QUOTES

May 8, 2020
In the midst of Swedish Death Cleaning during the global pandemic, the last thing I need is a new page on the blog --
but -- the last thing any of us needed was a pandemic, eh?
Or maybe we did need it and we just haven't figured out how it is actually a good thing.

***

If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning. -Attributed to a variety of people

***

A dear friend sent me some snail mail and mentioned that she liked these two quotes - from me.
I'm so flattered, I will include a section of things I have said.

Contrast can be your best friend. Me, on the blog.
Sometimes it's just better to go with the obvious. Me, on the blog

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Old age isn't a battle. It's a massacre.  -Philip Roth

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Shepherd Fairey said: The best art makes the world a little less terrifying.

Leonard Bernstein said:  To do great things you need a plan and not enough time.

Virginia Woolf:  I like opening a letter and thinking myself loved.

Blaise Pascal: I have made this a rather long letter because I haven't time to make it shorter

Wm. James: As long as there are postmen life will have zest.

Steve Martin: I think I did pretty well considering I started out with a blank piece of paper.

Albert Schweitzer: The central purpose of each life is to dilute the misery of the world.

A single kind word will keep one warm for years.

Be what you is. If you be old and ugly, then be old and ugly. But be what you is.

All is well. Everything is working out for my highest good. Out of this situation only good will come. I am safe. Louise Hay

“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” 

― George Bernard Shaw

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No idea who said this first. It was passed along by JanetR:

Don't count the hours. Art is not efficient. Sometimes a good piece is born in minutes, but even then it is usually surrounded by days of seemingly fruitless poking. Accept this and you will be much happier.

No attribution - it arrived on the back of an envelope from Janet - maybe she said it - or maybe Austin Kleon?

***

Apparently the NYTimes has a quotation of the day - and they posted this one.

It is from IBRAHIM ISMAIL ZAIDEN, a postman in Baghdad, Itaq.

It's something wonderful to get a letter. The paper, the stamp, the envelope. It's not just a piece of paper. It's something sacred.

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Most people don’t grow up. It’s too damn difficult. What happens is most people get older. That’s the truth of it. They honor their credit cards, they find parking spaces, they marry, they have the nerve to have children, but they don’t grow up. Not really. They get older. But to grow up costs the earth, the earth. It means you take responsibility for the time you take up, for the space you occupy. It’s serious business. And you find out what it costs us to love and to lose, to dare and to fail. And maybe even more, to succeed. What it costs, in truth.

— Maya Angelou

***

The person who gave me this might know where it came from - but that person is gone. Somehow these words have stuck with me - but I feel like including them here:

1. I am subject to decay and I cannot escape it.

2. I am subject to disease and I cannot escape it.

3. I will not escape death.

4. There will be separation from all that I love.

5. I am the owner of my deeds - whatever deed I do, good or bad, I shall become heir to it.

So, I plugged it into Google and that lead me to this - a core teaching of Buddhism:

The Five Remembrances are:

• I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.
• I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health.
• I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.
• All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.
• I am the owner of my deeds, heir to my deeds. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir. 

These contemplations are meant to be reflected upon often by everyone, lay or ordained, to develop a realistic perspective on life, impermanence, and the importance of one's actions (karma). 

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I think that my biggest achievement 

is that after going through a rather difficult time, 

I consider myself comparatively sane. I'm proud of that.

Jackie Kennedy said that - it should be true for

anyone who has forged ahead through hard times.

ONE ART

By Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour spent.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:

places, and names, and where it was you meant

to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! or

next-toast, of three loved houses went.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost tow cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,

some realms I owned, two divers, a continent.

I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

-Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture

I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident

the art of losing’s not too hard to master

though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

*** way down at the end - not really quotes - 

just items that come up in conversation and 

sometimes I need a prompt to remember them.

The five types of friends

Intellectual stimulator

Emotional supporter

Mentor

Playmate

Confidant

Ideally, you have one of each. 

If your spouse fills all five spots and you lose them - 

you’ll be in a world of hurt. 

Better to have several people filling the slots.

***

Happiness and peace of mind occurs with 

an acceptance of one's own imperfections and

the tolerance of imperfections in others.

The ability to cope with adversity and

respond appropriately is essential

To take responsibility for one's own life, actions, 

behaviors and no-one else's is essential

One needs to reflect on ones self and surroundings - 

understanding there are few absolutes and

many alternatives. Therefore, individual choices and

preferences are bound to involve

some conflict between people.

Peaceful resolution to such conflicts is possible when

all parties are willing.

***

Motivation to change is usually pain.

To NOT change is more painful than to change.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things se