"And when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer."

"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered.
Full of darkness and danger, they were... And, sometimes, you didn't want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?
But, in the end, it's only a passing thing. The shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. Those are the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going... because they were holding onto something."
But, the question is, what are we holding on to?
Maybe it's that there's some good in this world, and that it's worth fighting for. because the end may not look like it will be happy, but how are we to know? We learn that these things are only passing things, and the sun will mark a new beginning. And when the time comes for the chance to come back, the only ones that will be remembered are the ones that didn't.

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have."

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate life has provided us. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate.
We don't need everything in the world to be happy. Sometimes, all we need is love and friendship. If someone were to ask me how I have become the person I am today-- I wouldn't say that it was because of my education, the amount of money I have, or my popularity status. In fact, I'm not the brightest. The money I have buys me only what I need. I'm not accepted by everyone. But, these things don't bring me down, because I think of all the people in my life and all the potential I have, and it's as if I'm on top of the world. The only reasons that I am happy, are because I live simply. I love generously. I care deeply. I speak kindly. And, I enjoy my hot chocolate, as well as all the other gifts life has to offer me.

I may not have the best of everything, but I'm happy because I make the best of everything I have.

“If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.”

If we could get the hang of it entirely, it would take too long; All we know is the splash of words in passing and falling twigs of song. And when we try to eavesdrop on the great presences, it is rarely that, by a stroke of luck, we can appropriate even a phrase entirely. If we could find our happiness entirely in somebody else's arms, we should not fear the spears of the spring nor the city's yammering fire alarms. But, as it is, the spears each year go through our flesh and almost hourly. Bell or siren banishes the blue Eyes of Love entirely. And if the world were black or white entirely, and all the charts were plain, instead of a mad weir of tigerish waters-- a prism of delight and pain. We might be surer where we wished to go, or again we might be merely bored, but in brute reality there is no road that is right entirely.
We have all learned that there most definitely is a right and wrong- but what about the line between the two? How do you distinguish between whether something really is completely right, or really is completely wrong? Well, I believe that a lot of things in life aren't either black or white, but a shade of gray. Maybe a dark gray: leaning more towards wrong, but with slight good intentions, or maybe a light gray: Only good means at heart, with a not so good way of going about it. Sometimes, things are different than we are taught. Sometimes there are exceptions. Every so often, there are times when we must
blur the lines.

"Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, it is the only time we have."

Time seems to pass so quickly nowadays. Or, maybe, it passes too slowly. I'm not quite sure. Who knows, it might just be a little bit of both. Some moments pass you by so fast that you're left standing with no clue what to make of them. Some stay within your grasp only for a little while, leaving you wishing for them to have stayed longer. Yet, there are some that linger, in your reach, waiting for you to seize the opportunity to take them.
A clock doesn't just have to be counting down time-- the time we have left to make something of ourselves. For all we know, it could be counting up time-- the time we have changed this earth and the lives of others. Make each second count, that's a good piece of advice to live by. If we were to "seize the day," so to speak, and make our moments last, well then,

time wouldn't matter anymore.

"We do not simply live our lives for ourselves, but for those who came before and will come after us."

All I really feel the need to do is to make others happy, regardless of whether or not I am happy, myself. It may not be thought of as the wisest of decisions, but I put everyone I know in front of myself-- to me, these people come first. It's scary that the decisions I make in my life are ones that can affect the lives of others. One little mistake can ruin everything. For example-- maybe a very unimaginative example, but a fitting one- if a friend were to tell me a secret that could never be heard by the ears of another, and I told everyone I knew, I would probably lose that friend. Then, we would grow up and go our separate ways. We would get married and have children, or maybe live alone in a one room apartment. We would live a happy life, or rather, a "happy" life, and we would never see each other again. It's funny, isn't? How one domino can knock over twenty? How one person can start a war? How one doubt can rid of all hopes? It's funny, isn't it?
How one little thing... changes everything.