your favorite quotes

not a personal mantra per se but something you find inspirational or something that speaks to you.

mine has to be one I found from a Home Veterinary Guide Book for dogs purchased at a garage sale yesterday for 25 cents. the book is from 1983 and a bit outdated but the quote on the last page made me think of my dog and how important he is. it's a quote from Senator George Vest (1870) called "Tribute To A Dog":

The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer. He will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings, and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.

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Last page of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald:

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning——

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

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Have been a fan of Henry Rollins since I was teen, and his quotes have always spoken to some part of me. I don't think I'm not half as hard and nowheres near alone as I used to think I was but his writing definitely still evokes feelings.

“Why do you think the old stories tell of men who set out on great journeys to impress the gods? Because trying to impress people just isn't worth the time and effort.”


Henry Rollins

“There are so many hammocks to catch you if you fall, so many laws to keep you from experience. All these cities I have been in the last few weeks make me fully understand the cozy, stifling state in which most people pass through life. I don't want to pass through life like a smooth plane ride. All you do is get to breathe and copulate and finally die. I don't want to go with the smooth skin and the calm brow. I hope I end up a blithering idiot cursing the sun - hallucinating, screaming, giving obscene and inane lectures on street corners and public parks. People will walk by and say, "Look at that drooling idiot. What a basket case." I will turn and say to them "It is you who are the basket case. For every moment you hated your job, cursed your wife and sold yourself to a dream that you didn't even conceive. For the times your soul screamed yes and you said no. For all of that. For your self-torture, I see the glowing eyes of the sun! The air talks to me! I am at all times!" And maybe, the passers by will drop a coin into my cup.”


Henry Rollins

I wish I was a tenth as articulate with my anger and social anxiety.

theperfectstorm said:

Last page of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald:

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This makes me want to read it again. What a wonderful book.

About 10 years ago I read that the Lebanese have a saying...

Never tease a mean dog. Either kill it, or leave it alone!

I'm old enough that I should have known this already. But, it is surprising how often this saying comes to mind during "life situations" and gives me the clarity I need to make a decision.

Never tease around the edges of a difficult situation. Either take action (kill it), or don't (leave it alone.) But, don't muddle thru life.

It is only with the heart that one sees rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. - Le Petit Prince

And on a slightly more down to earth level:

Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. - Ernest Hemingway

"I remember the days when men were men and women were willing,you could get yer hole from 2 bob to a shilling". A older guy i use to work with. Getting "yer hole" is just getting laid,for anyone who was unsure

"You have to fall to rise"....dont know who said that.

"Loose lips sink ships" uncle always told me that.Got it tattooed on my arm.

You can not soar like an Eagle if you go to Duck filght school.

coyotewhisper said:

You can not soar like an Eagle if you go to Duck filght school.

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Reminds me of one my friend use to say
"how can i soar like an eagle when im surrounded by pigeons" quite funny i thought

"If at first you don't succeed......keep on sucking til you do succeed" Curly Howard.

How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened.
Thomas Jefferson

"He who hoots with the owls all night can't fly with the eagles in the morning". - Unknown (to me)

and also:

"Pilgrim, listen up and listen good". - John Wayne

"When you have to shoot, shoot! Don't talk."

Tucco

A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."

-Stephen Crane

I think i may have a new one

"wet shaving is cheaper"

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.-Edmund Burke

We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately - Ben Franklin

SalvadorMontenegro said:

It is only with the heart that one sees rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. - Le Petit Prince

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That is one of my favorite quotes!
I also like this one.

"When we walk to the edge
of all the light we have
and take the step into the
darkness of the unknown,
we must believe that
one of two things will happen....
There will be something
solid for us to stand on
or we will be taught to fly."

~Patrick Overton

"You want to be a champion. People don't want a champion. They want to eat cheeseburgers, play lotto, and watch television."

-Morgan Freeman in Seven

Scott0079 said:

We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately - Ben Franklin

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Indeed.

"If it was easy, anyone could do it." - my father