If only one seed in ten-thousand takes root,
there will still be enough trees to fill an orchard.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - January 4, 1993

"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in it's hands.
You seek problems because you need there gifts."
R. Bach

"When you play it safe you create a world of insecurity."
J. Powell

Originally written - December 21, 1992

"Even if your on the right track you'll get run over if you just sit there."
W. Rogers

Make a sacrifice of your boredom.  It may not be as easy as you think.
M. Alibrando

Originally written -  October 8, 1992

"The truth you speak has no past and no future.  It is and that is all it has to be."
R. Bach

Evil cannot spread without followers.  It maintains power by suppressing truth, and retreats when forcibly confronted.
M. Alibrando

The things you have to say to yourself are more important
than those things you are reading here.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - September 26, 1992

"It is easy to forget our times of knowing,
to think they've been dreams or old miracles.
Nothing good is a miracle, nothing lovely is a dream."
R. Bach

Spectacular sunsets, billowy clouds, colorful rainbows --
the image is a dream, but the beauty is real.
M. Alibrando

"The power of thought -- the magic of the mind."
Byron

As surely as you can make a flower bloom,
so too you will bloom. 
It is only a matter of time.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - September 24, 1992

Your only limit is your imagination.

You are the master of your own destiny,
how far you control destiny is up to you.

If life is an illusion,
then learn to be an illusionist.

"Learn what the magician knows
and it's not magic anymore."
R. Bach

Pretend you made a wish and got what you asked for,
but then, somehow, you forgot that you had made a wish.
Now all you have to do is remember what you wished for, and
you can be happy again.
M. Alibrando

Don't jump off a ledge until you are ready to fly.
When you believe that you are ready,
you will lift strait off of the earth, unlike the birds -- which need a head start.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - September 24, 1992

"Failures are just as valuable experiences as successes..."
R. Fry

Your only real mistakes are those
from which you have learned nothing.

If you believe you can you already have.

Your emotional reactions may be
telling you something about yourself.
M. Alibrando

Listening is searching to find the treasure of the real person.

If you really want to find out a lot about yourself,
then from time to time ask yourself:
"How did I get here?" or "Where did I come from?"

By tracing your origins, you will be able to
uncover a whole family tree of your present self.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - September 21, 1992

The perspective of fighting fire with fire is absurd
unless you desire to burn down your house.
But just as enough well placed water, can douse a fire,
enough well placed love can quell a hatred.
M. Alibrando

"The leaves let go, the seeds let go,
and I must let go sometimes too."
R. Fulghum

"Every person passing through this life
will unknowingly leave something and
take something away."
R. Fulghum

"Absolute calm is not the law of the ocean.
And it is the same with the Ocean Life."
M. Gandhi

Truth is a tool of love.
Fear is a tool of hate.
If the truth can set you free,
perhaps then, it is fear which is
keeping you from your freedom.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - September 20, 1992

"Fail to honor people,
They fail to honor you."
Laotzu

"Yield and you need not break:
Bent you can straighten."
Laotzu

"Weapons often turn upon the wielder."
Laotzu

"Deny the way of life and you are dead."
Laotzu

Originally written - August 19, 1992

"When Yi (a famous archer) taught people to shoot, he told them to pull the string on the bow to it's full length.  The man who wants to cultivate himself must also develop himself to the full extent.  A great carpenter teaches his apprentice to use squares and compasses.  The man who wants to cultivate himself, must also have squares and compasses for his conduct."
Mencius

Love is a great risk,
but it's rewards far out weight those of hatred.
M. Alibrando

"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind."
M. Gandhi

Originally written - August 11, 1992

There are many voices within you and
each voice has something important to add to the chorus of the self. 
Some voices may be louder than others,
but even the softest voices are important to the whole corral arrangement
and must be paid attention to as well.

No idea can work unless you use it consistently. 
It may take practice but once you become accustom to
an idea you may find yourself doing something out of habit.

The most potent ideas occur out of your first nature.

