Dear Friends,

Please accept my best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous 2024. May you all excel in your endeavours to make this world a better place.
Let me begin this new year's blogging with a new collection of thoughts, views and perspectives of people from various vocations. Some are still alive with us today, some have passed away. Hope you are able to learn, imbibe and benefit in some way from their life's reflections.

If you haven't already told the people you love that you love them, tell them; If you haven't already told them how vulnerable you sometimes feel, tell them; If you want to tell them that you'd like to be with them until the front hall stairs feel like Everest, tell them. You never know what is coming around the corner. And if, lucky you, there is nothing around the corner, then at least you got your defence in first. - George Alagiah

The best leaders are those most interested in surrounding themselves with assistants and associates smarter than they are. - Ratan Tata

I am a human being, I am bound to say maybe four stupid things in public and people may make fun of that. I may also say 14 intelligent things, but sometimes negativity travels faster than positivity. I believe in the larger picture… Love conquers all. - Alia Bhatt

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man. - Benjamin Franklin

Work Hard in Silence, let Success make the Noise. - Anon

I don't believe in work-life balance. I believe in work-life integration. Make your work and life meaningful and fulfilling, and they will complement each other. - Ratan Tata

I'm a very private person. I don't enjoy stardom. - Barbra Streisand

You are with the wrong friend if you are around anybody that makes you feel less than 100 percent yourself, if you’re around anybody that makes you feel like you can’t shine or say whatever you want to say. - Oprah Winfrey

The head cannot understand, the heart cries and the words won’t come out because of the pain. - Nathalie

Grief, there's no book to it, I have found it quite hard grieving. I like to think of myself as a typical guy who can't do two things at once. It's either looking after the house and being a parent or grieving. I drive a small truck for work, it's an hour's drive and half the time I just put some music on, because I find music gets me to where I want to be and end up half the time just crying in my truck. Sometimes in life you go through things and you're not so confident about something and you lean on that other person to help get you through and I just don't have that. - Lee Lovell

It is a painful yet exclusive luxury to be living with cancer because for the most part it is a story of a death foretold. Many of us cancer patients know that our time is running out so there is time for reflection. It is not the brutality of a car crash. - George Alagiah

Be persistent and resilient in the face of challenges, for they are the building blocks of success. - Ratan Tata

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of. - Benjamin Franklin

People can be in a crowded room and interact with other people, but be lonely. - Roger Patulny

You can work from home or commute with your headphones in and eyes fixed to a screen; you can use the self-checkout or order almost anything via an app. We’re herd creatures who have become antisocial. With our smartphones in hand, we’re forever reachable and yet perpetually remote from one another, distracted by our devices. - Sophie McBain

People who strive to improve despite enduring difficulties they don’t deserve are hugely inspiring to me. Since life is imperfect, everyone does this to an extent but I keep picking up on this tendency and it makes me look up to people a lot. - Rupashri Chatterjee

Human nature is focused on winning, achieving, competing, acquiring....whereas, the spiritual consciousness realizes that success is in the effort, the endeavor, persistence and intention to do your best, regardless of the outcome. - Anjana Bhalla

Who covets more is evermore a slave. - Robert Herrick

I found that journalism with celebrities got harder as social media came in - they can report on their lives themselves. -  Jason O'Callaghan

I walked 922 miles across Antarctica, solo, in 70 days. I only had food and fuel, a tent, my sleeping bag, a repair kit, goggles, face masks, gloves and a medical kit. I only took necessities. I didn’t even take a hairbrush – it took six weeks to untangle my hair when I got home. I was on the move for 13 to 15 hours a day and getting four to five hours of sleep a night. In the end, I covered 922 miles and fell more than 100 miles short of my goal. It took me a while to be proud of what I’d achieved, because I had failed to reach my initial goal, but I’ve learned it’s OK to move the goalposts. Antarctica is an incredible place. I don’t agree with the idea of conquering somewhere. You treat places with respect and hope they’ll allow you safe passage.- Preet Chandi

I have always been moved by the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam, to repair the world. I hope to join and inspire others in their own commitment to build a better world. - Barbra Streisand

Be alike flower. Spread beauty and happiness wherever you stay; irrespective of your surroundings. - Anon

One day you will realize that material things mean nothing. All that matters is the well-being of the people you love. - Ratan Tata

I should lower my expectations from people, to give and to not expect anything. This awareness has come to me without meditation or chanting. - Karan Johar

We relish news of our heroes, forgetting that we are extraordinary to somebody too. - Helen Hayes