Cherry Maple

“The names of virtues, with their precepts, were:
1. Temperance. Eat not do dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9. Moderation. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloths, or habitation.
11. Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”
― Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

“So, attend carefully to your posture. Quit drooping and hunching around. Speak your mind. Put your desires forward, as if you had a right to them—at least the same right as others. Walk tall and gaze forthrightly ahead. Dare to be dangerous. Encourage the serotonin to flow plentifully through the neural pathways desperate for its calming influence.”
― Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

“Imagine the world from a bird’s perspective. Sounds that we cannot discern play in slow motion to a bird’s musical ears, enabling it to discriminate messages hidden to us. Most objects loom large to birds’ small bodies, but they can fly through, around, or over large barriers, giving them unique perspective and the ability to explore fine detail. Their speed and agility make the living world seem slow, whether they are hovering to sip nectar, perching to spy a mouse, or sailing on a breeze as they eye a child fumbling with a sandwich.”
― John M. Marzluff, Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
― William Morris