Today is the 200 hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. Born this day in 1812, he only lived to be 58 years old, dying from the effects of a number of cerebrovascular accidents.

He said a great many things of importance in his life.

Here are a few of my favorites:

“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, it is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy that we can scarcely mark their progress.”

“A boy’s story is the best that is ever told.”  

“There is a wisdom of the head, and… a wisdom of the heart.”                     

“A loving heart is the truest wisdom.”                      

“Accidents will occur in the best-regulated families; and in families not regulated by that pervading influence which sanctifies while it enhances… in short, by the influence of woman, in the lofty character of wife, they may be expected with confidence, and must be borne with philosophy.”           

“Such is hope, Heaven’s own gift to struggling mortals, pervading, like some subtle essence from the skies, all things both good and bad.”

“An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.”

“Change begets change. Nothing propagates so fast. If a man habituated to a narrow circle of cares and pleasures, out of which he seldom travels, step beyond it, though for never so brief a space, his departure from the monotonous scene on which he has been an actor of importance would seem to be the signal for instant confusion. The mine which Time has slowly dug beneath familiar objects is sprung in an instant; and what was rock before, becomes but sand and dust.”

“The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy, walk and be healthy. ‘The best of all ways to lengthen our days” is not, as Mr. Thomas Moore has it, “to steal a few hours from night, my love;” but, with leave be it spoken, to walk steadily and with a purpose. The wandering man knows of certain ancients, far gone in years, who have staved off infirmities and dissolution by earnest walking,–hale fellows close upon eighty and ninety, but brisk as boys.”

“Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.”                               

“Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers and are famous preservers of youthful looks.”                                    

“Every human creature is a profound secret and mystery to every other.”

“Every man, however obscure, however far removed from the general recognition, is one of a group of men impressible for good, and impressible for evil, and it is in the nature of things that he cannot really improve himself without in some degree improving other men.”     

“Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”

“I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time…”

“Somewhere, right at the bottom of one’s own being, one generally does know where one should go and what one should do.”   

–Marie-Louise von Franz (German-born Swiss Jungian Psychologist and Author, 1915-1998)   

“Man and His Symbols” (Carl Gustav Jung)

Here are a few lines from a favorite poem about the Eternal Quest:

“Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
From outward things, whate’er you may believe.
There is an inmost center in us all,
Where truth abides in fullness; and around,
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,
This perfect, clear perception—which is truth.
A baffling and perverting carnal mesh
Binds it, and makes all error: and, to KNOW,
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape,
Than in effecting entry for a light
Supposed to be without.”     

–Robert Browning (English Poet, 1812-1889)

“The Paracelsus of Robert Browning” (Robert Browning, Christina Pollock Denison)

“When a dream takes hold of you, what can you do? You can run with it, let it run your life, or let it go and think for the rest of your life about what might have been.”

–Patch Adams (Physician and Founder of the Gesundheit Institute, 1943-)

“Gesundheit!: Bringing Good Health to You, the Medical System, and Society through Physician Service, Complementary Therapies, Humor, and Joy” (Patch Adams M.D.)

“The same stream of life that runs through the world 
runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers. It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow. I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life. And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.”        

–Rabindranath Tagore (Indian Poet, Playwright, Essayist, Painter and, in 1913, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1861-1941)   

“Gitanjali: Offerings of Song and Art” (Rabindranath Tagore)

“Intuition is a comprehensive grip of the principle of universality, and when it is functioning there is…a complete loss of the sense of separateness. At its highest point, it is known as that Universal Love which has no relation to sentiment or to the affectional reaction but is, predominantly, in the nature of an identification with all beings.”           

–Alice A. Bailey (English Writer, Spiritual Teacher and Founder of the Arcane School, 1880-1949)   

“Glamour: A World Problem” (Alice A. Bailey)

“There is great treasure there behind our skull and this is true about all of us. This little treasure has great, great powers, and I would say we only have learnt a very, very small part of what it can do.”         

–Isaac Bashevis Singer (Polish-born American Writer and, in 1978, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1904-1991)   

“The silence of landscape conceals vast presence. Place is not simply location. A place is a profound individuality. With complete attention, landscape celebrates the liturgy of the seasons, giving itself unreservedly to the passion of the goddess. The shape of a landscape is an ancient and silent form of consciousness. Mountains are huge contemplatives. Rivers and streams offer voice; they are the tears of the earth’s joy and despair. The earth is full of soul ….. Civilization has tamed place. Left to itself, the curvature of the landscape invites presence and the loyalty of stillness.”       

–John O’Donohue (Irish Poet, Author, Catholic Priest and Hegelian Philosopher, 1956-2008)

“Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom” (John O’Donohue)

“The future and the past have different appearances… the disproportion will always be great between expectation and enjoyment, between new possession and satiety… the truth of many maxims of age gives too little pleasure to be allowed till it is felt… the miseries of life would be increased beyond all human power of endurance, if we were to enter the world with the same opinions as we carry from it.”          

–Samuel Johnson (English Biographer and Essayist, 1709-1784)   

{The Rambler, Number 196}

“The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 03 – The Rambler, Volume II” (Samuel Johnson)

“Enlightenment has already found a home within your heart. You have but to loosen the confines in which it is held and allow the realization of your oneness with God to fly freely to your conscious mind. You must have eyes to see, ears to hear and mind to understand the language of the heart.”           

–Meredith L. Young-Sowers (American Writer and Creator of the Stillpoint Model of Integrative Life Healing)

“Agartha: The Essential Guide to Personal Transformation in the New Era” (Meredith Lady Young)