Make Fun Of Life!

We Just Got Our Driver's License!

8/9/2020

At www.MakeFunOfLife.net, we just got our driver’s license, so we will be out and about for a few days . . .

In the meantime, please enjoy the fun that follows below on this page, or feel free to explore the other pages shown on the menu bar at the top of the sky above, including our fantastic World Pages, Library Pages, and Life Pages.

This is MFOL! . . . and now, without further monkeying around, we take you to . . .

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Encouragement and Praise

8/6/2020

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“Praise works with only three types of people; men, women, and children.” -Author Unknown

“Everybody likes a compliment.” -Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

“I can live for two months on a good compliment.” -Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 -1910))

Arnold Bennett, the British novelist, had a publisher who boasted about the extraordinary efficiency of his secretary. One day while visiting the publisher’s office, Bennett asked her: “Your boss claims you’re extremely efficient. What’s your secret?” “It’s not my secret,” said the secretary, “it’s his.” Each time she did something for him, no matter how insignificant, she explained, he never failed to acknowledge and appreciate it. Because of this, she took infinite pains with her work.

“You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windshield; it said ‘Parking Fine.’ So that was nice.” -Tim Vine (Timothy Mark ‘Tim’ Vine (born 1967))

“When you feel in need of a compliment, give one to someone else.” -Author Unknown

Flattery

’Tis an old maxim in the schools,
That flattery’s the food of fools;
Yet now and then your men of wit
Will condescend to take a bit.

by Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745): “Cadenus and Vanessa” (1713)

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” -Tom Peters (born 1942)

“Be quick to praise people. People like to praise those who praise them.” -Bernard Baruch (1870 - 1965): as attributed in William Safire and Leonard Safir: “Words of Wisdom: More Good Advice” (1989), page 294

“The sweetest of all sounds is praise.” -Xenophon (430 B.C.E. - 352 B.C.E.) (about 380 B.C.E.)

“Any man’s life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day.” -Booker T. Washington (Booker Taliaferro Washington (1856 - 1915))

“A person places themselves on a level with the ones they praise.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

“What really flatters a man is that you think him worth flattering.” -George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950): “John Bull’s Other Island” (1904), Act 4

“Note how good you feel after you have encouraged someone else. No other argument is necessary to suggest that one never miss the opportunity to give encouragement.” -George Adams (George Matthew Adams (1878 - 1962))

“You can’t eat compliments.” -Charles M. Schulz (Charles Monroe ‘Sparky’ Schulz (1922 - 2000)): “Things I’ve Had to Learn Over and Over Again (Plus a Few Minor Discoveries)” (1984)

“Flattery must be pretty thick before anybody objects to it.” -William Feather (William Arthur Feather (1889 - 1981)): “The Business of Life” (1949)

“When your goal is to build people up, to make them feel better, to share in their joy, you too reap the rewards of their positive feelings. The next time you have the chance to correct someone, even if their facts are a little off, resist the temptation. Instead, ask yourself, “What do I really want out of this interaction?” Chances are, what you want is a peaceful interaction where all parties leave feeling good. Each time you resist ‘being right,’ and instead choose kindness, you’ll notice a peaceful feeling within.” -Richard Carlson (1961 - 2006): “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” (1997), page 37; website: https://dontsweat.com/

“The deepest principle in Human Nature is the craving to be appreciated.” -William James (1842 - 1910): letter (1896) to students who had sent to him a plant for Easter

“High praise indeed . . . comes from mountaintops!” -Author Unknown

“You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.” -Jim Stovall (born 1958)

“Appreciate good people. They are hard to come by.” -Author Unknown

Now that is indeed a job whale done . . .

“The most effective way to achieve right relations with any living thing is to look for the best in it, and then help that best into the fullest expression.” -J. Allen Boone (John Allen Boone (1882 - 1965))

“Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784): “The Rambler” (6 June 1751)

“If you mean to profit, learn to praise.” -Charles Churchill (1731 - 1764): “Gotham” (1764), book II

“Praise does wonders for our sense of hearing.” -Arnold H. Glasow (Arnold Henry Glasow (1905 - 1998))

“Praise makes good Men better, and bad Men worse.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 3918

“Be advised that all flatterers live at the expense of those who listen to them.” -Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695)

“The people who are lifting the world onward and upward are those who encourage more than they criticize.” -Elizabeth Harrison (1849 - 1927)

“People are in greater need of your praise when they try and fail, than when they try and succeed.” -Bob Moawad (Robert Abraham Moawad (1941 - 2007))

“Flatterers look like friends, as wolves like dogs.” -George Chapman

“Remember the compliments you have received and forget the rude remarks.” -Author Unknown

“Flattery is like chewing gum. Enjoy it but don’t swallow it.” -Hank Ketcham (Henry King ‘Hank’ Ketcham (1920 - 2001))

“I have always said that if I were a rich man I’d hire a professional praiser.” -Osbert Sitwell (Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell (1892 - 1969))

“One kind word can change someone’s entire day.” -Author Unknown

“. . . envy is a kind of praise.” -John Gay (1685 - 1732)

Flattery: False praise, a form of lying; see also exaggeration, another form of lying.

Compliment: A hug by way of words.

“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

Overheard: If you can’t get a compliment any other way, pay yourself one.

“A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil.” -Victor Hugo (Victor Marie Hugo (1802 - 1885))

“Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.” -Sam Walton (1918 - 1992)

“Fair words butter no parsnips.” -John Clarke (1596 - 1658): “Paroemiologia” (1639), page 21

“When someone does something well, applaud! You will make two people happy.” -Samuel Goldwyn (also known as Samuel Goldfish, born Szmuel Gelbfisz (1879 - 1974))

“You are every lovely word I could possibly think of.” -Author Unknown

“Never let an opportunity pass to say a kind or encouraging word to another person.” -Author Unknown

“Praise is like sunlight to the human spirit: we cannot flower and grow without it.” -Jess Lair (1927 -2000)

“When a proud Man hears another praised, he thinks himself injured.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734)

“Compliment people; magnify their strengths, not their weaknesses.” -Author Unknown

“Let’s cease thinking of our accomplishments, our wants. Let’s try to figure out the other man’s good points. Then forget flattery. Give honest, sincere appreciation. Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise, and people will cherish your words and treasure them and repeat them over a lifetime - repeat them years after you have forgotten them.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Breckenridge Carnegie (1888 - 1955))

“I would like to compliment you on the fine job you are doing of complimenting me.” -Author Unknown

“Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver.” -Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797): “Reflections on the Revolution in France” (1790)

“Compliments are free of cost and obligation; indeed, they are ‘complimentary.’” -Author Unknown

“Encourage one another. Many times a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept people on their feet.” -Charles R. Swindoll (Charles Rozell ‘Chuck’ Swindoll (born 1934))

“Compliments are the gift of prosperity. I have learned to accept them graciously.” -Louise Hay (Louise Lynn Hay (1926 - 2017))

Some encouragement consists of praise combined with expectation, as for example, “You are always mommy’s little angel,” or “You are the best thing that has ever happened to this company.” So, there is the praise or compliment, plus the expectation, all melded into one. It is as though someone is being encouraged to do and be good, while his or her previous or present worth is being acknowledged.

“Every day, tell at least one person something you like, admire, or appreciate about them.” -Richard Carlson (1961 - 2006) website: https://dontsweat.com/

“To encourage someone is literally to instill courage in someone.” -Author Unknown

“Most of us, swimming against tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement and we’ll make the goal. Say, ‘Thank you!’ whenever you think of it. Say, ‘Nice job!’ to that workman who put extra effort into his task. Say, ‘Atta boy!’ to the fellow who is struggling through in the face of odds. You’ll get a whale of a lot of joy out of life that way. And people will love you.” -Jerome P. Fleishman

“It’s always worthwhile to make others aware of their worth.” -Malcolm S. Forbes (Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (1919 - 1990))

“Find the good - and praise it.” -Alex Haley (Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (1921 - 1992))

“A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.” -William Hazlitt (similar quotation attributed to Leo Buscaglia)

“The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement.” -Charles Schwab (Charles Michael Schwab (1862 - 1939))

This is MFOL! . . . a website for exceedingly extraordinarily exceptionally excellent extra-special people like yourself . . .

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Creativity and Innovation

8/3/2020

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Many people find creativity to be their most certain way to happiness . . .

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” -Mary Lou Cook (1918 - 2013)

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is ultimately to be at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be.” -Abraham H. Maslow (Abraham Harold Maslow (1908 - 1970))

“I was created to create.” -Author Unknown

“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” -Joseph Chilton Pearce (1926 - 2016): “Magical Child” (1977)

“One supreme fact which I have discovered is that it is not willpower, but fantasy and imagination, that creates. Imagination is the creative force. Imagination creates reality.” -Richard Wagner (Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883))

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will.” -George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger (1900 - 1944))

Josh: Why are shovels regarded as the most innovative invention of all time?
Joseph: Because they are truly ground-breaking.

“Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise tends to make it bloom, while discouragement often nips it in the bud. Any of us will put more and better ideas if our efforts are appreciated.” -Alex F. Osborn (Alex Faickney Osborn (1888 - 1966))

“A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown.” -Charles H. Brower (Charles Hendrickson Brower (1901 - 1984)): as quoted in Harold R. Buhl: “Creative Engineering Design” (1960), page 97

“Great innovators and original thinkers and artists attract the wrath of mediocrities as lightning rods draw the flashes.” -Theodor Reik (1888 - 1969)

“Creativity takes courage.” -Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954)

“To create one’s own world in any of the arts takes courage.” -Georgia O’Keeffe (Georgia Totto O’Keeffe (1887 - 1986))

“It takes courage to be creative. Just as soon as you have a new idea, you are a minority of one.” -E. Paul Torrance (Ellis Paul Torrance (1915 - 2003))

“When you are completely absorbed or caught up in something, you become oblivious to things around you, or to the passage of time. It is this absorption in what you are doing that frees your unconscious and releases your creative imagination.” -Rollo May (1909 - 1994)

“Form follows function.” -Louis Henri Sullivan (1856 - 1924)

“A work is perfectly finished only when nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away.” -Joseph Joubert (1754 - 1824): as quoted in Paul Auster, translator: “The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert” (1883)

“Could Hamlet have been written by a committee, or the Mona Lisa painted by a club? Could the New Testament have been composed as a conference report? Creative ideas do not spring from groups. They spring from individuals. The divine spark leaps from the finger of God to the finger of Adam, whether it takes ultimate shape in a law of physics or a law of the land, a poem or a policy, a sonata or a mechanical computer.” -Alfred Whitney Griswold: address (9 June 1957) at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America

Overheard: I am creative. You can’t expect me to be neat, too!

“Creativity is seeing something that doesn’t exist already.” -Author Unknown

Put Something In

Draw a crazy picture,
     Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song,
     Whistle through your comb.
Do a looney-gooney dance
     ’Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
     That ain’t been there before.

by Shel Silverstein (Sheldon Allan ‘Shel’ Silverstein (1930 - 1999))

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” -Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Ann Johnson (1928 - 2014))

“If you want to have good ideas you must have many ideas. Most of them will be wrong, and what you have to learn is which ones to throw away.” -Linus Pauling (Linus Carl Pauling (1901 - 1994))

“If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.” -Raymond Inmon (Raymond Leon Inmon (1920 - 1999))

“All things are created twice. There’s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation of all things. You have to make sure that the blueprint, the first creation, is really what you want, that you’ve thought everything through. Then you put it into bricks and mortar. Each day you go to the construction shed and pull out the blueprint to get marching orders for the day. You begin with the end in mind.” -Stephen Covey (Stephen Richards Covey (1932 - 2012))

“In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman.” -David M. Ogilvy (David Mackenzie Ogilvy (1911 - 1999))

“Ideas are funny things. They don’t work unless you do.” -Author Unknown

“Make every thought, every fact, that comes into your mind pay you a profit. Make it work and produce for you. Think of things not as they are but as they might be. Don’t merely dream - but create!” -Robert Collier (1885 - 1950)

“Creative thinking is no substitute for hard work.” -Author Unknown

“Creative people exhibit a continuous discontent with uniformity.” -Glenn Van Ekeren

“Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best. Genius must always have lapses proportionate to its triumphs.” -Max Beerbohm (1872 - 1956): as quoted in the obituary of music-hall comic Dan Leno, published in the “Saturday Review” (5 November 1904)

“Listen to everyone, because good ideas can come from everywhere.” -Author Unknown

“There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them.” -Seth Godin (born 1960)

“The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.” -Linus Pauling (Linus Carl Pauling (1901 - 1994))

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” -C. G. Jung (Carl Gustav Jung (1875 - 1961))

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” -attributed to Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

“Creative activity could be described as a type of learning process where teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.” -Arthur Koestler (1905 - 1983)

“The life of the creative man is lead, directed, and controlled by boredom. Avoiding boredom is one of our most important purposes.” -Saul Steinberg (1914 - 1999)

“You will hear people say that poverty is the best spur to the artist. They have never felt the iron of it in their flesh. They do not know how mean it makes you. It exposes you to endless humiliation, it cuts your wings, it eats into your soul like a cancer. It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one’s dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank, and independent. I pity with all my heart the artist, whether he writes or paints, who is entirely dependent for subsistence upon his art.” -W. Somerset Maugham (William Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965))

“No man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.” -Ansel Adams (1902 - 1984)

Overheard: We’re having creative differences. I’m creative; you’re different.

“Creativity is essentially a lonely art. An even lonelier struggle. To some a blessing. To others a curse. It is in reality the ability to reach inside yourself and drag forth from your very soul an idea.” -Lou Dorfsman (Louis ‘Lou’ Dorfsman (1918 - 2008))

“All men are not creative equally.” -John Solie

“Encouraged, we recognize the importance of living artistically, aesthetically, and creatively, as creative creatures of the creator.” -Edith Schaeffer (Edith Rachel Merritt Schaeffer also known as Mei Fuh (1914 - 2013)): “The Hidden Art of Homemaking: Creative Ideas for Enriching Everyday Life” (1972)

“Whatever creativity is, it is in part a solution to a problem.” -Brian Aldiss (Brian Wilson Aldiss (1925 - 2017))

“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” -Edwin Land (Edwin Herbert Land (1909 - 1991)): as quoted in “A Genius and His Magic Camera,” published in “LIFE” magazine (27 October 1972); also in Mark Olshaker: “The Instant Image: Edwin Land and the Polaroid Experience” (1978), page 65

“Man is made to create, from the poet to the potter.” -Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.” -Edward de Bono (born 1933)

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.” -Robert Collier (1885 - 1950)

This is MFOL! . . . keep thinking creatively . . . then build your creation . . .

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Self-Regard and Self-Acceptance

7/31/2020

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Fearlessly accept the one and only you . . .

“If I had one gift that I could give you, my friend, it would be the ability to see yourself as others see you, because only then would you know how extremely special you are.” -B. A. Billingsly

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” -Joseph Campbell (1904 - 1987)

“Accept everything about yourself - I mean everything. You are you and that is the beginning and the end - no apologies, no regrets.” -Clark Moustakas (Clark E. Moustakas (1923 - 2012)): as quoted in Lori Knutson: “Sacred Simplicities: Meeting the Miracles in Our Lives” (2004), page 141

“I’m not perfect, but I’m pretty good.” -Author Unknown

“Accept yourself as you are. Otherwise you will never see opportunity. You will not feel free to move toward it; you will feel you are not deserving.” -Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)

“Live as if you like yourself, and it may happen.” -Marge Piercy (born 1936)

“There might be things about yourself that you do not like . . . until one day you notice those same things in someone else who seems to be doing well enough in life. So go ahead and take a closer look at other people. You will see something of yourself in some of them and you will come to know an important truth, which is that you are a good enough person just as you are.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“It is not worth the while to let our imperfections disturb us always.” -Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

“You are wholly complete, and your success in life will be in direct proportion to your ability to accept this truth about you.” -Robert Anthony (Robert Newton Anthony (1916 - 2006))

“The greatest miracle you can hope for is self-acceptance.” -Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” -Lucille Ball (Lucille Désirée Ball (1911 - 1989))

“I may not be totally perfect, but parts of me are excellent.” -Ashleigh Brilliant (Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant (born 1933)): title of book (1978)

“Be what you are. This is the first step towards becoming better than you are.” -Julius Charles Hare (1795 - 1855) and Augustus William Hare (1792 - 1834): “Guesses at Truth: By Two Brothers” (1861), page 555

“As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

“If you must love your neighbor as yourself, it is at least as fair to love yourself as your neighbor.” -Nicolas Chamfort (also known as Nicolas-Sébastien Roch (1741 - 1794))

“Self-approval and self-acceptance in the now are the main keys to positive changes in every area of our lives.” -Louise L. Hay (Louise Lynn Hay (1926 - 2017))

Affirmation: “I accept myself as I am, all the while knowing I am also capable of becoming so much more.”

“Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself - no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are - completely; the good and the bad - and make changes as you see fit - not because you think someone else wants you to be different.” -Stacey Charter

“Whatever you are doing, love yourself for doing it. Whatever you are feeling, love yourself for feeling it.” -Thaddeus Golas (Thaddeus Stanley Golas (1924 - 1997)))

“I care not so much what I am in the opinion of others as what I am in my own; I would be rich of myself and not by borrowing.” -Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592): “Essais” (“Essays”) (March 1580), ‘Of Glory’

“The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.” -Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Ann Johnson (1928 - 2014))

“Every human being is trying to say something to others. Trying to cry out, ‘I am alive, notice me! Speak to me! Listen to me! Confirm for me that I am important. That I matter!’” -Marion D. Hanks (Marion Duff Hanks (1921 - 2011))

“Be a Friend to thyself and others will too.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 847

“To wish you were someone else is to waste the person you are.” -Author Unknown

“It needs to be said and heard: It’s okay to be who you are.” -Hailee Steinfeld (born 1996)

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” -Carl Rogers (Carl Ransom Rogers (1902 - 1987))

Overheard: Would you like you, if you met you?

“It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.” -Desiderius Erasmus (Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, also known as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus (1466 - 1536))

“No one is perfect. Gently accept your humanness.” -Deborah Day

“We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies.” -Roderick Thorp (Roderick Mayne Thorp, Junior (1936 - 1999)): “Rainbow Drive” (1986)

“I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.” -Brené Brown (Casandra Brené Brown (born 1965))

“To know oneself, one should assert oneself.” -Albert Camus (1913 - 1960)

Self-love, my liege*, is not so vile a sin
As self-neglecting.
-William Shakespeare(1564 - 1616): “Henry V” (about 1599), Act 2, scene 4, lines 74 and 75
*liege: a feudal superior to whom allegiance and service are due, within a feudal society in which land use by subjects is exchanged for work.

