| The trouble with normal is it always gets worse. — Bruce Cockburn There are no easy answers; only people who jump to them. — Bill Purdin All the world’s a cage. — Jeanne Phillips If you want to die with dignity, live with dignity. It’s good practice. — Bill Purdin Life is a long lesson in humility. — James M. Barrie Life is not about what you take … at all. — Bill Purdin Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead. — Charles Bukowski Life is full of obstacle illusions. — Grant Frazier Once the game is over, the King and the pawn go back in the same box. — Italian Proverb I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. — Agatha Christie The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved. — Confucius One should count each day a separate life. — Seneca Excess is moderation. — Bill Purdin Nothing ever goes away. — Barry Commoner If there is no gardener there is no garden. — Stephen Covey Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards. — Vernon Sanders Law Isolated people tend to become more and more isolated. — Bill Purdin We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand … and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it is too late. — Marie Beyon Ray It’s a shallow life that doesn’t give a person a few scars. — Garrison Keillor I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated. — Poul Anderson We learn and grow and are transformed not so much by what we do but by why and how we do it. — Sharon Salzberg The only lifetime you can waste is your own. — Bill Purdin I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We’ve created life in our own image. — Stephen Hawking Better late than never. — Titus Livius Never stand begging for that which you have the power to earn. — Miguel de Cervantes We must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose. — Indira Gandhi In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted. — Bertrand Russell Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can. — Danny Kaye Maybe it was only a second of your time, but you need to treasure life, every second. — Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it. — Rita Mae Brown We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. — Joseph Campbell Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former. — Albert Einstein Life is a game of next moments, so don’t dwell on the past. — Bill Purdin He who is drowned is not troubled by the rain. — Chinese Proverb Good judgment comes from experience, and experience – well, that comes from poor judgment. — A.A. Milne If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches. — Rainer Maria Rilke There is always something or someone coming. — Bill Purdin The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his own way. — Josh Billings I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.– Arthur Rubinstein Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. — Ralph Waldo Emerson It is confidence in our bodies, minds and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures, new directions to grow in, and new lessons to learn — which is what life is all about. — Oprah Winfrey God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest. — J. G. Holland As was his language so was his life. — Seneca One must never be in haste to end a day. There are too few of them in a lifetime. — Dale Coleman Of course the game is rigged. Don’t let that stop you if you don’t play, you can’t win. — Robert Heinlein Those of us who refuse to risk and grow get swallowed up by life. — Patty Hansen The man who has no problems is out of the game. — Elbert Hubbard And life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. — Grandma Moses Great joys make us love the world. Great sadnesses make us understand the world. — Kent Nerburn It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. — Ralph Waldo Emerson When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. — Marcus Aurelius When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life. — Greg Anderson There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences. — P.J. O’Rourke Appearances often are deceiving. — Aesop Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live. — Robert F. Kennedy In the long run, we get no more than we have been willing to risk giving. — Sheldon Kopp The most pathetic person in the world is a person who has sight but has no vision. — Helen Keller (NOTE: In a Congressional Testimonial at the time of her death, Senator Lister Hill of Alabama expressed the feelings of the whole world when he said of Helen Keller, “She will live on, one of the few, the immortal names not born to die. Her spirit will endure as long as man can read and stories can be told of the woman who showed the world there are no boundaries to courage and faith.”) Gandhi’s Seven Social Sins 1. Politics without principle 2. Wealth without work 3. Commerce without morality 4. Pleasure without conscience 5. Education without character 6. Science without humanity 7. Worship without sacrifice Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum. — Oliver Wendell Holmes. Jr. Time does not change us. It just unfolds us. — Max Frisch To cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life. — Samuel Johnson My life is like one long obstacle course with me being the chief obstacle. — Jack Paar Nobody, as long as he moves about among the chaotic currents of life, is without trouble. — Carl Jung It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. — Ursula K. Le Guin Take nothing for granted: a true life is earned second by second, thought by thought. — Bill Purdin Life only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible–not to have run away. — Dag Hammarskjold To know what has to be done, then do it, comprises the whole philosophy of practical life. — Sir William Osler The wheel of fortune turns round incessantly, and who can say to himself, ‘I shall to-day be uppermost.’ — Confucius Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards. — Vernon Sanders Law He who laughs, lasts. — Mary Pettibone Poole Beware the fury of the patient man. — John Dryden The only disability in life is a bad attitude. — Scott Hamilton Man is born to live, not to prepare to live. — Boris Pasternak The years forget our errors and forgive our sins, but they punish our inaction with living death. — Robert Grudin The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit. — Nelson Henderson There is no rule more invariable than that we are paid for our suspicions by finding that which we suspect. — Henry David Thoreau If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. — Anatole France We’re like blind men on a corner — we have to learn to trust people, or we’ll never cross the street. — George Foreman Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. — W. Somerset Maugham Be a life long or short, its completeness depends on what it was lived for. — David Starr Jordan All animals except man know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it. — Samuel Butler The life of every one is a diary in which he means to write one story and