Kent Nerburn Quotes and Sayings - Page 1
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“We’re conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware – beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“Solitude is a condition of peace that stands in direct opposition to loneliness. Loneliness is like sitting in an empty room and being aware of the space around you. It is a condition of separateness. Solitude is becoming one with the space around you. It is a condition of union. loneliness is small, solitude is large. loneliness closes in around you; solitude expands toward the infinite. loneliness has its roots in words, in an internal conversation that nodbody answers; solitude has it's roots in the great silence of eternity.”
-- Kent NerburnSource : Kent Nerburn (2010). “Simple Truths: Clear and Simple Guidance on the Big Issues in Life”, p.55, New World Library
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“It is much easier to become a father than to be one.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.”
-- Kent NerburnSource : Kent Nerburn (1999). “Letters to My Son: A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Women, Life and Love”, p.189, New World Library
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“Until you have a son of your own... you will never know the joy, the love beyond feeling that resonates in the heart of a father as he looks upon his son.”
-- Kent NerburnSource : Kent Nerburn (2014). “Letters to My Son: A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Life, and Love”, p.21, New World Library
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“Forgiveness allows us to live in the sunlight of the present, not the darkness of the past. Forgiveness alone, of all our human actions, opens up the world to the miracle of infinite possibility.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“Forgiveness is an embrace, across all barriers, against all odds, in defiance of all that is mean and petty and vindictive and cruel in this life.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“Something precious is lost if we rush headlong into the details of life without pausing for a moment to pay homage to the mystery of life and the gift of another day.”
-- Kent NerburnSource : Kent Nerburn (2010). “Small Graces: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life”, p.18, New World Library
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“Love has its own time, its own season, and its own reasons from coming and going. You cannot bribe it or coerce it or reason it into staying. You can only embrace it when it arrives and give it away when it comes to you.”
-- Kent NerburnSource : Kent Nerburn (2014). “Letters to My Son: A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Life, and Love”, p.169, New World Library
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“Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“The human being is a surprisingly resilient organism. We are impelled toward health not sickness. Your spirit, as surely as your body, will try to heal....So you should not fear tragedy and suffering. Like love, they make you more a part of the human family. From them can come your greatest creativity. They are the fire that burns you pure.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“It is not our task to judge the worthiness of our path; it is our task to walk our path with worthiness.”
-- Kent NerburnSource : Kent Nerburn (2010). “Small Graces: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life”, p.10, New World Library
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“Money is central to our lives. Yet money is not of central importance. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the lasting values that make life worth living.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“Remember that you don't choose love. Love chooses you. All you can really do is accept it for all its mystery when it comes into your life. Feel the way it fills you to overflowing, then reach out and give it away.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“Until you have a son of your own . . . you will never know the joy, the love beyond feeling that resonates in the heart of a father as he looks upon his son. You will never know the sense of honor that makes a man want to be more than he is and to pass something good and hopeful into the hands of his son. And you will never know the heartbreak of the fathers who are haunted by the personal demons that keep them from being the men they want their sons to be.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“The true measure of your education is not what you know, but how you share what you know with others.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
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“The power of this experience [fatherhood] can never be explained. It is one of those joyful codings that rumbles in the species far below understanding. When it is experienced it makes you one with all men in a way that fills you with warmth and harmony.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“My fatherhood made me understand my parents and to honor them more for the love they gave. My sonhood was revealed to me in its own perfection and I understood the reason the Chinese so value filiality, the responsibility of the son to honor the parents.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“It is the same for all men. None of us can escape this shadow of the father, even if that shadow fills us with fear, even if it has no name or face. To be worthy of that man, to prove something to that man, to exorcise the memory of that man from every corner of our life--however it affects us, the shadow of that man cannot be denied.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“I want you to consider this distinction as you go forward in life. Being male is not enough; being a man is a right to be earned and an honor to be cherished. I cannot tell you how to earn that right or deserve that honor. . . but I can tell you that the formation of your manhood must be a conscious act governed by the highest vision of the man you want to be.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
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“Like children, the elders are a burden. But unlike children, they offer no hope or promise. They are a weight and an encumbrance and a mirror of our own mortality. It takes a person of great heart to see past this fact and to see the wisdom the elders have to offer, and so serve them out of gratitude for the life they have passed on to us.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“In times past there were rituals of passage that conducted a boy into manhood, where other men passed along the wisdom and responsibilities that needed to be shared. But today we have no rituals. We are not conducted into manhood; we simply find ourselves there.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“Great joys make us love the world. Great sadnesses make us understand the world.”
-- Kent NerburnSource : Kent Nerburn (2010). “Small Graces: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life”, p.110, New World Library
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“When you give of yourself something new comes in to being... the world expands, a bit of goodness is brought forth and a small miracle occurs. You must never underestimate this miracle. Too many good people think they have to become Mother Teresa or Albert Schweitzer, or even Santa Claus, and perform great acts if they are to be givers. They don't see the simple openings of the heart that can be practiced anywhere with almost anyone.”
-- Kent NerburnSource : Kent Nerburn (2014). “Letters to My Son: A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Life, and Love”, p.75, New World Library
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“We humans are destined to live with our feet on the earth and our heads in the heavens, and we can never be at peace because we are pulled both ways.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“Life is an endlessly creative experience, and we are shaping ourselves at every moment by every decision we make.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“Do not fall prey to the false belief that mastery and domination are synonymous with manliness.”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“...Good leaders wait to be called and they give up their power when they are no longer needed. Selfish men and fools put themselves first and keep their power until someone throws them out. It is no good to have a way where selfish men and fools fight with each other to be leaders, while the good ones watch.”
-- Kent NerburnSource : Kent Nerburn (2010). “Neither Wolf nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder”, p.204, New World Library
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“When all the words have been written, and all the phrases have been spoken, the great mystery of life will still remain. We may map the terrains of our lives, measure the farthest reaches of the universe, but no amount of searching will ever reveal for certain whether we are all children of chance or part of a great design. And who among us would have it otherwise? Who would wish to take the mystery out of the experience of looking into a newborn infant's eyes?”
-- Kent Nerburn -
“Nature is the clearest source of solitude. The greatness of nature can overwhelm the insignificant chatter by which we measure most of our days. If you have the wisdom and the courage to go to nature alone, the larger rhythms, the eternal hum, will make itself known all the sooner. When you have found it, it will always be there for you. The peace without will become the peace within, and you will be able to return to it in your heart wherever you find yourself.”
-- Kent NerburnSource : Kent Nerburn (2010). “Simple Truths: Clear and Simple Guidance on the Big Issues in Life”, p.56, New World Library
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