Exuberance is good for you.

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst:

June 4

One day Lincoln’s two sons Willie and Tad held a solemn court martial in which a soldier doll named Jack was found guilty of desertion, and sentenced to death by firing squad. But since that would require his burial in the rose garden and the anger of the gardener, the boys went to their father with their problem. So the President of the United States drew out a sheet of Executive Mansion stationary and wrote the following: 'The doll Jack is pardoned by order of the President.' It was signed 'A. Lincoln.'

'We should welcome the excesses of youth just as we welcome the exuberance of spring, looking forward with delight to the time when people with such an imaginative program for life become mellow and mature - not only gentle as doves, but wise as serpents.'

- Alan Watts

“I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think.” – Socrates

From "The Human Condition: A User's Manual" by Arnold Kunst
The rule about living out dreams seems to be this: if I can conceive it and believe it, and if it just never goes away, then I’d better round it off by doing it or I will have successfully frustrated God’s longing and confirmed my status as a loser He should never have backed in the first place.

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” - Plato

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst:

June 3

Lincoln had a voracious curiosity. Since he had virtually no formal schooling he learned early in life that satisfying his curiosity was going to be his job and his job alone. Consequently, as a child he taught himself to read and write; he also taught himself Euclidean geometry, then surveying, then the law. He was a lifelong student of literature having memorized long passages from both Shakespeare and the Bible. As if all that were not enough, in 1849 he applied for a patent on his design for ‘a new and improved manner of combining adjustable buoyant chambers with steam boats’ [these chambers were designed to lift steam boats above sand bars]. He is the only president in American history to have been granted a patent. Then as President he taught himself how to be a Commander in Chief.

‘Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.’

- Juvenal

“I’d rather die on an adventure than live standing still.” – V. E. Schwab

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual” by Arnold Kunst

Life isn't always easy. Sometimes it's grueling, sometimes grubby. It can be replete with injustices flung inescapably in your face. Often it's a lonely 3AM-type journey into a desert as distinctive to you as your fingerprints, as inevitable as a fetus' journey down the birth canal.

“Serenity is not freedom from the storm but peace amid the storm.” - Anonymous

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst:

June 2

'I have desired as sincerely as any man - I sometimes think more than any other man - that our present difficulties might be settled without the shedding of blood.'

- Abraham Lincoln

'A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.'

- Mark Twain

“A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” – Jack Dempsey

From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual” by Arnold Kunst
If I do today what others won't I'll live tomorrow like others can't.

There is no motivating force more powerful than “thank you.”

From “Lincoln 365,” by Arnold Kunst:

June 1

'Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.'

- Abraham Lincoln

'There are no problems - only outlets for determination and creativity.'

- Arnold Kunst