When I was in elementary school, some friends and I had this club. We called it the Laughy Ho Ho's. (With a name like that, it had to be a riot, right? And, oh, it was, in our youthful opinions.) We did try, though, to have these super-serious club meetings at one of our houses. Early on in the process, before we surrendered to our hopelessly giggly natures, someone had to stand in front of the group and ceremoniously read from this brick of a book that my best friend found on her parents' bookshelf. It was full of nothing but quotations. Funny ones. Thoughtful ones. Noble ones. You name the quote, and it was probably contained somewhere within those myriad pages. Though I don't remember the quotes we used, I do remember thinking those recitations lent some level of decorum to our otherwise silly proceedings.
Whether as a direct result of those meetings, or for some other reason I can't fathom, I like to collect quotes I find particularly meaningful, or funny, or both. For example:
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"I say, when life gives you a lemon, wing it right back and add some lemons of your own!"
- Calvin (of Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes comics)
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Sometimes I find them already in quote form, and think, ahhh, someone has read my mind. Where's my pen?
Sometimes I pull the quote myself from something I've read, or a show I've seen, and think, I gotta get this down! Where's my pen?
And sometimes, quotes bubble to the surface organically, straight from the horse's mouth, and I think, Holey Cow! I need a pen! Hurry! Hurry!
I'll leave you with three quotes I find quite powerful. Read them, if you will. Let them rattle around in your brain a bit.
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"It's nonsense to think that being a role model is
something that the person who is seen as a role
model can control. The people elevate you to that
level, so it's almost involuntary. But one day you
realize you've been elevated. Sometimes it's by
five students in your class. Sometimes it's by your
children. And sometimes it's by 50 million people,
because you're really good a putting a ball in a
hole. But it doesn't matter - once they elevate
you, it's your job to behave in a way that will
never leave you responsible for bad things that
happen to them.
- John Amaechi, as interviewed in The Penn Stater Magazine
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn't do than the ones you did
do... Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain
"You must remember this: You're braver than you
believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter
than you think."
- Christopher Robin, speaking to Winnie-the-Pooh
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Any reaction to these? Leave me a comment, below. And, if you have some favorite quotes of your own, please share those as well. I'm always on the lookout for new "finds" for my collection!