A soul without reflection is like a mirror without the silvering.
M. Alibrando

"The future will depend on what we do in the present."
M. Gandhi

Originally written - August 8, 1992

Try imagining your brain/body-self as an idea machine,a bio-chemical computer, and your mental/spiritual self as your programming, cognitive software if you will,  where new data is not simply received and stored, but instead, it constantly being rewritten and stored for inclusion within the over-all program.  Your thoughts, ideas, concepts, and perspectives make-up part of your programming.  The program you are today determines the new lines of data and information which will be excepted and added tomorrow.  Each new line and each new sub-routine in your software creates a different you, and each new you writes a new line of programming and creates a new sub-routine to be included into the original program.

Your software is forever changing, growing, and developing towards an all new program where only you can define the priorities for the running of sub-routines in the hierarchy of the self structure -- where only you know it's true importance.

It is not the circuitry which makes a computer useful to a task,
It is it's programming.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - August 7, 1992

"You may never have proof of your importance,
but you are more important than you think."
R. Fulghum

If there is a destiny for you it is not written in the stars.
It is written inside of you and can be rewritten by you
if you allow it to be.

Find differently clever ways to
speak to old truths - as well as to new truths.

Once you discover your new ideas and perspectives you must use and hone them,
but be flexible enough to continually add the perspectives you learn from others so as to
allow your learning process to continue.
M. Alibrando

"Man is ultimately self-determining.
What he becomes -- within the limits of
endowment and environment -- he has made for himself."
V. Frankl

Originally written - August 6, 1992

"Individual liberty and interdependence are both essential for life in society."
M. Gandhi

We are all integral parts of the cosmic mural.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - August 5, 1992

"Every man aught to say what he thinks."
Plato

Everything starts as somebody's daydream.
M. Alibrando

Behind the door to your heart is something wonderful
waiting to happen.
M. Alibrando

It's ok to be confused about the details of love and of life,
but try to be clear about the spirit.
M. Alibrando

Even if you choose not to believe in a superior being,
it is difficult to ignore that there must be
a superior way of life.
It's up to you to find that way of life.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - August 3, 1992

Life is a pen filled with ink,
writing for the purpose of leaving words on a paper. 

Some live to write,
others must write to live.
M. Alibrando

A teacher can only help a students give birth to their own ideas.
It is each student's choice whether to fertilize an idea or not,
and whether to allow an idea a chance to become an adult thought with a life of it's own.
It is possible to abort an idea prematurely,
when perhaps you are not yet ready for the adult responsibilities of a given idea.

The child of ideas is an adult responsibility.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - July 28, 1992

You have the power to wage war,
kill indiscriminately those who do not see life as you see it,
do not believe as you believe.
Just remember you would rather die yourself
than force someone into heaven.

Love lost hurts, whether it is deliberate or accidental doesn't matter, the simple fact that it hurts matters.

Be careful of the lightning bolts you throw;
you just might hit someone you love.

Violence is unthinkable.
M. Alibrando

Every insight you have makes a statement.
You are saying something about yourself
by the ideas and concepts
you choose to keep as part of yourself.

Whatever your ideas are,
when you share them with another,
they become a part of him or her.
M. Alibrando

You are in control of your own destiny.
How far you control destiny is up to you.
There are two ways to reach your ultimate goal.
Stop where you are and say,
"This is it,"
or keep going.

Of course you never reach the top,
but it is precisely this that keeps you going.
M. Alibrando

"Remember, you are never given a wish
without also being given the power to make it true.
You may have to work for it, however."
R. Bach

You have the ability to rise higher than your dreams,
you just haven't dreamed that far yet.
But when you do you will dream higher.
M. Alibrando

"You can fly."
R. Bach

Rome didn't fall in a day.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - May 29, 1992

Your purpose in life is to
find it within yourself to
become a person of excellence,
intelligence and adaptability.
First you crawl.
Then you walk.
Then you run.
You can ride a bike or swim;
or learn to climb mountains.
You can even learn to soar.

