Jerry Spinelli Quotes

Things go wrong all the time; you can't be precious about it.

Someone will inevitably find something wrong in almost everything, so do what it is that you do best and remember to have enough tolerance for two.

Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.

I'm actually a little bit more tolerant than I thought I was. I've got kids, so I do have a lot of faces.

Don't use all-or-nothing thinking. Take each day as its own day, and don't worry about it if you mess up one day. The most important thing you can do is just get back up on the horse.

Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength. History shows that it cannot survive war and devastation.

Sometimes it's not always perfect, and there are mistakes, and you pick yourself up and move on. I've learned you can't be a perfectionist. I still strive to do my best in every area, but I've learned to let go.

I think I've learned, really, just how to let go - if an idea doesn't work, or it's not perfect, that's O.K.

But that's how life is. You never know how it's going to turn out, and you can't plan for everything. You just have to do your best dealing with things as they come and hope people forgive you when you make a mistake.

Virtuous persons and fruit-laden trees bow, but fools and dry sticks break because they do not bend.

I try my best to learn from other people's mistakes. I have a lot of respect for people who can change.

Running around accusing others is not as good as laughing. And enjoying a good laugh is not as good as going along with things.

The only way to peace is forgiveness.

I learned the importance of being nonjudgmental, taking what happens and trying to make it work.That's something you should apply to life.

Digressions are part of harmony, deviations too.

The idea of sustainability can imply there is one perfect, unchanging future, if only we could work out how to get there. Resilience might be more useful, in that it assumes a dynamic environment and that perfection is impossible. You need to design systems to accommodate failure rather than eliminate it. By trying to be perfect, many visions of sustainability are quite brittle

Ultimately, leadership is about the strength of one's convictions, the ability to endure the punches, and the energy to promote an idea. And I have found that those who do achieve peace never acquiesce to obstacles, especially those constructed of bigotry, intolerance, and inflexible tradition.

Instead of waiting for perfection, run with what you've got, and fix it as you go.

There is no peace without forgiveness.

I'm not sure anyone's life turns out exactly the way they imagine. All we can do is to try to make the best of it. Even when it seems impossible.

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love.

We don't have to do it any better than we can - ever. Do our best for the moment, then let it go. If we have to redo it, we can do our best in another moment, later.

Do not strive for things occurring to occur as you wish, but wish the things occurring as they occur, and you will flow well.

We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion.