Marie Curie was Polish-born, but is known for her work in France as a chemist and physicist. She lived from 1867 to 1934. She was the first female professor at the University of Paris and remains the first and only twice-honored Nobel laureate in two different sciences.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.

We should not fear what we understand, and we should not fear knowing that we don't understand everything. Our hunger for knowledge should feed our appetites and never quite satisfy our palate.

Too much time has passed without typing in quotes to make us ponder. Here's one a good friend of mine relays often. It comes from the book of Matthew 6:4. (Thanks Joe)

"Do not worry for tomorrow;
Tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for each day is its own evil."

It's somewhat amusing to me how much emphasis we put on tomorrow, and how little we focus on today - what can be accomplished, now. Carpe diem.

Image by Caravaggio.

I recently traveled to Abilene, Kansas and while there, visited the President Dwight D. Eisenhower historical site, memorial, library and Presidential grounds.

This is an excerpt from his 1953 Inaugural Address...

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."

I am fascinated by previous Presidents and the speeches they gave to the American people while in Office. Oddly enough though, it seems that the words spoken do not often correlate to their actions in office. In this instance, I believe President Eisenhower words speak to today's people, perhaps more clearly than to those 54 years ago.

Esther "Eppie" Pauline Friedman Lederer wrote a syndicated advice column under the pen name of Ann Landers. Although I have not read any of her columns to memory, this quote came upon me and I think it's fair advice worth sharing.

"Maturity is the ability to live in peace with that which we cannot change."

There is something to be said about the person that lives with that which cannot be changed. How much greater of a person I would be if I could maturely accept life's givings with grace and gratefulness.

During the 1800's lived a gentleman with the pen name, Josh Billings. His real name was Henry Wheeler Shaw and he is considered perhaps the second most famous humor writer and lecturer in the second half of the 19th century after Mark Twain, whom also used a pen name.

"Occasions are rare; and those who know how to seize upon them are rarer"

Soemtimes I fail to realize that occasions as Mr. Billings says, are 'rare' as I go about the day-to-day. And then, it hits me. Wow. What gifts we are blessed with, those occasions.

Christian author Halford E. Luccock said these words,

No one can whistle a symphony. It takes an orchestra to play it.

I'm constantly reminded that 'we' are in this together. That, and I'm a lousy whistler.

British writer Freya Stark was not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut); she often travelled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been.

There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.

People will call it our conscience, but I feel its though we have this little alarm devise inside us that is constantly monitoring what we are doing. When we do the things we are supposed to like being honest, keeping promises, etc., it stays quiet. But, when we get close to doing the wrong, the things we know we shouldn't, it comes alive. The buzzer sounds, the lights flash and it starts jumping all around. At first, it's subtle and barely audible, but then it's blaringly loud and I just can't ignore it any longer. It's when guilt sets in.

I don't know if we can always control our emotions, but I do feel that we should be able to control our actions, and we must. Seeing is not believing. Believing is doing.