Let me today do something that shall take
a little sadness from the world's vast store,
and may I be so favored as to make
of joy's too scanty sum a little more.
Let me not hurt, by any selfish deed
or thoughtless word, the heart of foe or friend;
nor would I pass,unseeing, worthy need
or sin by silence when I should defend.
However meager be my worldly wealth,
let me give something that shall aid my kind:
a word of courage, or a thought of health
dropped as I pass for troubled hearts to find.
Let me tonight look back across the span
'twixt dawn and dark, and to my conscience say-
because of some good act to beast or man-
"The world is better that I lived today."
-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
~Emily Dickinson~
Definition of a Successful Life
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson