The only way that we can live is if we grow. The only way we can grow is if we change. The only way we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we are exposed is if we throw ourselves into the open.

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty.

If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap. If you want happiness for a day — go fishing. If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a life time — help someone else.

Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.

In seeking happiness for others, you will find it in yourself.

Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.

He who fears he will suffer, already suffers because he fears.

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

Love is a verb. Love — the feeling — is a fruit of love, the verb.

I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life.

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Words of wisdom from the world’s wisest thinkers are timeless, though the world continues to change every day. If you’d like me to help you manage your experiments as your consultant and coach, hop…

HENRY VAN DYKE

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HENRY VAN DYKE

IV. Set yourself free

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