Vera Nazarian

“Every story needs to be worth telling.”

“The pyramid shape is said to hold many secrets and amazing properties. One of them is a sense of wonder.”

“A great ancient poet was blind. A great classical composer was deaf. Many of us are dumb. What have we to show for it?”

“A fine glass vase goes from treasure to trash, the moment it is broken. Fortunately, something else happens to you and me. Pick up your pieces. Then, help me gather mine.”

“Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.”

“There's a difference between playing and playing games. The former is an act of joy, the latter — an act.”

“Freedom is not a license to act but a license to exercise free choices in any given situation.”

“The weight of the world is a trifle, if we all put our two fingers under it and try to lift together.”

“Sometimes, being true to yourself means changing your mind. Self changes, and you follow.”

“For as long as there's anyone to ask 'Why?' the answer will always be, 'Why not?”

“I'll tell you a secret.Old storytellers never die.They disappear into their own story.”

“Thoughts are slippery fish in a cold shallow stream.If you are intent on capturing a worthwhile one, you need to stand very still, focus very hard on somewhere outside yourself, and then simply ignore it until it gets so close that it tickles your ankles.Then, pounce.”

“A choir is made up of many voices, including yours and mine. If one by one all go silent then all that will be left are the soloists.Don’t let a loud few determine the nature of the sound. It makes for poor harmony and diminishes the song.”

“Yawns are not the only infectious things out there besides germs.Giggles can spread from person to person.So can blushing.But maybe the most powerful infectious thing is the act of speaking the truth.”

“Is it folly to believe in something that is intangible? After all, some of the greatest intangibles are Love, Hope, and Wonder.Another is Deity.The choice to be a fool is yours.”

“Science is an organized pursuit of triviality.Art is a casual pursuit of significance.Let's keep it in perspective.”

“Would you like to know your future?If your answer is yes, think again. Not knowing is the greatest life motivator.So enjoy, endure, survive each moment as it comes to you in its proper sequence -- a surprise.”

“Patience is not a virtue. It is an achievement.”

“Don't look for a soul mate.Make one -- out of the complex fabric of the human being already with you.Instructions are never included. They vary with the strength of your ability to see, the measure of your selective blindness, the limits of your mercy, and the intensity of your desire.”

“To be alone with yourself is to be alone. To be in the company of others is to be alone together.The only time you are not alone is when you forget yourself and reach out in love -- the lines of self blur, and just for a wild, flickering moment you experience the miracle of other.And now you know the secret.”

“Passion and courtesy are two polar opposite traits that serve to balance each other into a full-blooded whole.Without socialization, passion is a crude barbarian, and without passion, the elegant and polite are dead.Allow both passion and courtesy into your life in equal measure, and be complete.”

“When hope is fleeting, stop for a moment and visualize, in a sky of silver, the crescent of a lavender moon. Imagine it -- delicate, slim, precise, like a paper-thin slice from a cabochon jewel.It may not be very useful, but it is beautiful.And sometimes it is enough.”

“Hope is the last thing that dies.Maybe because hope is one of those dratted things that is truly, honestly, genuinely immortal.”

“Desire is like fog on a bathroom mirror -- its presence incites you to wipe the mirror, and see yourself clearly again.”

“Responsibility and Trust -- these two are like Yin and Yang, together perfectly complete, and each one requiring the presence of the other.The next time you mistrust someone, consider this -- does that person feel responsible for you in any way? If the answer is yes, then go ahead and trust them. Very likely, they are looking out for your best interest.”

“Sometimes I think that wisdoms slip from my mind like drool from the lips of an idiot...Where's all this stuff coming from? Is it any good? Any good in, you know, the wisdom sense? Who am I to spout this stuff anyway?Well, here's the thing. You too can find yourself shedding wisdom like cat hair if you only allow yourself the liberty of introspection.Think about what you alone know that no one else does. That one neat wonderful profound insight. It is fully yours. No one else on this planet of about six billion people understands it like you do.Now, see if you can share it with someone. Bestow it, a gift of yourself.Wisdom is like gossip. Except it's the good kind.”

“One sin seldom mentioned is that of killing time.”

“A sage is a former fool who has become tired of himself.A foolish sage is one who forgets this.Remember, or come full circle.”

“The desert and the ocean are realms of desolation on the surface.The desert is a place of bones, where the innards are turned out, to desiccate into dust.The ocean is a place of skin, rich outer membranes hiding thick juicy insides, laden with the soup of being.Inside out and outside in. These are worlds of things that implode or explode, and the only catalyst that determines the direction of eco-movement is the balance of water.Both worlds are deceptive, dangerous. Both, seething with hidden life.The only veil that stands between perception of what is underneath the desolate surface is your courage.Dare to breach the surface and sink.”

“Being smart as a whip includes knowing when not to crack it.”

“The difficulty in dealing with a maze or labyrinth lies not so much in navigating the convolutions to find the exit but in not entering the damn thing in the first place.Or, at least not yet again.As a creature of free will, do not be tempted into futility.”

“Have you ever seen the dawn? Not a dawn groggy with lack of sleep or hectic with mindless obligations and you about to rush off on an early adventure or business, but full of deep silence and absolute clarity of perception? A dawning which you truly observe, degree by degree. It is the most amazing moment of birth. And more than anything it can spur you to action. Have a burning day.”

“The world is shaped by two things — stories told and the memories they leave behind.”

“Worry is the secret weapon perpetrated upon us by the dark forces of the world that lurk in the shape of fear, uncertainty, confusion, and loss.We, on the other hand, have our own secret weapon against these incorporeal fiends.It is laughter.”

“Love is made up of three unconditional properties in equal measure:1. Acceptance2. Understanding3. AppreciationRemove any one of the three and the triangle falls apart.Which, by the way, is something highly inadvisable. Think about it — do you really want to live in a world of only two dimensions?So, for the love of a triangle, please keep love whole.”