“I don’t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.” -Henry James (Henry James, Junior (1843 - 1916))

“To accept ourselves as we are means to value our imperfections as much as our perfections.” -Sandra Bierig

“If you can learn to love yourself and all the flaws, you can love other people so much better. And that makes you so happy.” -Kristin Chenoweth (Kristin Dawn Chenoweth (born in 1968 as Kristi Dawn Chenoweth))

“Don’t be-little yourself. Be-big yourself.” -Corita Kent (Mary Corita Kent (1918 - 1986))

“When you acknowledge the less than perfect parts of yourself, something magical begins to happen. Along with the negative, you’ll also begin to notice the positive, the wonderful aspects of yourself that you may not have given yourself credit for, or perhaps even been aware of.” -Richard Carlson (1961 - 2006): “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” (1997)

“Stop hating yourself for everything that you aren’t. Start loving yourself for everything that you are.” -Author Unknown

“Don’t look for approval from anyone other than yourself.” -Jonathan Lockwood Huie (born 1945)

“A truly strong person does not need the approval of others any more than a lion needs the approval of sheep.” -Vernon Howard (Vernon Linwood Howard (1918 - 1992))

“Often, it’s not about becoming a new person, but becoming the person you were meant to be, and already are, but don’t know how to be.” -Heath L. Buckmaster: “Box of Hair: A Fairy Tale” (30 April 2008)

“You were born to be real, not to be perfect.” -Author Unknown

“Be yourself, who else is better qualified?” -Frank J. Giblin

“It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else’s eyes.” -Sally Field (Sally Margaret Field Mahoney (born 1946))

“You’re always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.” -Diane Von Furstenberg (born 1946 as Diane Simone Michelle Halfin)

“Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself.” -Nathaniel Branden (born 1930)

“Self-respect is not a function of size, age, or wealth. Breathe deep, sing loud and sweet, ‘I am me, I am unique, I am magnificent.’” -Jonathan Lockwood Huie (born 1945)

“Once you embrace your value, talents, and strengths, it neutralizes when others think less of you.” -Rob Liano

“Too many people overvalue what they are not, and undervalue what they are.” -Malcolm S. Forbes (Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (1919 - 1990))

“Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.” -Author Unknown

“What self-acceptance does is open up more possibilities of succeeding because you aren’t fighting yourself along the way.” -Shannon Ables

“Option A: Spend your life trying to get others to accept you. Option B: Accept yourself, and spend your life with others who recognize what a beauty you are.” -Scott Stabile

“If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.” -Charles Bukowski (1920 - 1994)

“The greatest success is successful self-acceptance.” -Ben Sweet

“What you think of yourself is much more important than what people think of you.” -Author Unknown

“I think everybody’s weird. We should all celebrate our individuality and not be embarrassed or ashamed of it.” -Johnny Depp (born 1963 as John Christopher Depp II)

“Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.” -André Gide (André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951))

“You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are beautiful.” -Amy Bloom (born 1953)

“It’s not your job to like me . . . it’s mine!” -Byron Katie (Byron Kathleen Mitchell (born 1942))

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” -e. e. cummings (Edward Estlin Cummings (1894 - 1962))

“When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits - anything that kept me small. My judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.” -Kim McMillen: “When I Loved Myself Enough” (2001)

“Be yourself. Try to be anything else but your genuine self, even if you deceive the entire world, and you will be ten thousand times worse than nothing . . . You have been blessed with special skills that are yours alone. Use them, whatever they may be and forget about wearing another’s hat. A talented chariot driver can win gold and renown with his skills. Let him pick figs and he would starve. No one can take your place! Realize this and be yourself. You have no obligation to succeed. You have only the obligation to be true to yourself. Do the very best that you can, in the things you do best, and you will know, in thy soul, that you are the greatest success in the world.” -Og Mandino (Augustine ‘Og’ Mandino II (1923 - 1996)): “The Greatest Success in the World” (1968), page 94

“Loving yourself isn’t vanity, it’s sanity.” -André Gide (André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951))

“Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward.” -Roy T. Bennett: “The Light in the Heart” (26 February 2016)

“You work so hard to fix yourself, but maybe what you need isn’t another tactic, another book, another expert, another five-step plan. Maybe, you don’t need to be fixed. Maybe, what’s really holding you back is the idea that you need to be fixed.” -Vironika Tugaleva (born 1988)

“I’ve finally stopped running away from myself. Who else is there better to be?” -Goldie Hawn (Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born 1945))

“If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” -Fred Rogers (Fred McFeely Rogers (1928 - 2003))

“Change is possible, but it must start with self-acceptance.” -Alexander Lowen (1910 - 2008)

“Believing in our hearts that who we are is enough is the key to a more satisfying and balanced life.” -Ellen Sue Stern

“If you want to be somebody, somebody really special, be yourself.” -Author Unknown

“You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” -Louise L. Hay (Louise Lynn Hay (1926 - 2017))

“Acceptance is the key to everything.” -Michael J. Fox (pseudonym of Michael Andrew Fox (born 1961))

“When you stop living your life based on what others think of you, real life begins. At that moment, you will finally see the door of self-acceptance opened.” -Shannon L. Alder

“We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.” -Mary Dunbar (Evelyn Mary Dunbar (1906 - 1960))

The most delightful surprise in life
Is to suddenly recognize your own worth.
-Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)

“Our entire life - consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.” -Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (1910 - 1987)

“What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.” -Hecato (also known as Hecaton of Rhodes): as quoted in Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, also known as Seneca the Younger (about 4 B.C.E. - C.E. 65): “Epistulae morales ad Lucilium” (about C.E. 65)

“One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world: Making the most of one’s best.” -Harry Emerson Fosdick

Now there is a website especially for exceptional people like you . . . this is MFOL!

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Appearances and Looks

7/28/2020

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“Some of the most beautiful women I have ever met tell me, ‘I hate myself when I look in the mirror.’ I hear that again and again” -Henry Miller (1891 - 1980)

“A beautiful thing is never perfect.” -Author Unknown

“To all the girls who think they’re fat because they’re not a size zero, you’re the beautiful ones; it’s society who’s ugly.” -Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson (1926 - 1962))

“Beauty is a mystery. You can neither eat it nor make flannel out of it.” -David Herbert Lawrence (1885 - 1930)

“I used to be very self-conscious. I used to wish I was pretty. My cousin Georgia always taught me that if you smile, people will like you. Sometimes people will say something you don’t like, and you get angry a bit, but you just smile. You let it go by, even if you really would like to choke ’em. By smiling, I think I’ve made more friends than if I was the other way.” -Ella Fitzgerald (1918 - 1996)

“Won’t you come into my garden? I would like my roses to see you.” -Richard B. Sheridan (Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 - 1816))

Keep up appearances; there lies the test;
     The world will give thee credit for the rest.
-Charles Churchill (1731 - 1764): “Night” (1761), lines 311 and 312

“A plain face is often surprisingly beautiful by reason of an inner light.” -Henry E. Walbery

“Real beauty isn’t about symmetry or weight or makeup; it’s about looking life right in the face and seeing all its magnificence reflected in your own.” -Valerie Monroe

“Some of you may feel that you are not as attractive and beautiful and glamorous as you would like to be. Rise above any such feelings, cultivate the light you have within you, and it will shine through as a radiant expression that will be seen by others.” -Gordon B. Hinckley (Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910 - 2008))

“Do not judge others by appearances; a rich heart may be under a poor coat.” -Author Unknown: Scottish proverb

“Beauty isn’t about having a pretty face. It’s about having a pretty mind, a pretty heart, and a pretty soul.” -Author Unknown

Beauty to no complexion is confined,
     Is of all colors, and by none defined.
-George Granville (1666 - 1735)

“First impressions are the most lasting.” -Jonas Hanway (1712 - 1786): “A Journal of Eight Days Journey” (1756)

“Beauty isn’t something on the outside. It’s your insides that count! You gotta eat green stuff to make sure you’re pretty on the inside.” -Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka, and Toshihiro Kawabata: “Animal Crossing: Wild World” (2005)

Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a body image condition that causes some people to imagine they presently have, or will later develop, physical deformities. Most people with the condition are not all that different from other people in appearance; it is just that their perception of themselves is erroneously distorted by inner or outer influences. BDD is also known by the term ‘dysmorphophobia,’ which is derived from the Greek words ‘dys’ meaning ‘abnormal,’ ‘morphe’ meaning ‘form,’ and ‘phobos’ meaning ‘fear.’ The good news is that the condition can be treated through therapeutic psychological counseling and by other methods.

“There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.” -Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626): “Essays” (1625), ‘Of Beauty’

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
     but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives,
     the passion that she knows.
-Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993)

“The beauty does not live out there; the beauty’s in my eyes.” -Jonathan Lockwood Huie (born 1945)

He: My, what lovely eyes you have!
She: I am glad you like them. They were a birthday present.

“Do not judge men by mere appearances; for the light laughter that bubbles on the lip often mantles over the depths of sadness, and the serious look may be the sober veil that covers a divine peace and joy. The bosom can ache beneath diamond brooches; and many a blithe heart dances under coarse wool.” -E. H. Chapin (Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814 - 1880))

She is not fair to outward view
     As many maidens be;
Her loveliness I never knew
     Until she smiled on me:
Oh! then I saw her eye was bright,
     A well of love, a spring of light.
-Hartley Coleridge (David Hartley ‘Hartley’ Coleridge (1796 - 1849)): “Poems” (1851), ‘She Is Not Fair’

“I am not beautiful like you. I am beautiful like me.” -Author Unknown

“Appearances often deceive.” -Author Unknown: English saying

“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.” -Leo Tolstoy (Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828 - 1910)): “The Kreutzer Sonata” (1889)

“The weirder you’re going to behave, the more normal you should look. It works in reverse, too. When I see a kid with three or four rings in his nose, I know there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about that person.” -Oscar Levant (1906 - 1972)

“Physical differences are what make it possible for our friends to find us in a crowd.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness.” [translation to English]
“La beauté n’est que la promesse du bonheur.” [original French]
-Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle (1783 - 1842)): “De L’Amour” (English: “On Love”) (1822), chapter 17, footnote

“Remember, the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless: peacocks and lilies, for instance.” -John Ruskin (1819 - 1900): “The Stones of Venice” (1851)

“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” -Roald Dahl (1916 - 1990)

“Outer beauty pleases the eye. Inner beauty captivates the heart.” -Mandy Hale (born 1978): “The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass” (2013)

Who is that pretty lady?

Her very frowns are fairer far
     Than smiles of other maidens are.
-Hartley Coleridge (David Hartley ‘Hartley’ Coleridge (1796 - 1849)): “Poems” (1851), ‘She Is Not Fair’

“You know who’s beautiful? Read this first word.” -Author Unknown

“You were created in God’s image. God makes no mistakes. To put yourself down for the way you are is to insult God’s handiwork. You are beautiful.” -Author Unknown

“Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.” -Sophia Loren (pseudonym of Sophia Sciccoloni (born 1934))

What do you think makes a person good-looking?

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The Ugly Duckling Syndrome

“The Ugly Duckling” is a story about someone who was not really ugly at all; he was just different. The other ducks teased and pecked at him with their beaks until the ugly duckling flew away. He wandered around for a year, and was treated as an outcast everywhere. In the Spring, he saw a group of swans on a lake, and wanted very much to join them. As he swam out toward them, he was astounded to notice his reflection in the water - he was a swan! The other swans welcomed him warmly, and found him to be beautiful.

Like many fairy tales, “The Ugly Duckling” was created with a lesson, or moral, in mind, if we will listen or read with the idea of finding it.

Most of us go through times when we feel different from those around us. These can be painful and lonely times, but it does not mean there is anything wrong with us. Like the ugly duckling, we will come into a time and place when we will be loved. All the pain and loneliness we have felt will one day be a fading memory.

“I never dreamed of so much happiness when I was the ugly duckling.” -Hans Christian Andersen (1805 - 1875): “The Ugly Duckling” (11 November 1843)

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“I used to look in the mirror and feel shame; I look in the mirror now and I absolutely love myself.” -Drew Barrymore (born 1975)

“Trust not too much to an enchanting face.” -Vergil (Publius Vergilius Maro, also known as Virgil (70 B.C.E. - 19 B.C.E.))

“The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.” -Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” -Margaret Wolfe Hungerford (1855 - 1897): “Molly Bawn” (1878)

“The beauty seen is partly in him who sees it.” -Christian Bovee (Christian Nestell Bovee (1820 - 1904))

“Common-looking people are the best in the world. That is the reason the Lord made so many of them.” -Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

“Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.” -Hedy Lamarr (Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler (1914 - 2000))

“I cannot tell you how many times people have come up to me to compliment me on my lavish figure.” -Miss Piggy, as quoted in Henry Beard: “Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life” (1981)

“No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful.” -Eleanor Roosevelt (Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962))

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment . . . Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” -Author Unknown: “The Bible,” ‘1st Peter,’ chapter 3, verses 3 and 4

“It is the common wonder of all men, how among so many millions of faces there should be none alike.” -Thomas Browne (1605 - 1682): “Religio Medici” (1643), Part II, Section 2

“Always try to look your best, because you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and first impressions are lasting impressions.” -Author Unknown

“Beauty starts in your head, not in your mirror.” -Joubert Botha

“A woman deserves no credit for her beauty at twenty, but at sixty, her beauty is of her own doing.” -Author Unknown

O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
     To see oursels as ithers see us!
-Robert Burns (1759 - 1796): “To a Louse” (1786)

In Standard English, the above lines would be as follows:
And would some Power the small gift give us
     To see ourselves as others see us!

“There are no ugly women, there are women who do not know how to look pretty.” -Jean de La Bruyère (1645 - 1696)

“Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief that she is beautiful.” -Sophia Loren (pseudonym of Sophia Sciccoloni (born 1934))

“Beware so long as you live, of judging people by appearances.” -Jean de La Fontaine (1621 - 1695)

Never judge someone
     By the way he looks
Or a book by the way it’s covered;
     For inside those tattered pages,
There’s a lot to be discovered
-Stephen Cosgrove (born 1945)

“If being beautiful in the eyes of the Creator means being ugly in the eyes of the created, then it’s worth it.” -Author Unknown

“You can only perceive real beauty in a person as they get older.” -Anouk Aimée (pseudonym of Nicole Françoise Florence Dreyfus (born 1932))

“The appearances of things change according to the emotions and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.” -Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

Appearances and Looks Quiz
- What is the meaning of the word ‘beauty’?
- What is the meaning of the phrase ‘inner beauty’?
- Why might you not want to answer your door dressed and groomed sloppily?

“I’m beautiful in my own way because God makes no mistakes.” -Author Unknown

Appearances and Looks Quiz Answers
- Beauty is the quality of being pleasing to the mind.
- Inner beauties are virtues such as goodness, politeness, and caring.
- Always answer the door dressed and groomed well, because you never know when you might be greeting the Queen or the President.

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” -Confucius (K’ung Fu-tzu or K’ung Ch’iu (about 551 B.C.E. - about 479 B.C.E.))

“I am, as I am; whether hideous, or handsome, depends upon who is made judge.” -Herman Melville (1819 - 1891)

“Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.” -David Hume (1711 - 1776)

“People who are ‘animated’ are more attractive.” -Author Unknown

“It’s not the face, but the expressions on it. It’s not the voice, but what you say. It’s not how you look in that body, but the thing you do with it. You are beautiful.” -Stephenie Meyer (born 1973): “The Host” (6 May 2008)

“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.” -Coco Chanel (Gabrielle Bonheur ‘Coco’ Chanel (1883 - 1971))

“That’s the thing about inner beauty: Unlike physical beauty, which grabs the spotlight for itself, inner beauty shines on everyone, catching them, holding them in its embrace, making them more beautiful too.” -Author Unknown

“Anyone is automatically a lot more attractive when they’re funny.” -Author Unknown

The folks at Make Fun Of Life! hope you will laugh a little more, learn a little more, and love life a little more . . . each and every day . . . we just want you to be happy.

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Self-Improvement and Self-Help

7/23/2020

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“Anybody can do just about anything with himself that he really wants to and makes up his mind to do. We are capable of greater things than we realize.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

“Change yourself and your fortune will change with you.” -Author Unknown

“How do we become true and good, happy and genuine, joyful and free? Only by getting in touch with good, true, happy, genuine human beings, only by seeking the company of the strong and the free, only by catching spontaneity and freedom from those who are themselves spontaneous and free.” -Charles Malike (1906 - 1988)

“Let’s build a better you . . . we will need some glue, pop-sickle sticks, pipe cleaners, glitter, crayons, yarn, construction paper . . . what, you say you are not made out of any of those things?” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Be the kind of person you want to meet.” -Author Unknown

“A truly wise person will constantly move forward, striving for self-improvement.” -Marvin J. Ashton (Marvin Jeremy Ashton (1915 - 1994))

“Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew.” -Francis de Sales (1567 - 1622)

“If you improve 1 percent a day, then in 100 days, guess what? You’re 100 percent better.” -Coach Carter

“Let us strive to improve ourselves, for we cannot remain stationary; one either progresses or retrogrades.” -Mademoiselle Du Deffand (Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, Marquise du Deffand (1697 - 1780))

“By improving yourself, you make the world better.” -Author Unknown

“You don’t have to be sick to get better! You don’t have to have a bad attitude to get a better one.” -Thomas D. Willhite (Thomas Dale Willhite (1940 - 1983))

“Ignore the ones who say it’s too late to start over. Disregard those who say you’ll never amount to anything. Turn a deaf ear to those who say you aren’t smart enough, fast enough, tall enough, or big enough - ignore them.” -Max Lucado (born 1955)

“In the long term the most important question . . . is not what you are but what you are becoming.” -Gary Hamel

“It only takes one person to change your life - you.” -Ruth Casey

“Everyone planning to make something worthwhile out of himself must be a self-remade man, and should be an intelligent remodeling job going on all the time.” -Sterling W. Sill (Sterling Welling Sill (1903 - 1994))

“Do not think of your faults, still less of others’ faults; look for what is good and strong, and try to imitate it. Your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.” -John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

“Build upon strengths, and weaknesses will gradually take care of themselves.” -Joyce C. Lock

“There’s only one corner of the Universe you can be certain of improving and that’s your own self . . . You have to begin there, not outside, not on other people. That comes afterwards, when you’ve worked on your own corner.” -Aldous Huxley (Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894 - 1963)): “Time Must Have a Stop” (1944)

“Know thyself? If I knew myself, I’d run away.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

“To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.” -Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

“No man is capable of self-improvement if he sees no other model but himself.” -Conrado I. Generoso

“Be yourself. No one can ever tell you you’re doing it wrong.” -James Leo Herlihy (1927 - 1993)

“How can there be self-help ‘groups’?” -Author Unknown

“It doesn’t happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time.” -Margery Williams (Margery Williams Bianco (1881 - 1944)): “The Velveteen Rabbit” (1922)

“What we shall be, we are becoming.” -Author Unknown

“I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man I have ever met.” -Dwight L. Moody (Dwight Lyman Moody (1837 - 1899))

“USA stands for Unconditional Self-Acceptance.” -Author Unknown

“If you are still searching for that one person who will change your life, take a look in the mirror.” -Author Unknown

