Some nice quotes

When the power of love is stronger than
the love of power
then the world will know peace.
Bumper sticker


When all your desires are distilled down
you will cast just two votes
to love more
and to be happy
Hafiz


I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.
Dali Lama


All happiness occurs when we are in the present, slowing down to walk, to listen, to breathe fresh air, to enjoy the taste of our food, to enjoy our friends and children. Quality of life arises from everyday happiness.
Chris Elms



What do you think of Western Civilization?

I think that that would be a very good idea.
Gandhi


The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.
Chief Seattle


Ecology is about connecting to Earth. It's about reversing the upside down world where life is planned around the automobile, where we are forgetting the miracle of having feet and being able to walk. It is about using the resources of nature, the sun and wind and rain, and being in harmony with them. It is about getting out of our car boxes, and our house and office boxes, and out into the fresh world from which all humanity came.

It is about building the soil more than we are using up, creating a relationship where soil and soul build on and nourish each other. It's about living in harmony with trees and soil and other life forms. It is about sleeping outdoors sometimes, and having creeks that we can get to and enjoy and that are alive and full of happy fish. And so on. Your heart knows all this.

Slowing down brings us back to the pace of nature, back to the present, back to a pace where we can know we are alive, and know the ones we love are important, and know how much we cherish and value nature.
Chris Elms

“We all need to see other people. We need to see green. Wealthy people can do that at clubs and private facilities. But most people can only do it in public squares, parks, libraries, sidewalks, greenways, public transit.”

“The least a democratic society should do is to offer people wonderful public spaces. Public spaces are not a frivolity. They are just as important as hospitals and schools. They create a sense of belonging. This creates a different type of society—a society where people of all income levels meet in public space is a more integrated, socially healthier one.”

“In Bogotá, our goal was to make a city for all the children. The measure of a good city is one where a child on a tricycle or bicycle can safely go anywhere. If a city is good for children, it will be good for everybody else. Over the last 80 years we have been making cities much more for cars mobility than for children’s happiness.”

Enrique Peñalosa,

Former mayor of Bogotá, Columbia, quoted in an article in the current (October) ode magazine. You can find the whole article at odemagazine.com > in this issue> the article is Cities of Joy.


The ultimate end to a growth economy is the same as an analogous growth: cancer. But for national economies, the victims are nature, soils, forests, people, water and quality of life. There is one, and only one, solution, and we have almost no time to try it. WE MUST TURN ALL OUR RESOURCES TO REPAIRING THE NATURAL WORLD AND TRAIN ALL OUR YOUNG PEOPLE TO HELP. The want to; we need to give them this last chance to create forests, soils, clean waters, clean energies, secure communities, stable regions, and to know how to do it from hands-on experience.
Bill Mollison, co-founder of Permaculture