“The greatest gift God gave us is the power to make decisions.”
Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra
Source: Manuscript Found in Accra
“The greatest gift God gave us is the power to make decisions.”
Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra
Source: Manuscript Found in Accra
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2015, Eulogy for the Honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney (June 2015)
Context: As a nation, out of this terrible tragedy, God has visited grace upon us, for he has allowed us to see where we’ve been blind. He has given us the chance, where we’ve been lost, to find our best selves. We may not have earned it, this grace, with our rancor and complacency, and short-sightedness and fear of each other -- but we got it all the same. He gave it to us anyway. He’s once more given us grace. But it is up to us now to make the most of it, to receive it with gratitude, and to prove ourselves worthy of this gift.
“Our talents are the gift that God gives to us… What we make of our talents is our gift back to God”
Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) Motivational speaker, writer
“God gives us intelligence to uncover the wonders of nature. Without the gift, nothing is possible.”
James Clavell (1921–1994) American novelist
André Delambre
The Fly (1958)
Cesar Chavez (1927–1993) American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist
Indestructible Spirit Conference at La Paz, UFW Headquarters in Keene, California (11 January 1991)
Maimónides book The Guide for the Perplexed
Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.8
Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned (1958) wife of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
Speech at Jazz at Lincoln Centre; quoted on official website http://www.mozabintnasser.qa/en/Pages/ArticlePreview.aspx?ArticleGuid=de04d373-9eaa-46c8-9f4d-033ff7b8fe1f&Type=Speech# (May 16 2013)
Ataol Behramoğlu (1942) Turkish writer
"I've Learned Some Things" (1977)
Variant translations:
There is one thing I learned from what I lived:
When you live, you must live big, like being one with the rivers, the sky, and the whole universe
Because what we call lifetime is a gift presented to life
And life is a gift presented to you.
Translated as "There Is One Thing I Learned From What I Lived" by Sãleyman Fatih Akgãl at TC Turkish Poetry Pages
I've Learned Some Things (2008)