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2.7k · Aug 2013
Companionship of Books
zhouli Aug 2013
A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, ‘Love me, love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this:” Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.
A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out; for the world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time have been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive e but what is really good.
Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see the as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.
The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which on still listens.
2.0k · Aug 2013
Relish the Moment
zhouli Aug 2013
Tucked away in our subconsciousness is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are travelling by train. Out the windows, we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving on a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.
But the uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour, we will pull into the station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we reach there, so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will be fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes loitering, waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.
"When we reach the station, that will be it", we cry. "When I'm 18", "When I buy a new 450SL Mercedes Benz", "When I put my last kid through collage", "When I have paid off the mortgage", "When I get a promotion", "When I reach the age of the retirement, I shall live happily ever after."
Sooner or later, we must realize that there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.
"Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled withe the Psalm 118:24:"This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tommorrow. Reget and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today.
So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more icecreams, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. Then the station will come soon enough.
1.1k · Aug 2013
What I Have Lived For
zhouli Aug 2013
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness--that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what--at last--I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
1.1k · Aug 2013
Have Sense Youth Often in
zhouli Aug 2013
No young man believes he shall ever die. There is a feeling of Eternity in youth, which makes us amend for everything. To be young is to be as one of the Immortal Gods. One half of time indeed is flown-the other half remains in store for us with all its countless treasures; for there is no line drawn, and we see no limit to our hopes and wishes. We make the coming age our own -- The vast, the unbounded prospect lies before us.
Death. old age. are words without a meaning. that pass by us like the idea air which we regard not. Others may have undergone, or may still be liable to them-we "bear a charmed life”, which laughs to scorn all such sickly fancies. As in setting out on delightful journey, we strain our eager gaze forward- Bidding the lovely scenes at distance hail!-and see no end to the landscape, new objects presenting themselves as we advance; so, in the commencement of life, we set no bounds to our inclinations. nor to the unrestricted opportunities of gratifying them. we have as yet found no obstacle, no disposition to flag; and it seems that we can go on so forever. We look round in a new world, full of life, and motion, and ceaseless progress; and feel in ourselves all the vigor and spirit to keep pace with it, and do not foresee from any present symptoms how we shall be left behind in the natural course of things, decline into old age, and drop into the grave. It is the simplicity, and as it were abstractedness of our feelings in youth, that (so to speak) identifies us with nature, and (our experience being slight and our passions strong) deludes us into a belief of being immortal like it. Our short-lives connection with existence we fondly flatter ourselves, is an indissoluble and lasting union-a honeymoon that knows neither coldness, jar, nor separation. As infants smile and sleep, we are rocked in the cradle of our wayward fancies, and lulled into security by the roar of the universe around us. we quaff the cup of life with eager haste without draining it, instead of which it only overflows the more objects press around us, filling the mind with their magnitude and with the strong of desires that wait upon them, so that we have no room for the thoughts of death.
zhouli Aug 2013
Age has reached the end of the beginning of a word. May be guilty in his seems to passing a lot of different life became the appearance of the same day; May be back in the past, to oneself the paranoid weird belief disillusionment, these days, my mind has been very messy, in my mind constantly. Always feel oneself should go to do something, or write something. Twenty years of life trajectory deeply shallow, suddenly feel something, do it.
The end of our life, and can meet many things really do?
During my childhood, think lucky money and new clothes are necessary for New Year, but as the advance of the age, will be more and more found that those things are optional; Junior high school, thought to have a crush on just means that the real growth, but over the past three years later, his writing of alumni in peace, suddenly found that isn't really grow up, it seems is not so important; Then in high school, think don't want to give vent to out your inner voice can be in the high school children of the feelings in a period, but was eventually infarction when graduation party in the throat, later again stood on the pitch he has sweat profusely, looked at his thrown a basketball hoops, suddenly found himself has already can't remember his appearance.
Originally, this world, can produce a chemical reaction to an event, in addition to resolutely, have to do, and time.
A person's time, your ideas are always special to clear. Want, want, line is clear, as if nothing could shake his. Also once seemed to be determined to do something, but more often is he backed out at last. Dislike his cowardice, finally found that there are a lot of love, there are a lot of miss, like shadow really have been doomed. Those who do, just green years oneself give oneself an arm injection, or is a self-righteous spiritual.
At the moment, the sky is dark, the air is fresh factor after just rained. Suddenly thought of blue plaid shirt; Those were broken into various shapes of stationery; From the corner at the beginning of deep friendship; Have declared the end of the encounter that haven't start planning... Those years, those days of do, finally, like youth, will end in our life.
912 · Sep 2013
I saw thee weep
zhouli Sep 2013
I saw thee’weep
the big bright tear
Came over that eve of blue
And then me thought it did appear
A violet dropping dew
I saw thee’ smile
the sapphire’s blaze
Beside thee’ceased to shine
It could not match the living rays
That filld’that glance of thine
As clouds from yonder sun receive
A deep and mellow dye
Which scarce the shade of coming eve
Can banish from the sky
Those smiles unto the moodiest mind
Their own pure joy impart
Their sunshine leaves a glow behind
That lighens over the heart
900 · Aug 2013
The Joy of Living
zhouli Aug 2013
Joy in living comes from having fine emotions, trusting them, giving them the freedom of a bird in the open. Joy in living can never be assumed as a pose, or put on from the outside as a mask. People who have this joy don not need to talk about it; they radiate it. They just live out their joy and let it splash its sunlight and glow into other lives as naturally as bird sings.
