20 Life-Altering Metaphors

(Whenever I come across thought-provoking pieces, I like to share them with the readers of my blog. Full attribution goes to Graeme Franks who compiled these quotes. Enjoy.)

20 Life-Altering Metaphors

By Graeme Franks

1. “Be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought” Thoreau
2. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Ralph Emerson
3. “A book should serve as an ice-axe to break the frozen sea within us” Franz Kafka
4. “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind” Rudyard Kipling
5. “One recognizes one’s path by discovering the paths that stray from it” Albert Camus
6. “Without passion, man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of iron before it can give forth spark” Henri Frederic Amiel
7. “If you board the wrong train, is is no use running along the corridor in the other direction” Dietrich Bonhoffer
8. “Reading is a means of thinking with another person’t mind; it forces you to stretch your own” Charles Scribner Jr
9. “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it as someone else; you are the one who gets burned” Siddhartha Gautama Buddha
10. “The rule in carving holds good as to criticism; never cut with a knife what you can cut with a spoon” Charles Buxton
11. “It is better to wear out than rust out. There will be time enough for repose in the grave” Richard Cumberland
12. “Without goals and plans to to reach them, you are like a ship that sets sail with no destination” Fitzhugh Dodson
13. “The Promiseland always lies on the other side of the wilderness” Havelock Ellis
14. “Acting without thinking is like shooting without aiming” B.C. Forbes
15. ‘One does not discover new continents without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time” Andre Gide
16. “Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you” Nathaniel Hawthorne
17. “In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current.” Thomas Jefferson
18. “A mind, like a home, is furnished by it’s owner, so if one’s life is cold and bare he can blame none but himself” Louis L’Amour
19. “Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows” Thoreau
20. “It’s a good thing to turn your mind upside down now and then, like an hour-glass, to let the particles run the other way” Christopher Morley

Read more: http://www.gfranks.com/writing/2009/5/11/20-life-altering-metaphors.html#ixzz0KX7rRdYC&C