“Do not be hardened by the pain and cruelty of this world. Be strong enough to be gentle, to be soft and supple like running water, gracefully bending around sudden turns, lithely waving in strong winds, freely flowing over sharp rocks, all the while quietly sculpting this hard world into ever deeper beauty, gently eroding rigid rock into silken sand, tenderly transforming human cruelty into humankindness. Remember, true strength is not found in the stone, but in the water that shapes the stone.” KindPainHumanityWaterBeautyStrengthHumanInhumanitySoftnessCruel Author:L.R. Knost
“Every coin has two sides. Every mountain has a valley. For every strength there is a weakness. Every up has a down. For every in there is an out. For every height there is a depth. Life itself is a mosaic of light and dark. And every human is a study in opposites, a kaleidoscope of good and bad, positive and negative, hopes and losses, dreams and disappointments, successes and failures, courage and fear, confidence and insecurity, power and vulnerability. We do not live in a homogeneous world. We live in a world of brilliant contrasts, vivid diversity, striking polarity, and eloquent disparity...a stunning array of sometimes gorgeous, sometimes glaring, always fascinating differences.” LifeInspirational QuotesHumanityStrengthDiversityHuman Author:L.R. Knost
“Until our world decides that every human matters, that everyone has a right to food and safety and freedom and healthcare and equality, it is the obligation of those privileged to have food and safety and freedom and healthcare and equality to fight tirelessly for those who do not.” LifeGovernmentInspirational QuotesHumanitySocial JusticeHungerInequalityAccountabilityGlobal Responsibility Author:L.R. Knost
“This world is teetering on a knife's edge. Light and darkness. Good and evil. Battling for supremacy. Every light bravely flickering in the deep darkness of inhumanity shifts the balance of the universe toward good. That light is you.” LifeWisdomHumanityUniverseKindnessGoodnessHumanInhumanity Author:L.R. Knost
“Healing a hurting humanity starts with a sacred pause, to listen, to learn, to understand, to accept, to forgive, to respect. That sacred pause transcends the fear-driven brutality of the primitive human survival intinct and makes way for a thoughtful, intentional, peaceful, humane response. Peaceful coexistence on this lovely planet is not impossible. It is imperative. Our future, our humanity, our very survival depends on it.” WorldHumanityHopePeaceSurvivalHumanBrutalityInhumanityCoexistencePlanet Author:L.R. Knost
“Humanity is so confusing. We cover anguish with a smile, isolate ourselves when we feel lonely, and struggle in silence while insisting we're fine. What would the world be like, I wonder, if we all felt safe enough to share our hurts and fears and battles with others so we didn't feel so alone? The human experience is not so very different at its roots, after all, no matter where we live on this hope-filled, hurting planet. We all suffer. We all love. We're all afraid. We all hope and dream and try and fail and try again...and again. And we all need to be heard and understood and appreciated. What if we tried being honest for a change? What if we shared our deepest pain and hardest battles and darkest fears with each other? What if we shared our dearest hopes and wildest dreams and proudest successes and most crushing defeats? What would life be like if we humans finally accepted our own perfectly imperfect humanity and admitted that we need each other in this wild, wonderful world?” LoveHumanityCompassionKindnessHumanImperfectionInhumanity Author:L.R. Knost
“Our humanity is indelibly linked to our treatment of one another. Humane treatment grows humanity. Inhumane treatment destroys humanity. At its roots, humanity is an elegantly simple equation - input equals output.” LifeHumanityKindnessHumanSocial JusticeEqualityHumaneInhumanityGlobal Responsibility Author:L.R. Knost
“I don't want to stand before God and tell him that I religiously demanded morality from his children. I want to stand beside God and tell him that I religiously demonstrated love for his children.” LoveChildrenGodReligionHumanityMoralityHumanJudgementChild Author:L.R. Knost
“If we slow down and take the time to listen every soul we encounter can teach us something new. Wisdom comes in every shape and size and color and language and form imaginable. The only true limitation is our own inability to see and hear and understand the infinite beauty and wisdom of the human spirit, regardless of its packaging.” WisdomSpiritHumanityDifferencesDiversityHumanLimitations Author:L.R. Knost
“The job of each generation is to solve more problems than they create and to lift up the next generation to be better than the last. Simply repeating the past does neither.” WorldInspirational QuotesHumanityChangeHumanGeneration Author:L.R. Knost
“At a time when politics and power decide who is important enough to be fed, to be safe, to be free, those of us who have a voice in this world must speak boldly, loudly, insistently for those who cannot speak for themselves.” HumanityPoliticsVoicePowerHumanSocial JusticeHungerInequalityGlobal Responsibility Author:L.R. Knost
“Want world peace? Be peaceful. Think the world needs more kindness? Be kind. Want a better world? Be a better person. #wearetheworld” WorldInspirational QuotesHumanityPeaceKindnessHuman Author:L.R. Knost
