DESEDERATA

The DESEDERATA is my most favorite.....
I've carried it with me since I was 18.....Enjoy! .......GO PLACIDLY AMID THE NOISE AND HASTE, & REMEMBER WHAT PEACE THERE MAY BE IN SILENCE.
AS FAR AS POSSIBLE, WITHOUT surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly & clearly; and listen to others, even the dull & ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud & aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare your self with others, you may become vain & bitter; for always there will be greater & lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.

Be Yourself. Especially, do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with misgivings. Many fears are born of fatigue & loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

Your are a child of the universe, no less than the trees & the stars you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be, and whatever your labours & aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life

Keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be careful. Strive to be HAPPY.

FOUND IN OLD Saint Paul’s CHURCH BALITIMORE DATED 1692