               You have the freedom to
    break the chains of gravity anytime you want.
                   You live to be free.

M. Alibrando

Originally written - May 28, 1992

“For the first thing a writer should be is - excited.”
R. Bradbury

“What do you love most in this world?”

“What do you want more than anything else in the world?
What do you love?
What do you hate?”
R. Bradbury

“What are the best things and the worst things in your life,
and when are you going to get around to whispering or shouting them?”
R. Bradbury

“…If you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer.”
R. Bradbury

“Yell. Jump. Play.”

“Go do it.”

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
R. Bradbury

“…find the courage to rebel, change your life…”
Me misquoting R. Bradbury

“What do I suffer from? What is the cure?”
R. Bradbury

"You are led through your lifetime by the inner learning creature, the playful spiritual being that is your real self."
R. Bach

"Don't turn away from possible futures before you're certain you don't have anything to learn from them."
R. Bach

The best way to learn something is to have fun while learning it.
M. Alibrando

"Learning is finding out what you already know.
Doing is demonstrating that you know it.
Teaching is reminding others that
they know just as well as you do.
We are all learners, doers, teachers."
R.Bach

When you tell someone your feelings you risk everything.
But a hermit lives a lonely life.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - May 19, 1992

"We need to be free to create."
L. Buscaglia

Who you are(were)

as you read this

is not who you were(are)

as you finish.

"You teach best
what you most
need to learn."
R. Bach

Only you know how to achieve the success you desire.

Some parents never see their children as adults.
You must not let the parent inside of you keep the child inside of you locked away from the dangers of the world, keeping the child from growing up.
Let the child out to play ever once in a while.

"What's the point of being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes?"
Dr. Who

    Sometimes,
    you just want to
    go out and play.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - May 18, 1992

Think of the universe
as an endless sheet of paper
for you to write your thoughts upon.

When you aim for perfection you soon discover that
perfection is a moving target.

Even if you believe that you can never obtain perfection in your lifetime, you must still strive for excellence.
Consider the idea of excellence as an A+ for effort.

Anything that prevents you from becoming the best you that
you can become -- must be put aside.

What you are learning applies to you and no one else.
By the time you bring your perspective to someone else,
it has already changed.

Perspective can change
in the blink of an eye.

Originally written -May 17, 1992

You don't need evil;
evil needs you. 

It's easy to love the beautiful, kind people who love us as well.
The challenge is in finding a way to love everyone.
Even those people you might believe
you have good reason to not love. 
Who shall you not love?
M. Alibrando

"To live in love is life's greatest challenge."
L. Buscaglia

There will always be
more of nothing
than of something.
But try to fill the nothing
with your something anyway.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - May 6, 1992

A tree falling in the forest may not be seen or heard
but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. 

Can you appreciate the subtle and sharp contrast of colors in a sunset or in the prism of a rainbow,
or do you insist on clear skies? 

What you do with your life is up to you and no one else.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - April 3, 1992

Everyone wants to forgive themselves;
they're just not sure others want to forgive them.
Don't worry what others think.
You do not exist to impress the world.
You exist to live your life in a way that makes you happy.
Everyone is free to choose to live however they wish.
Responsibility is the ability to
answer for the way we choose to live.
There is only one person that you have to answer to -- yourself.
There is no duty we so under rate as the duty of being happy.

Start with yourself.

It takes practice to see the good in everyone,
including yourself.
Helping others to see the good in themselves
helps you to see the good in yourself.
Just because you don't know the answer to something
doesn't mean that it's not there
waiting for you to find it.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - March 27, 1992

You are a center of thought, and a gravity well for ideas. 
You are a star in a galaxy of perspectives and insights
which wait to be drawn into your sphere of influence to
be fully explored.
It may take more than one life time to
explore every corner of your galaxy,
so map it as best you can.
Leave your map of ideas for future explorers.
It may give them something to study while they chart new ground.

