Rudyard Kipling Quotes

My father was a classic intellectual. From him I learned devotion, and I also learned about the life of the mind.

My senior year at College Park, University of Maryland, I took an elective class in crime fiction taught by Charles C. Mish. He turned me on in a big way to reading and books. I was lucky to have a teacher who changed the course of my life.

I am inspired by positive people who have overcome difficult obstacles, motivational/spiritual books, nature, and my kids.

You cannot lift another soul until you are standing on higher ground than he is. You cannot light a fire in another soul unless it is burning in your own soul.

I have a lot of spiritual books that I read that I really, really love - everything from the Bible to Joseph Campbell, who I love. He wrote The Hero of a Thousand Faces. It's about exploring what is heroic in you. It helps me a lot.

If our young people could but glimpse it, it would be the most powerful spiritual motivation of their lives!

You are just one idea away from what you sow in your brains, in your prophecies that God spoke over your life. You're one idea away. You are not waiting on God - God is waiting on you! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go on and on about that. I have this stuff in me and I have no place to release it to you because sometimes church people are so spiritual they make me nauseous, because they expect God to do everything.

What we need are mental and spiritual giants who are aflame with a purpose . . . We're a race ready for crusade, for we've recognized that we're a race on this continent that can work out its own salvation.

Every Warrior of the Light has failed in his spiritual duties.

It is easier to find guides, someone to tell you what to do, than someone to be with you in a discerning, prayerful companionship as you work it out yourself. This is what spiritual direction is.

I think we are living in pretty scary times and people are looking for inspiration and are also more open to the spiritual possibilities.

Many people look upon change with dread and foreboding. But for those on the spiritual path-for those who believe in God and the power of prayer-change is a fuller expression of life. When a problem or condition arises in your life that indicates a change, rely upon God, and realize that it is not so much that a door has closed on a chapter of your life, but rather that a door has opened on new and more interesting things.

No spiritual mind remains within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its own strength.

Creativity is a religion. When you get into it, you will find your life becomes more spiritual.

Whatever materializes worship hinders man's spiritual growth and keeps him from demonstrating his power over error.

Pain is a spiritual wake-up call showing you that there are oceans you have not yet explored. Step beyond the world you know. Reach for heights that you never thought possible. Go to places you have deemed off limits. This is the time to take off the shell of your past and step into the rich possibilities of your future. God does not give us dreams that we cannot fulfill. If you want to do something great with your life-whether it's to fall madly in love, become a teacher, be a great parent-if you aspire to do something beyond what you are doing now, this is the time to begin. Trust yourself.

You can only learn when you teach.

Personal, spiritual symmetry emerges only from the shaping of prolonged obedience. Twigs are bent, not snapped into shape.

Mankind's history has proved from one era to another that the true criterion of leadership is spiritual. Men are attracted by spirit. By power, men are forced. Love is engendered by spirit. By power anxieties are created.

The ability to get to a higher level in our life means that we have to generate the energy to be able to do so, and generally, we do that by a fall. Spiritual advances are almost always proceeded by a fall of one kind or another.

Adversity in the things of this world opens the door for spiritual salvation.

Whoever wishes to make progress in perfection should use particular diligence in not allowing himself to be led away by his passions, which destroy with one hand the spiritual edifice which is rising by the labors of the other. But to succeed well in this, resistance should be begun while the passions are yet weak; for after they are thoroughly rooted and grown up, there is scarcely any remedy.

Encourage anyone who is trying to improve mentally, physically, or spiritually.

If you can cultivate the right attitude, your enemies are your best spiritual teachers because their presence provides you with the opportunity to enhance and develop tolerance, patience and understanding.