writes another, and the humblest hour is when we compare the volume as it is with what we vowed to make it. — James M. Barrie We must become new people or be satisfied the way we are. Either way we risk tragedy. But, by the first, we choose life; by the second we choose death. — Corita Kent Because of our routines we often forget that life is an ongoing adventure. — Maya Angelou Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure. — William Saroyan A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top, rocks about 2″ diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full? They all agreed that it was. So, the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them in to the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The students laughed. He asked his students again if the jar was full? They agreed that yes, it was. The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. “Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things — your family, your partner, your health, your friends, your children — anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed. The pebbles are the other things in life that matter, but on a smaller scale. The pebbles represent things like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff. If you put the sand or the pebbles into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, the material things, you will never have room for the things that are truly most important. Pay attention to the things that are critical in your life. Don’t ever take them for granted in any way. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party, and fix the disposal.” Take care of the rocks first — the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just pebbles and sand. I who am blind can give one hint to those who see: use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind. And the same method can be applied to the other senses. Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra as if you would be stricken deaf tomorrow. Touch each object as if tomorrow your tactile sense would fail. Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish each morsel as if tomorrow you could never smell and taste again. Make the most of every sense, glory in all the facets of pleasure and beauty which the world reveals to you through the several means of contact which nature provides. — Helen Keller (courtesy of Blythe Purdin) Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. — Helen Keller Desiderata Go placidly among the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; Many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore, be at peace with god, whatever you conceive him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy. There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth. — Martin Luther King, Jr. The sin ye do by two and two ye must pay for one by one. — Rudyard Kipling As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. — Henry David Thoreau Experience is what allows us to repeat our mistakes, only with more finesse! — Derwood Fincher Each man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well. He has changed his market-cart into a chariot of the sun. — Ralph Waldo Emerson Do what you will, this Life’s a Fiction And is made up of Contradiction. — William Blake You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss, A sigh is just a sigh; The fundamental things apply, As time goes by. It’s still the same old story, A fight for love and glory, A case of Do or Die! The world will always welcome lovers, As time goes by — Herman Hupfield (From Everybody’s Welcome.) If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world, and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. — E. B. White Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness. — Leo Tolstoy Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles. What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other? — George Eliot Every dog has his day. — Anonymous Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. — Helen Keller Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her. But once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game. — Voltaire If you are on the last train to glory you know you must have paid your fare. — Arlo Guthrie The way life treats you is a merciless mirror image of your attitude toward life. — Anonymous Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue. — Roger C. Anderson A sadder man and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn. — Samuel Taylor Coleridge It’s no secret — the people who live long are those who long to live. — Anonymous The world is full of lonely people, each isolated in a private, secret dungeon. — Loretta Girzartis Measure life by its breadth not its length. — Anonymous If You Can If you can start the day without coffee and keep going cheerfully all day long, If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains, If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles, If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it, If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time, If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong, If you can take criticism and blame without resentment, If you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him, If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend, If you can face the world without lies and deceit, If you can conquer tension without medical help, If you can relax without liquor, If you can sleep without the aid of drugs, If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, or politics, Then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog. To avoid sickness, eat less. To prolong life, worry less. — Chinese Proverb A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book. — Irish Proverb WHO AM I? I am more deadly that the screaming shells from the howitzer. I win without killing. I tear down homes, break hearts, and wreck lives. I travel on the wings of the wind. No innocence is strong enough to intimidate me, no purity pure enough to daunt me. I have no regard for truth, no respect for justice, no mercy for the defenseless. My victims are as numerous as the sands of the sea, and often as innocent. I never forget and never forgive. My name is … gossip. — Morgan Blake INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE 1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully. 2. Memorize your favorite poem. 3. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want. 4. When you say, “I love you,” mean it. 5. When you say, “I’m sorry,” look the person in the eye. 6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married. 7. Believe in love at first sight. 8. Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much. 9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely. 10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling. 11. Don’t judge people by their relatives. 12. Talk slowly but think quickly. 13. When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, “Why do you want to know?” 14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk. 15. Say “bless you” when you hear someone sneeze. 16. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson. 17. Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions. 18. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship. 19. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. 20. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice. 21. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other. 22. Spend some time alone. 23. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values. 24. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. 25. Read more books and watch less TV. 26. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll get to enjoy it a second time. 27. Trust in God but lock your car. 28. A loving atmosphere in your home is so important. Do all you can to create a tranquil harmonious home. 29. In disagreements with loved ones, deal with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past. 30. Read between the lines. 31. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality. 32. Be gentle with the earth. 33. Pray. There’s immeasurable power in it. 34. Never interrupt when you are being flattered. 35. Mind your own business. 36. Don’t trust a man/woman who doesn’t close his/her eyes when you kiss. 37. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before. 38. If you make a lot of money, put it to use helping others while you are living. That is wealth’s greatest satisfaction. 39. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck. 40. Learn the rules then break some. 41. Remember that the best relationship is one where your love for each other is greater than your need for each other. 42. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it. 43. Remember that your character is your destiny. 44. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon. 45. Share with others. All of the animals, excepting man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it. — Samuel Butler The 12 Golden Rules For Living 1. If you open it, close it. 2. If you turn it on, turn it off. 3. If you unlock it, lock it up. 4. If you break it, admit it. 5. If you can’t fix it, call in someone who can. 6. If you borrow it, return it. 7. If you value it, take care of it. 8. If you make a mess, clean it up. 9. If you move it, put it back. 10. If it belongs to someone else, get permission to use it. 11. If you don’t know how to operate it, leave it alone. 12. If it’s none of your business, don’t ask questions. — Miriam Hamilton Keare There’s only one thing more painful that learning from experience, and that is not learning from experience. — Archibald Mac Leish Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept into it — forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old mistakes and nonsense. — Ralph Waldo Emerson One half of the troubles of this world can be traced to saying, “yes,” too quickly and the other half to not saying, “no” soon enough. Or vise versa. — Jacob M. Braude We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same. — Carlos Castaneda Anyone who isn’t confused really doesn’t understand the situation.– Edward R. Murrow The one common challenge of all humanity is the challenge of problems. — R. Buckminster Fuller Life is made of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. And if you don’t collect all of these tiny successes, the big ones don’t really mean anything at all. — Norman Lear The rose of a world that never was has withered away. — Sir John Betjeman Eat less and chew well. Ride less and walk often. Have fewer clothes and launder often. Worry less and work harder. Waste less time, and continue to learn. Talk less and listen more. Frown less and laugh often. Speak less and act more. Blame less and praise others. Take less and give a hundred times over. — Kenzo Futagil, describing the secrets of life. (He lived well over a hundred years.) Nothing that is alive remains unchanging. All Nature changes from day to day and minute to minute, Only the dead stop growing and are quiescent. Fresh water runs on, and if you stop it, it becomes stagnant. So also is it with the life of man and the life of a nation. — Jawaharlal Nehru All the good things of the world are no further good to us than they are of use; and of all we may heap up we enjoy only as much as we can use, and no more. — Daniel Defoe Action is the antidote to despair. — Joan Baez You were born an original. Don’t die a copy. — John Mason Today is a new day. You will get out of it just what you put into it. If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. And supposing you have tried and failed again and again, you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call “failure” is not falling down, but the staying down. — Mary Pickford Many wise words are spoken in jest, but they don’t compare with the number of stupid words spoken in earnest. — Sam Levinson Life is for thinking before acting, for hearing before judging, for forgiving your enemies, for being candid and frank, for helping a fallen brother, for being honest in business, for thinking before speaking, for being loyal to your faith, for standing by your principles, for stopping your ears to gossip, for bridling a slanderous tongue, for harboring only pure thoughts, for sympathizing with the afflicted, for being courteous and kind to all. — Anonymous I don’t really want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you’re alive, you got to flap your arms and legs, you got to jump around a lot, you got to make a lot of noise, because life is the very opposite of death. And therefore, as I see it, if you’re quiet, you’re not living. You’ve got to be noisy, or at least your thoughts should be noisy and colorful and lively. — Mel Brooks Gems are always found while sifting through tons and tons of useless rock. — Anonymous Eat it up, make it do, wear it out. — Calvin Coolidge If things are what you want, you’ll never have enough. — Paul Simon Love me like the rock of ages. ~ Ibid. I know you see through me, but there’s no tenderness beneath your honesty. ~ Ibid Take your burdens to the Mardi Gras, Let the music wash your soul, You can limbo in the street, You can jingle to the beat… — Ibid The present is big with the future. — Leibnitz It is easier to stay than get out. — Mark Twain On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use. — Epictetus We didn’t inherit the Earth from our parents … it’s on loan from our children. — Earthmatters We all look up and see the same sky. It’s when we look down again that we all see something different. — Bill Purdin In no direction that we turn do we find ease or comfort. If we are honest and if we have the will to win we find only danger, hard work and iron resolution. — Wendall L. Wilkie This is a world of action, and not for moping and droning in. — Charles Dickens We are not punished for our sins, but by them. — Elbert Green Hubbard I have enjoyed the happiness of the world; I have lived and loved. — Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller You can always pick up your needle and move to another groove. — Timothy Leary |