Stop envying other people's Enterprises and take command of your own.
Try launching a few ships of your own thoughts into the cosmos of ideas.

The greatest adventures often begin with a "What If ?"
M. Alibrando

"If you wanted to change a life, let someone unwrap a gift of
thought from you, what would it be?"
R. Bach

"Get out of your own way."
L. Buscaglia

No one has ever been born ahead of their time,
but some have been born ahead of popular opinion.
M. Alibrando

Originally written -March 21, 1992

Life is a word processor booted up and ready to go,
writing for the purpose of filling up the spaces on a newly formatted diskette.
M. Alibrando

You do know yourself, but like most things you know,
you need to be reminded of what you know.

Improve yourself; no one else can do it for you.

What you are reading here may act as a mirror,
reflecting your most profound thoughts.
It's like shining a light into your soul just for a second.
Would you call that insight?

You may wish to ask another for their
perspective on some of your insights.
Remember that this is a very courageous thing to do,
because sometimes your ideas,
like a light,
can easily be dowsed.
But other times it is just as likely they may be focused through a prism,
giving you new insights and perspectives you never dreamed.
Have the courage to allow your ideas to shine.

    Focus your attention
           on what
    you need to know.

M. Alibrando

Originally written - January 31, 1996 and March 12, 1992

Words are a blank page’s best friend.

Are you the blank page or are you the friend?
M Alibrando

The more you learn about the world in which you live,
The more difficulty you may have expressing exactly what it is you have learned.

What is written may seem elementary and repetitious.
A truism is often a paradox.
M. Alibrando

"All thoughts lead to the same conclusion."
Confucius

A paradox is often a truism.
M. Alibrando

"What is written may seem elementary and repetitious."
L. Buscaglia

The best things are worth repeating.   
M. Alibrando

The purpose of learning is to challenge yourself. 
Life is a challenge;
Don't limit yourself.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - March 23, 2000 and January 4, 1992

Don't just do something,
think. 

What do you suppose an idea looks like when you close your eyes and think about it? 
IT'S BRILLIANT!
M Alibrando

"Anything expressed is a net around some idea."
R. Bach

             Ideas,
    like a spider's web,
    are all connected.

Ideas are transparent whenever you
look directly at them.
If you look at them out of the corners of your eyes,
they may appear translucent or ethereal.

     It is only by putting your
                          ideas into action
                               that you give them substance.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - March 2, 1992

Words upon a page act as a mirror, reflecting a readers thoughts.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - December 29, 2009 11:50 AM

As a toddler is to an Olympic runner, so am I to a professional philosopher/poet.

I need to take small steps and write stumbling sets of ideas, concepts and perspectives.  I need to read and digest small bites of truth at a time and take the energy that gives me, and then search for more truths.

I need to grow and to learn.
I need to walk before I can run.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - August 9, 1992

Some of the most important things ever written opened up a "world of
trouble" for the author.

Boldly seek new worlds.
M. Alibrando

Originally written - January 23, 2000

When are you too old to learn something new?

There are many branches of perspective and insight.
They grow out of a tree of ideas.
The soil of past learning feeds the roots of a tree
when it is filled with the necessary nourishment.

                  I think,
            therefore, I am.
        I am, therefore, I think.
          I think that I think,
           Therefore, I think
                 that I am.
                       I
                    think.

The biggest answers often come in the smallest packages.

If the answer is not right in front of you,
look around; you'll find it.
M. Alibrando

You are much less than you can become.
    It's waiting for you to become it.
        Whatever it is, it can wait.
            When you are ready, it will be there.

You cannot grow unless you are courageous enough to do badly,
or even fail altogether.

Failure is an opportunity.

Not reaching ones goals on a given day does not preclude reaching it tomorrow,
or the next day.

One of the hardest things to do is say, "I like myself."
M. Alibrando

"You need to keep finding yourself a little more each day."
"Overcome your limitations in order, patiently."
"Like everything else...
...practice."
R. Bach

Pursue your goals free of any ill-feelings towards others.

