One of my favorite quotes by L. Ron Hubbard has to do with greatness.  He said:

"Happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate.  To hate alone is the road to disaster.  To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness.  And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe."

 I think this is so astute.

 It’s not necessarily that easy to live by this.  How tempting it is to hate, sometimes.

 I’m reminded of life in New York, for example.

 I grew up in New York and had been away for about 20 years - maybe a bit more - when I had occasion to go back for a few weeks on business.

 I was doing some work, upstairs in a building on East 47th street right in the theater district.  The work I was doing was pretty demanding and I wasn’t paying much attention to anything else, when I suddenly realized why I felt so "at home."  It was because of the music of the horns. 

 You see, in New York, the minute someone doesn’t move as fast as you think they should, or takes an extra two seconds to start up after stopping for a light (not to mention the worst sin - to stall out and have to re-start the car) fifty cars start beeping.  And this is no ordinary beep.  New Yorkers know have turned leaning on the horn into an art form.

Driving once with my sister, I thought she was going to have a heart attack or kill someone.  I had forgotten just how heated someone could get over the minor mistakes people make on the road.  And the language that came out of her mouth.

who have to put up with it but for my sister too — and all the horn-jockeys I described above.)

On the other hand, if you actually don’t succumb to the invitation to hate, and I don’t mean live your life like a Pollyanna but just not descend to that emotion, you are certainly happier.  And the people around you sure are too.