We can never get it by working for it directly. It comes, like happiness, to those who are aiming at something higher. It is a byproduct of great, simple living. The joy of living comes from what we put into living, not from what we seek to get from it.
770 · Sep 2013
Good friends forever
zhouli Sep 2013
"A friend walk in when the rest of the world walks out."
Sometimes in life,You find a special friend;Someone who changes your life just by being part of it.Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop;Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world.Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it.This is Forever Friendship.
when you're down,and the world seems dark and empty,Your forever friend lifts you up in spirits and makes that dark and empty world suddenly seem bright and full.Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times, and the confused times.
If you turn and walk away,Your forever friend follows,If you lose you way,Your forever friend guides you and cheers you on.
Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay.And if you find such a friend,You feel happy and complete,Because you need not worry,Your have a forever friend for life.
And forever has no end.
741 · Aug 2013
Remote island story
zhouli Aug 2013
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small,
uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him,
and every day he scanned the horizon for help,
but none seemed forthcoming.
Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of
driftwood to protect him from the elements,
and to store his few possessions. But then one day,
after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky.
The worst had happened; everything was lost.
He was stunned with grief and anger.
"God how could you do this to me!" he cried. Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of
a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.
"How did you know I was here?"
asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.
It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad.
But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives,
even in the midst of pain and suffering.
Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground
it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.
For all the negative things we have to say to ourselves,
God has a positive answer for it
626 · Aug 2013
The gift of Love
zhouli Aug 2013
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
    Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
    Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I thought like a child; when I became and adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
581 · Aug 2013
life
zhouli Aug 2013
Life can be good,
  Life can be bad,
  Life is mostly cheerful,
  But sometimes sad.
  Life can be dreams,
  Life can be great thoughts;
  Life can mean a person,
  Sitting in court.
  Life can be *****,
  Life can even be painful;
  But life is what you make it,
  So try to make it beautiful.
571 · Aug 2013
All woman born for loving
zhouli Aug 2013
A little boy asked his mother:"Why are you crying?"
"Because I am a woman."She told him.
"I don't understand"he said.
His mum just hugged him and said:"And you never will."
Later the little boy asked his father:"Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?"
"All woman cry for no reason."Was all his dad could say.
The little boy grow up and became a man, still wondering why women cry.
Finally he put in a call to God, when God got on the phone, he asked,"God, why do women cry so easily?"
God said:"When I made the women, she had to be special. I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world; yet, gentle enough to give comfort.
I gave her inner strength to endure childbirth, and the rejections many times comes from her children.
I gave her hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complains.
"I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even her children has hurt her very badly.
"I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart."
"I gave her the wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strength and resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly."
"And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. That is her exclusively to use whenever it is needed."
"You see the beauty of a women is not the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair."
"The beauty of a women must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where the love resides."
548 · Aug 2013
Just for Today
zhouli Aug 2013
Just for today I will try to live through this day only and not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep it up for a lifetime.
Just for today I will be happy. This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said, that "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be."
Just for today I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my "luck" as it comes.
Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways. I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out: If anybody knows of it, it will not count. I will do at least two things I don‘t want to do—just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt: they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.
Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, criticize not one bit, and try not to improve or regulate anybody but myself.
Just for today I will have a program, I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.
Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax. During this half hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.
Just for today I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.
zhouli Aug 2013
If you're finding it tough to land a job,try expanding your job-hunting plan to include the following tactics:
Set your target.While you should always keep your options open to compromise,you should also be sure to target exactly what you want in a job.A specific job hunt will be more efficient than a haphazard one.
  Schedule ample interviews.Use every possible method to get interviews——answering ads,using search firms,contacting companies directly,surfing the Web,and networking.Even if a job is not perfect for you,every interview can be approached as a positive experience.
  Follow up.Even if someone does not hire you,write them a thank-you note for the interview.Then,some weeks later,send another brief letter to explain that you still have not found the perfect position and that you will be available to interview again if the original position you applied for——or any other position,for that matter——is open.Do this with every position you interview for,and you may just catch a break.
  Make it your full-time job.You can't find a job by looking sporadically。You have to make time for it.If you're unemployed and looking,devote as much time as you would to a full-time job.If you have a job while you're looking,figure out an organized schedule to maximize your searching time.
  Network vertically。In the research phase of your job hunt,talk to people who are on a level above you in your desired industry.They'll have some insights that people at your own level won't have,and will be in a good position to hire you or recommend you to be hired.Keep your spirits up.Looking for a job is one of the toughest things you will ever have to do.Maintain your confidence,stay persistent,and think positively,and eventually you will get a job that suits you.

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