy best wine till the close.
Pearl of great price Thyself alone,
And ruddier than the ruby Thou;
Most precious lightning Jasper stone,
Head of the corner spurned before:
Fair Gate of pearl, Thyself the Door;
Clear golden Street, Thyself the Way;
By Thee we journey toward Thee now,
Through Thee shall enter Heaven one day.
I thirst for Thee, full fount and flood;
My heart calls Thine, as deep to deep:
Dost Thou forget Thy sweat and pain,
They provocation on the Cross?
Heart-pierced for me, vouchsafe to keep
The purchase of Thy lavished Blood:
The gain is Thine, Lord, if I gain;
Or if I lose, Thine own the loss.
At midnight (saith the Parable)
A cry was made, the Bridegroom came;
Those who were ready entered in:
The rest, shut out in death and shame,
Strove all too late that Feast to win,
Their die was cast, and fixed their lot;
A gulf divided Heaven from Hell;
The Bridegroom said—I know you not.
But Who is this that shuts the door,
And saith—I know you not—to them?
I see the wounded hands and side,
The brow thorn-tortured long ago:
Yea; This Who grieved and bled and died,
This same is He Who must condemn;
He called, but they refused to know;
So now He hears their cry no more.
poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti
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The Bearer of False Smile
The Bearer of False Smile
By: Adam M. Snow
Ye humble thyself upon thy altar,
Calling upon thy bearer of false smile;
Lest be known thy truth are lies,
Yet oneself ye defile.
But one day ye would lose thyself,
And thyself would lose thy heart;
And by the month of twelfth be told,
The wake which lies apart.
poem by Adam M. Snow
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Know Thyself (at The Gate)
at the gate
there hangs this notice
know thyself, and i
reflect upon it, how other
people can be so mean
about his neighbor simply because
and this is too important
he is confused and does not know what
to do
about himself, and his being mean,
and so the notice at the gate still hangs in there
and it will be for a long, long time,
until man really knows himself,
which could at time be too confusing too,
for how can one so embellished in himself
not know himself, for how can one be so attached
to his bone and flesh and his veins
be not knowing himself, and so i reflected some more,
where is thyself? is it not a possibility too
that there is no self and so one is too unhappy
because he searches for himself througout his whole
lifetime only to find out that there is no such
self as I?
come to think of it, who am I? and who are you?
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Let me advise thee not to talk of thyself as being old. There is something in Mind Cure, after all, and if thee continually talks of thyself as being old, thee may perhaps bring on some of the infirmities of age. At least I would not risk it if I were thee.
quote by Hannah Whitall Smith (1907)
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sonnet 4: Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend
Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend
Upon thy self thy beauty's legacy?
Nature's bequest gives nothing, but doth lend,
And being frank she lends to those are free.
Then, beauteous niggard why dost thou abuse,
The bounteous largess given thee to give?
Profitless usurer, why dost thou use
So great a sum of sums yet canst not live?
For having traffic with thyself alone,
Thou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive.
Then how when nature calls thee to be gone,
What acceptable audit canst thou leave?
Thy unused beauty must be tombed with thee,
Which usèd, lives th' executor to be.
poem by William Shakespeare
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Eternal Time, That Wastest Without Waste
Eternal Time, that wastest without waste,
That art and art not, diest, and livest still;
Most slow of all, and yet of greatest haste;
Both ill and good, and neither good nor ill:
How can I justly praise thee, or dispraise?
Dark are thy nights, but bright and clear thy days.
Both free and scarce, thou giv'st and tak'st again;
Thy womb that all doth breed, is tomb to all;
What so by thee hath life, by thee is slain;
From thee do all things rise, by thee they fall:
Constant, inconstant, moving, standing still;
Was, Is, Shall be, do thee both breed and kill.
I lose thee, while I seek to find thee out;
The farther off, the more I follow thee;
The faster hold, the greater cause of doubt;
Was, Is, I know; but Shall, I cannot see.
All things by thee are measur'd; thou, by none:
All are in thee; thou, in thyself alone.
poem by Anonymous Americas
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