Quotes/aphorisms that have actually helped you in life

[Inchoatey]

The world is a [censored] up place
I am a [censored] up person
[censored] gets worse.

[smurfitup]

Wise is he who is satisfied with the spectacle of the world. ~ Fernando Pessoa.

It's a pretty cynical quote, but that's me, I guess.

[jmill2511]

"How does a kid from Coos Bay, with one leg longer than the other win races? All my life people have been telling me, 'You're too small Pre', 'You're not fast enough Pre', 'Give up your foolish dream Steve'. But they forgot something, I have to win."

- Steve Prefontaine

[R*R]

80% of what you worry about never happens.

[allstaryou]

Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the Universe.
Hocus Pocus

[dreq]

If you are going to sin, sin boldly.

St. Thomas Aquinas....

Misinterpreted by my girl friend who made me this beautiful plaque...

If you are going to sing, sing boldly.

[Scorpion Man]

Hope is not a strategy.

[hitch1978]

Something I often Say to my wife -
YOU HAVE TO BE SCARED TO BE BRAVE.

I used to live in London and there is a statue of Oscar Wilde with a plaque inscribed with -
WE ARE ALL IN THE GUTTER, BUT SOME OF US ARE LOOKING AT THE STARS.
I love that, mainly because it reminds me of my time there.

Since I was a small child I have had a big 'issue' with my mortality, now I am pushing 30, it just get's a bigger deal. I try and tell myself the following quote I read in a book -
YOU SHOULDN'T COMPLAIN ABOUT GETTING OLD. IT IS A PRIVALEDGE DENIED TO MANY.

My favourite Shakespear hasn't been mentioned yet -
SOONER A WITTY FOOL THAN A FOOLISH WIT.

I don't know where I first heard of it, but the following perfectly describes 'parking attendant syndrome'.
THE LESS POWER SOMEONE HAS, THE MORE DESPERATE THEY ARE TO USE IT.

An old klingon proverb that I was surprised to see hasn't been mentioned -
REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD.

And finaly, a saying often used in the UK military. Shortened it goes, PPPPPPP. The long version is -
PROPPER PREPERATION AND PLANNING PREVENTS P1SS POOR PERFORMANCE.

[sirio11]

I love this one from "Vivir para contarla" (Living to tell the tale) Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"La vida no es la que viviste, sino la que recuerdas, y como la recuerdas para contarla"

I just love it, so true, in English is something like:

"Life is not the one you lived, it is the one that you remember and how do you remember it to tell the tale"

[plzleenowhammy]

The Fountainhead..

"To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. that's what everybody does every hour of his life. if I asked you to keep your soul - would you understand why that's much harder?"

"You'll get everything society can give a man. You'll keep all the money. You'll take any fame or honor anyone might want to grant. you'll accept such gratitude as the tenants might feel. And I - I'll take what nobody can give a man, except himself."

"... Katie, why do they always teach us that it's easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It's the hardest thing in the world - to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want. As i wanted to marry you. Not as I want to sleep with some woman or get drunk or get my name in the papers. Those things- they're not even desires - they're things people do to escape from desires- because it's such a big responsibility, really to want something."

"I'd give my life to save you. Not because it's any kind of duty. Only because I like you, for reasons and standards of my own. I could die for you. But I couldn't and wouldn't live for you."

"Everything has strings leading to everything else. We're all so tied together. We're all in a net, the net is waiting, and we're pushed into it by one single desire. You want a thing and it's precious to you. Do you know who is standing by ready to tear it out of your hands? You can't know, it may be so involved and so far away, but someone is ready, and you're afraid of them all. And you cringe and you crawl and you beg and you accept them - just so they'll let you keep it. And look at whom you come to accept."

"'My dear fellow, who will let you?'
'That's not the point. The point is, who will stop me?'"

And this.. I love this..

"My darling, anything you wish, anything I am, anything I can ever be... That's what I want to offer you - not the things I'll get for you, but the thing in me that will make me able to get them."

I forgot the name of the book I got this from but I found it to be hysterical..

"And there were large surreal signs that said 'Trouser Event' or 'Quality Shirts', as though an object could be an event, and as though an object could be without qualities."

This is from a book called 'Up in the Air' about a guy trying to get a million frequent flyer miles...

"Our role is to make limbo tolerable, to ferry wounded souls across the river of dread and humiliation and self-doubt to the point at which hope's bright shore is dimly visible, and then to stop the boat and make them swim while we row back to the palace of their banishment to present the nobles with out bills. We offer the swimmers no guarantees, no promises, just shouts of encouragement. "Keep it up! That's great!" We reach our dock before they reach theirs and we don't look back over our shoulders to check on them, though they look back at us repeatedly.