Peter McWilliams Quotations | Page 2

I'm tired of people thinking that Libertarians don't have morality- that they don't have values. that's a lot of hogwash. Libertarians are the ONLY politicians with values.

If we're not enjoying what we've got...and even if we do get 'more,' we won't enjoy that, either.

When thought and action are combined, the results are powerful-among the most powerful forces on earth. The combination of successful communication-the sharing of thoughts-and physical action can, literally, move mountains.

Although a lot can be learned from adversity, most of the same lessons can be learned through laughter and joy.

Capitalism is the only economic system compatible with free individuals

If we aren't actively pursuing what we want, we don't really want it.

That the religious right completely took over the word Christian is a given. At one time, phrases such as Christian charity and Christian tolerance were used to denote kindness and compassion. To perform a "Christian" act meant an act of giving, of acceptance, of toleration. Now, Christian is invariably linked to right-wing conservative political thought -- Christian nation, Christian morality, Christian values, Christian family.

You can always find some expert who will say something hopelessly hopeless about anything.

If you're not playing a big enough game, you'll screw up the game you're playing just to give yourself something to do.

You can have anything in life you really want - but you can't have everything in life you really want. Decide.

As with most consensual crimes, this prohibition of hemp is both silly and sinister.

Ultimately, censorship comes down to taste. What offends me may enlighten you. Do you want me deciding-based on my taste-what you should or should not be exposed to?

I am the representative of all the sick people and what they are doing to me is only the worst case right now, but there will be others. I am living on borrowed time anyway. I owe this part of my life to luck and modern medical science. But I can't imagine what the rest of it will be like if they won't let me use medical marijuana.

We have a problem with drugs? Let's declare war on drugs! We have a problem with crime? Let's declare war on crime! We have a problem with violence? Let's declare war on violence! The deeply ingrained American attitude that we can solve any problem w/enough force creates, feeds, & rewards the epidemic of violence we are currently experiencing.

Pettiness seems to go hand in hand with vindictiveness. The smaller the person, the larger the need for revenge. This may account for the fact that some consensual crimes have stiffer penalties than do most crimes with innocent victims.

I feel that I am entitled to take medicinal marijuana. In general, I believe that everyone who has a doctor's prescription is entitled to take marijuana. I, however, do not believe that my day in court should be taken from me, and that's essentially what's happening.

..Because when medical marijuana is fully accepted for what it is, we will see a phenomenon that makes Viagra's phenomenon seem limp.

You need only look at what's in front of you and find something there to appreciate.

When we realize one Dream, sometimes a deeper Dream reveals itself. At other times a parallel Dream appears. The one that scares the hell out of you is probably it.

By pursuing any one of our dreams, we can find fulfillment. We don't need to pursue them all.

Learn to forgive fully and completely. If you want health, wealth, and happiness, you can't afford the luxury of lugging around all those unforgiven, unforgotten past events. Let them go.

Desire happiness, aspire to gratitude, long for health, crave compassion, seek satisfaction, lust after God, however & whatever you perceive God to be, want to love yourself, others & everything around you more and more each day

Contrary to popular belief, a good number of transvestites-both male and female-are also heterosexual. Just because they want to get dressed up like the opposite sex does not necessarily mean they want to go to bed with the same sex. Some have successful heterosexual marriages & enjoy the most delightful shopping experiences.

This is a lifetime of good-byes. In our time, we will say good-bye to cherished people, things, and ideas. Eventually, we say good-bye to life itself with our death. Learn to say a good good-bye. Allow yourself to mourn each loss. As with a physical wound, the body has its own schedule for healing. It will tell you when it has healed.

I'm a confirmed negaholic. I don't just see a glass that's half full and call it half-empty; I see a glass that's completely full and worry that someone's going to tip it over.

The state, frankly, could care less. Historically, the state has been able to use any religious point of view for its own ends. . . . The examples of government misusing religion are endless.

There is no answer to any of these questions. It's a matter of time and timing, of seas and seasons, of breathing in and breathing out. It's a matter of balance.

..Fear is the energy to do your best in a new situation. The feeling of fear (anxiety, nervousness, shyness, or any of its other aliases) is really "preparation energy". It's getting you ready to excel, to succeed, to do your best and to learn the most.

Do we indulge our heart, or cater to our fear?

Write 10 times: 'Fear is my friend. Fear is the energy to do my best in a new situation.' You don't have to believe it; just write it.

Running from fear only strengthens fear-you are demonstrating that fear has power over you. Fear must be faced and gone through.

The only difference between fear and excitement is what we label it. The two are pretty much the same physiological/emotional reaction. With fear, we put a negative spin on it: "Oh no!" With excitement, we give it some positive english: "Oh, boy!"

The only difference between 'fear' and 'excitement' is what we label it.

The laws against public nudity make no sense. The idea that Jerry Falwell can go topless while Cindy Crawford cannot is an absolute affront to logic, common sense and the 5000 year human struggle for aesthetic taste.

Your Master Teacher knows all you need to learn, the perfect timing for your learning it, and the ideal way of teaching it to you. You don't create a Master Teacher -- that's already been done. You discover your Master Teacher.

