"Each person has the potential for love.
But potential is never realized without work.
This does not mean pain.
Love, especially, is learned best
in wonder, in joy, in peace, in living."
L. Buscaglia

"If you want to learn to love,
then you must start the process
of finding out what it is,
what qualities make up a loving person
and how these developed.
L. Buscaglia

"Living is a process of
continuous rebirth."
E. Fromm

Happily ever after does not happen via magic.
It requires a lifetime of effort to maintain
a loving relationship.
M. Alibrando

"It's never too late to learn anything
for which you have a potential."
L. Buscaglia

"Teachers can only teach
what they have learned."
L. Buscaglia

"It is possible that when we
choose to give up one freedom
of a lower order, we achieve
a freedom of a higher order."
L. Buscaglia

"A Robinson Crusoe can be totally free,
on his island,
but he pays for his freedom with isolation."
L. Buscaglia

Lasting love requires effort.
Ask those who celebrated
50 years of marriage how
they succeeded, but also
ask those who ended a
marriage in divorce quickly
what they might have done
differently.

Successes and failures both
have something to teach us
about love and life.
M. Alibrando

A need for attachment is not love.
M. Alibrando

"One cannot give what he does not possess.
To give love you must possess love."

"One cannot teach what he does not understand.
To teach love you must comprehend love.

"One cannot know what he does not study.
To studt love you must live in love."

"One cannot appreciate what he does not recognize.
To recognize love you must be receptive to love."

"One cannot have doubt about that which he wishes to trust.
To trust love you must be convinced of love."

"One cannot admit what he does not yield to.
To yield to love you must be vulnerable to love."

"One cannot live what he does not dedicate himself to.
To dedicate yourself to love you must be forever growing in love."
L. Buscaglia

"No mechanic or cook
would ever believe that
by 'willing' the knowledge
in his field he could
become an expert in it."
L. Buscaglia

"If one really wants to understand
love and life, one must turn to
those who have been successful at it.
Who do you know that loves well
and lives life well?
The answer may be closer than you think.
M. Alibrando

"...if man is raised as an animal
he will behave as an animal,
for man 'learns' to be human."
L. Buscaglia

"I only know this:
I exist.
I am.
I am here.
I am becoming.
I make my life and
no one else makes it for me.
I must face my own shortcomings,
mistakes, transgressions.
No one can suffer my non-being as I do,
but tomorrow is another day,
and I must decide to
leave my bed and live again.
And if I fail,
I don't have the comfort of
blaming you or life or God."
L. Buscaglia

"We must remind ourselves, however,
that there can be no change
without working hard and
without getting your hands dirty.
There is no formula and
no book to memorize
on becoming."
L. Buscaglia

"Find 'you' - Who you are - Be as you are."
L. Buscaglia

"The easiest thing to be in the world is you. 
The most difficult thing to be is 
what other people want you to be. 
Don't let them put you in that position." 
L. Buscaglia

"The hardest thing in the world is
to be something you are not."
L. Buscaglia

"You can only be 'Real' on your path."
L. Buscaglia

"If your path is love
the goal is unimportant,
the process will have heart."
L. Buscaglia

"Each path is only one of a million paths.
Therefore, you must always keep in mind that
a path is only a path.
If you feel that you must now follow it,
you need not stay with it under any circumstances.
Any path is only a path.
There is not affront to yourself or others in dropping it
if that is what your heart tells you to do.
But your decision to keep on the path or leave it
must be free of fear or ambition.
I warn you: Look at every path closely and deliberately.
Try it as many times as you think necessary.
Then ask yourself and yourself alone one question.
It is this: Does this path have a heart?
All paths are the same. They lead nowhere.
They are all paths going through the brush or
into the brush or under the brush.
Does this path have a heart is the only question.
If it does, then the path is a good.
If it doesn't, it is of no use."
C. Castaneda

"Everybody has his own way
and must be allowed
the freedom to pursue it.
There are thousand
paths to loving.
Everyone will find his own
way if he listens to himself.
Don't let anybody impose their
way on you."
L. Buscaglia

"There are ways to meet
the needs of society,
and still do your own thing.
It's knowing where and when
and how."
L. Buscaglia

"And man needs a
feeling of achievement.
We all do."

"And then, the lover,
to learn and to change,
also needs freedom."

"You've got to be free
in order to learn."
L. Buscaglia

"It's also about time we started
listening to each other."

"We need to be heard."
L. Buscaglia

"Sometimes it takes only one
finger to mend a dike."
L. Buscaglia

"A loving person recognizes needs."
L. Buscaglia

"I have a very strong feeling that
the opposite of love is not hate -
it's apathy.
It's not giving a damn."
L. Buscaglia

"Change and growth take place
when a person has risked himself
and dares to become involved with
experrimenting with his own life."
H. Otto

"When was the last time you listened to raindrops?"
L. Buscaglia

"In serving each other we become free."
King Arthur

"Everything is in the process of change,
including you."
L. Buscaglia

If you can't think of any new wisdom to say,
then just leap into a new year and say nothing.
Or open with a joke.

Why did the comedian cross the road?
To get to the punchline.

Why did the psychologist cross the road?
Why do you think he crossed the road?

Why did the philosopher cross the road?
Why not?

Why did the surrealist cross the road?
fish.
M. Alibrando

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

Originally written - January 1, 1996

"...don't live in the past.
Live in the now.
When you are eating, eat.
When you are loving, love.
When you are talking, talk.
When you are looking at a flower, look."

"Catch the beauty of the moment."
L. Buscaglia