Quotes/aphorisms that have actually helped you in life

[chopstick]

Some of the ones I live by, or get a lot from:

"Common sense isn't." - Mark Twain

"Life isn't fair." - My father

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." - Thomas Jefferson

"It is not your paintings I like, it is you're painting."
-Albert Camus


"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned the hard way that some poems dont rhyme, and some stories dont have a clear begining middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the most of it without knowing whats going to happen next."
- gilda radner

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life- it goes on."
-Robert Frost

"Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves."
- Bertrand Russell

"When you need an answer, look over your left shoulder and ask your death."
- Carlos Castaneda

"In a world where death is the hunter there are no small or big decisions. There are only decisions that we make in the face of our inevitable death."
- Carlos Castaneda

longer passage:

Your death can give you a little warning, it always comes as a chill. Death is our eternal companion, it is always to our left, at an arm's length.
How can anyone feel so important when we know that death is stalking us. The thing to do when you're impatient is to turn to your left and ask advice from your death. An immense amount of pettiness is dropped if your death makes a gesture to you, or if you catch a glimpse of it, or if you just have the feeling that your companion is there watching you.
The issue of our death is never pressed far enough. Death is the only wise adviser that we have. Whenever you feel, as you always do, that everything is going wrong and you're about to be annihilated, turn to your death and ask if that is so. Your death will tell you that you're wrong; that nothing really matters outside its touch. Your death will tell you, "I haven't touched you yet."


I think a lot of you may enjoy Carlos Castaneda - read his stuff for free here.

--

Some of my all time favorites from old Albert:

"It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure." -- Albert Einstein

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" -- Albert Einstein

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." -- Albert Einstein

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." -- Albert Einstein

"If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith." -- Albert Einstein

"The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one." -- Albert Einstein

[Jeff W]

Do not confuse eloquence or wittiness with wisdom. Therein lies the problem with quotations.

[Golden_Rhino]

Call on God, but row away from the rocks
- Hunter S. Thompson

Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'
- Red in Shawshank (say this one to myself when I don't feel like getting outta bed)

A thought that sometimes drives me hazy: am I, or are the others, crazy?
- Albert Einstein

[RiDiK]

"you miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky

"LIGHTWEIGHT BUDDDY!!!!" - Ronnie Coleman

[fnord_too]

[ QUOTE ]
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This above all: to thine own self be true.
- William Shakespeare

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That and versions there of are the core of my personal philosophy.

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Your personal philosophy is built on Renaissance sarcasm? Doh.

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No, it founded on self awareness and acceptance. This quote, out of context, is an eloquent summation. I guess I could have said the same thing about the Popeye quote, but I always despised Popeye.

[Dr. Strangelove]

a witty saying proves nothing
-voltaire

just kidding

on of my dad's that I like: Free advice is generally worth what it costs

[ElSapo]

Bill Watterson:

"[H]aving an enviable career is one thing, and being a happy person is another. Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement …To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble."

http://home3.inet.tele.dk/stadil/spe_kc.htm

[punkass]

The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

[Chomp]

"This thread is fantastic"

- Me

[TxSteve]

Reputation:
it is not bough or borrowed. it is not acquired easily. it is built slowly, one relationship at a time. it grows by painstakingly adhering to your principles, and keeping your word. it is the capital by which you grow and measure your long term success