“People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.” -Oliver Goldsmith (1728 - 1774)

“If you want a kinder world, then behave with kindness; if you want a peaceful world, make peace within.” -Dan Millman (born 1946)

“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.” -Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980)

“Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.” -Carol Burnett (Carol Creighton Burnett (born 1933))

“Might I give counsel to any man, I would say to him, try to frequent the company of your betters. In books and in life, that is the most wholesome society; learn to admire rightly; the great pleasure of life is that. Note what great men admire.” -William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863)

“Act the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you act.” -George W. Crane (George Washington Crane III (1901 - 1995))

“Chiefly the mold of a man’s fortune is in his own hands.” -Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)

“If we are unduly absorbed in improving our lives we may forget altogether to live them.” -Alan Watts (Alan Wilson Watts (1915 - 1973))

“Improvement begins with I.” -Arnold H. Glasow (Arnold Henry Glasow (1905 - 1998))

“None will improve your lot if you yourself do not.” -Bertolt Brecht (Eugen Berthold Friedrich ‘Bertolt’ Brecht (1898 - 1956)) (1933)

“For a person to build a rich and rewarding life for himself, there are certain qualities and bits of knowledge that he needs to acquire. There are also things, harmful attitudes, superstitions, and emotions that he needs to chip away. A person needs to chip away everything that doesn’t look like the person he or she most wants to become.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“Help thyself.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Each person’s task in life is to become an increasingly better person.” -Leo Tolstoy (Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828 - 1910))

“The better person you become, the better people you will attract.” -Author Unknown

“I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God’s help I shall succeed.” -Vincent van Gogh (Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890))

“Be yourself, everyone else is taken.” -Author Unknown

“In that worthiest of all struggles, the struggle for self-mastery and goodness, we are far less patient with ourselves than God is with us.” -J. G. Holland (Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819 - 1881))

“Whatever you are, try to be a good one.” -William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863): as quoted in Laurence Hutton’s memoir, ‘A Boy I Once Knew,’ which was serialized in “St. Nicholas: An Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks” (March 1897), Volume 24, Number 5, page 413, column 2

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” -Carl Rogers (1902 - 1987)

“Identify and develop your unique talents and abilities, the things that make you special.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“The simple part is, every thought we think and every word we speak is creating our future. If you change your thinking, you can change your life.” -Louise L. Hay (Louise Lynn Hay (1926 - 2017))

“Self-help must precede help from others. Even for making certain of help from Heaven one has to help oneself.” -Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (1896 - 1995)

“Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are.” -Julius Charles Hare (1795 - 1855)

“It is right to be contented with what we have, but never with what we are.” -James Mackintosh (1765 - 1832): as attributed in “The True Briton” (7 July 1853) magazine

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” -Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967)

“It is not always possible to be the best, but it is always possible to improve your own performance.” -Jackie Stewart (John Young ‘Jackie’ Stewart (born 1939))

“Try a little harder to be a little better.” -Gordon B. Hinckley (Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910 - 2008))

“The better I get, the more I realize how much better I can get.” -Martina Navratilova (born 1956)

“Happiness and self-confidence come naturally when you feel yourself moving and progressing toward becoming the very best person you can possibly be.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“That’s the risk you take if you change: that people you’ve been involved with won’t like the new you. But other people who do will come along.” -Lisa Alther (born 1944)

“You don’t get better by chance; you get better by change.” -Author Unknown: As quoted in Kit Summers and Robert Schwarz: “Juggling with Finesse” (1987), page 19

September of each year is Self-Improvement Month. Why wait? Let’s get started now.

“The first step to improvement, whether mental, moral, or religious, is to know ourselves - our weaknesses, errors, deficiencies, and sins, that, by divine grace, we may overcome and turn from them all.” -Tryon Edwards (1809 - 1894): as quoted in Tryon Edwards, editor: “A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern” (1891), page 517

“Seeing yourself as you want to be is the key to personal growth.” -Author Unknown

“There is no shame in having fallen. Nor any shame in being born into a lowly estate. There is only shame in not struggling to rise. And also shame for not wishing to attain the better. Or not dreaming about it and praying for it.” -Samuel Amalu

“We are either progressing or retrograding all the while; there is no such thing as remaining stationary in this life.” -James Freeman Clarke (1810 - 1888)

“I went to a bookstore today and asked the manager where the self-help section was. She said, ‘If I told you, that would defeat the whole purpose.’” -Brian Kiley (born 1962)

“If you want a quality, act as if you already had it. Try the ‘as if’ technique.” -William James (1842 - 1910)

“People never improve unless they look to some standard or example higher and better than themselves.” -Tryon Edwards (1809 - 1894): as quoted in Tryon Edwards, editor: “A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern” (1891), page 156

“You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be.” -David Viscott (1938 - 1996)

“The greatest gift you can give to somebody is your own personal development. I used to say, ‘If you will take care of me, I will take care of you.’ Now I say, ‘I will take care of me for you if you will take care of you for me.’” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound.” -James Allen (1864 - 1912)

“Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” -William Faulkner (William Cuthbert ‘Will’ Faulkner (1897 - 1962))

“Everything comes by being! Be the love you seek. Be the friend you seek. Be the honesty you seek. Be the integrity you seek. Be the patience you seek. Be the tolerance you seek. Be the compassion you seek.” -Bryant McGill (born 1969)

“It is necessary to try to surpass oneself always; this occupation ought to last as long as life.” -Queen Christina of Sweden (born Kristina Augusta Wasa, later known as Christina Alexandra (1626 - 1689))

“I am that which must ever surpass itself.” -Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)

“If you want to attract happy, positive things . . . become a happy, positive person! Work from the inside out!” -Mandy Hale (born 1978)

“You are more likely to be successful at attempting to be better than yourself than to be better than someone else.” -Author Unknown

“To be always intending to live a new life, but never to find time to set about it; this is as if a man should put off eating, and drinking, and sleeping, from one day and night to another, till he is starved and destroyed.” -John Tillotson (1630 - 1694): as attributed in “The Ladies’ Companion; or, Peoples’ Annual” (August 1842)

“Never mind what others do; do better than yourself, beat your own record from day to day, and you are a success.” -William J. H. Boetcker (William John Henry Boetcker (1873 - 1962))

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” -Judy Garland (Frances Gumm (1922 - 1969))

“There are times when a man should be content with what he has, but never with what he is.” -William George Jordan (1864 - 1928): “The Majesty of Calmness: Individual Problems and Possibilities” (1900)

“Your life will never improve unless you start making daily improvements.” -Lewis Howes (Lewis David Howes (born 1983))

“There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. True nobility comes from being superior to your previous self.” -Author Unknown: Hindustani proverb: as quoted in George Derby, compiler: “A Conspectus of American Biography” (1906), page 726

“When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you improve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made. Don’t look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That’s the only way it happens - and when it happens, it lasts.” -John Wooden (1910 - 2010)

“Be the best version of you.” -Author Unknown

We are MFOL! . . . and just like you, we’re always improving . . .

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Fears and Courage

7/19/2020

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“Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it?” -Caroline Myss (born 1952)

“If you’re scared, just holler and you’ll find it ain’t so lonesome out there.” -Joe Sugden (Joseph ‘Joe’ Sugden (1870 - 1959))

“I have lived my life according to this principle: If I’m afraid of it, then I must do it.” -Erica Jong (Erica Mann Jong (born 1942))

“Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.” -Alice M. Swaim (Alice Mackenzie Swaim)

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” -Les Brown (Leslie Calvin ‘Les’ Brown (born 1945))

“Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.” -Dorothy Thompson (1894 - 1961)

“Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.” -Brendan Francis (Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (1923 - 1964))

“Action cancels fear.” -Silver Rose

“We learn courageous action by going forward whenever fear urges us back. A little boy was asked how he learned to skate. ‘Oh, by getting up every time I fell down,’ he answered.” -David Seabury (1885 - 1960)

Reality of Fear

You’re not scared of the dark;
     You’re scared of what’s in it.
You’re not afraid of heights;
     You’re afraid of falling.
You’re not afraid of the people around you;
     You’re afraid of rejection or mistreatment.
You’re not afraid of love;
     You’re afraid of not being lovable.

by Author Unknown

“To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that.” -Teresa of Ávila (Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada (1515 - 1582))

“When you are afraid, do the thing you are afraid of, and soon you will lose your fear of it.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

Fear is a slinking cat I find
     Beneath the lilacs of my mind.
-Sophie Tunnell (Sophia Letitia Tunnell (1884 - 1936))

“It takes courage to lead a life. Any life.” -Erica Jong (Erica Mann Jong (born 1942))

“Fear is incomplete knowledge.” -Agatha Christie (Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie (1890 - 1976))

“A lot of people are afraid of heights; not me, I’m afraid of widths.” -Steven Wright (Steven Alexander Wright (born 1955)): “Steven Wright Special” (1985)

Heights Made Him Dizzy

There was a young fellow so frail
He could fly on a kite - as the tail.
     That gave him a view
     From Maine to Peru;
But when he looked down he turned pale!

by John Ciardi (John Anthony Ciardi (1916 - 1986))

“You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.” -Dolly Parton (Dolly Rebecca Parton (born 1946))

“Fears are educated into us and can, if we wish, be educated out.” -Karl A. Menninger (Karl Augustus Menninger (1893 - 1990))

“We have to start teaching ourselves not to be afraid.” -Will Faulkner (William Cuthbert ‘Will’ Faulkner (1897 - 1962))

“Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway.” -John Wayne (pseudonym of Marion Michael Morrison (1907 - 1979))

“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” -Author Unknown

“Fear is an emotion indispensable for survival.” -Hannah Arendt (Johanna ‘Hannah’ Arendt (1906 - 1975))

A psychologist, interviewed on the Steve Allen Show, announced that the only two instinctive fears in man are a fear of loud noises and a fear of falling. “I have a great fear,” replied Steve Allen (Stephen Valentine Patrick William ‘Steve’ Allen (1921 - 2000)), without missing a beat, “of making a loud noise while falling.”

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” -Mary Anne Radmacher

“Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile . . . initially scared me to death.” -Betty Bender (born 1948)

“Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed.” -Michael Pritchard

“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” -Vincent van Gogh (Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890))

“If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.” -Seth Godin (born 1960)

“FEAR is an acronym in the English language for ‘False Evidence Appearing Real.’” -Neale Donald Walsch (born 1943)

“F.E.A.R. has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything And Risk.’ You decide.” -Author Unknown

“Do what you fear and fear disappears.” -David J. Schwartz (David Joseph Schwartz, Junior (1927 - 1987))

Overheard: I have discovered that I scream the same way whether I am about to be devoured by a great white shark or a piece of seaweed touches my foot.

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” -Marie Curie (Marie Sklodowska-Curie (1867 - 1934))

“Fear has a large shadow, but he himself is small.” -Ruth Gendler (Janet Ruth Gendler, also known as J. Ruth Gendler (born 1954)) at www.ruthgendler.com

“The thing I fear most is fear.” -Michel de Montaigne (Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 - 1592)): “Essais” (“Essays”) (1595), Book 1, chapter 18

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” -Theodore Roosevelt (Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt (1858 - 1919))

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” -Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself . . . and spiders!

“You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnegey (1888 - 1955)))

“If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living.” -Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, also known as Seneca the Younger (3 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))

“Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

“Happiness is a form of courage.” -Holbrook Jackson (George ‘Holbrook’ Jackson (1874 - 1948))

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” -Anaïs Nin (born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell (1903 - 1977)): “Diary” (1969)

Luposlipaphobia is a persistent fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table while wearing socks on a newly-waxed floor. This is actually a fictional phobia created by Gary Larson (born 1950), found in his “Far Side” comics.

“Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.” -Author Unknown: German proverb

“I laugh in the face of danger. And then I hide until it goes away.” -Author Unknown: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (1997 - 2003), season 1, episode 3: ‘Witch’ (17 March 1997); line spoken by fictional character Alexander Lavelle ‘Xander’ Harris (portrayed by actor Nicholas Brandon)

“Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” -Dorothy Bernard (Nora Dorothy ‘Dorothy’ Bernard (1890 - 1955))

“Fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.” -Shirley MacLaine (pseudonym of Shirley MacLean Beaty (born 1934))

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” -Ambrose Redmoon (Ambrose Hollingworth Redmoon (pseudonym of James Neil Hollingworth (1933 - 1996)))

“What you are afraid to do is a clear indicator of the next thing you need to do.” -Author Unknown

“To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.” -Katherine Paterson (Katherine Womeldorf Paterson (born 1932)): “Jacob Have I Loved” (1980)

“Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others.” -Winston Churchill (Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874 - 1965)): “Great Contemporaries” (1937)

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” -Author Unknown: “The Bible,” ‘Book of Psalms,’ Psalm 27, verse 1

“The phrase ‘do not be afraid’ is written in the Bible 365 times. That’s a daily reminder from God to live every day being fearless.” -Author Unknown

“I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me.” -Erica Jong (Erica Mann Jong (born 1942))

“Fear is nature’s warning signal to get busy.” -Henry C. Link (Henry Charles Link (1889 - 1952))

“When you do what you fear most, then you can do anything.” -Stephen Richards

“The strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.” -Henrik Ibsen (1828 - 1906): “An Enemy of the People” (1882), act 5

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. Except a creature be part coward, it is not a compliment to say it is brave.” -Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910)): “Pudd’nhead Wilson” (1894), chapter 12

“Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnegey (1888 - 1955)))

“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” -Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894)

“Courage grows by daring, fear by holding back.” -Publilius Syrus (85 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.)

“You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.” -Mary Tyler Moore (1937 - 2017)

“Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.” -John Dewey (1859 - 1952)

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along’ . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” -Eleanor Roosevelt (Anna Eleanor ‘Eleanor’ Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)): “You Learn by Living” (1960)

“To one who is afraid, everything rustles.” -Sophocles (496 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.)

“Courage from hearts, and not from numbers, grows.” -John Dryden (1631 - 1700): “Annus Mirabilis” (1667), stanza 76, line 304; type of work: poem

“Fears are nothing more than states of mind.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970))

“We must travel in the direction of our fear.” -John Berryman (1914 - 1972)

“You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.” -Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983): as quoted in W. H. Auden and Louis Kronenberger, editors: “The Faber Book of Aphorisms” (1962)

“Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it’s strengthened by use.” -Ruth Gordon (Ruth Gordon Jones (1896 - 1985))

“Be brave. Even if you’re not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.” -H. Jackson Brown (Harriett Jackson Brown, Junior (born 1940)): “Life’s Little Instruction Book” (1991)

“How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.” -Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910)

“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.” -Tim Ferriss (Timothy ‘Tim’ Ferriss (born 1977))

“Give yourself a pat on the back each time you hang in there when you’re scared.” -Marilyn Barrick (Marilyn Cooper Barrick (1932 - 2007))

“Stop letting fear rule your life.” -Author Unknown

14 October of every year is National Face Your Fears Day.

“You do not have to be fearless, just don’t let fear stop you.” -Charles Day (Charles Peckham Day (born 1976)): speech (May 2014) to graduating class of Merrimack College, North Andover, Massachusetts, United States of America

“Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it . . . that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnegey (1888 - 1955)))

“We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them.” -Livy (Titus Livius (59 B.C.E. - C.E. 17.))

“If you do not do the thing you fear, the fear controls your life.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

Overheard: Don’t let your fears win.

“Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way; and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another.” -C. C. Colton (Charles Caleb Colton (1780 - 1832))

“There is no courage without fear.” -Author Unknown

“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.” -Bethany Hamilton (Bethany Meilani Hamilton-Dirks (born 1990))

“If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnegey (1888 - 1955)))

“The only known cure for fear is faith.” -Lena Kellogg Sadler (1875 - 1939)

“Tell a man he is brave, and you help him to become so.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

“We cannot escape fear. We can only transform it into a companion that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures.” -Susan Jeffers (Susan Jane Jeffers (1938 - 2012)): “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” (1987)

“Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom.” -Marilyn Ferguson

Fear not, intrepid soul, for there is no shortage of humor, inspiration, and learning, right here on MFOL! . . . just courageously continue reading . . .

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Chance and Luck

7/17/2020

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Winner every time? Really? Sometimes the odds can seem a little odd . . . and can even leave you feeling cheated . . .

“I understand life isn’t fair, but why couldn’t it just once be unfair in my favor?” -Christy Murphy

“The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.” -Bret Harte (Francis Bret ‘Bret’ Harte (1836 - 1902))

“All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck - who keeps right on going - is the man who is there when the good luck comes - and is ready to receive it.” -Robert Collier (1885 - 1950)

“Success in your life or business isn’t magic or luck, it is the result of knowledge of the right things to do.” -Stephen A. Matuszak

“Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish.” -Publius Ovidius Naso (also known simply as Ovid (43 B.C.E. - about C.E. 17))

“Sometimes, I drop pennies on the ground so that someone will have good luck.” -Author Unknown

Al: Why so glum?
Bert: I spent my lucky penny on a piece of bubblegum, and now the flavor in the gum is all gone.

“I never knew an early-rising, hard-working, prudent man, careful of his earnings, and strictly honest, who complained of bad luck.” -Henry Ward Beecher (1813 - 1887)

“People always call it luck when you’ve acted more sensibly than they have.” -Anne Tyler

“There is no one luckier than he who thinks himself so.” -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

Hezikiah: Is it really unlucky to have a black cat cross your path?
Ichabod: Only if you are a mouse!

“A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere.” -Groucho Marx (Julius Henry ‘Groucho’ Marx (1890 - 1977))

“Hard work beats luck every time.” -Author Unknown

“Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing from something.” -Wilson Mizner (1876 - 1933)

“Some people like to boast about their winnings in gambling, lotteries, card games, and other games of chance. What they will not tell you is that in winning a couple of dollars, they lost hundreds of dollars.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“To persuade people not to gamble is to win for them.” -Author Unknown

Lottery: 1. A tax on people who are bad at math. 2. A tax on people who don’t understand statistics.

“‘Luck’ is a very good word if you put a ‘p’ before it.” -Author Unknown

“Luck is mere statistical probability that can, and does, befall each and all to varying extents. The ability to take luck, happenstance, good fortune, windfalls, and so forth, and use them to advantage, to build on them, and to reap even greater benefits thereof, is what makes the difference between what we call lucky and unlucky people.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“I broke a mirror in my house, I’m supposed to get seven years of bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five.” -Steven Wright (Steven Alexander Wright (born 1955))

“Luck always seems to be against the man who depends on it.” -Author Unknown

“The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” -Harry Golden

“Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember, it didn’t work for the rabbit.” -R. E. Shay

“A lucky rabbit’s foot is not so lucky if you are a rabbit.” -Author Unknown

“Luck? I don’t know anything about luck. I’ve never banked on it and I’m afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work - and realizing what is opportunity and what isn’t.” -Walter Pater (1839 - 1894)

“When the wild bird lacks food, all the Earth is before him.” -Author Unknown

“Luck is usually good planning, carefully executed.” -Joe Moore

“A wise man turns chance into good fortune.” -Thomas Fuller (1608 - 1661)

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” -Lucius Annaeus Seneca (also known as Seneca the Younger or simply Seneca (3 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))

“The only good luck many great men ever had was being born with the ability and determination to overcome bad luck.” -Channing Pollock

“Even bad luck is good for something, in a wise man’s hands.” -Author Unknown

“Luck: A fortuitous random outcome of circumstance, which a fool interprets in any other way.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“He’s so unlucky that he runs into accidents which started out to happen to somebody else.” -Don Marquis (Donald Robert Perry ‘Don’ Marquis (1878 - 1937))

“Some people are so fond of ill-luck that they run half-way to meet it.” -Douglas Jerrold: “Meeting Troubles Half-Way” (1859)

Luck and Chance Quiz
- Are people born lucky or unlucky?
- What is the relationship between luck and superstition?
- Do people make their own luck?
- Can thinking bring good luck or bad luck?

