Life changing quotes (Maybe, "life lessons" would be a better fit?)

So-Lo

So-Lo

Joined
Jun 12, 2006
Messages
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Ever had one? If so please share...

It may have been in a movie, in a book, maybe somebody you sat next to on a bus said something, maybe your dad said something. Something that as stuck with you, maybe it guides you in rough times?

I have a few, while reading "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops." George Carlin's last book. He had a little one liner that has stuck with me.

He wrote, "People who see life as anything more than pure entertainment are missing the point.." When ever I get stressed out I think of this one liner. How true it is, and how much weight to people give to "stuff" that in reality carries none? This always lightens the mood for me.



Another is way back in high school, maybe 10th grade I had a real uptight art teacher. He might have been raised by a military father, or maybe served himself... but back to the point. We had our art projects due in on a tuesday, we had worked on them for maybe two weeks, so it was a pretty big deal. Anyways he said they were due on the table when the bell rang on tuesday. I was all ready, project was done and in hand. As I was sitting down the bell rang..... As the bell started I was putting my art project on my desk.

I thought no biggie I'm good. He always made us get up in front of the whole class and do a show a tell type of deal. The day was totaly normal, after class he came over and said I had to pick a day to stay after to 4:00 PM :eek:

I was thinking "NO WAY!" My project was on the table before the bell rang..He said, "no you did not follow my instructions." "So you have to stay after school."

My parents got involved and called him to see what was the deal. After he talked to my dad he asked to speak to me :eek: He said, "pick your battles wisely." Not a new saying I know, but it fit my situation so well, to this day that life lesson has stuck. He also taught me sometimes in life it is very important to dot yours "i's" and cross your "t's." In the end I sometimes think if I never learned anything else in school this was worth it. It was not that he made me sit in the corner, hell I was able to do what ever I wanted and he opened the whole art closet for me to use what ever I wanted to in them few hours. Life changing? You bet it was!


One more before I bore you, my dad gave me this quick little quote one day.

"If you have something, that somebody will pay more than you would for it right now......Sell it." Sounds very simple, because it is. But, it has made the knife hobby very easy for me. OK lets say I have a XM-18 and I paid $500 for it, but they bring $600 now. If I would not pay $600 for it today, and another person would.... Sell it! Its really that easy. :) It just means that, its worth more to them than you.




I can't write or spell so if you got this far.... I thank you. Please share your life changing qoutes, sayings, ect.... :)

I have a few more but I'll wait to hear a few of yours. :cool:
 
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Two that come immediately to mind are:

The first is one I read somewhere, possibly on line and I use it while working out or facing anything in particular that I think is a challenge. It is:

"There may come a day when I can no longer do this, but today is not that day."

The second is one I read in Walden I think from Henry David Thoreau, it helps me understand why I'm a bit different than some people most of the time. it is:

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
 
Hazel: Lord Frith, I know you've looked after us well, and it's wrong to ask even more of you. But my people are in terrible danger, and so I would like to make a bargain with you. My life in return for theirs.

Frith: There is not a day or night that a doe offers her life for her kittens, or some honest captain of Owsla, his life for his chief. But there is no bargain: what is, is what must be.

.....

Frank
 
Mine's: If it's to be, It's up to me.

It's up to you to learn the skills, develop your own techniques, learn the programming, or aquire the knowledge to do things that help you produce a unique and in demand product. The knowledge is out there. You've got to have the drive and initiative to use that knowledge to push the envelope to do what others are not yet doing. It opened up a world where financial security and peace of mind are now possible where they once were not.

Another quote that has helped me tweak out efficiency in the shop to insane levels is this: What is the most valuable use of my time, right now?

Ask yourself that question all throughout the day and watch as your time gets more and more valuable. As I approach seven digit income working fewer hours than most people, I find that it is key to doubling, tripling, or more shop efficiency.
 
Mine is "we're doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, due to the mass stupidity of the human race."
It's my own quote, which helps keep me from getting too serious about things, or expecting too much out of people.:thumbup:
 
I have asked my two grand dads for advise.

I asked my Grandpa Larry from North Carolina for his number one piece of advise.
Buggies will make you broke.

