Quote Me on It

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I revealed on Tuesday how I love it when I read something and it sticks in my head.  Like I come across them at the perfect time – and they speak to me as though they were written just for me. I feel like that with songs as well as words. 
If you follow me on Twitter sometimes, click on my Favorites – 99% of them are quotes.  I collect quotes like some collect coins. They are reminders to me in some cases.  Revelations for me in other cases.  Some I will memorize, others I will post as Facebook statuses to share with others, or I’ll use when posting pictures.  
I have always been a lover of words.  
Here is a very small sampling for them and why I keep them around…
When people show you who they are, believe them. 
~ Maya Angelou
I forgive too easily sometimes.  Not always. But sometimes, what I see in the person isn’t what they show me, and I refuse to believe it.  This reminds me I need to believe them.  While I may see in them a better person than they are showing me, clearly, they don’t see it or believe it. This reminds me to forgive, but not forget.
“You can’t change yesterday, but you can ruin today worrying about tomorrow.” 
~Author Unknown
Too much thinking is my problem. Too much pondering what could be, what could happen, how would I respond “if”……..why? Why live in tomorrow or yesterday, especially if it keeps you from living today.  While I need to do some of this for my job, I need to remember balance in my personal life – or I’ll ruin today.  
A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him 
~ David Brinkley
I love this one. I try to do this with criticism that others give me – especially when it is based not in fact, but emotion.  I can always tell when I’m successful by their reaction to my lack of emotional response. Emotional response to a situation is easy. Using the rocks being thrown at you in a masterful way? Difficult and must more effective.  I use this at work – a LOT!
Then there are books that I read.  I love my Kindle because  I can start highlighting them for myself later. There is a series I just finished reading – a fictional story with a lot of roots in Celtic lore.  The Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. While she has been classified a “romance” novelist due to her earlier work – this series is more end-of-the-world, mystery stuff – no real romance. The final book had some great lines of dialog in it that standing alone.  I recently finished re-reading the final book (for the 5th time in two months) and here are a few that stood out:
“Some people bring out the worst in you, others bring out the best, and then there are those remarkably rare, addictive ones who just bring out the most.  Of everything. They make you feel so alive you’d follow them straight into hell, just to keep getting your fix.”
“And I didn’t say I didn’t like you. ‘Like’ is such a puerile word. Mediocre people like things. The only question of any significant emotive content is: Can you live without it?”  
(I love that short point. And find the same feelings with the word like. Seems so pre-teen-ish. But, I have found, it is the word people have the most comfort in hearing.  To love someone or something, for example, is often too strong of a word for people – it implies things that may be more than just the word itself.  So, like seems easier to swallow and to give without worry. But at the end of the day, ‘can you live without it’ is the true question.)
“Look in the mirror, eyes gotta meet eyes or quit looking.” 
And there are song lyrics. I won’t list those because I think I could do a whole post on lyrics that stand out in my mind.  Lines from songs that stand alone best, but always change in context.  
Or poems. Poems conjure up some pretty funny memories for me.  But I have a college professor to thank for that one. He brought the classical English poetry to life and into perspective.  All I have to say is “suckling country pleasures” to have a whole new appreciation for the use of country in that poem.
Then there are the people in my life.  I learned a long time ago to leave chat logging on so that I can recall gems such as:

“how can you be into that shit? they must taste like bad decisions, poor judgement, and shitty candy”

(a comment in response to my observation one day about teenage girls making out with their much older boyfriends on the train while usually standing next to me.This was my online friend’s response to the whole young girl, older guy coupling.)

What are the words that stand out in your life?

5 Comments Add yours

  1. Joker_SATX says:

    Well, you have inspired me. I keep a wisdom journal. I never thought of getting wisdom from Twitter….

  2. Aurore says:

    Two of my favourites:

    A désirer vainement une chose, on finit par la croire impossible. – Le Nègre du gouverneur de Serge Patient

    Roughly translated: Desiring something in vain we end by believing that it’s impossible.

    Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. – Soren Kierkegaard

  3. Bob says:

    Life can turn on a dime and it does.

    I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

    Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned.

    I ended up drinking doubles and thinking single.

    By a physician: This is going to be a bit uncomfortable (yeah, easy for him to say).

  4. Vixen says:

    I’m the same way! Most of my FB status’s are of quotes I come across. I can spend *hours* browsing Quotebook.

    These are two of my all time favorites-

    “You can always close your eyes to things you don’t want to see…but you can’t close your heart to the things you don’t want to feel”

    “Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.”

  5. Fusion says:

    Two of mine:
    Wanting is not the same as having.

    While living in Australia I learned the aussie version of Murphy’s Law (ie, whatever can go wrong will go wrong). Their version: Murphy was an optimist.

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