“When I work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, I get lucky.” -Armand Hammer (1898 - 1990)

“Fortuna suffragante.” [original Latin]
“With luck on our side.” [translation to English]
-Author Unknown

“The best throw of the dice is to throw them away, permanently.” -Author Unknown

“Luck is tenacity* of purpose.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915))
*tenacity: persistence

“It’s hard to detect good luck - it looks so much like something you’ve earned.” -Frank A. Clark (Frank Atherton Clark (1911 - 1991))

Charms Said to Bring Good Luck
- An article of clothing or jewelry
- Four-leaf clover
- Horseshoe
- Penny
Can you think of others?

“Good luck charms don’t really bring good luck, except to the sellers, who pocket the profits made from selling the items.” -Author Unknown

“Nothing runs on guaranteed good luck.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“In reality, serendipity accounts for one percent of the blessings we receive in life, work, and love. The other ninety-nine percent is due to our efforts.” -Peter McWilliams

“Luck is when probability surprises you.” -Anthony R. Kesler

“If you engage in gambling, or games of chance, you will have to sell your furniture, your house, your clothes, your pets, your friends, and your family. How much are they worth, to you?” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Those who mistake their good luck for their merit are inevitably bound for disaster.” -J. Christopher Herold

“People talk about getting lucky breaks in their careers. I’m living proof that the ‘lucky breaks’ theory is simply wrong. You get to make your own luck . . . The world is run by those who show up . . . not those who wait to be asked.” -Steve Blank

“Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.” -E. B. White (Elwyn Brooks White (1899 - 1985))

“Luck is when opportunity knocks and you answer.” -Author Unknown

“In a bet there is a fool and a thief.” -Author Unknown: proverb

“You don’t just luck into things as much as you’d like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it’s friendships or opportunities.” -Barbara Bush (born 1925)

“Go n-eiri an t-adh leat.” [original Irish Gaelic]
“Good luck.” [translation to English]
-Author Unknown

“Who is there that, shooting all day long, does not sometimes hit the mark?” -Marcus Tullius Cicero (also known simply as Cicero or Tully (106 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.))

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.” -Sam Goldwyn (Samuel ‘Sam’ Goldwyn (born Schmuel Gelbfisz (1882 - 1974)))

“By gaming, we lose both our time and treasure: two things most precious to the life of man.” -Owen Feltham (1602 - 1668)

“The only guaranteed way to win at gambling is to never gamble.” -Author Unknown

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” -Cormac McCarthy

“Luck is largely a matter of paying attention.” -Susan M. Dodd

“The only ones who win every game of chance are the gambling establishments.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“The best luck of all is the luck you make yourself.” -Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964)

“Some folk want their luck buttered.” -Thomas Hardy

“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” -Author Unknown

“Chance favors those in motion.” -James H. Austin

“One-half of life is luck; the other half is discipline - and that’s the important half, for without discipline you wouldn’t know what to do with luck.” -Carl Zuckmayer (1896 - 1977)

“Providence has nothing good or high in store for one who does not resolutely aim at something high or good. A purpose is the eternal condition of success.” -T. T. Munger (Thornton Taft Munger (1883 - 1975))

“I figure you have the same chance of winning the lottery whether you play or not.” -Fran Lebowitz (Frances Ann ‘Fran’ Lebowitz (born 1950))

“It is the mark of an inexperienced man not to believe in luck.” -Joseph Conrad (born Teodor Józef Konrad Nalecz-Korzeniowski (1857 - 1924))

Rose: You lucky duck, you!
Roscoe: Quack, quack!

“I think luck is the sense to recognize an opportunity and the ability to take advantage of it. Everyone has bad breaks but everyone also has opportunities. The man who can smile at his breaks and grab his chances gets on.” -Sam Goldwyn (Samuel ‘Sam’ Goldwyn (born Schmuel Gelbfisz (1882 - 1974)))

“Those who have succeeded at anything and don’t mention luck are kidding themselves.” -Larry King (pseudonym of Larry Zeigler)

“The greatest misfortune of all is not to be able to bear misfortune.” -Bias of Priene

“Fortune favors the brave.” [translation to English]
“Fortune favors the bold.” [variant translation to English]
“Audaces fortuna iuvat.” [original Latin]
-Publius Vergilius Maro (also known simply as Vergil or Virgil (70 B.C.E. - 19 B.C.E.)): “The Aeneid” (about 29 B.C.E. - 19 B.C.E.), book 10, line 284

Once upon a time, people believed that a horseshoe, hung above a doorway, would keep out mischievous spirits and bring good luck to a home. In most of Europe, the protective horseshoes were placed in a downward facing position, but in some parts of Ireland, Britain, and America, people believed that the shoes must be turned upward, because otherwise, “the luck would run out,” of them.

“Of course I don’t believe in it. But I understand that it brings you luck whether you believe in it or not.” -Niels Bohr (1885 - 1962), explaining why he had a horseshoe on his wall

“If you think you’re lucky, you’ll get better luck.” -Yukio Funai (1933 - 2014)

“How often things occur by mere chance which we dared not even hope for.” -Publius Terentius Afer (also known simply as Terence (185 B.C.E. - 159 B.C.E.))

“You gotta try your luck at least once a day, because you could be going around lucky all day and not even know it.” -Jimmy Dean

“Change of fortune is the lot of life.” -Author Unknown

“Good luck is often with the man who doesn’t include it in his plans. Luck is always waiting for something to turn up. Labor, with keen eyes and strong will, always turns up something. Luck lies in bed and wishes the postman will bring news of a legacy. Labor turns out at six o’clock and with busy pen or ringing hammer, lays the foundation of a competence. Luck whines, labor whistles. Luck relies on chance, labor on character.” -Richard Cobden

“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” -Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

This is MFOL! . . . the website for the happy-go-lucky person you are . . .

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Emotions and Feelings

7/12/2020

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Overheard: Feelings are everywhere; be gentle.

“I lost my mood ring, so now I am not sure how I feel!” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

Mood rings were once popular novelty items. Mood rings purportedly change color with changes in emotions. Each color would indicate a different mood of a wearer, such as happy, sad, angry, or calm.

“Sadness and gladness succeed each other.” -Author Unknown

Colors can profoundly affect emotional responses. While not everyone experiences the same emotion in response to a particular color, most people find reds and oranges cheering, and blues and purples restful. In contrast, gray, brown, black, and white tend to be emotionally dulling. In fact, studies reveal that children playing in an orange room were friendlier, more alert, more creative, and less irritable than children in playrooms painted white, brown, and black.

“The fastest way to lift your spirits is to lift someone else’s.” -Author Unknown

Researchers note that the emotion most associated with fear is interest. Some psychologists have gone so far as to suggest that fear has two invisible faces: one, a wish to flee and, second, a wish to investigate.

“The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.” -Voltaire (pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778))

Only humans are known to express the emotion of astonishment with mouths agape, or wide open. However, there may be more similarities than differences in the way animals, especially primates including humans, express emotions such as anger, fear, happiness, and sadness. Because animals and humans are capable of expressing similar kinds of emotions, some people believe the difference in emotional displays between humans and other animals is largely one of physical differences, and not differences in the kind of emotions experienced. In other words, humans as well as other animals are all believed to have similar emotions, feelings, and moods, but may express them in different ways.

“I’m sad, hurt, angry, mad, and disappointed. But you know what? I’ll put on a smile and move on. It will hurt, but I will survive.” -Author Unknown

Researchers note that when concealing a strong emotion, people tend to let out ‘micro-expressions,’ or sudden displays of emotion, very briefly, often in as little as one-24th of a second, often unknown even to themselves.

Overheard: I laughed until I cried . . . and then I cried until I laughed . . . it has been an emotional day.

Any emotion has three components: 1. Physiological changes, as for example, acceleration of heart rate, 2. Behavioral response, such as a tendency to escape from or stay in contact with whatever is causing the emotion, and 3. A subjective experience, such as feeling angry, happy, or sad.

“Don’t make decisions when you’re angry. Don’t make promises when you’re happy.” -Author Unknown

Facial expressions can control emotion. Studies show that if people adjust their facial expression to reflect an emotion, they actually begin to feel that emotion.

Some evidence suggests that when we are feeling down, we can turn our frown upside down to make a smile, and our mood will start to improve. Not only can our emotions, moods, and feelings make our faces show certain expressions, but also, by making our faces show certain expressions, we can make ourselves feel the associated emotions, moods, and feelings.

“You can make yourself happy or miserable - it’s the same amount of effort.” -Ray Bradbury (1920 - 2012)

The English word ‘emotion’ is derived from the Latin word ‘emovere’ meaning ‘to move out, remove, or agitate,’ as it is composed of the prefix ‘ex-’ meaning ‘out’ and root word ‘movere’ meaning ‘to move.’

“No matter how busy you are, you must take time to make the other person feel important.” -Mary Kay Ash (1918 - 2001)

Clothing both affects and reflects emotional states. A recent study suggests a strong correlation between wearing certain clothes and emotional states. For example, it revealed that women who are depressed or sad are more likely to wear baggy tops, sweatshirts, or jeans. Women who had more positive emotions were more likely to wear a favorite dress or jewelry and generally look nicer.

“So far as other people are concerned, you are your behavior. So far as you are concerned, you are your feelings.” -Peter Honey

In the English language, there are more than 400 words assigned to emotions and sentiments.

“Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it.” -Vincent van Gogh (Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890))

Plato described emotion and reason as two horses pulling us in opposite directions. However, modern neurologist Antonio Damasio argues that reasoning depends on emotion and is not in opposition to emotion.

“Whenever you feel sad, just remember that somewhere in this world, there’s a person pulling on a door that reads, ‘Push.’” -Author Unknown

The definition of emoticon as given at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emoticon is, ‘a group of keyboard characters (such as :-)) that typically represents a facial expression or suggests an attitude or emotion and that is used especially in computerized communications (such as e-mail).’

Scott Fahlman, at the time a Professor of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, is credited with creating the first digital smiley face ‘emoticon’ on 19 September 1982. His homepage is http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~sef/.

“It was ten minutes of my life. I expected my note might amuse a few of my friends, and that would be the end of it.” -Scott Fahlman (Scott Elliott Fahlman (born 1948)), commenting on his creation of the first digital smiley face emoticon, or :-)

Emoticons = Emotions + Icons. Shown are just a few of the many keyboard emoticons people have devised.
:)   happy
:-)   happy
:-))   very happy
:-):-) laughing loudly
:’-)   crying for joy
:D   laughing
:-D   laughing
;-)   winking
;-)=) big toothy grin
*-<|:o)   feeling celebratory
:”>   blushing
(-:   left-facing smiley
^5   high five
{{ }} hug (put person’s name or initials inside the brackets)
8-]   in love
: (   sad
:-(   sad or frowning
:-(( very sad
:’-(   weeping
:-[   pouting
=:-O scared
:-@   screaming or frustrated yelling
:-( ) shouting very loud
:-(0)   yelling
:-V   shouting
~ :-( steaming mad
> :-( mad
>:-< angry
:-o   shocked

Studies show that men and women experience the same amount of emotion, but women tend to show emotions more than men do.

“Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth.” -Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

Studies show that mothers are less tolerant of crying in boys than in girls, suggesting that the way emotions are expressed by adults are instilled by mothers during infancy.

Emojis originated in the late 1990’s with NTT DoCoMo, a Japanese communications company. The word emoji is a contraction of ‘e’ and ‘moji,’ which translates roughly as ‘pictograph.’ Unlike emoticons, emojis are actual pictures, varying from faces to dancing figures to common objects to animals to plants. www.Emojipedia.org can help you find specific emojis to symbolize or communicate a message or feeling.

“Emoticons and emojis are symbols representing human facial expressions, but no mere symbol can ever express the real you and how you really feel!” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

Some researchers believe that technologies, particularly social networking websites, are being used to manipulate people emotionally and are creating emotional disconnections and conflict, rather than enabling emotional connections and understanding between people. Let us not fight among ourselves to benefit unseen media manipulators, but instead, let us disengage ourselves from social networking websites, go outside to experience the real world, and meet face to face with others.

“When I am sad, I sing, and then the world is sad with me.” -Author Unknown

Body language often reveals emotion. For example, a person standing with his or her hands on the hips, with elbows turned outward, is an example of a territorial display. Someone with their hands folded and their thumbs popped up indicates that he or she has something positive to say. Touching the nose indicates someone is hiding something. According to a former United States Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and specialist in nonverbal communication, ‘. . . feet provide the strongest body language signals.’”

“Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason.” -Samuel Adams (1722 - 1803)

Several scientists claim that there is always some emotion occurring in the body, but the emotion is too slight for us to notice or to affect what we do.

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart.” -Fyodor Dostoevsky (Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821 - 1881))

A 1980 study by Robert Plutchik proposed eight primary innate emotions: joy, acceptance, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, and anticipation. He suggests that complex emotions such as guilt and love are combinations of primary emotions.

“We are injured and hurt emotionally, not so much by other people or what they say and don’t say, but by our own attitude and our own response.” -Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)

Many psychologists consider instinct and emotion similar in that both are automatic. For example, fear is both an emotion and an instinct. However, while instincts are immediate, irrational, and innate, emotions have the potential to be more rational and part of a complex feedback system linking biology, behavior, and cognition.

“You can’t get much done in life if you only work on days you feel good.” -Jerry West

Most scientists believe that basic emotions are innate rather than learned. For example, people who are born blind and have never seen faces still display the typical facial expressions of the basic emotions.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou (Marguerite Ann Johnson (1928 - 2014))

Using its website www.WeFeelFine.org, Stanford University analyzed about 13 million emotions that have been recorded on the web since 2005. They found older people are usually happier overall, but for varying reasons. Younger people are happy when they are excited, older people are happier when they are at peace. Additionally, women tend to feel more loved than men, but also feel more guilt. Men often feel happier, yet lonelier. Their findings suggest that the happiest time of day for everyone is lunchtime.

“All great discoveries are made by people whose feelings run ahead of their thinking.” -Charles Henry Parkhurst (1842 - 1933)

Of all facial expressions, the smile may be the most deceptive. There are about 18 different basic smiles, including polite, cruel, false, self-effacing, and so on. But only one reflects genuine happiness; this is known as the Duchenne smile, in honor of the French neurologist who determined this phenomenon, Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne).

“Fake feeling good . . . You’re going to have to learn to fake cheerfulness. Believe it or not, eventually that effort will pay off: you’ll actually start feeling happier.” -Jean Bach

Humans are capable of making more than 10,000 facial expressions to express a wide variety of both obvious and subtle emotions.

“Respect people’s feelings. Even if it doesn’t mean anything to you, it could mean everything to them.” -Author Unknown

“Most of the work of the world is done by people who aren’t feeling very well.” -Baron Russell Briggs

“Impatience, anger, and hate come from within. All emotions and feelings come from within, not from outside of oneself. Think about it, before you blame or attribute to others your emotions and feelings, as for example, erroneously saying, ‘That person makes me upset.’” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Words of malice always spring from envy.” -W. C. Fields (William Claude Dukenfield (1880 - 1946))

Emotional abuse is similar to brainwashing in that it attempts to systematically wear away a person’s self-confidence, self-worth, and self-concept. Emotional abuse can take many forms, including using economic power to control, threatening to leave, degrading, belittling, continually criticizing, name calling, or shouting.

“There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.” -George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Anne Evans (1819 - 1880))

Most neuroscientists distinguish between the words ‘emotion’ and ‘feeling,’ using ‘emotion’ to describe the brain’s auto-programmed response to certain stimuli, and ‘feeling’ to describe our conscious impression of that response.

“Feelings are never right or wrong; they just are.” -Author Unknown

This has been an emotional topic . . . because we put a lot of feeling into it . . . okay, maybe not . . . but when time allows, we will put more work into it, and vastly improve the content . . . and that is true . . . much more follows . . . on MFOL!

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Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence

7/6/2020

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“There isn’t a ruler, a yard stick, or a measuring tape in the entire world long enough to compute the strength and capabilities inside you.” -Paul J. Meyer (Paul James Meyer (1928 - 2009))

“You are wonderful. Valuable. Worthwhile. Lovable. Not because others think so. Self-worth comes from only one place: Self.” -Karen Salmansohn

“Have patience with all things but first with yourself. Never confuse your mistakes with your value as a human being. You are a perfectly valuable, creative, worthwhile person simply because you exist. And no amount of triumphs or tribulations can ever change that.” -Francis de Sales (1567 - 1622)

I’m Not Good Enough

I don’t speak well enough.
I’m not attractive enough.
I don’t dress well enough.
I’m not confident enough.
I’m not educated enough.
I’m not talented enough.
I’m not creative enough.
I’m not smart enough.
I’m not good enough.
Sound familiar?

by Author Unknown

“You are as good as any.” -Author Unknown

“Real people aren’t perfect. Perfect people aren’t real.” -Author Unknown

“It doesn’t matter what other people think of you. All that matters is what you think of you.” -Author Unknown

“Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt as though you’d rather hide in bed all day than face the people that make you feel small or powerless” -Diana Agron (Dianna Elise Agron (born 1986))

“Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

“Every achiever I have ever met says, ‘My life turned around when I began to believe in me.’” -Robert H. Schuller (Robert Harold Schuller (1926 - 2015))

Overhead: I compare myself to every person I ever see . . . and I lose every time.

“Do not undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.” -Author Unknown

“The only person you should ever compare yourself to is the person you were yesterday and the person you will be tomorrow.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“To establish true self-esteem we must concentrate on our successes and forget about the failures and the negatives in our lives.” -Denis Waitley (Denis Edwin Waitley, Senior (born 1933))

“Listen to your heart above all other voices.” -Marta Kagan

“Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself.” -Robert J. Collier (Robert Joseph Collier (1876 - 1918))

One way to improve your self-esteem is to tell clean funny jokes to people . . . no kidding, it really works! Practice until you can tell the jokes without making mistakes, even if you stutter or forget how the jokes go at first. And, on the Make Fun Of Life! Website, there are zillions of jokes and other funny stuff for you to tell to other people - but you cannot just post them on social media websites - you have to tell jokes to real people, face to face.

