Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Kay's Favorite Quotes

As I've often said here and there, I've been an inveterate and voracious reader since I learned to read when I was five or six. If it has printed words, I'll read it -- from labels on household products to encyclopedias. It's been that way for decades.

I do have my favorites but I rarely meet a book I don't like although there are some that I avoid because they bore me. My vast reading of hundreds of books over the years have more than probably anything else, made me the person I am today. Over the years, I've built a huge database of quotations from many of the greatest -- and not so great -- minds of yesterday and today and many of them have become part of my philosophy of life.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes keep me going. I hope you enjoy them.

* What does not destroy me, makes me stronger. --Friedrich Nietzsche

* Once you accept the existence of God -- however you define him, however you explain your relationship to him -- then you are caught forever with his presence in the center of all things. You are also caught with the fact that man is a creature who walks in two worlds and traces upon the walls of his cave the wonders and the nightmare experiences of his spiritual pilgrimage. -- Morris West

* A life lived without regret is a life not lived. -- Anonymous

* What you need is sustained outrage...there's far too much unthinking respect given to authority -- Molly Ivins

* When you're going through hell, keep going! -- Winston Churchill

* The past is a bucket of ashes. -- Carl Sandburg

* The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. -- H. L. Mencken

* The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and to a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence. -- Thomas Wolfe

* It's not the tragedies that kill us, it's the messes. -- Dorothy Parker

* We have met the enemy and he is us. -- Pogo

* All the contact I have had with politics has left me feeling as though I had been drinking out of spittoons. -- Ernest Hemingway

* There may be a time in life when one is tired of everything and feels as if all one does is wrong, and there maybe some truth in it, Do you think this is a feeling one must try to forget and to banish, or is it 'the longing for God,' which one must not fear, but cherish to see if it may bring us some good? Is it 'the longing for God' which leads us to make a choice which we never regret? Let us keep courage and try to be patient and gentle. And not mind being eccentric, and make distinction between good and evil. -- Vincent Van Gogh

* There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. -- Oscar Wilde

* The first rule of holes: when you're in one, stop digging. -- Molly Ivins

* I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. -- George Carlin

* Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option. -- Anonymous (attributed to Mark Twain but isn't everything? et al?)

And this last one is what I recall when the going gets tough:

* Whatever happens at all happens as it should; you will find this true, if you watch narrowly. -- Marcus Aurelius

The trick is 'watching narrowly.' Sigh.

Happy Blogging!!!!!!!!

Kay

11 comments:

  1. Thank you for all the good thoughts and lessons, Kay.

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  2. I love them all! (and found it interesting that you quotes Molly Ivins twice --- I loved her writing and the columns in the Sunday paper that appear in "HER" spot just don't "FILL" it adequately!)

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  3. I was so glad to see the quotes from the late, great Molly Ivins. She was the best!

    I also love the quote from George Carlin. Both he and Molly knew how to use humor to make good points.

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  4. Kay: You are so welcome!

    Bev and Darlene: I love Molly. I have a whole file of her quotes and wrote a post on her when she left us too soon with the best of them.

    I identify with Molly -- us tall gals gotta stick together! My very favorite quote from her isn't philosphical but I can relate:

    [Molly on M0lly] I should confess that I've always been more of an observer than a participant in Texas Womanhood: the spirit was willing but I was declared ineligible on grounds of size early. You can't be six feet tall and cute, both. I think I was first named captain of the basketball team when I was four and that's what I've been ever since.

    Gotta love her!!!!!!

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  5. Great choice Kay. One of my favourite quotes is by Charles Fort American cataloguer of strange events:

    "One measures a circle beginning anywhere"

    It works for me!

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  6. I'll read anything, too, including cereal boxes. I loved Molly Ivins, too, and wouldn't she be proud that Obama won?

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  7. Winston Churchill is my favorite. He knew how to say anything better.

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  8. All good quotes, Kay. I like the Morris West quote; he's one of my favorite authors.

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  9. Jams: Love it and will put it in my database.

    Betty: I knew we were kindred spirits and yes Miss Molly's sitting on her cloud cheering him on!

    Marty: I agree! I have a whole bunch of his words in my database.
    What you see here is the tip of the iceberg.

    Judy: He is mine, too. Rhat quote is in the preface to "The Clowns of God" -- my favorite of his books. (Here we go again, sis!

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  10. thanks...i esp love the ones from winston churchill, molly ivins, and mark twain!

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  11. M.E.: I just love words that are wise from anyone and collect them from everyone from Anais Min to Warren Zevon!

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