Mcwilliams Quotes & Sayings

Some of what we learned early on turned out to be true (the earth is round; if you want a friend be a friend; cleanliness is next to impossible) and some of it turned out to be false (Santa Claus; the Tooth Fairy; Kansas is more fun than Oz). — Peter McWilliams

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

The ongoing successful treatment of my depression is the single most important positive step I have taken in my life, hence my enthusiasm for the subject. — Peter McWilliams

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

You're asking the government to control individual morality. This is a government that can't buy a toilet seat for under $600. — Peter McWilliams

What's more important-your goal, or others' opinions of your goal? — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

Find your horse. Discover the direction the horse is going. Ride the horse in that direction. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

Our thoughts create our reality
where we put our focus is the direction we tend to go. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

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

Send the light of your own loving ahead of you. When you get there, the loving will have prepared a place for you. Be kind, gentle, and enjoy the journey. — Peter McWilliams

You can't afford the luxury of a negative thought — Peter McWilliams

Fill your life with people who applaud your positive thoughts, feelings, and actions; who encourage you toward more and better; who know how to praise the good and beautiful. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

Turn the page . . . jump in. — R.K. McWilliams

This is how it happens. We get the Dream, but we don't get to dictate every step toward the dream. — Peter McWilliams

When we put things off until some future-probably mythical-Laterland, we drag the past into the future. The burden of yesterday's incompletions is a heavy load to carry. Don't carry it. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

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

Emotion is energy in motion. — Peter McWilliams

Definition of a victim: a person to whom life happens. — Peter McWilliams

We instinctively feel an overwhelming desire to take sides: organic or conventional, fair or free trade, "pure" or genetically engineered food, wild or farm-raised fish. Like most things in life, though, the sensible answer lies somewhere between the extremes, somewhere in that dull but respectable placed called the pragmatic center. To be a centrist when it comes to food is, unfortunately, to be a radical. — James McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

Under this law (Controlled Substances Act) a bureaucrat-usually not elected-decides whether or not a substance is dangerous and how dangerous that substance is. There's no more messing around with legislatures, presidents, or other bothersome formalities. When MDMA (ecstasy) was made illegal in 1986, no elected official voted on that. It was done "in house." People are now in jail because they did something that an administrator declared was wrong. — Peter McWilliams

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

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. — Peter McWilliams

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

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

I think of the view from a favorite arroyo in the late afternoon, the east slope still bathed in sunlight, the far slope already full of dark shade and lengthening shadows. A cool breeze, as one can look across the plains, out over miles of homes and trees, and hear the faraway hum of traffic on the high-ways and see the golden light filtering through the mist-laden air. — Carey McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

Our thoughts create our reality-not instantly, necessarily, as in "Poof! There it is" - but eventually. Where we put our focus - our inner and outer vision - is the direction we tend to go. That's our desire, our intention ... — Peter McWilliams

People who want to appear clever rely on memory. People who want to get things done make lists. — Peter McWilliams

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? — Peter McWilliams

You have to follow the old rule for a while. In fact, once you master the old rule, you are then the master-and masters get to change things. — Peter McWilliams

Negative thinking is always expensive
dragging us down mentally, emotionally, and physically
hence I refer to any indulgence in it as a luxury. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

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

To affirm is to make firm. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

Heroes became heroes flaws and all. You don't have to be perfect to fulfill your dream. — Peter McWilliams

I see nothing wrong with the human trait to desire. In fact, I consider it integral to our success mechanism. Becoming attached to what we desire is what causes the trouble. If you must have it in order to be happy, then you are denying the happiness of the here and now. — Peter McWilliams

...no matter how rhapsodic one waxes about the process of wresting edible plants and tamed animals from the sprawling vagaries of nature, there's a timeless, unwavering truth espoused by those who worked the land for ages: no matter how responsible agriculture is, it is essentially about achieving the lesser of evils. To work the land is to change the land, to shape it to benefit one species over another, and thus necessarily to tame what is wild. Our task should be to deliver our blows gently. — James McWilliams

Worrying is the interest paid on a debt you may not owe. — Peter McWilliams

The willingness to do creates the ability to do. — Peter McWilliams

The media tends to report rumors, speculations, and projections as facts ... How does the media do this? By quoting some 'expert' ... you can always find some expert who will say something hopelessly hopeless about anything. — Peter McWilliams

Comfort zones are most often expanded through discomfort. — Peter McWilliams

To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all. — Peter McWilliams

For the most part, most people most often choose comfort - the familiar, the time-honored, the well-worn but well-known. After a lifetime of choosing between comfort and risk, we are left with the life we currently have ... — Peter McWilliams