“The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you.” -William Jennings Bryan (1860 - 1925)

“Always hold your head up, but be careful to keep your nose at a friendly level.” -Max L. Forman (Max Leon Forman (1909 - 1990))

“At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At 40, we don’t care what they think of us. At 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all.” -Ann Landers (pseudonym of Esther Pauline ‘Eppie’ Lederer (1918 - 2002))

“You’ve no idea of what a poor opinion I have of myself - and how little I deserve it.” -W. S. Gilbert (William Schwenck Gilbert (1836 - 1911)): “Ruddigore” (1887), act I

Atelophobia (a-tel-o-pho-bia) is a persistent fear of never being good enough or a fear of an insurmountable personal imperfection. Often this fear can be rooted in the experience and upbringing we have had by others, such as families, neighborhoods, schools, relationships, friendships, and initial work experience. We may have to counter this effect by doing our own upbringing of ourselves and not allow other people to be the sole source of our own upbringing. We must raise ourselves.

“Millions of people would love to be you.” -Author Unknown

“The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment, it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“Dear Lord, when feelings of insecurity and self-doubt creep into my heart, help me to see myself the way you do.” -Author Unknown

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” -e. e. cummings (Edward Estlin Cummings (1894 - 1962))

“If you believe in yourself, things are possible.” -Shannon MacMillan (Shannon Ann MacMillan (born 1974))

Overheard: I am really good at stuff until I find myself in a situation in which people are watching me do that stuff.

“Those with a high level of confidence may have as many or more weaknesses than those with low self-esteem. The difference is this: instead of dwelling on their handicaps, they compensate for them by dwelling on their strengths.” -Alan Loy McGinnis (1933 - 2005)

Photo Credit: “Self Esteem Shop” by Dave Hogg from Royal Oak, Michigan, United States of America http://www.flickr.com/photos/96223849@N00/80044383. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Given the state of the world today, just about every neighborhood needs a Self-Esteem Shop. Website: www.SelfEsteemShop.com.

“Confident people are able to laugh at themselves.” -Author Unknown

“I have a problem with low self-esteem, which is really ridiculous when you consider how amazing I am.” -Author Unknown

Overheard: You can now worry less about what kind of person you are, because somewhere out there is a dog who thinks you are wonderful!

“Don’t listen to those who say, “It’s not done that way.” Maybe it’s not, but maybe you will. Don’t listen to those who say, “You’re taking too big a chance.” Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor, and it would surely be rubbed out by today. Most importantly, don’t listen when the little voice of fear inside of you rears its ugly head and says, “They’re all smarter than you out there. They’re more talented, they’re taller . . . prettier, luckier, and have connections . . .” I firmly believe that if you follow a path that interests you, not to the exclusion of love, sensitivity, and cooperation with others, but with the strength of conviction that you can move others by your own efforts, and do not make success or failure the criteria by which you live, the chances are you’ll be a person worthy of your own respect.” -Neil Simon (born 1927)

“Love not what you are, but what you may become.” -Miguel de Cervantes (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547 - 1616))

“The foundation of lasting self-confidence and self-esteem is excellence, mastery of your work.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“Have confidence that if you have done a little thing well, you can do a bigger thing well, too.” -David Storey (David Malcolm Storey (1933 - 2017))

“Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“I am going to make it.” -You

“Your faith in yourself is all you will ever have. Don’t let anyone take it away from you ever.” -Holly Marie Combs (born 1973)

“Avoid negative people, for they are the greatest destroyers of self-confidence and self-esteem. Surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you.” -Author Unknown

“Why should we worry about what others think of us - do we have more confidence in their opinions than we do our own?” -Brigham Young (1801 - 1877)

“Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.” -Ted Rubin

“Our self-image, strongly held, essentially determines what we become.” -Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)

“One of the great tragedies of life, it seems to me, is when a person classifies himself as someone who has no talents and gifts. When, in disgust or discouragement, we allow ourselves to reach depressive levels of despair because of our demeaning self-appraisal, it is a sad day for us and a sad day in the eyes of God. For us to conclude that we have no gifts when we judge ourselves by stature, intelligence, grade-point average, wealth, power, position, or external appearance is not only unfair but unreasonable.” -Marvin J. Ashton (Marvin Jeremy Ashton (1915 - 1994)): ‘There are Many Gifts’ published in “Ensign” (November 1987) magazine, page 20

“What you think of yourself is much more important than what others think of you.” -Lucius Annaeus Seneca (also known as Seneca the Younger or simply Seneca (3 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))

“Don’t define yourself by negatives.” -Author Unknown

“Put your future in good hands - your own.” -Author Unknown

“What you think of me is unimportant. What I think of myself is what matters.” -Robert T. Kiyosaki (Robert Toru Kiyosaki (born 1947))

“The best way to gain self-confidence is to do what you are afraid to do.” -Author Unknown

“Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.” -Helen Keller (Helen Adams Keller (1880 - 1968))

“To establish true self-esteem we must concentrate on our successes and forget about the failures and the negatives in our lives.” -Denis Waitley (Denis Edwin Waitley, Senior (born 1933))

“Believe in yourself and you can do unbelievable things.” -Author Unknown

“Self-confidence can be learned, practiced, and mastered - just like any other skill. Once you master it, everything in your life will change for the better.” -Barrie Davenport at https://liveboldandbloom.com/

Ofttimes nothing profits more
Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right
Well manag’d.
-John Milton (1608 - 1674): “Paradise Lost” (1667; 1674), Book VIII, line 571

Also known, though possibly paraphrased, in the form:
“Nothing profits more than self-esteem, grounded on what is just and right.” -John Milton (1608 - 1674)

“You can’t let other people tell you who you are. You have to decide that for yourself.” -Author Unknown

“Confidence comes from being prepared.” -John Wooden (1910 - 2010)

“I am convinced all of humanity is born with more gifts than we know. Most are born geniuses and just get de-geniused rapidly.” -R. Buckminster Fuller (Richard Buckminster ‘Bucky’ Fuller (1895 - 1983))

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” -Eleanor Roosevelt (Anna Eleanor ‘Eleanor’ Roosevelt (1884 - 1962))

“There is overwhelming evidence that the higher the level of self-esteem, the more likely one will be to treat others with respect, kindness, and generosity.” -Nathaniel Branden (born 1930)

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): “Measure for Measure” (1604)

“Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks on great and honorable courses with a sure hope and trust in itself.” -Marcus Tullius Cicero (also known as Tully or simply Cicero (106 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.))

“You are officially the world’s okayest person.” -Author Unknown

“All things splendid have been achieved by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance.” -Bruce Barton (Bruce Fairchild Barton (1886 - 1967))

Overheard: I am going to be more assertive . . . if that’s okay with you?

“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” -Golda Meir (1898 - 1978)

“Belief in oneself is one of the most important bricks in building any successful venture.” -Lydia M. Child (Lydia Marie Child (1802 - 1880))

“Good self-esteem does not happen overnight. You have to work at it. And that is completely okay.” -Author Unknown

“High above the noise and fear-mongering of critics and cynics softly speaks your true self.” -Mollie Marti

“To have an incredible increase in self-esteem, all you have to do is start doing some little something. You don’t have to do spectacularly dramatic things for self-esteem to start going off the scale. Just make a commitment to any easy discipline. Then another one and another one.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” -Michael Jordan (born 1963)

“All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do . . . Build, therefore, your own world.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882): “Nature” (1836)

“Low self-esteem can leave us afraid to try new things because we fear that we will fail. However, the challenge of self-esteem building is to embrace new things and to give yourself the opportunity to enjoy them, just because you deserve it. Taking up a new hobby can be a fantastic step towards overcoming low self-esteem. Spending time with like-minded people and enjoying an activity purely for fun, with no pressure, is a good way to feel better about yourself. You may even discover a hidden talent into the bargain!” -Author Unknown

“There are many wonderful things that will never be done if you do not do them.” -Charles D. Gill

“Don’t worry that you’re too much of one thing or not enough of another. You’re just the right amount of what you are, to be able to get started on all the things you want to do in life.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence but it comes from within. It is there all the time.” -Anna Freud (1895 - 1982)

This is MFOL! . . . don’t wait too long . . . start enjoying more of life now . . .

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Wisdom and Advice

6/30/2020

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“Dream big, work hard, stay focused, and surround yourself with good people.” -Author Unknown

“Be excellent to each other!” -Author Unknown: “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989) movie

“Pursue worthy aims.” -Solon (636 B.C.E. - 558 B.C.E.)

Be kind, but don’t let people abuse you.
Trust, but don’t be deceived.
Be content, but never stop improving yourself.
-Author Unknown

“Don’t ever let anyone dull your sparkle.” -Author Unknown

“If you would know the road ahead, ask someone who has traveled it.” -Author Unknown

“Life is too important to be taken seriously.” -Author Unknown

“Keep five yards from a carriage, ten yards from a horse, and a hundred yards from an elephant. But the distance one should keep from a wicked man cannot be measured.” -Author Unknown: Indian proverb

“Be good to yourself so that you can above all be good to others.” -Jessi Lane Adams (pseudonym of Terri Guillemets (born 1973))

“Three things it is best to avoid: a strange dog, a flood, and a man who thinks he is wise.” -Author Unknown: Welsh proverb

“What cannot be helped must be endured.” -Author Unknown: “Rob Roy” (7 April 1995) movie; words spoken by fictional character Mary MacGregor

The Way

Cocks crow in the morn
     To tell us to rise,
And he who lies late
     Will never be wise.

For early to bed
     And early to rise
Is the way to be healthy,
     And wealthy, and wise.

by Author Unknown

“Write a wise saying and your name will live forever.” -Author Unknown

“In many cases the person who gives advice hasn’t tried it himself and wishes to see it tested to see if it really works.” -Author Unknown

Wisdom: Common sense in an uncommon degree.

“Whoever said sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.” -Author Unknown

“Keep trying. Stay humble. Trust your instincts. Most importantly, act. When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” -Yogi Berra (Lawrence Peter ‘Yogi’ Berra (1925 - 2015))

“You must get good at one of two things: planting in the Spring or begging in the Fall.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“I give myself, sometimes, admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it.” -Mary Wortley Montagu (1689 - 1762)

“Spend time with those you love, because one of these days you will say either, ‘I wish I had,’ or, ‘I’m glad I did.’” -Author Unknown

“How you spend your time is more important than how you spend your money. Money mistakes can be corrected, but misspent time is gone forever.” -Author Unknown

“Whatever advice you give, be brief.” -Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 B.C.E. - 8 B.C.E.))

“If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.” -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“The words you speak today should be soft and tender . . . for tomorrow you may have to eat them.” -Author Unknown

“Wise people carry their possessions within them.” -Author Unknown

“It is traditional on these occasions for me to give you a bit of advice, which you will equally traditionally ignore.” -Prince Philip (Philip Mountbatten (born 1921))

“Don’t ever slam a door; you might want to go back.” -Author Unknown

“He who seeks wisdom is a wise man; he who thinks he has found it is mad.” -Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, also known as Seneca the Younger (4 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))

“We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it - and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again - and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.” -Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910))

“A mountain shames a molehill until both are humbled by the stars.” -Author Unknown: proverb

“One day you’ll just be a memory to some people. Do your best to be a good one.” -Author Unknown

“Few persons have good enough sight to see their own faults.” -Author Unknown

“It’s possible to own too much. A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure.” -Lee Segall

“Don’t trust advice from a person who’s in trouble.” -Author Unknown

Accept a proverb out of Wisdom’s schools -
“Barbers first learn to shave by shaving fools.”
-John Wolcot (1738 - 1819): “Works” (1792)

“To be conscious of your ignorance is a great step to knowledge.” -Author Unknown

“Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold - but so does a hard-boiled egg.” -Author Unknown

“A wise word is not a substitute for a piece of herring.” -Sholom Aleichem (pseudonym of Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (1859 - 1916))

“Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction.” -Author Unknown

“The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on; it is never of any use to oneself.” -Oscar Wilde (Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854 - 1900))

“Remember, it’s not the fall that hurts you; it’s the stop at the end.” -Author Unknown

“My parents told me, ‘Finish your dinner. People in China and India are starving.’ I tell my daughters, ‘Finish your homework. People in India and China are starving for your job.’” -Thomas Friedman

“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” -Barry LePatner (Barry Bruce LePatner (born 1947))

“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” -Author Unknown

Don’t cry over the past, it’s gone.
Don’t worry about the future, it hasn’t arrived.
Live in the present, and make it beautiful.
-Author Unknown

“Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child.” -Ron Wild

“The first step toward madness is to think oneself wise.” -Fernando de Rojas

Enjoy yourself,
It’s later than you think.
-Herb Magidson (1906 - 1986): “Enjoy Yourself” (1950) song

“Work hard, dress well, and be nice to people.” -Author Unknown

“Wise sayings often fall on barren ground; but a kind word is never thrown away.” -Arthur Helps (1813 - 1875)

The road to wisdom?
Well it’s plain and simple to express:
Err and err and err again
but less and less and less.
-Piet Hein (1905 - 1996)

“No man is wise enough by himself.” -Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus (254 B.C.E. - 184 B.C.E.))

“It’s so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don’t say it.” -Sam Levenson (1911 - 1980)

“Rise with the Sun and go to bed with the chickens.” -Author Unknown

“Many receive advice; only the wise profit from it.” -Publilius Syrus (85 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.)

“If I could only give three words of advice, they would be, ‘Tell the truth.’ If I got three more words, I’d add, ‘All the time.’” -Randy Pausch (Randolph Frederick ‘Randy’ Pausch (1960 - 2008))

“It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted.” -Aeschylus (525 B.C.E. - 456 B.C.E.)

“You will always find some Eskimos ready to instruct the Congolese on how to cope with heat waves.” -Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909 - 1966): “Unkempt Thoughts” (1957)

“Be wise to-day; ’tis madness to defer.” -Edward Young (1683 - 1765): “Night Thoughts,” ‘Night’ Part 1, line 390

“The surest sign of wisdom is constant cheerfulness.” -Michel de Montaigne (Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 - 1592))

“Don’t throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water.” -Author Unknown: Swedish proverb

“Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure.” -Edward Thorndike (Edward Lee Thorndike (1874 - 1949))

“Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this Earth would be God’s Paradise.” -Phillips Brooks (1835 - 1893)

“The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right. That has been my secret, and I have never had any quarrels.” -Hannah Whitall Smith (1832 - 1911): as quoted in Logan Pearsall Smith, editor: “Philadelphia Quaker: The Letters of Hannah Whitall Smith” (1950), page 146

“Who lives without folly is not so wise as he thinks.” -François de La Rochefoucauld (also known as François Duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680)).

“Charity gives itself rich; greed hoards itself poor.” -Author Unknown: German proverb

“We all admire the wisdom of people who come to us for advice.” -Arthur Helps (1813 - 1875)

“Speak your mind but ride a fast horse.” -Author Unknown

“If a man loves to give advice, it is a sure sign that he himself wants it.” -George Savile (also known as Lord Halifax (1633 - 1695))

“If I wanted to become a tramp, I would seek information and advice from the most successful tramp I could find. If I wanted to become a failure, I would seek advice from men who have never succeeded. If I wanted to succeed in all things, I would look around me for those who are succeeding, and do as they have done.” -Joseph Marshall Wade (1832 - 1905)

“No man was ever wise by chance.” [English translation]
“Nulli sapere casu obtigit.” [original Latin]
-Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, also known as Seneca the Younger (4 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))

“Some folks are wise and some are otherwise.” -Tobias Smollett (Tobias George Smollett (1721 - 1771))

“Wisdom is the sunlight of the soul.” -Author Unknown

“It’s a small world. So you gotta use your elbows a lot.” -Author Unknown

“Perhaps no one needs advice more than those who offer unsought advice.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“To offer a man unsolicited advice is to presume that he doesn’t know what to do or that he can’t do it on his own.” -John Gray (born 1951)

“Wisdom is to live in the present, plan for the future, and profit from the past.” -Author Unknown

Good Advice

Don’t shirk
     Your work
For the sake
     Of a dream;
A fish
     In the dish
Is worth ten
     In the stream.

by Author Unknown

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” -Robert Brault (born 1938)

“Never take the advice of someone who has not had your kind of trouble.” -Sydney J. Harris (Sydney Justin Harris (1917 - 1986))

“Advice is like snow, the softer it falls the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.” -Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834)

“As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.” -Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919)

Keep your eye on the ball.
Keep your shoulder to the wheel.
Keep your nose to the grindstone.
Now try to work in that position.
-Author Unknown

“Enjoy yourself. These are the good old days you’re going to miss in the years ahead.” -Author Unknown

“The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all.” -Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636 - 1711)

“The mintage of wisdom is to know that rest is rust, and that real life is in love, laughter, and work.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915))

“Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life. You must never miss the opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you.” -Author Unknown

“Whatever you are, try to be a good one.” -William Makepeace Thackeray (1853): as quoted in Laurence Hutton: “A Boy I Knew and Four Dogs” (1898) autobiography

This is MFOL! . . . encouraging you to get out, be active, meet people, sing, dance, and talk up a storm with thunder in your voice . . .

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Affirmations and Self-Talk

6/26/2020

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I fill my mind with positive thoughts that create positive outcomes.

What are affirmations? Affirmations are expressions that can transform your life by influencing the way you think about yourself, others, and the world around you. When you change how you think, you change how you speak and how you act, and the results can be immensely rewarding.

Today, I will concentrate on taking one step forward, however small it might be.

Today I will be the best me that I know how to be.

Following is the ‘formula’ first used at the clinic of psychologist Émile Coué in Nancy, France. What he called his ‘formula’ was an affirmation, which he prescribed to his patients, to be repeated by them 15 to 20 times in the morning and again in the evening of each day:

“Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” -Émile Coué (Émile Coué de la Châtaigneraie (1857 - 1926)): “How to Practice Suggestion and Autosuggestion” (1923)

A limerick may provide further insight:

On Monsieur Coué

This very remarkable man
Commends a most practical plan:
You can do what you want
If you don’t think you can’t,
So don’t think you can’t - think you can.

by Charles Cuthbert Inge (1868 - 1957): “The Week-end Book” (1928), page 217

I am intelligent and capable of success in any endeavor which I may choose.

“As long as you know what it is you desire, then by simply affirming that it is yours - firmly and positively, with no ifs, buts, or maybes - over and over again, from the minute you arise in the morning until the time you go to sleep at night, and as many times during the day as your work or activities permit, you will be drawn to those people, places, and events that will bring your desires to you.” -Scott Reed

I have confidence.

New opportunities are calling to me and I am ready to answer the call.

You can create your own affirmations, or select affirmations from those found in this topic that you believe best apply to you and your particular circumstances. Write your affirmations on a piece of paper, and place it where you will be sure to read it daily, as for example, on your car dashboard, on your refrigerator door, or on your bedroom mirror. You could also type affirmations into your cell phone or other device. If you keep a diary or journal, consider challenging yourself to write a new affirmation in it for each day.