If we want the freedom to take part in our bit of differentness, then we must allow others their rights to take part in theirs, as long as they do not harm the person or property of a non-consenting other, of course. IT'S JUST common sense. It's also constitutional and it forms the cornerstone of the American ideal: free individual expression, tolerance and compassion.

We can do anything we want. The next time you hear yourself saying, to another-and especially yourself-I Can't, take a deep breath and say instead, My resources are otherwise engaged.

Gays seem to be at the bottom of the pecking order: no matter how far down the pecking order another group is, its members still feel superior to and have no problem picking on gays.

When you start noticing even a small portion of all there is to be grateful for, you'll find there is no room for lack, hurt, or want. The attitude of gratitude: the great, full feeling.

AIDS has come upon us with cruel abandon. It has forced us to confront and deal with the frailty of our being and the reality of death. It has forced us into a realization that we must cherish every moment of the glorious experience of this thing we call life. We are learning to value our own lives of our loved ones as if any moment may be the last.

Because people are afraid of fear, they give up acre after acre of their own life.

Laughter is essential to our equilibrium, to our well-being, to our aliveness. If we're not well, laughter helps us get well. If we are well, laughter helps us stay that way.

The amount of power freed by telling yourself you no longer choose to put energy into something can be remarkable. Be prepared for extra energy.

..we are trained as children to get good grades, get a good job, get a good spouse, get children, get ahead. In all this getting we get something else: anxiety and depression.

Some people think that meditation takes time away from physical accomplishment. Taken to extremes, of course, that's true. Most people, however, find that meditation creates more time than it takes.

Acceptance is such an important commodity, some have called it "the first law of personal growth".

If our early lessons of acceptance were as successful as our early lessons of anger how much happier we would all be.

Marijuana is the finest anti-nausea medication known to science, and our leaders have lied about this consistently. [Arresting people for] medical marijuana is the most hideous example of government interference in the private lives of individuals. It's an outrage within an outrage within an outrage.

Every time we give our word, it counts. For the most part, most people give it entirely too often. Our word is a precious commodity and should be treated as such....

Guilt is anger directed at ourselves.

The simple solution for disappointment depression Get up and get moving. Physically move. Do. Act. Get going.

Most people, once they graduate from the School of Hard Knocks, automatically enroll in the University of Adversity.

The more severe the pain or illness, the more severe will be the necessary changes. These may involve breaking bad habits, or acquiring some new and better ones.

Don't accept the limitations of other people who claim things are 'unchangeable'. If it's written in stone, bring your hammer and chisel.

The irony is that the person not taking risks feels the same amount of fear as the person who regularly takes risks.

For many, negative thinking is a habit, which over time, becomes an addiction... A lot of people suffer from this disease because negative thinking is addictive to each of the Big Three - the mind, the body, and the emotions. If one doesn't get you, the others are waiting in the wings.

Prison is a crash course in the darker side of life. Few survive it without becoming a different person: more cynical, jaded, fearful, angry. Its hard to trust again, hard to believe, easy to hate a system that destroyed your life behind the pompous pretense of saving you from yourself, for your own good.

Anger begins as an inner twinge. We sense something long before it blossoms (explodes?) into an emotional tirade. If we listen to this twinge -- and follow its advice -- the emotional outburst (or in burst) is not needed.

there is nothing to be done. only accept it... and hurt.

Be easier on yourself, on everyone, on everything. Suspend your judgments on the way things should be, must be, and ought to be. Suspending judgments gives you greater ease. Consider ease the antidote for disease.

Nausea is an unsolved problem of medicine and marijuana is the finest anti-nausea medication known to science.

No matter what you do, no matter how stupid, dumb or damaging you judge it to be, there is a lesson to be learned from it. No matter what happens to you, no matter how unfair, inequitable or wrong, there's something you can take from the situation and use for your advancement.

Let your intentions create your methods and not the other way around.

In order to truly master the comfort zone, you have to learn to love it.

Happiness requires courage, stamina, persistence, fortitude, perseverance, bravery, boldness, valor, vigor, concentration, solidity, substance, backbone, grit, guts, moxie, nerve, pluck, resilience, spunk, tenacity, tolerance, will power, chutzpah, and a good thesaurus.

This is our true wealth: the riches we take with us, the joy we carry inside, the support we learn to give ourselves, and the self-loving that flows as a natural by-product of that support.

Most of what's around us we take for granted. We ignore it. Appreciation-spending time looking for the good-helps us overcome one of the primary limitations to enjoying the wealth we already have: ignoreance.

Mistakes, obviously, show us what needs improving. Without mistakes, how would we know what we had to work on?

Willingness opens the doors to knowledge, direction, and achievement. Be willing to know, be willing to do, be willing to create a positive result. Be willing, especially, to follow your dream.

The willingness to do creates the ability to do.

Nothing adventured, nothing attained

When it comes time to teach, teach from your experience. Go out and do, learn from the doing, then teach from the knowing.

If you want peace with others, don't fight them. Go your own way. Live your own life. If some walk with you, fine. If you walk alone for awhile, fine. If you don't like what's going on somewhere, leave. Maintain a portable paradise within yourself.