“Safety, equality, security, and freedom for me are rooted in safety, equality, security, and freedom for every human. Peaceful coexistence on this beautiful planet we share cannot be achieved by warfare. It cannot be achieved by power. And it cannot be achieved by ignoring each others' suffering. We cannot kill our way to peace, oppress others to create to peace, or close our eyes to achieve peace. Peace is the only path to peace. Our humanity is indelibly linked to our treatment of one another. Humane treatment grows humanity. Inhumane treatment destroys humanity. At its roots, humanity is an elegantly simple equation - input equals output.” LifeHumanityFreedomCompassionKindnessSocial JusticeEqualityGlobal Responsibility Author:L.R. Knost
“Pain patterns are vicious cycles, unconsciously passed from generation to generation in deeply entrenched behavioral and relational paradigms. They cannot be changed from the outside, only from within. Fear gives way to comfort, pain to healing, anger to peace, despair to hope, only when the heart of a person or the soul of a people feel safe enough to emerge from the hardened shell of self-preservation and become open to new possibilities. A hurting humanity cannot be healed by force, by arguing, shaming, threatening, manipulating. Those merely feed the pain patterns and harden their protective shells. Love, acceptance, empathy, compassion, those are the gentle rain that blossoms hurt into healing, transforming pain patterns into the peaceful flowering of a healthy, heart-whole humanity.” LoveLifePainSufferingHumanityHealingCompassionEmpathyInhumanity Author:L.R. Knost
“Peacemakers who challenge the prevailing concept of peace achieved by violence are often, ironically, called disturbers of the peace. That is only true if peace is defined as an uneasy ceasefire in a world dominated by the corrupt, a tenuous subjugation of the weak by the powerful, a hurting humanity suffering silently en mass for the profit of the bloated few. If, though, peace is defined as freedom, equality, safety, health, opportunity, and a voice for all, then we, the peacemakers, aren't disturbers of the peace. We are purveyors of peace because we are disturbers of the status quo.” Inspirational QuotesSufferingHumanityPeacePowerfulInequalityStatus QuoPeacemakers Author:L.R. Knost
“She is fragile as the morning dew melting in the warmth of a child's smile; stirring at the lonely, lovely waft of a butterfly's wings; tender as the curve of a wildflower petal. She is fierce as a summer storm now raging against the fiery sky; now raining tears to soothe the sun-scorched earth. She is soft as a midnight breeze swaying to the sound of waves breaking on distant shores; whispering comfort to a world steeped in the dark night of inhumanity. She is brilliant as the rising Phoenix lifting the suffering from the ashes; her own suffering woven into wings of fire in the long watches of the night. She is serene and turbulent as the silvered water hiding currents unknown beneath the gentle gaze of a human who has walked a thousand miles and still has more to go.” LifeInspirational QuotesSufferingHumanityFemaleWomanSerenity Author:L.R. Knost
“Forgiving ourselves and learning from our inevitable mistakes transforms failure from a stumbling block into a stepping stone.” HumanityHuman NatureFailureMistakesFuture Inspirational Author:L.R. Knost
“Leave a trail of light behind you Everywhere you go. Whose darkness you'll illuminate You may never know.” LifeLightHumanityHopeKindnessDarknessInhumanityIlluminate Author:L.R. Knost
“No child is born filled with hate. No child is born crippled by fear. No child is born inflamed by rage. Each life is a chance to make things better. Each generation has a chance to do things better. This is our time, our turn, our chance. Let's do better.” ChildrenHateHumanityFearRacismHumanSocial JusticeRageChildGeneration Author:L.R. Knost
“Here's to the bridge-builders, the hand-holders, the light-bringers, those extraordinary souls wrapped in ordinary lives who quietly weave threads of humanity into an inhumane world. They are the unsung heroes in a world at war with itself. They are the whisperers of hope that peace is possible. Look for them in this present darkness. Light your candle with their flame. And then go. Build bridges. Hold hands. Bring light to a dark and desperate world. Be the hero you are looking for. Peace is possible. It begins with us.” WorldLightSufferingHumanityHopeCommunityHumanInhumanityBridge Author:L.R. Knost
“Sometimes life hurts. We suffer. We heal. We move on. But sometimes life hits back. Harder. Lethal in its cruelty. Shattering us into a million glittering shards of pain and loss and anguish. And we suffer, too broken to heal, to become what we once were. So we learn to live with the shards of pain and loss and anguish forever embedded in our souls, and with shaking fingers we piece together the bloody fragments of who we were into a mosaic grotesque in its stark reality, exquisite in its sharp-edged story of the tragic, breathless beauty of a human who survived life. And we move on, often unaware of the light glittering behind us showing others the way through the darkness.” LifeLightPainSufferingHumanityHealingDarkness Author:L.R. Knost
“I know the concern over the events in our nation doesn't end at our borders. Because there are no borders, really, if you think about it. Everything we do on this planet has repercussions that reverberate around the world. Because we're connected. We belong to each other. And we need each other. We will get through this. Together. And we'll learn and grow and overcome. Together. I believe the good things in this world outnumber the sad. And I believe the good people outnumber the bad. We are the lights sparkling in the darkness, and our hope and love are going to set the world on fire. I believe in us.” HumanitySocial JusticeEqualityActivismBordersNationInhumanityGlobal Responsibility Author:L.R. Knost