Feel free within, you'll feel free without.

If you must continually practice patience with others,
then you must have very little patience with yourself.
M Alibrando

Originally written -  May 26, 1992 and January 3, 1992

Keep it simple.

Go back to the basics.
M Alibrando

"Like everything else...
...practice."
R. Bach



Read,
Reflect,
Write.

Travel your own path.
Choose your own mode of transportation.
Arrive at a time of your own choosing.
Do whatever you must do, and move on.

Quote the truth wherever you find it.
Or write your own truth,
There's a lot of it to go around.
M. Alibrando

Originally Written - October 22, 2009 and January 2, 1992

"If you wanted to change a life,
let someone unwrap a gift of thought from you,
what would it be?"
R. Bach

"Get out of your own way."
L Buscaglia

In a time of uncertainty one must force a change.
M Alibrando

Originally Written - May 26, 1991

Prolog to School of Thought

One man's cough drop is another man's lifesaver.
Anonymous old man

* * *

School of Thought is a personal collection of wisdom and philosophy that I have pieced together across in my lifetime. Most of it comes out of reading books actively and then writing down any phrases that speak to me or that seem to hold wisdom or truth in them. Also, at times, as I read long passages, I find myself needing to summarize these long passages into into short phrases. These phrases often take on a poetic quality, especially when set side-by-side actual quotes from well known authors, philosophers or teachers who's book(s) I am reading.

But not every thing I have written down has come from a book or been summed up out of other peoples writings. Some lines come from television programs, lecturers or come out of every day conversation, some that included me and some that have merely been over heard by me. In fact, the phrase, "One man's cough drop is another man's lifesaver," came from one such conversation. And it was obvious the moment the old fellow spoke those words that they were both new wisdom and spontaneous created from his own personal school of thought that he had developed over his lifetime. And from that moment, I too, found I could generate my own new wisdom from my own mind and these, too, can be found scattered among my School of Thought.

As to the origin of the title - School of Thought - it is a simple one. I have long used simple composition books to collect these phrases and one day after I wrote my name on the cover of a new one, on the line marked - Name - I then looked to the next line - School - and without thinking I jotted the "word doodle" - of thought - to the empty line. Yes, it was an amazing bit of stream of consciousness writing that gave me the title.

But that, my friends, is what these pages really are. My own collected School of Thought. I do not dare suggest that these words are worthy of your own personal school of thought, because each of us must build our own School of Thought and fill it with those thoughts that work best for us and us alone. Still, you may find a phrase or two among my own that will suit yours.

And, if you decide to read on, and if you are reminded of something that seems reflective of what you just read, feel free to write that thought, new or old, into the comments section. Perhaps I will add that phrase to my own School of Thought.


Respectfully Submitted,

Michael Alibrando

p.s. - I will occasionally edit this first page/post to include teachers, lecturers, authors (and others) as well as book titles who's words have inspired my own or from whom I borrowed many quotes from directly. I may add quotes from television, movies or other media. What will begin as a short list may grow quickly.

Teachers
- George Colnagi
- Guy Derosa
- Joe Louis Clark
- Anonymous
- Jesus of Nazareth AKA Jesus Christ
- Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu AKA Blessed Teresa of Calcutta AKA Mother Teresa
- Henry Brooks Adams AKA Henry Adams
- Booker Taliaferro Washington AKA Booker T. Washington
- George H. Reavis
- Tenzin Gyatso AKA 14th Dalai Lama

Comedians/Actors/Entertainers/Directors/
- Cyril Cusack
- Sacha Guitry
- Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz AKA Jon Stewart
- Lauren Hutton
- Victor Borge
- Groucho Marx
- Allen Funt
- Allie Goertz
- George Carlin
- Robert H. Justman 

