Personal quotes and philosophies.

[BOFH666]

I was curious, does anyone else here have certain phrases, quotes or other words that they turn to when, for whatever reason, they need to find strength or comfort? For me there's three:

"The universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice. The language is not English or French or German or Arabic or Russian. It speaks in the language of hope."
"It speaks in the language of trust. It speaks in the language of strength and the language of compassion. It is the language of the heart and the language of the soul. But always it is the same voice. It is the voice of our ancestors speaking through us and the voice of our inheritors waiting to be born. The small, still voice that says: 'We are one. No matter the blood, no matter the skin, no matter the faith ... We are one. No matter the pain, no matter the darkness, no matter the loss, no matter the fear. .. We are one.' Here, gathered together in common cause, we begin to realize this singular truth and this singular rule that we must be kind to one another. Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us and each voice lost diminishes us. We are the voice of the universe, the soul of creation, the fire that will light our way to a better future. We are one."

Originally spoken by G'Kar in Babylon 5, modified slightly for the real world

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Final stanza of Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson

Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;
Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mad,
Tros ryddid collasant eu gwaed.

Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad,
Tra môr yn fur
I'r bur hoffbau,
O bydded i'r heniaith barhau.

Hen Gymru fynyddig, paradwys y bardd,
Pob dyffryn, pob clogwyn, i'm golwg sydd hardd;
Trwy deimlad gwladgarol, mor swynol yw si
Ei nentydd, afonydd, i mi.

Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad,
Tra môr yn fur
I'r bur hoffbau,
O bydded i'r heniaith barhau.

Os treisiodd y gelyn fy ngwlad dan ei droed,
Mae hen iaith y Gymry mor fyw ag erioed,
Ni luddiwyd yr awen gan erchyll law brad,
Na thelyn berseiniol fy ngwlad.

Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad,
Tra môr yn fur
I'r bur hoffbau,
O bydded i'r heniaith barhau.

Welsh National Anthem

 

[Ghost2004]

Personal Fave of mine

For me This basically says it all, about change and the crossroads of life , which is the point I am @ now. I have always loved this one



Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference


Robert Frost, the Road Less Traveled

 

[shdwcoder]

"That which does not kill us, serves only to make us stronger."

Something that is particularly poingnant for me at this time in my life🙁

 

[sceej56]

When the majority is telling me how wrong or terrible I am (hell, I've had that experience on this board once or twice), I remember the words of Jonahan Swift:

"When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that all the dunces are in confederacy against him."

... and then I tell myself to wake up, you egotistical bastard.

 

[q-ball]

In my own opinoin my faveorite saying to keep me going or to give me hope is "And God will provide" He has been good to me over the past 3 years after the passing of my dad,and i know he's watching over us with my mom and my grandparents.That is why i say my prayers every night before I go to sleep, and that's why I say you are all in my prayers.I hope this gives you some comfort that you are in my prayers.

God Bless
q-ball😀 😀 😀

 

[the_Baron]

i've always relied on: "with God, all things are possible".

homer simpson's: "anything difficult is not worth doing" is a good one too.


of my own invention: "if you don't understand it, erase it"

 

[Knox The Hatter]

Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid.

I don't know who said that one, but it is a beauty.

 

[Mimi]

Mmm...I love a good quote. Many great truths and deep insight can be found in some quotes. Here are a few of my favorites:

When the judgement's weak, the prejudice is strong. - Kane O'Hara

Unless man is committed to the belief that all mankind are his brothers, then he labors in vain and hypocritically in the vineyards of equality. - Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers. - Kahlil Gibran

It is rash to condemn where you are ignorant. - Seneca

To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer. - Gandhi

Cruelty is one fashion statement we can all do without. - Rue McClanahan

Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. - Baha'u'llah

The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it. - P.J. O'Rourke

(last one is intended to be tongue-in-cheek...please do not take offense to it)


Mimi 😀

 

[Ayla ny]

these two really struck a chord with me when I first read them and have stuck with me over the years.

"An adventure is a transgression you don't regret." - Kate Wheeler

"It's never too late to be what you might have been." - George Eliot

more recently, some friends pointed to a plaque on the wall of a touristy little shop and said that it was me to a T.

“I’m in my own little world... but it’s ok... they know me here.” 🙄

 

[Bulldogge]

This is one that always seems to help me:

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: "I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.

-Groucho Marx

 

[toyou444]

Goody!

Mine have changed over the years...but I carry a little card with all of them on it to remind me of where I have been:

F**k 'em if they can't take a joke.

If you doubt it...don't do it.

Adapt or die.

If you're going down in flames hit something big.

As long as I do my best, no matter what happens in the end...God will still love me, my parents will still love me and the sun will still come up tomorrow.

Discouraging thoughts are like birds flying by...you look at them while they are here, but you do not follow them to see where they go when they leave.

There are 'talkers' and there are 'doers' and I've been a 'talker' one day too long.

I don't want anyone sitting around feeling sorry for me because I'm not sitting around feeling sorry for myself.

Don't be stupid.

Better hurry.

You can never know what is 'right'. You can only do what you
think is right and hope for the best.

You don't know that you can't do something until you try it.

Somebody is making money off of this...

If you want God to provide you must do God's will.

Look, evaluate, procede.

The past is not the future.

As you can see I tend to philosophize a good bit! LOL!

~ toyou

 

[BOFH666]

Does that card by any chance have "if you can read this you don't need glasses" on the bottom of it? 😀

 

[Strider]

"The 20th Century proved, if you were paying any attention, that taxation is the great enemy of civilization. How do you think Hitler paid for that army? With voluntary contributions? How did Stalin pay for the Gulag Archipelago? With baked goods sales?"-James Ostrowski

"Imposing controls to stop a price increase is like trying to cure a fever by pushing down the mercury in a thermometer."-Murray Rothbard

"There is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and there is no virtue in advocating it. A politician who portrays himself as "caring" and "sensitive" because he wants to expand the government's charitable programs is merely saying that he's willing to try to do good with other people's money. Well, who isn't? And a voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he'll do good with his own money – if a gun is held to his head."-P.J. O'Rourke

"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys."-P.J. O'Rourke

"No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session."-Mark Twain

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him."-Robert Heinlein

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule."-H.L. Mencken

"Of all tyrannies,a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep,his cupidity may at some point be satiated;but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end,for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."-C.S. Lewis

 

[natural tickler]

Chance favors the prepared mind- from Under Siege 2

 

[stacyshippen]

OK, my philosophical basket contains two items:

The Desiderata (Max Ehrmann)
http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~kcrumpto/des.html

And the Notebooks of Lazarus Long (Robert A. Heinlein)
http://www.dustin.icenter.pl/ruminations/notebooks_of_lazarus_long.htm

My favorites from the Notebooks:

- To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods.

- Tilting at windmills hurts you more than the windmills.

- Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is not sinful -- just stupid.)

-There is no conclusive evidence of life after death. But there is no evidence of any sort against it. Soon enough you will know. So why fret about it?

-Thou shalt remember the Eleventh Commandment and keep it Wholly.

-You live and learn. Or you don't live long.


Peace,
Stacy

P.S. The Eleventh Commandment has been described as either "Love your neighbor as yourself," or "Don't get caught." Either way, it's best to keep it Wholly 🙂