Simple enough. But it is true. Car payments and higher collision coverage and all that interest. Over your lifetime if you don't have a car payment and high insurance I wonder your total savings. Of course he didn't explain it like that. He just said Buggies will make you broke. :D
 
Mine is from Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man"

"Come out of the fog young man, play the game but never believe in it. This much you owe yourself"
 
A general principle from the book 'how I found freedom in an un-free world'

Any decision that you make when you are in a highly emotional state, either euphoric or depressed, is a decision that will trap you. Only ever decide when you are clear-headed and calm.

From Fight Club

"The S%&t you own, ends up owning you'

From the book 'No Country For Old Men'

"The thing about bad luck is - you'll never know what worse luck it just saved you from'

From my junior foot ball coach.

'Just get your hands on the ball' This is my all purpose, simple goal setting tool. Ignore the static around you, forget the possible collisions and make your goal, be it the ball, the girl, the contract, the house, whatever, the object. Hold everything you do up against the template 'is this helping me towards my goal?'.
 
I don't know if they changed my life but here are a couple that really helped me out over the years :

Pray to God, but row away from the rocks.
Hunter S Thompson (of course) and,

The World is unfolding as it should.
Max Ehrmann
 
From my grandfather, when I visited in the summer of '78: (paraphrased)
"Some men learn self control, those who don't wind up in jail."
(Another member posted something to that effect here a while back.)

And the other was: (paraphrased as well)
"No matter how fast or mean or tough you think you are, there is somebody out there who's faster, meaner, and tougher than you. If you run into them when they're having a bad day, they'll rock your world. Treat everyone with respect, and you won't ever have to learn that lesson the hard way."

My grandfather had been a counselor at McNiel Island Penitentiary in Washington, and he'd seen some pretty tough things. He was liked by both the admin. and the prisoners there, because he was so good at working with people.

He taught me some good lessons that summer, and helped me with my anger at being picked on a lot at school. Probably kept me from ending up in jail myself. When he died, several former inmates & admin folks wrote to my grandmother sending their condolences.

thx - cpr
 
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From my Dad;
"No one can MAKE you do anything... but they CAN make you wish you would have."

Two of my own;
"If you say you can't... you won't. Not because you couldn't, but because you didn't try hard enough."

"Strive for, and even achieve excellence, and your mediocrity will be recognized by your peers."

And an old standard;
"Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst."
 
I'm 33 and far be if for me to dispense any wisdom, I have however had some realizations. Here are some from the top-off my head -

1. Who said life was fair? - The first pre-requisite to reality. The sooner one realizes this and comes to terms with it, maturity becomes waaaay easier.

2. There is nothing more LIBERATING than knowing that success or failure depends entirely on YOU (and no one else). - I use that word (LIBERATING) because to me, it freed me from all the baggage of expectations, dependency, genetics, circumstances, etc. It's all up to you or you own-up to your shortcomings.

3. Do the best that you can, when you can. - I wanna leave this earth knowing I have very few regrets or things that my conscience would haunt me.

4. Live and let flow. - A variation. Life is too short to spend on negative emotions that eat you up from the inside.

5. Choose and hold-on to your TRUE friends. - They're the real treasure! You could literally loose everything overnight, but these guys will still be there for you.

6. Take care of your faith and it will take care of you - NOT to be confused with RELIGION (an institution). Your faith is your own and it lies on your relationship with yourself and others, not just thru praying. It's the only thing that will sustain you when the chips are down.
 
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From memory...
You can't change anyone else. You can, however, change yourself. That will change the others perspective of you, and they will treat you differently
Stephan Covey

I consider it folly to learn from your own mistakes. I much prefer to learn from the mistakes of others.
Otto Von Bismark

In the long run, luck is given only to the efficient.
Helmut Von Multke

What ever you do will be fine. If it isn't you'll do it over.
One of my favorite graphic designers said this to a very nervous young comp artist (me)

Life is a fountain.
(you got your ups & you got your downs)
My other favorite graphic designer.
He was also fond of saying:
The grass is brown on both sides of the fence.
But that hasn't influenced me as much as the others :D

I'll end with one from ol' Bill Shakespeare:
Poor and content is rich enough.
 
If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

-Rudyard Kipling-​
 
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Fear meaning respect of course. It does not get more life changing than this.
 
Here is a simple question that can save you a lot of money when making a deal and when applied to all relationships and endeavors it will improve your life.




Is that the best you can do?
 
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