Oh, Issyk-Kul, my Issyk-Kul--my unfinished song! Why did I have to remember that day when I came here with Asel and stopped on the same rise, right above the water? Everything was the same. The blue-and-white waves ran up the yellow shore holding hands. The sun was setting behind the mountains, and at the far end of the lake the water was tinged with pink. The swans wheeled over the water with excited, exultant cries. They soared up and dropped down on outspread wings that seemed to hum. They whipped up the water and started wide, foaming circles. Everything was the same, only there was no Asel with me. Where are you, my slender poplar in a red kerchief, where are you now?

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People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou

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To make a difference in someone’s life you don’t have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect. You just have to care. – Mandy Hale

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Always be a little kinder than necessary. – James Barry

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If you can’t think of anything nice to say, you’re not thinking hard enough. – Robby Novak

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Sometimes miracles are just good people with kind hearts. – Unknown

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Kindness is invincible, but only when it’s sincere, with no hypocrisy or faking. For what can even the most malicious person do if you keep showing kindness and, if given the chance, you gently point out where they went wrong—right as they are trying to harm you? — Marcus Aurelius

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Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see. – Mark Twain

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It's when I have mountains of paperwork that I hide on the valley floors away from prying eyes. ― Anthony T. Hincks

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The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers & cities; but to know someone who thinks & feels with us, & who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.

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