Inventors, Scientists, Philosophers,
Politicians, Journalist, Statesman, etc
- Albert Einstein
- K.R. Sridhar
- Plato
- Socrates
- Benjamin Franklin
- William of Ockha
- Adlai E. Stevenson
- David Henry Thoreau
- Pittacus of Mytilene
- Vincent Van Gogh
- Herbert A. Otto
- Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner AKA Sting
- Barrack Obama
- Anthony Clifford Grayling
- William James Durant
- Siddhārtha Gautama AKA Buddha
- Robert Allen Zimmerman AKA Bob Dylan
- Sun Tzu AKA Sunzi
- Laozi AKA Lao Tzu AKA Lao-Tse
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi AKA Gandhi
- Warren Edward Buffett 
- Desmond Mpilo Tutu 
- Jonas Salk 
- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross 
- Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone AKA Francis of Assisi 
- Grace Murray Hopper
- Bertrand Russell 
- Neil deGrasse Tyson 
- Thomas Paine
- Thomas Jefferson
- Ronald Reagan 
- Phillips Brooks 
- Muhammad Ali AKA Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. 
- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne 
- Jorge Mario Bergoglio AKA Pope Francis I 
- Samuel Ullman 
- William Sanford Nye AKA Bill Nye
- Timothy David Snyder 
- John Robert Lewis AKA John Lewis

Authors/Writers/Poets/Speakers/Director/etc
Ray Bradbury
 - Zen and the Art of Writing
- And more.

Richard Bach
- Johnathan Livingston Seagul
- Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
- Running From Safety
- and more.

M. Scott Peck
 - The Road Less Traveled

Leo Buscaglia
 - Love
 - Living, Loving and Learning
 - Born for Love
 - and more.

Ron Fry
- How To Study

Nancy Kelton
 - Writing from Personal Experience: How to Turn Your Life into Salable Prose

Harper Lee
- to Kill a Mockingbird

Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd
- The Time Paradox 

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
- Dragonlance Chronicles

David Gerrold
- The War Against the Chtorr
- Several Star Trek scripts and novels
- and more.

Charles Dickens
- A Christmas Carol
- And more.

Erich Fromm
- The Art of Loving
- The Art of Listening
- On Being Human
- And more.

Elliot S. Maggin
- Last Son of Krypton 
- Miracle Monday

Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein
- Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes

Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
- Change Your Brain Change Your Life

Rainer Maria Rilke
-

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
- Don Quixote

Eric Arthur Blair AKA George Orwell
- Animal Farm 
- 1984
- And more.

Ernest Hemingway
- The Sun Also Rises
- A Farewell to Arms
- The Old Man and the Sea
- And more.

Charles Michael Levine AKA Chuck Lorre
- Television and more

Chloe Ardelia Wofford AKA Toni Morrison
- Beloved
- And more.

Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. AKA Walter Cronkite
-  Broadcast Journalist

Andrew Aitken Rooney AKA Andy Rooney 
-  Broadcast Journalist

George Eliot
- Poetry
- And more.

Regina Brett
- Be the Miracle: 50 Lessons for Making the Impossible Possible
- And more.

Dr. Joyce Brothers
- What Every Woman Should Know About Men
- And more.

Thomas Stearns Eliot AKA T. S. Eliot
- Poetry
- And more.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Poetry
- And more.

Isaac Asimov
- I, Robot
- And more.

John Marmysz
- The Path of Philosophy: Truth, Wonder, and Distress

Mark Twain AKA Samuel Langhorne Clemens
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
- The Prince and the Pauper
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
- And more.

Gene Roddenberry
- Star Trek
- And more.

Yvonne Fern
- Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation

Bo Lozoff
- It's a Meaningful Life
- Deep and Simple


_

* * *
p.s.s. - Sometimes I will read a sentence that someone has written and be inspired by only a few words of that sentence. Or perhaps I will be inclined to change the tense of a turn of phrase. When I edit such a line to suit my school of thought, I give credit to the original author by adding - Me misquoting [author's name] or Me short-quoting [author's name] whichever seems most appropriate.

Example -

"...human beings must grow..."
Me misquoting M. S. Peck