Favorite Inspirational Quotes

Solitude

Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground.

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire;
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter, fire.

Blest, who can unconcernedly find
Hours, days and years slide soft away
In health of body, peace of mind;
Quiet by day,

Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mixed, sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please
With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die,
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.

Alexander Pope

Some of this poem is excellent advice though very hard for most people to carry out: having a few acres with livestock and crops to provide food, flocks to provide clothing, and trees that provide shade and wood.

Even more so is the admonishment to mix study and relaxation, recreation and innocence, all together with meditation. All this leads to “health of body, peace of mind: Quiet by day, sound sleep by night.” Of course, all the work required by living this way will help insure that sound sleep. You’ll be exhausted.

However, his last stanza about living unseen and unknown and then dying unlamented with not even a headstone…I don’t know. Perhaps this is the last step/level that Maslow added to his hierarchy of needs - self actualization. This is a step that goes beyond ego and that is the place so many self improvement and spirituality teachers tell us we should reach.

If I am here to have a grand adventure in space and time, then I probably shouldn’t care about what others think, especially about me. My goal is to have my adventure or, put into other words, follow my purpose in life, regardless of whether or not others acknowledge my work or me.

Guess I have a ways to go in this regard. Maybe some more of that study mixed with meditation is called for. And that’s part of why I do this journalizing on inspirational quotes, poems and passages of books.