April 30

A friend, Harry, loved dogs, especially a favorite, “Whiskers” who always went everywhere with him. Once Harry had to go to a nearby town on some business. He wrote to a hotel asking if he could bring his dog with him. The reply was:

Dear Sir:

By all means bring your dog Whiskers along. Dogs rate high in this hotel. Never have I had to eject an unruly dog in the middle of the night. Never has a dog gotten drunk and messed my furniture. I have never had a dog go to sleep and set the mattress on fire with a lighted cigarette. Never has a dog made drinking-glass rings on my dressers. I have never yet found a towel or an ashtray in a dog’s suitcase. So bring your dog along.

P.S. You can come, too, if the dog will vouch for you.

April 29

If you do not like a person, or he you, and you do something for him, it can sometimes increase his dislike because it puts him under obligation to you. He may even regard your action as patronizing, But if you encourage him to do something for you, he will feel complimented despite himself and his good opinion of you will increase, for you have shown that you respect his ability. You have treated his ego with esteem.

April 28

A businessman had failed twice in business—once during a depression and again when a partner ruined him. Twice he started over. Twice he was forced to sell out and work his way out of debt. But did it fate him? Not at all. “A failure is just the reverse side of success,” he said. “With God’s help, I find you can always turn things around. I have faith in God and faith in myself.”

April 27

The Kingdom of God is within you—within every man. It is God’s gift to all humanity—available for the asking.

April 26

All actions, good or bad, start somewhere. They are best controlled at the start. If you stop the thought that leads to a dishonest action, you will block off the action itself.

April 25

In Kyoto there is a shrine famous for its stone garden. For centuries, fifteen stones of different shapes and sizes have been resting in a garden of carefully raked sand. By tradition, the stones represent the fifteen basic problems of mankind—every person names his or her own. But all the stones cannot be seen at the same time. The message I take away from the enigmatic stones at Kyoto is that no one can or should try to contemplate, much less solve, all his problems at once. People should instead make a deliberate mental effort to block out all their problems except one, and concentrate on solving that one—this way there is more mental strength to apply.

April 24

On a classroom wall of my boyhood hung a picture showing a lonely beach with the tide out and a boat stranded on the sand. Few things look more depressing than a boat left high and dry by receding water. The inscription under the picture said, “Remember, the tide always comes back.” There is ebb and flow in the vicissitudes of human life. When everything goes against you and it seems you can hold on no longer, never give up. The tide will turn.