What I have done before I can do again, even better.

“I am optimistic and confident in all that I do. I affirm only the best for myself and others. I am the creator of my life and my world. I meet daily challenges gracefully and with complete confidence. I fill my mind with positive, nurturing, and healing thoughts.” -Alice Potter

I like fresh salads.

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief, and once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.” -Claude M. Bristol (Claude Myron Bristol (1891 - 1951)): “The Magic of Believing” (1948)

I can accomplish anything I set my mind to.

“I am - the two most powerful words in the world, for whatever we put after them becomes our reality.” -Susan Howson

I am worthy of the respect, attention, and love that I receive from others.

“Affirmations are a form of thought training - training yourself how to think, just as running every day conditions an athlete to compete in a footrace, or studying every day prepares a student for a test.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

I see the best in myself and others.

I have confidence to try new things.

“You are what you think about all day long.” -Robert H. Schuller (Robert Harold Schuller (1926 - 2015))

I feel good about myself.

I am good enough.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

I am stronger than everything that happened in the past.
I am stronger than my present circumstances.
I am strong today and will be even stronger tomorrow.

I appreciate and acknowledge the participation and contributions of others.

I love who I am and what I do.

“Talk to yourself positively all the time. Keep repeating, ‘I can do it! I can do it!’ until your fears disappear.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

I can face my fears and work to overcome them.

“I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.” -Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993)

I focus on what I can do right now.

“What we continually think about eventually will manifest in our lives.” -Robert Collier (1885 - 1950)

“I’m not here to be average, I’m here to be awesome!” -Author Unknown

The ghosts of my past can no longer haunt me.

I enjoy saving money and investing money.

“I really like who I am.” -Geordi Laforge, character played by actor LeVar Burton in “Star Trek,” ‘Loud as a Whisper’ (9 January 1989)

I will remain confident and unaffected by negative attitudes around me.

Life is good and getting better.

“I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.” -Watty Piper (pseudonym of Arnold H. Munk (1886 - 1957)): “The Little Engine That Could” (1930)

I am patient with myself.

I begin working on tasks the moment the thought of the tasks occurs to me.

“What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” -Otto Rank (1884 - 1939)

I can live my life without knowing all of the answers.

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” -attributed to Solomon: as quoted in “The Bible,” ‘Book of Proverbs,’ chapter 23, verse 7

I feel happiness and joy just from being alive.

“If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it I know I can achieve it.” -Author Unknown

I am able to relax and maintain good form when around strangers or in unfamiliar situations.

I can help others without expecting them to give me anything in return.

I am at peace with myself and the Universe.

“Affirmations provide a way to inoculate against negative thinking.” -Author Unknown

I will live as if my dreams are possible, and work each day to make them happen.

I am a good person.

“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” -Brené Brown

I feel great when I go on a walk.

I am a responsible person.

“Every word you speak and every thought you think is an affirmation for your future.” -Cheryl Richardson at http://www.cherylrichardson.com/

I like who I am becoming.

I speak with confidence and calm assurance.

What is self-talk? Self-talk is simply another term for affirmations. You can choose to say affirmations aloud, or say them silently to yourself, or write them on paper or read them.

I keep myself in excellent physical condition.

I always have time for my friends.

I can learn how to live with pain so that I can get what I want from my life.

“The most influential person who will talk to you all day is you, so you should be very careful about what you say to you!” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

Today I am planting the seeds of new beginnings.

I am a friendly person.

“Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

I am doing pretty good - how can I do better?

I seek new adventures.

“I am in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.” -Louise L. Hay (Louise Lynn Hay (born 1926)) at www.louisehay.com

I am in charge of my feelings, and today I am choosing happiness.

“My life is my business. I don’t let somebody else run it.” -Author Unknown

“Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970))

I am too blessed to be stressed!

If we are what we think about, what should we think about?

I am divinely guided in all that I do.

“Our minds can shape the way a thing will be because we act according to our expectations.” -Federico Fellini (1920 - 1993)

I am a good listener.

I will imagine the best and focus on that.

I am living in the present moment: the here and now.

“Say affirmations ‘as if’ they were already a reality.” -Author Unknown

I can enjoy leisure without guilt and anxiety.

I can handle criticism with ease.

Today I view my childhood without shame.

I am a friend to myself. I love me.

I am ready for a fresh start, a new perspective, and an ‘I can do it’ attitude.

At MFOL! our affirmation is, “We are funny today, and we will be even funnier tomorrow!”

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Pirates

6/18/2020

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When considering career options, do not overlook the possibility of becoming a pirate. To learn more about this potentially lucrative field of work and to find out if a pirate’s life might be right for you, simply continue reading . . .

Rich: What are pirates afraid of?
Rick: The darrrrrrrrrrrrrrrk!

Serendipity: What kind of socks does a pirate wear?
Felicity: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgyle!

Agatha: What does a fancy pirate add to his dinner?
Agnes: A garrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnish!

Pirates: No-good people who most assuredly arrive at a no-good end.

Real-life pirates are murderous, thieving, low-life criminal scum who steal ships and have historically met their end on the hangman’s noose, and in more recent times have been sent to filthy, overcrowded, rat-infested prisons for the remainder of their miserable days, but we will have some fun at their expense nonetheless.

Morris: Where do pirates keep their cookies?
Morton: In cookie jarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs!

Amelia: How much did the pirate pay for his peg-leg and hook-hand?
Emily: An arm and a leg!

William the Crook

A pirate named William the Crook,
Serves his crew with his gigantic hook,
“I impale some marshmallows,
Toast them up for the fellows,
Make some cocoa, and read them a book.”

by Author Unknown

Forget about the treasure chests shown in pretend pirate movies - the one shown above is how a real treasure chest would have looked. What, is it not glamorous enough for the likes of you? Well, suit yourself. If by chance you want to see what an authentic pirate chest would have held inside, continue reading and you will soon come to a picture of real pirate loot, shown further below.

Clark: Why can you not take a picture of a pirate with a wooden leg?
Kent: Because a wooden leg does not take pictures!

Tucker: What goes, “99-thump, 99-thump?”
Tyler: A pirate centipede with a wooden leg.

Most people only ever see fancy ‘made for the movies’ pirates. What could you expect to see from a real pirate? A real pirate would be wearing filthy rags and have the dreaded scurvy, and because we would not want to disgust you by showing you such a person, we won’t! Now let’s all make pirate noises. Rrr! Arrr! Rrr-rrr-rrr!

Annette: Where do pirates park their ships?
Nettie: In the harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbor!

Merrill: What is a pirate’s second favorite type of transportation?
Marla: A carrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Scurvy is a preventable health condition caused by going too long without eating foods containing vitamin C, as some seafarers such as pirates do. The symptoms are too horrible to describe here, so just be sure to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables so that you do not become a scurvy pirate!

Byron: What “Star Wars” character is really a pirate?
Myron: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-2-D-2!

Helga: What is a pirate’s favorite doll?
Hilda: Barrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbie!

A pirate ship came ashore for a night at a mysterious island between Arabia and India. The first mate ended up in an eatery sitting at a table with an oil lamp on it. The lamp was dirty, so he rubbed it clean, and a genie came out, promising to grant him any three wishes he wanted. Immediately he wished for a huge mug of cold apple cider that would never run dry. “Granted,” said the genie. Excitedly the pirate downed the entire mug, and as promised, it magically refilled itself. He emptied it again, and it again magically refilled, just as he had wished. “This is great!” he said. “And what about your second and third wishes?” asked the genie. The pirate, still delighted about his magic mug, quickly replied, “I’ll have two more just like this!”

This pirate treasure may not be much to look at, but to a real pirate, it is the stuff of dreams. Up until quite recent times, coins were basically lumps of metal such as silver, copper, gold, or alloys (combinations of different metals melted together) that had been hammered flat or made by clumsily pouring molten metal into rough molds. Old coins from the time of pirates and sailing ships often were not perfectly round, not very shiny, and were well-worn down, but were nonetheless valuable.

Jeffrey: What did the pirate ship captain keep in his musical treasure chest?
Geoffrey: The lute!

Pirate from Nertskinski

A pirate who hailed from Nertskinski
Became so exceedingly thinski
That while cleaning his gun,
When the day’s fight was done,
He looked down the bore and fell inski.

by Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 - 1898))

Pearl: How much did the pirate pay to get his ears pierced for earrings?
Cora: A buccaneer!

Cassandra: Where do pirates get their hair cut?
Cassie: At the barrrrrrrrrrrrrrrber shop!

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Interrupting pirate!
Interrup -
Arrrrrr!

Knock, scratch, knock.
Who’s there?
Captain Hook.

Jack: What is a pirate’s favorite letter?
Jake: You would think it is the ‘r’ but it is really the ‘c.’

Pirate ship: A thugboat.

Pirates often did not take pride in their vessels, so what we see here is typical of the sad state of disrepair in which a gang of murderous thieves would have kept a ship.

Connie: What clings to the underside of pirate ships and slows them down?
Constance: Barrrrrrnacles!

For any landlubbers who might be foolhardy enough to want to learn about real pirates, we heartily recommend the book, “Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates” (3 November 2015) by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger. You can get it into your grubby paws by making a visit to your local library, or you can exchange some gold doubloons or whatever currency you might have for it at your favorite bookseller.

Martin: What is a buccaneer?
Mortimer: What pirates pay for corn these days.

A man went to the employment office looking for work. He was told that he could have the part of Long John Silver in a new movie version of “Treasure Island.” “That’s marvelous!” said the man. “How much will I be paid?” “Ten thousand dollars a week,” was the reply. “Great!” said the man. “So do I start acting on Monday?” “Oh, no,” said the clerk. “On Monday, you’re having your leg amputated.”

Pirate Pete: What do you call a pirate with two eyes and two legs and two hands?
Pirate Paul: Rookie.

Toby: When do pirates plant trees?
Tobias: On Arrrborrr Day! (For to make their wooden legs, don’t you be a-knowin’!)

Swashbuckling: To engage in daring and romantic adventures with ostentatious bravado or flamboyance. Aaarrr, don’t ask us, we really don’t know what that means, either.

Erma: Why could the pirate not play cards?
Myrna: Because the captain was standing on the deck!

Pegleg: Why do pirate ships have Global Positioning System (GPS) devices?
Captain Hook: So that pirates always know where they arrr-rrr!

A flag bearing a black field, upon which is displayed a skull and crossbones, is associated with pirate ships . . . but what if real pirates do not give such warnings, instead preferring to make surprise sneak attacks, or raids, upon sleepy coastal towns and unprotected merchant trading ships?

Agatha: Why did the pirate take his mother to the movie theater with him?
Amanda: Because the movie was rated ‘arrrrrr!’

Creative types think pirates are so great that they are making up new kinds of pirates: pirate princesses, pirate cheerleaders, pirate cats, pirate fairies . . . how much further can this silliness go?

Pirate cheerleaders have it easy: “Give me an Rrrrrr!”

Astor: Why are pirates called pirates?
Reed: They just arrrrrr!

Naomi: Why does it take pirates so long to learn the alphabet?
Vanessa: Because they spend years at ‘c’!

A Pirate of Boulder

There was a bold pirate of Boulder
Whose cutlass was slung from his shoulder.
He’d mighty fine notions
Of plundering oceans,
But his mom said, “Perhaps when you’re older.”

by Graham Lester

Dudley: What did the pirate say on his 80th birthday?
Smedley: “Aye, matey!”

Milford: What is a pirate’s second career choice?
Milton: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrchitect!

A common belief about pirates is that they made people walk along a plank until they fell into the sea, where they would be eaten by sharks. This popular notion simply is not true; author James Matthew Barrie made it up for his children’s storybook, “Peter Pan” (1928).

Riddle: What has eight arms and eight legs and eight eyes?
Solution: Eight pirates!

Patrice: What is a pirate’s favorite hobby?
Tricia: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.

“I’ll never pet an alligator again,” Captain Hook said offhandedly.

Lydia: What is a pirate’s favorite country?
Lynette: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgentina!

Renée: Where do pirates put their trash?
Sheila: In the garrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbage can!

Mack: What does a pirate do after saying, “Arrr!” one too many times?
Cam: Ask if anybody has a sore throat lozenge.

Blake: Why does Captain Hook have trouble telling time?
Caleb: His second hand keeps falling off.

Sue: What does a vegetarian pirate do?
Stu: He starrrrrrrrrrrrrrrves!

Well, shiver me timbers, laddies and lassies, thar’s pirates in them thar waters! Yes, indeed, the pirates aaaaaarrr coming, the pirates aaaaaarrr coming! Quick, we’d better think up some more pirate jokes before they get here so we can entertain them! More fun and learning is coming up next . . . on MFOL!

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Inspiration and Motivation

6/13/2020

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Are you striving for success?
     Then never think of quitting;
Footprints in the sand of time
     Cannot be made by sitting.
-A. W. Thomas

“I want to get you excited about who you are, what you are, what you have, and what can still be for you. I want to inspire you to see that you can go far beyond where you are right now.” -Virginia Satir (Virginia Pagenkopf Satir (1916 - 1988))

“Go as far as you can see, and when you get there you will see farther.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“A somebody was once a nobody who wanted to and did.” -John Burroughs (1837 - 1921)

“The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Bach, and Mozart settled down day after day to the job in hand. They didn’t waste time waiting for inspiration.” -Ernest Newman (1868 - 1959)

“Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it.” -Madeleine L’Engle (Madeleine L’Engle Camp (1918 - 2007))

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.” -Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888)

Do What You Want

Draw the art you want to see
Start the business you want to run
Play the music you want to hear
Write the books you want to read
Build the products you want to use
Do the work you want to see done

by Austin Kleon (28 February 2012)

“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

“One ought to, every day at least, hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1842): “Wilhelm Meister’s Lehrjahre” (English: “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship”) (1795 - 1796), book 5, chapter I

“When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.” -Leo Burnett (1891 - 1971)

“Reach for the stars, even if you have to stand on a cactus.” -Susan Longacre

“We are built to conquer environment, solve problems, achieve goals - and we find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve.” -Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)

“No one knows what he can do until he tries.” -Publilius Syrus (85 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.)

“You can have anything you want - if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish, if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.” -Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

“Extraordinary people are committed to doing the extra things that ordinary people won’t.” -Christine Kinney

“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” -Jimmy Johnson (James William ‘Jimmy’ Johnson (born 1943))

“Do everything. One thing may turn out to be right.” -Humphrey Bogart (Humphrey DeForest Bogart (1899 - 1957))

“Triumph is just ‘umph’ added to ‘try.’” -Author Unknown

“The explanation of triumph is all in the first syllable.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” -Jesus of Nazareth: as quoted in “The Bible” (King James Version (1611)), ‘Matthew,’ chapter 7, verses 7 and 8

“If you can’t see the bright side of life, polish the dull side.” -Christina Dodd (born 1957)

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910))

“If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it.” -Jonathan Winters (Jonathan Harshman Winters III (1925 - 2013))

“The measure of achievement is not winning awards. It’s doing something that you appreciate, something you believe is worthwhile. I think of my strawberry soufflé. I did that at least twenty-eight times before I finally conquered it.” -Julia Child (Julia Carolyn Child (1912 - 2004))

“Almost invariably those who have reached the summits worked harder and longer, studied and planned more assiduously, practiced more self-denial, overcame more difficulties than those of us who have not risen so far.” -B. C. Forbes (Robert Charles ‘Bertie’ Forbes (1880 - 1954))

“There is only one small letter between the words Can and Can’t . . . and that one letter will t-otally change your destiny.” -Doug Firebaugh (born 1968)

“Knock the ‘t’ off the ‘can’t.’” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” -Herb Caen (Herbert Eugene ‘Herb’ Caen (1916 - 1997))

“‘How does one become a butterfly?’ she asked. ‘You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.’” -Trina Paulus (born 1931): “Hope for the Flowers” (1973), available from www.HopeForTheFlowers.com.

“Tears will get you sympathy . . . Sweat will get you results.” -Author Unknown

“If you want to see something done, just tell some human beings it can’t be done. Make it known that it’s impossible to fly to the Moon, or run a hundred meters in nine-point-nine seconds, or solve Fermat’s Last Theorem. Remind the world that no one has ever hit sixty-two home runs in a season . . . stuffed eighteen people into a Volkswagen Bug . . . set half the world free . . . or cloned a sheep. Dangle the undoable in front of the world. Then, consider it done.” -Author Unknown: Merrill Lynch, advertisement

“A man’s ambition should be high. Not scratched in dirt - carved in the sky.” -Thomas L. Forest

“You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.” -Charles F. Kettering (Charles Franklin Kettering (1876 - 1958))

There’s a Time

There’s a time to part and a time to meet,
     There’s a time to sleep and a time to eat,
There’s a time to work and a time to play,
     There’s a time to sing and a time to pray,
There’s a time that’s glad and a time that’s blue,
     There’s a time to plan and a time to do,
There’s a time to grin and to show your grit,
     But there never was a time to quit.

by Author Unknown

“Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.” -Author Unknown

“Every day is an opportunity to make a new happy ending.” -Author Unknown

“If you can’t learn to do it well, learn to enjoy doing it badly.” -Author Unknown

Good, Better, Best

Good, better, best,
     Never let it rest
Until your Good is Better
     And your Better is the Best.

by Author Unknown

“No dreamer is ever too small; no dream is ever too big.” -Author Unknown

Everybody Is Somebody

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

by Author Unknown

“If you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, march down there and turn it on yourself.” -Author Unknown

Anything Can Be

Listen to the Mustn’ts, child,
     Listen to the Don’ts
Listen to the Shouldn’ts
     The Impossibles, the Won’ts
Listen to the Never Haves
     Then listen close to me -
Anything can happen, child,
     Anything can be.

by Shel Silverstein (Sheldon Allan ‘Shel’ Silverstein (1930 - 1999)): “Where the Sidewalk Ends” (1974)

“You cannot achieve the impossible without attempting the absurd.” -Author Unknown

“Live to inspire, and one day people will say, ‘Because of you, I didn’t give up.’” -Author Unknown

“Of all the people I have ever known, those who have pursued their dreams and failed have lived a much more fulfilling life than those who have put their dreams on a shelf for fear of failure.” -Author Unknown

Words

Did is a word of achievement,
     Won’t is a word of retreat,
Might is a word of bereavement,
     Can’t is a word of defeat,
Ought is a word of duty,
     Try is a word each hour,
Will is a word of beauty,
     Can is a word of power.

by Author Unknown

“Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing intensity. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon be beauty.” -Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846 - 1912)

“I am not a has-been. I am a will-be.” -Lauren Bacall (pseudonym of Betty Joan Perske (1924 - 2014))

What I Would Like to Be

I would like to be a Could Be
     If I could not be an Are,
For a Could Be is a May Be
     With a chance of going far.
I would rather be a Has Been
     Than a Might Have Been by far,
For a Might Have Been has never been
     But a Has Been was an Are.

by Author Unknown

“I really don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try.” -Nikki Giovanni (Yolande Cornelia ‘Nikki’ Giovanni, Junior (born 1943))

“Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.” -Wendell Johnson (1906 - 1965)

“Never forget all that you have survived, all that you have accomplished, all that you are capable of, all that you will do, your hopes and dreams and plans, and the bright future that awaits you. Go forward with extreme optimism!” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“It’s not what you do some of the time that counts, it’s what you do all of the time that counts.” -Jack LaLanne (François Henri ‘Jack’ LaLanne (1914 - 2011))

“Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!” -Anne Frank (1929 - 1945): “The Diary of a Young Girl” (1952)

“We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.” -Frank Tibolt (1897 - 1989)

Risk more than others think is safe.
Care more than others think is wise.
Dream more than others think is practical.
Expect more than others think is possible.
-Claude T. Bissell (Claude Thomas Bissell (1916 - 2000))

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of a unanimity.” -Christopher Morley (Christopher Darlington Morley (1890 - 1957)): as quoted in “American Artist” (1949)

“Every day is another chance to make your dreams come true.” -Author Unknown

“There is something that I know about you that you may not even know yourself. You have within you more resources of energy than have ever been tapped, more talent than has ever been exploited, more strength than has ever been tested, and more to give than you have ever given.” -John Gardner (1933 - 1982)

“Champions know there are no shortcuts to the top. They climb the mountain one step at a time. They have no use for helicopters!” -Judi Adler

“You can follow your heart - just don’t forget to take your head with you.” -Author Unknown

“You never know what’s around the corner. It could be everything. Or it could be nothing. You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you’ve climbed a mountain.” -Tom Hiddleston (Thomas William Hiddleston (born 1981))

“When I’m inspired, I get excited because I can’t wait to see what I’ll come up with next.” -Dolly Parton (Dolly Rebecca Parton (born 1946))

Imagine all the good things that life has to offer, all the good things in the world - it is all out there, waiting for you - what are you waiting for? We have much more inspiration and motivation for you on the Make Fun Of Life! Website. To go directly to it, click on Inspiration.

