Our breath is brief, and being so Let's make our heaven here below, And lavish kindness as we go.

Be sure your wisest words are those you do not say.

Avoid extremes: be moderate In saving and in spending; An equable and easy gait Will win an easy ending.

I like to think that when I fall, A rain-drop in Death's shoreless sea, This shelf of books along the wall, Beside my bed, will mourn for me.

Our breath is brief, and being so Let's make our heaven here below, And lavish kindness as we go.

Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out - it's the grain of sand in your shoe.

And each forgets, as he strips and runs With a brilliant, fitful pace, It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones Who win in the lifelong race. And each forgets that his youth has fled, Forgets that his prime is past, Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead, In the glare of the truth at last.