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The
freedom of man lies not in that he can do what he wants - but
that he does not have to do, what he does not want.
Jean-Jaques Rousseau
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Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid
loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep
interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be
yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take
kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
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.
Therefore
be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With
all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
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Desiderata
(Latin: "desired things", plural of desideratum) is a prose poem by
American writer Max Ehrmann (1872–1945).
It exhorts the reader to "be at peace with God, whatever you conceive
Him to be", and to "keep peace with your soul". "With all its sham,
drudgery, and broken dreams," wrote Ehrmann, "it is still a beautiful
world."
The
text, largely unknown in the author's lifetime, came to the
attention of the public first for its usage in a church hymnal which
dated it, mistakenly, to the 17th century, then for its being found on
the bedside table of Adlai Stevenson upon his death in 1965.
The
poem was actually written in 1927. In
approximately 1959, the Reverend Frederick Kates, rector of
Saint Paul's Church in Baltimore, Maryland,
used the poem in a collection of devotional materials he compiled for
his congregation. At the top of the handout was the notation: "Old
Saint Paul's Church, Baltimore A.D. 1692." In the 1960s, the poem was
widely circulated with the claim that
it had been found in Baltimore, Maryland's Saint Paul's Church, and
that it had been written by an anonymous author in 1692, the year of
the founding of Saint Paul's.
When
Adlai Stevenson died in 1965, a guest in his home found a copy of Desiderata
near his bedside and discovered that Stevenson had planned to use it in
his Christmas cards. The
publicity that followed lent widespread fame to the poem, and to
the poem's connection with Saint Paul's Church of Baltimore.
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