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Worries and Worrying

6/8/2020

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Photo credit: Man photo created by asier_relampagoestudio - www.freepik.com.

“Do not worry too much - you will create a problem that was not even there in the first place!” -Author Unknown

Every life has some trouble
     When you worry you make it double.
-Bobby McFerrin (born 1950)

“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.” -Morris West (Morris Langlo West (1916 - 1999))

A Worry

A worry crept into a mind,
Leaving claw marks and gashes behind.
     It turned the mind blue
     As it twisted each screw,
Then it chuckled, and left, with a grind.

by Author Unknown

“Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.” -James Russell Lowell (1819 - 1891): “Democracy” (1887)

“Worry is a form of fear, and all forms of fear produce fatigue. A man who has learned not to feel fear will find the fatigue of daily life enormously diminished.” -Bertrand Russell (Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872 - 1970))

If you’re worried and you can’t sleep,
Just count your blessings instead of sheep,
And you’ll fall asleep counting your blessings.
-Irving Berlin (1888 - 1989): “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” (1954); type of work: song

“Our worst misfortunes never happen, and most miseries lie in anticipation.” -Honoré de Balzac (1799 - 1850)

“Never borrow sorrow from tomorrow.” -Author Unknown

“Only a lack of imagination saves me from immobilizing myself with imaginary fears.” -Author Unknown

“Stop worrying . . . and start making jokes!” -Author Unknown

My Worry

A little bitty worry
     Started early in the day;
By noon it seemed my worry
     Hovered, standing in my way;
The things and thoughts
     I should have had
Got buried in my mind,
     Until my little worry turned
Into the horrid kind.
     By bedtime I was frantic -
What to do, oh what to do!
     And then I couldn’t go to sleep,
For worrying - fretting, too.
     By morning I was almost sick,
When suddenly and soon,
     My worry had been all worked out
Before the toll of noon;
     Then I looked back
And saw my worry
     Just for what it was -
A thing that didn’t happen,
     As a worry seldom does.

by Bonnie Daisy Nelson: as published in “A Garden of Poems” from the Salesian Collection

“Drag your thoughts away from your troubles . . . by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.” -Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910))

“Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.” -Winston Churchill (Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874 - 1965))

“Worry is today’s mice nibbling on tomorrow’s cheese.” -Author Unknown

“‘Each day has troubles enough of its own,’ so why anticipate them? If we do, we double them. For if our fear does not materialize, we have worried once for nothing; if it does materialize, we have worried twice instead of once. In both cases, it is foolish; worry doubles trouble.” -John R. W. Stott

“We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do.” -Ethel Barrett (1913 - 1998)

“Let not your heart be troubled.” -John: as quoted in “The Bible” (King James Version (1611)), ‘The Gospel According to John,’ chapter 14, verse 1

“Who says worry doesn’t help - all those things I worry about don’t happen!” -Author Unknown

“Meditate upon exile, torture, wars, diseases, shipwreck . . . so that you may not be a novice to any misfortune.” -Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, also known as Seneca the Younger (3 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))

“Worrying is using your imagination to create something you don’t want.” -Esther Hicks (born 1948)

“Worrying takes up just as much time as work, but work pays better dividends.” -Author Unknown

“My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.” -Michel de Montaigne (Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 - 1592)): “Essais” (“Essays”) (1595), Book 3, chapter 1

“The most pleasant and useful persons are those who leave some of the problems of the Universe for God to worry about.” -Don Marquis (1878 - 1937)

“Wringing your hands only stops you from rolling up your sleeves.” -James Rollins

“Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnagey (1888 - 1955)))

“Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all.” -Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C.E. - C.E. 17))

“Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles; it takes away today’s peace.” - Author Unknown

“The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.” -Voltaire (pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778))

“Some of today’s worries are like puddles: tomorrow they will have evaporated.” -Author Unknown

“Worry gives a small thing a big shadow.” -Author Unknown: Swedish proverb

“A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.” -John Lubbock (1834 - 1913): “The Use of Life” (1894)

“What worries you, masters you.” -John Locke (1632 - 1704)

“A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem.” -Harold Stephens (born 1926)

“Worry is an abuse of God’s gift of imagination.” -Corrine Lajeunesse

“Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime, and too sleepy to worry at night.” -Leo Aikman (James Leo Aikman (1908 - 1978))

“Worry: Mountain climbing over molehills.” -Author Unknown

“If you’re overwhelmed by thinking of all there is to be done, stop thinking about it so much and start working on it.” -Author Unknown

“Don’t let your worries get the best of you. Remember, Moses started out as a basket case.” -Author Unknown

Worry

Worry is a futile thing,
     It’s somewhat like a rocking chair;
Although it keeps you occupied,
     It doesn’t get you anywhere.

by Author Unknown

Overheard: Don’t tell me worrying doesn’t do any good - I know better! Most of the things I worry about never happen.

“Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.” -Corrie ten Boom (Cornelia ‘Corrie’ ten Boom (1892 - 1983))

“Nothing wastes more energy than worrying. The longer one carries a problem, the heavier it becomes. Don’t take life too seriously. Live a life full of serenity, not of regrets.” -Douglas Pagels (born 1950)

“You can destroy your now by worrying about tomorrow.” -Janis Joplin (1943 - 1970)

“How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” (1948) is a self-help book by Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnagey (1888 - 1955))). Mr. Carnegie wrote in the preface of the book that he wrote it because he “was one of the unhappiest lads in New York.” He said that he made himself sick with worry because he hated his position in life. The goal of the book is to lead the reader to a more enjoyable and fulfilling life, helping them to become more aware of not only themselves, but of others around them. Mr. Carnegie addresses the everyday nuances of living, in order to get the reader to focus on the larger canvas of life.

“Worry never accomplishes anything. When you have a problem, it is best to concentrate on the solution to that problem, not the problem itself.” -Thomas D. Willhite (Thomas Dale Willhite (1940 - 1983))

“A man ninety years old was asked to what he attributed his longevity. ‘I reckon,’ he said with a twinkle in his eye, ‘It’s because most nights I went to bed and slept when I should have sat up and worried.’” -Dorothea Kent (1916 - 1990)

“Worry is an unhealthy and destructive mental habit.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

“There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” -Epictetus (C.E. 55 - C.E. 135)

“If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will overlook what is.” -Author Unknown

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Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

by Jesus of Nazareth: as quoted in “The Bible,” ‘Matthew,’ chapter 6, verses 25 through 34

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“Worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls due.” -William R. Inge (William Ralph Inge (1860 - 1954))

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.” -Corrie ten Boom (Cornelia ‘Corrie’ ten Boom (1892 - 1983)): “Clippings from my Notebook” (1982)

“To worry about tomorrow is to be unhappy today.” -Author Unknown

“Worrying is silly - it is like walking around with an umbrella, waiting for it to rain.” -Author Unknown

How can you make the ‘Worry List’ you carry in your head a little shorter?

“Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds - all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have.” -Edward Everett Hale (1822 - 1909)

“In order to be done in a useful manner, worrying must be done quickly and then gotten over with. Worrying helps us to figure out if there is something that needs to be done so that we can then do it, and if not, then stop worrying and get on with the daily activities and the great adventures of life!” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“You can’t change the past, but you can a ruin a perfectly good present worrying about the future.” -Author Unknown

“Worry is like riding a roller coaster. It scares the wits out of you, and you always end up right where you started.” -Author Unknown

“People spend most of their lives worrying about things that never happen.” -Jean Molière (pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (1622 - 1673))

Worrying and Worriers Quiz
- Do you have enough to worry about?
- Do other people often cause us to worry unnecessarily?
- How do you know if you are worrying too much?
- Can worrying make you sick?
- Can you teach yourself to worry less?

“What if we knew for certain that everything we’re worried about today will work out fine? What if . . . we knew the future was going to be good, and we would have an abundance of resources and guidance to handle whatever comes our way? What if . . . we knew everything was okay, and we didn’t have to worry about a thing? What would we do then? We’d be free to let go and enjoy life.” -Melody Beattie: “The Language of Letting Go”

“Worry is a total waste of time. It doesn’t change anything. All it does is steal your joy and keep you busy doing nothing.” -Author Unknown

“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.” -E. Joseph Cossman (Eli Joseph Cossman (1918 - 2002))

“It is the little bits of things that fret and worry us; we can dodge an elephant, but we can’t dodge a fly.” -Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw (1818 - 1885))

“Don’t fill your head with worries. There won’t be room for anything else.” -Author Unknown

“Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything.” -Mary Hemingway (1908 - 1986)

“Show me a worrying person and I will show you a person who does not know how to relax.” -Albert E. Cliffe (Albert Edward Cliffe (1892 - 1954))

“Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep always in the sunlight.” -Benjamin Franklin (Benjamin ‘Ben’ Franklin (1706 - 1790))

“Worrying is like wishing for something that you do not want.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“I’ve got 99 problems and 86 of them are completely made up scenarios in my head that I’m stressing about for absolutely no logical reason.” -Author Unknown

I was early taught to work as well as play,
My life has been one long, happy holiday;
Full of work and full of play -
I dropped the worry on the way -
And God was good to me every day.
-John Davison Rockefeller, Senior (1839 - 1937): verses written on his eighty-sixth birthday (8 July 1925)

At MFOL! we are worried that we might be taken seriously . . . okay, that’s enough worrying for one day . . . now let’s go have some fun!

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Love

6/1/2020

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Melissa: Do you love me with all your heart?
Fred: Uh-huh.
Melissa: Do you think I am the most beautiful woman in the world?
Fred: Uh-huh.
Melissa: Am I the only one for you?
Fred: Uh-huh.
Melissa: Oh, you say the most wonderful things!

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” -Doctor Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904 - 1991))

“Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” -Willa Sibert Cather (born Wilella Sibert Cather (1873 - 1947))

“Love is metaphysical gravity.” -R. Buckminster Fuller (1895 - 1983)

“No one is perfect until you fall in love with them.” -Author Unknown

“I love you, not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.” -Roy Croft (1907 - 1973)

“Love is a verb.” -Clare Boothe Luce (1903 - 1987)

“What we love, we shall grow to resemble.” -Bernard of Clairvaux (C.E. 1090 - C.E. 1153)

“The heart that loves is always young.” -Author Unknown

“Love at first sight is a great time saver.” -Author Unknown

“In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing.” -Mignon McLaughlin (1913 - 1983)

“Love is the reward of love.” -Johann Friedrich von Schiller (Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805))

“Love is space and time measured by the heart.” -Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)

“Sometimes I wish I was a little child again - because bruised knees heal faster than broken hearts.” -Author Unknown

“Love is never without some thorns.” -Author Unknown

Perfect Love

They walked in the lane together,
     The sky was covered with stars;
They reached the gate in silence,
     He lifted down the bars.
She neither smiled nor thanked him,
     Because she knew not how;
For he was a farmer’s son,
     And she, a Jersey cow.

by Author Unknown

“To be loved, be lovable.” -Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (43 B.C. -17 A.D.)

“I love you more than yesterday, less than tomorrow.” -Edmond Rostand (1868 - 1918)

“Love is like the measles; we all have to go through it.” -Jerome K. Jerome (Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859 - 1927)): “Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow” (1886)

“Giving someone all your love is never an assurance that the person will love you back. Do not expect love in return, just wait for it to grow in their hearts but if it does not, be content it grew in yours.” -Author Unknown

Book of Love

If I could read you like a book,
     And if I chanced to steal a look,
I wonder if I’d find that you
     Were just as faithful, and as true
In chapter four, page sixty-seven
     As you were on page eleven?

by Author Unknown

“To love and be loved, is to feel the Sun from both sides.” -David Viscott (1938 - 1996)

“You don’t have to be perfect to be worth loving.” -Harold S. Kushner (Harold Samuel Kushner (born 1935))

“We find rest in those we love, and we provide a resting place in ourselves for those who love us.” -Bernard of Clairvaux (C.E. 1090 - C.E. 1153)

“It’s love that makes the world go ’round.” -W. S. Gilbert (William Schwenck Gilbert (1836 - 1911))

“Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other.” -Euripides (480 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.)

The Opposite of Two

What is the opposite of two?
     A lonely me, a lonely you.

by Richard Wilbur (Richard Purdy Wilbur (born 1921)): “Opposites” (1973)

“All love shifts and changes. I don’t know if you can be wholeheartedly in love all the time.” -Julie Andrews

“True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked.” -Erich Segal

“The heart is a strange beast and not ruled by logic.” -Maria V. Snyder (born 1973)

“What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.” -Pearl Bailey (Pearl Mae Bailey (1918 - 1990)): as quoted in “Weekly World News” (25 April 2005)

“We don’t love qualities; we love a person; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as their qualities.” -Jacques Maritain

“Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.” -Fyodor Dostoevsky (Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821 - 1881))

“Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; It does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” -Paul of Tarsus: as quoted in “The Bible,” ‘First Corinthians,’ chapter 13, verses 4 through 8

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 - 1861): “Sonnets from the Portuguese” (1850)

People have made a silly pastime of holding a daisy and plucking off its petals while saying, “He loves me, he loves me not,” or “She loves me, she loves me not.” Supposedly, the last petal has the answer - but how would a flower know?

“Just because someone does not love you the way you want him or her to, does not mean they do not love you with everything they have got.” -Author Unknown

“Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.” -Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778))

“We loved with a love that was more than love.” -Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849)

“He was happy and unhappy all at once. He was in love.” -Petra Mathers: “Victor and Christabel” (1993)

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Olive.
Olive, who?
Olive you!

“The course of true love never did run smooth.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1595), Act I, scene 1, line 140 (words spoken by fictional character Lysander)

“Hearts are wild creatures. That’s why our ribs are cages.” -Author Unknown

Jared: How do you mend a broken heart?
Annie: With ticker tape.

“The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness.” -Victor Hugo (Victor Marie Hugo (1802 - 1885))

Together

Because we do
     All things together
All things improve,
     Even weather.

Our daily meat
     And bread taste better,
Trees are greener,
     Rain is wetter.

by Paul Engle (1908 - 1991)

“To fall in love is awfully simple, but to fall out of love is simply awful.” -Bess Myerson (1924 - 2014)

“Do you love me, warts and all?” -Author Unknown

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” -Robert A. Heinlein (Robert Anson Heinlein (1907 - 1988)): “Stranger in a Strange Land”

“To love someone means to see him as God intended him.” -Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821 - 1881)

“Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): “Venus and Adonis” (1593), line 821; type of work: narrative poem

“I wish I could turn back the clock. I’d find you sooner and love you longer.” -Author Unknown

“Draw a circle, not a heart, around the one you love, because a heart can break, but a circle goes on forever.” -Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky (1911 - 1987))

Love wasn’t put in your heart to stay -
Love isn’t love till you give it away.
-Author Unknown

“When we first fall in love, we feel that we know all there is to know about life, and perhaps we are right.” -Author Unknown

“What power has love but forgiveness?” -William Carlos Williams (1883 - 1963)

Do you love me?
     Or do you not?
You told me once,
     But I forgot.
-Elena Helms

“I’m bananas for you - let’s never split!” -Author Unknown

“Love creates an ‘us’ without destroying the ‘me’.” -Leo Buscaglia (Felice Leonardo ‘Leo’ Buscaglia, also known as Leo F. Buscaglia (1924 - 1998))

“If we deny love that is given to us, if we refuse to give love because we fear pain or loss, then our lives will be empty, our loss greater.” -Author Unknown

“Love you to the Moon and back.” -Author Unknown

“Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold.” -Zelda Fitzgerald (born Zelda Sayre (1900 - 1948))

“If you wish women to love you, be original; I know a man who used to wear fur hats summer and winter, and women fell in love with him.” -Anton Chekhov (Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860 - 1904))

I Love You!

I love you, I love you,
     I love you, I do.
But don’t get excited -
     I love monkeys, too!

by Author Unknown

“At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.” -Plato (about 427 B.C.E. - 347 B.C.E.): “The Symposium”

“I think . . . if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.” -Leo Tolstoy (Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828 - 1910))

“When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out.” -Elizabeth Bowen (Elizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen (1899 - 1973))

“Perfect love casts out fear.” -Uell Stanley Andersen (1917 - 1986)

“I love you more than all the stars in the sky.” -Author Unknown

“Who ever lov’d, that lov’d not at first sight?” -Christopher Marlowe (1564 - 1593)

“We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.” -Sam Keen (born 1931)

“We can only learn to love by loving.” -Iris Murdoch (1919 - 1999)

“Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary.” -Teresa of Calcutta (also known as Mother Teresa; born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (1910 - 1997))

Overheard: I’ve been looking for you ever since I heard my first fairy tale . . .

“One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life; that word is love.” -Sophocles (496 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.)

