Let me do my work each day, and if the darkened hours of despair overcome me, may I not forget the strength that comforted me in the desolation of other times.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

For the entire Desiderata go to Inspirational Poems page

Whether of not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Go Placidly, Amid the noise and Haste & Remember what peace there may be in silence.

May I not forget that poverty and riches are of the spirit. Though the world knows me not, may my thoughts and actions be such as will keep me friendly with myself.

Let me not follow in the clamor of the world, but walk calmly in my path.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

Hassan couldn't read a first-grade textbook but he'd read me plenty. That was a little unsettling but also sort of comfortable to have someone who always knew what you needed.

Consciousness is only possible through change; change is only possible through movement.

I can't remember a single occasion when I have been kind to a journalist.

When you get a poem [in a public place], it happens to you so suddenly that you don't have time to deploy your anti-poetry deflector shields that were installed in high school.

I found that part of it towards San Salvador extending from north to south five leagues, and the other side which we coasted along, ran from east to west more than ten leagues.

This is my maiden voyage. My first speech since I was the president of the United States and I couldn't think of a better place to give it than Calgary, Canada.

To make the common marvelous is the test of genius.

To achieve something you have never achieved before you must become someone you have never been.

This endured absence is nothing more or less than forgetfulness. I am, intermittently, unfaithful. This is the condition of my survival.

A good hitter has timing. A good pitcher upsets timing.