Monday 19 September 2011

Inside the mind of Lee Jasper.... quotes and random thoughts


I will be updating this post regularly, so come back and share my world.. Lee Jasper

We must never become adjusted to injustice, settling for less to look our best...

"There are those who come so pious and righteous and proclaiming equality and justice critising those who do the work who have been there .They became converted as a result of the 'cause celebre' status of high profile campaigns. They were were never there on the cold lonely nights when their heroes - the people they now proclaim, were being vilified. Long nights protecting homes from BNP attack, long nights sitting in morgues and police stations and counselling the mothers of the dead. There are none so righteous...."
  Old habits can't be thrown out the upstairs window. They have to be coaxed down the stairs one step at a time....


Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. William Jennings Bryan

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. St. Francis of Assisi

Plan for the future, because that is where you are going to spend the rest of your life. Mark Twain

" So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice--or will we be extremists for the cause of justice? " Dr Martin Luther King Letter from Birmingham Jail (April 1963)

"People are never more insecure than when they become obsessed with their fears at the expense of their dreams."
~Norman Cousins


"I would rather be ashes than dust; I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot; I would rather be in a superb meteor, every atom of me in a magnificent glow than in a sleepy and permanent planet; the proper function of man is to live, not to exist; I should not waste my days in trying to prolong them; I shall USE my time." ~Jack London

“The best index to a person’s character is: a) how he treats people who can’t do him any good and b) how he treats people who can’t fight back.” – Abigail Van Buren


“We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.” – Virginia Satir


“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” – Carl Gustav Jung

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” – Albert Einstein

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein

“There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside of you.” – Maya Angelou

“It’s not what you call me, but what I answer to.” – African proverb

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength.” - St. Frances de Sales

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew.” - St. Francis de Sales


“Just because you don’t take an interest in politics, does not mean politics does not take an interest in you” - Pericles




“You have very little morally persuasive power with people who can feel your underlying contempt.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Loving ourselves creates miracles in our lives.” - Louise Hay

“Anxiety is nothing but repeatedly re-experiencing failure in advance. What a waste.” - Seth Godin

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” -Teilhard de Chardin

“The way we see the problem is the problem.” – Stephen Covey

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. - Winston Churchill

God is to big to fit into one religion.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

I find personally that the greatest revenge is to accomplish what others say you can not do. So go out and do it.

Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else – you are the one who gets burned.

I know a lot of very bright people. The acquisition of knowledge doesn’t mean you’re growing. Growing happens when what you know changes how you live.

I often hear people say when opportunity arises that they are not ready. Fact is you will never feel 100% ready when an opportunity arises.

Emotional decisions are rarely good decisions. Is that your experience?

Observational question. Are the problems we have with others are typically more about us?

Question: Happiness and success are they two different things?

Question: How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

Question:Is it possible to lie without saying a word?

Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's learning to dance in the rain.

I am too positive to be doubtful, too optimistic to be fearful and too determined to be defeated.

My job is definitely secure. No one else wants it.

People are made to be loved and things are made to be used. The confusion in this world is that people are being used and things are being loved.

Vision without execution is delusion and execution without vision is a nightmare

A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.
Baltasar Gracian


The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.

Behold the turtle. He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out.

I'm struggling with myself but don't worry there can only be one winner!

When you live in reaction, you give your power away. Then you get to experience what you gave your power to.

The only way you may correct the bad things in your past is to add better things to your future. Shiloh Morrison

The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice that which we are for what we could become. Charles DuBois

What a strange narrowness of mind now is that, to think the things we have not known are better than the things we have known. ~Samuel Johnson

God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me.


You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him. Leo Aikman

Do not confuse your vested interests with ethics. Do not identify the enemies of your privilege with the enemies of humanity. Max Lerner, Actions and Passions, 1949

Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.

I tell you everything that is really nothing, and nothing of what is everything, do not be fooled by what I am saying. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I am not saying. ~Charles C. Finn

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. Winston Churchill

“Listen or thy tongue will keep thee deaf” Indian Proverb quotes

I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant

When proposing a way forward or entering into a debate avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it

"Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage. Publilius Syrus First Century BC, Maxim 914

‎"Big egos have little ears." — Robert Schuller

Effective listeners remember that "words have no meaning - people have meaning." The assignment of meaning to a term is an internal process; meaning comes from inside us. And although our experiences, knowledge and attitudes differ, we often misinterpret each other’s messages while under the illusion that a common understanding has been achieved."
— Larry Barker

"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." Steve Biko Speech in Cape Town, 1971

I have a book waiting to be born gestating in the recess of my mind. It haunts me and sits on my shoulder teasing me with taunts of self doubt and failure. It excites me with phrases and thought and then tells me no one is really interested and invites public ridicule. Every morning its sits there this mocking apparition so I write furious for reassurance...

What is important is that we do not allow our past to determine our future Having endured the terrible abuse of racism and slavery we do not become abusers ourselves That we learn the lesson of history and understand our role is in part in teaching humanity that the evil of racism and oppression is ultimately an act of self abuse by white We now act as abusers having been abused now abuse ourselves. This I believe is our destiny to heal ourselves so we can play our part in healing the world...

Let me be clear today. I love humanity all colours creeds, those of faith and those with none.I care not about colour I care about justice. When I see my own family my own community suffering because of racism and yet face the daily routine denial of racism from its perpetrators I am compelled to act in defence of my community and for the promotion of common humanity. If racism was more widely acknowledged maybe I could have become a brain surgeon its not and here I am a warrior for justice...

I am often asked why I focus on race issues They ask me if I have a pathological hatred of white people and why do I see race in absolutely everything. This saddens me some Britons will support the freedom fighters of Libya even when they are slaughtering black Africans, support Israel in their oppression of Palestinians give more money to animals than to people welfare. And yet right here in their own backyard they are not only blind but vehemently hostile to those who challenge British racism..


I'm not a racist I am a humanist I fight for the rights of all people who face social and economic injustice. If born a black man I see and act on the acute suffering of my own community first that's not prejudice that's survival. If I denounce racism that not reverse racism that's pro humanity as racism has killed more people than all the wars put together. I am an African human rights warrior fighting for global equality and justice for all people regardless of race or faith...


Autumn has arrived and having been born a winter child I always feel a surge of confidence and anticipation at such time. The natural process of renewal spring summer, autumn and winter representing the spiritual process of experiential emotional and intellectual learning. I want to clean my house, my mind, my body and my soul...