We are not responsible for every thought that goes wandering through our mind. We are, however, responsible for the ones we hold there. We're especially responsible for the one's we put there. — Peter McWilliams

To change rules that are already in place takes time, energy, perseverance and a lot of hard work. You only have so many of these assets at your disposal, so choose with care the rules you want to change. — Peter McWilliams

Keep your goals away from the trolls. — Peter McWilliams

Pain (any pain
emotional, physical, mental) has a message.
The information it has about our life can be remarkably
specific, but it usually falls into one of two categories: We
would be more alive if we did more of this and Life would be
more lovely if we did less of that. Once we get the pain's
message, and follow its advice, the pain goes away.
— Peter McWilliams

However close you can be to a vegan diet and further from the mean American diet, the better you are for the planet." quoted by Gidon Eshel (Bard College geographer) — James McWilliams

That's what depression had wrought inside me: one, vast, barren rock garden-without the garden — Peter McWilliams

You can change anything you want. You just can't change everything you want. — Peter McWilliams

Learn to ask for what you want. The worst people can do is not give you what you ask for which is precisely where you were before you asked. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

I'd have a nervous breakdown except that I've been through this too many times to be nervous. — Peter McWilliams

Choosing what you want to do, and when to do it, is an act of creation. — Peter McWilliams

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

If you're not actively involved in getting what you want, you don't really want it. — Peter McWilliams

The most recent studies, ... both behavioral and biological, indicate one's sexual orientation is genetic, something one is born with. — Peter McWilliams

What would the masters do?
when people arn't successful, they sometimes wonder, why not? they get answers, then they wonder why those answers don't seem to meet their needs. they get the wrong answers, and they get upset about it. perhaps they're really getting the right answers, but answering the wrong questions.
too many people ask nothing but "Why" questions.
they analyze and analyse problems - but no solution. "you can analyse a glass of water and you're left with a lot of chemical components, but nothing you can drink".
"Why?" questions can drive us crazy. "What?" questions drive us sane.
What questions lead us to practical solutions. — Peter McWilliams

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!" — Peter McWilliams

In life, we have either reasons or results — Peter McWilliams

And neither shall we learn to war with ourselves anymore. — Peter McWilliams

Fear is something to be moved through, not something to be turned from. — Peter McWilliams

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 ... — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

Acceptance is not a state of passivity or inaction. I am not saying you can't change the world, right wrongs, or replace evil with good. Acceptance is, in fact, the first step to successful action. If you don't fully accept a situation precisely the way it is, you will have difficulty changing it. Moreover, if you don't fully accept the situation, you will never really know if the situation should be changed. — Peter McWilliams

Courage, contrary to popular belief, is not the absence of fear. Courage is the wisdom to act in spite of fear ... — Peter McWilliams

We can consciously end our life almost anytime we choose. This ability is an endowment, like laughing and blushing, given to no other animal ... in any given moment, by not exercising the option of suicide, we are choosing to live. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

The road to positivity is strewn with the abandoned vehicles of the faint-hearted. — Peter McWilliams

The Bible, taken as a whole, can be used to praise or condemn practically any human activity, thought, belief, or practice. — Peter McWilliams

Guilt is anger directed at ourselves - at what we did or did not do. Resentment is anger directed at others - at what they did or did not do. — Peter McWilliams

If you want peace, stop fighting. If you want peace of mind, stop fighting with your thoughts. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

Do what you love and the necessary resources will follow. — Peter McWilliams

Life is not a struggle. It's a wiggle. — Peter McWilliams

There is more empty space in the book you're holding, than book. The electrons in the atoms of the book are moving so fast, they give the illusion of solid ink on solid paper. It's not. It's just an illusion. If all the electrons would stop moving for even an instant, the book would not just crumble into dust, it would disappear. Poof — Peter McWilliams

I must conquer my loneliness alone. I must be happy with myself or I have nothing to offer you. Two halves have little choice but to join; and yes, they do make a whole. But two wholes when they coincide ... that is beauty. That is love ... — Peter McWilliams

Whenever something good happens, write it down. Buy a special notebook ... and use it to list all the good in your life. — Peter McWilliams

All the good, fine, noble, and creative acts of humanity were conceived as a spark in a single human consciousness. — Peter McWilliams

To overcome a fear, here's all you have to do: realize the fear is there, and do the action you fear anyway. — Peter McWilliams

Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it's a small price to pay for living a dream. — Peter McWilliams

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

Many people weigh the guilt, they will feel against the pleasure of the forbidden action they want to take. — Peter McWilliams

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. — Peter McWilliams

Mistakes show us what we need to learn. — Peter McWilliams

First, all relationships are with yourself-and sometimes they involve other people. Second, the most important relationship in your life-the one you have, like it or not, until the day you die-is with yourself. — Peter McWilliams