“What a grand thing, to be loved! What a grander thing still, to love!” -Victor Hugo (Victor Marie Hugo (1802 - 1885))

“Love is by far the most important thing of all.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“The secret of health, happiness, and long life: If you simply learn how to accept and express love, you will live longer . . . be happier . . . grow healthier. For love is a powerful force.” -Alfred A. Montapert (Alfred Armand Montapert (1906 - 1997))

“To love, and to be loved, is the greatest happiness of existence.” -Sydney Smith (1771 - 1845): “Lady Holland’s Memoir” (1855), ‘Of Friendship’

I loved you yesterday,
     I love you still -
I always have,
     I always will.
-Author Unknown

“To acquire love, fill yourself up with it until you become a magnet.” -Charles Haanel (1866 - 1949)

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” -Author Unknown

This is MFOL! . . . where LMLML! (Levity Makes Life More Livable!)

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Road Crossings

5/26/2020

1 Comment

A chicken crossing the road is ‘poultry in motion.’ But why did the chicken cross the road? Well, it sort of happened this way . . .

Carla: Why did the rubber chicken cross the road?
Marlene: She wanted to stretch her legs.

Gladys: How do you avoid that rundown feeling?
Clementine: Always look both ways before crossing the road!

Sonny: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Grandpa: In my day, we did not ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough for us. And that chicken would have had to walk barefoot five miles in the snow just to get to that road, too. They just do not make chickens like that anymore!

Austin: How did the egg cross the road?
Ozzie: It scrambled across.

Patrice: Why did it take so long for the elephant to cross the road?
Tricia: Because the chicken had trouble carrying him.

Louisa: Why did the cat cross the road?
Louie: The chicken had to take a day off to rest after carrying the elephant across.

Margaret: Why did the bad speller cross the road?
Margery: Too get two the other side.

Wilbur: Did you hear about the two kangaroos that crossed the road?
Orville: Yes, they jumped into each other’s pouches and were never seen again.

Phillip: Why did the monkey cross the road?
Ophelia: To show he was not chicken.

Gregory: Why did the orange stop in the middle of the road?
Megan: Because it ran out of juice.

Timmy: Why did the raccoon cross the road?
Tammy: Because she was chasing the chicken.

Curtis: Why did Captain Hook cross the road?
Howard: To get to the secondhand shop

Boris: Why did the monster help the little old ghoul across the road?
Doris: Because that is what fiends are for.

Alexander: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Aristotle: To fulfill its nature on the other side.

Minerva: What was the farmer doing on the other side of the road?
Minnie: Catching the chickens as they crossed the road.

Harpo Marx: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Groucho Marx: Chicken? What is all this talk about chicken? Why, I had an uncle who thought he was a chicken. My aunt almost left him, but we needed the eggs!

Barbara: Why did the chicken cross the amusement park?
Candace: To get to the other ride.

Millicent: Why did the polar bear cross the road?
Lucinda: To show the alligator that it could be done.

Mirabelle: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Reuben: To get to the other side.

Rhoda: Why did the penguin cross the road?
Ronda: Because the chicken owed it $5.

Adrienne: Why did the woman cross the road?
Addie: So she could get her picture on www.MakeFunOfLife.net and be famous!

Percival: Why did the snake slither across the road?
Perry: To get to the other sss-sss-sss-side!

Mabelle: Why did the cows cross the road?
Bonnie: Because they are always on the moo-ve.

Artie: Why did the cookie cross the road?
Marty: To dunk itself in a glass of milk.

Justin: Why did the cell cross the microscope?
Dustin: To get to the other slide.

Kimberly: Why did the rooster cross the road?
Kimmy: He wanted something to crow about.

Agyrophobia, also called dromophobia, is a persistent fear of roads or of crossing roads. Even when no motor vehicles are present, some sufferers from this affliction still experience fear. Agyrophobia comes from the Greek words ‘gyrus’ meaning ‘turning’ or ‘whirling’ and ‘phobos’ meaning ‘fear,’ while dromophobia is derived from the Greek words ‘dromos’ meaning ‘running’ and ‘phobos’ meaning ‘fear.’ One of the things that could be said about the chicken that crossed the road is that he was not chicken to cross the road - and you should not be either.

Bernard: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Leonard: Just for the fun of it!

Siskel: I don’t know why the chickens crossed the road, but I loved it. Thumbs up!
Ebert: I disagree. The whole thing left the audience wondering; the chickens’ crossing the road was never clearly explained, and the chickens didn’t emote very well. Thumbs down.

Octavius: Why did the frog hop across the road?
Augustus: To see what the chicken was doing!

First Lab Tech: Why did the function cross the road?
Second Lab Tech: Because it was defined on both sides and continuous.

Tina: Why did the sheep cross the road?
Lena: To get to the baaa-baaa shop for a trim.

Doctor McCoy: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Captain James Tiberius Kirk: To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.

Karl: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Ludwig Wittgenstein: The possibility of ‘crossing’ was encoded into the objects ‘chicken’ and ‘road,’ and circumstances came into being which caused the actualization of this potential occurrence.

Paul: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Saul: I don’t know.
Paul: To get to your house!

. . . long awkward pause . . .

Paul: Knock, knock.
Saul: Who’s there?
Paul: It’s the chicken from the last joke!

Amy: Why did the dog cross the road twice?
Annie: She was trying to catch a boomerang.

Beatrice: Why did the pigs cross the road with their laundry?
Tricia: They wanted to do their hogwash.

Kirsten: Why did the rabbit cross the road?
Christina: To get to the hopping mall.

Marv: Why did the shoe cross the road?
Irv: Because it’s on your foot.

Bored? Want to have some fun? Get together with your friends and play ‘The Road Crossing Game.’ Here’s how it works. One of you says, “Why did the __________________ (fill in the blank) cross the road?” The other of you tries to reply with a funny answer. The one who comes up with the best answer has the next turn, and you just keep on going with the game.

Jesse: Why did the duck cross the road?
Bessie: To visit the chicken of course!

Ticket Against Jaywalking Chicken. Ridgecrest, California: A chicken that got a ticket for crossing the road has clawed his way out of it. The $54 (RM205.20) citation for impeding traffic was dismissed after Linc and Helena Moore’s attorney argued that the fowl was domesticated and could not be charged as livestock. State law restricts livestock on highways, but not domestic animals. The chicken was ticketed on 26 March for impeding traffic after it wandered onto a road in Johannesburg, a rural mining town southeast of Ridgecrest. -AP

Jasper: Why did the chicken cross the internet?
Casper: To get to the Make Fun Of Life! Website.

Nick: Why did the seal cross the road?
Vick: To get to the otter side.

Marcella: Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip?
Marc: To get to the same side.

Artemus: Why did the snail cross the road?
Gordon: I don’t know, she hasn’t gotten there yet.

In Quitman, Georgia, United States of America, chickens are actually prohibited by law from crossing the road.

Hugh: Why did the horse cross the road?
Bert: He wanted to visit his neigh-bors.

John: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Howard Cosell: It may very well have been one of the most astonishing events to grace the annals of history. A historic, unprecedented avian biped with the temerity to attempt such a herculean achievement formerly relegated to homo sapien pedestrians is truly a remarkable occurrence.

Chrissy: Who lumbered across the road?
Lizzie: A lumberjack.

Petula: Why did the chicken nearly stop crossing the road?
Clark: It got tired of everyone making so many jokes!

Henry David Thoreau: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Ralph Waldo Emerson: The chicken did not merely cross the road . . . it transcended the road.

Julian: Why did the turkey cross the road?
Jillian: To go, “Gobble, gobble! Gobble, gobble!” on the other side.

George: Why did the comedian cross the road?
Jerry: To get to the punchline!

Can’t get enough of “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Here are a few more: Because . . . the pedestrian sign was flashing “WALK” and the road was clear of moving vehicles; Farmer Brown was across the road calling out, “Here, chick-chick-chick, here, chick-chick-chick,” while tossing corn around on the ground; go ask your mother; go ask your father; to catch the “L” train; to try the new hot ‘n’ spicy bacon double cheeseburger; to catch the show; she had a bee in her bonnet; to take a closer look at the cow; to feather her nest; to see what was on the other side; because at the time it seemed like a good idea; the sky was falling; to catch a falling star; to buy a copy of the new horror novel “Chicken Soup for the Human Soul”; to try to look important; to make a new friend; she was lost and headed in the wrong direction; to try something new; they told her there was a ham sandwich in it for her; to escape global warming; to escape the coming ice age; she was a good and faithful friend; I’m listening; oh, I love you so much; what was the question again?; it’s a little complicated; the other chickens said it couldn’t be done; we would have to look at it from the chicken’s perspective; what was the question again?; she’d already been around the block; to see what she could see; for the fun of it; it’s a bit of a mystery, isn’t it?; she knew she’d give the farmer nightmares for years to come; another chicken gave her an odd look; I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation; why don’t we go find out; she was certainly a funny bird, that one; truth be told, nobody really knows . . .

Mitchell: Why did the turtle cross the road?
Shelia: To get to the shell station.

Arlene: What happened when the skunks argued while crossing the road?
Aileen: They raised a big stink.

Eunice: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Eustice: Because the other chickens egged her on.

Tips for Safely Crossing Roads
- Stop, look, and listen.
- Wait until the signal shows “WALK” or a human figure lights up.
- Hold hands and stay together.
- Always look both ways before crossing the road.
- Look left, then right, then left again.
- Stay in the crosswalk.
- Cross at intersections and do not cross at other places.
- Be aware that drivers sometimes drive when and where they should not because they are not good drivers.
- Can you think of other tips for safely crossing roads?

Silvia: Why did the dog cross the road?
Ingrid: To get to the barking lot.

Larry: Why did the kiwi fruit run across the road?
Lawrence: Because it was being chased by a pineapple.

Charlotte: Why did the ambitious man cross the road?
Shelly: Because he was chasing his dreams.

Road Crossings Quiz: Who Am I?
1. I waddle across the road.
2. I bounce or roll across the road.
3. I inch across the road.
4. I dribble across the road.
5. I flow across the road.

Alex: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Lacy: Don’t ask me, ask the chicken!

Lenny: Why did the scientist cross the road?
Squiggy: Centrifugal force.

Road Crossings Quiz Answers: Who Am I?
1. I am a duck and I waddle across the road.
2. I am a ball and I bounce or roll across the road.
3. I am an inchworm and I inch across the road.
4. I am a basketball player and I dribble a basketball across the road.
5. I am water and I flow across the road.

Earl: Why did the procrastinator cross the road?
Lee: Because it was supposed to have been done two months ago!

Stop, Look, and Listen

I stop, I look, I listen,
Before I cross the street.
I use my eyes,
I use my ears,
And then I use my feet.

by Author Unknown

Carl: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Claire: Because the early bird catches the worm!

Emily: Why did the spider cross the road?
Amelia: To get to its other web site.

Buzz Aldrin: Have you heard that a chicken has finally crossed the road?
Neil Armstrong: That is one small step for a chicken . . . one giant leap for all poultry-kind.

Someone could make a full-length movie about a chicken crossing the road - how about you? We have much more humor for you on a huge variety of topics on the Make Fun Of Life! Website - just scroll down the page.

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New Beginnings and Second Chances

5/18/2020

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“It’s never too late for a new beginning in your life.” -Joyce Meyer (born 1943)

“Don’t be afraid to start over. It’s a chance to build something better this time.” -Author Unknown

“Every day is a new beginning. Treat it that way. Stay away from what might have been, and look at what can be.” -Marsha Petrie Sue

“In spite of anyone or anything, all it take is you - yourself alone - to grant yourself a second chance.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Big journeys begin with small steps.” -Author Unknown

“Forget the long ago. We are here and we are now, and that is all. We are making a new start.” -Doris Lessing (Doris May Lessing (1919 - 2013))

“Every day is a second chance.” -Author Unknown

“Never too old, never too bad, never too late, never too sick to start from scratch once again.” -Bikram Choudhury

“Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.” -L. M. Montgomery (Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 - 1942))

“Dear God of second chances and new beginnings - here I am again!” -Nancy Spielberg

“The best thing you can give someone is a chance.” -Author Unknown

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l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ www.MakeFunOfLife.net ♥ l o v e ☼ g r o w
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A New Chance

When doubts and fears are growing,
     It’s hard to keep on going
From day to day not knowing
     Just what the end will be.

Take each day as you find it,
     If things go wrong, don’t mind it,
For each day leaves behind it
     A chance to start anew.

by Gertrude Ellgas (Gertrude M. Ellgas (1896 - 1994))

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l i v e  ☆ l a u g h ツ  www.MakeFunOfLife.net  ♥ l o v e  ☼  g r o w
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What is a ‘second chance’? Is it a miracle? Is it an example of love? Is it someone taking a risk?

“Life always offers you a second chance. It’s called tomorrow.” -Author Unknown

“Every good person deserves a chance at a do-over.” -Author Unknown

“We’re given second chances every day of our life. We don’t usually take them, but they’re there for the taking.” -Andre Greely

Should life include more do-overs and second chances, for good people?

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New Beginnings

It’s only the beginning now
     . . . a pathway yet unknown
At times the sound of other steps
     . . . sometimes we walk alone.

The best beginnings of our lives
     May sometimes end in sorrow
But even on our darkest days
     The Sun will shine tomorrow.

So we must do our very best
     Whatever life may bring
And look beyond the Winter chill
     To smell the breath of Spring.

Into each life will always come
     A time to start anew
A new beginning for each heart
     As fresh as morning dew.

Although the cares of life are great
     And hands are bowed so low
The storms of life will leave behind
     The wonder of a rainbow.

The years will never take away
     Our chance to start anew
It’s only the beginning now
     So dreams can still come true.

by Gertrude B. McClain

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l i v e  ☆ l a u g h ツ  www.MakeFunOfLife.net  ♥ l o v e  ☼  g r o w
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“Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald (Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940))

“Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I ought to still forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.’” -“The Bible,” ‘Gospel of Matthew,’ chapter 18, verse 22

By way of further explanation, Peter desired to go beyond what the religious leaders of the time and place did, for they would only forgive a person as many as three times. Peter thought he could do more, so he asked Jesus if he ought to forgive his brother, “as many as seven times.” Jesus replied, “seventy times seven,” meaning we are to forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ as often as they need to be forgiven. Second chances are not something we seek for ourselves alone, but which we also are to give lovingly to others.

“It’s never too late never too late to start over, never too late to be happy.” -Jane Fonda

“Every single moment of a person’s life, both of the understanding and of the will, is a new beginning.” -Emanuel Swedenborg

“I think I finally understand life - it is an endeavor, a path, a road, a journey, that starts anew with each step . . . every golden moment is a new beginning, every golden moment is another chance to begin again.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

This is MFOL! . . . it’s magic . . . it really is . . . well, almost . . .

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Writing and Writers

5/15/2020

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If you could write something to change the world, what would it be?

“The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it.” -Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

“Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie.” -John LeCarre

Not like Homer would I write,
     Not like Dante if I might,
Not like Shakespeare at his best,
     Not like Goethe or the rest,
Like myself, however small,
     Like myself, or not at all.
-William Allingham (1824 - 1889)

“Words are an inexpensive, and an extremely fun, plaything.” -Author Unknown

A four-year-old girl was diligently pounding away on her daddy’s old computer. She informed him that she was writing a story. “What is your story about?” he asked. “I don’t know,” she answered. “I can’t read.”

“If there’s a book you want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” -Toni Morrison (born 1931)

“When I left home, my mum said, ‘Don’t forget to write.’ I thought, ‘That’s unlikely . . . It’s a basic skill, isn’t it . . .’” -Timothy Mark ‘Tim’ Vine (born 1967)

“I can shake off everything if I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” -Anne Frank (Annelies Marie ‘Anne’ Frank (1929 - 1945)): “Diary of a Young Girl” (1952), entry for 4 April 1944

Hugh: Hey, did you hear Stu’s writing a book?
Lou: Why doesn’t he just buy one? It’s faster.

“The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer, and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn’t require any.” -Russell Baker (Russell Wayne Baker (1925 - 2019))

“When audiences come to see us authors lecture, it is largely in the hope that we’ll be funnier to look at than to read.” -Sinclair Lewis (1885 - 1951)

“Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators.” -Olin Miller (1918 - 2002)

“Writers are a little below the clowns and a little above the trained seals.” -John Steinbeck (John Ernst Steinbeck, Junior (1902 - 1968))

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” -Benjamin Franklin (Benjamin ‘Ben’ Franklin (1706 - 1790))

“Oliver Herford once dropped a remark in a little group of writers who were telling how much trouble they took with their work. One said he sometimes took weeks working over a single chapter. Another said, ‘That’s nothing, I sometimes spend days struggling with a single paragraph.’ ‘And I,’ said Oliver in his faraway voice, ‘frequently spend months polishing a single word.’” -Curtis Brown

“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

Helga: What are you doing?
Glenn: I’m writing a book.
Helga: What’s it about?
Glenn: Everything!

“Why had I become a writer in the first place? Because I wasn’t fit for society; I didn’t fit into the system.” -Brian Wilson Aldiss (1925 - 2017)

“Editing is a rewording activity.” -Author Unknown

The first novel written on a typewriter was “Tom Sawyer” (1876) by Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910)).

Of all those arts in which the wise excel
Nature’s chief masterpiece is writing well.
-John Sheffield

“It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.” -Robert Benchley (Robert Charles Benchley (1889 - 1945))

“For several days after my first book was published, I carried it about in my pocket, and took surreptitious peeps at it to make sure that the ink had not faded.” -James Matthew Barrie (1860 - 1937): speech (26 May 1922) at the Critics’ Circle in London, England

“Anyone who can think clearly can write clearly. But neither is easy.” -William Feather (1889 - 1981): “The Business of Life” (1949)

But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.
-George Gordon Noel Byron (1788 - 1824): “Don Juan” (1818 - 1824), stanza 88
Often paraphrased as, “A drop of ink may make a million think.” -George Gordon Noel Byron (1788 - 1824)

“The only end of writing is to enable the readers better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“A writer is someone for whom writing is much harder than it is for the others.” -Ken Laws

“Every writer I know has trouble writing.” -Joseph Heller (1923 - 1999)

“I have tried simply to write the best I can; sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.” -Ernest Hemingway (Ernest Miller Hemingway (1899 - 1961))

“The Pythagorean Theorem employed 24 words, the Lord’s Prayer has 66 words, Archimedes Principle has 67 words, the 10 Commandments have 179 words, the Gettysburg Address has 286 words, the Declaration of Independence has 1,300 words, and finally the European Commission’s regulation on the sale of cabbage: 26,911 words.” -Author Unknown

“A great many people now reading and writing would be better employed keeping rabbits.” -Edith Sitwell (1887 - 1964)

“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” -Flannery O’Connor (Mary ‘Flannery’ O’Connor (1925 - 1964))

“I have very little of Mr. Blake’s company; he is always in “Paradise.”“ -Mrs. William Blake

“Writing isn’t hard, no harder than ditchdigging.” -Patrick Dennis

“I am, really, a great writer; my only difficulty is in finding great readers.” -Frank Harris (born James Thomas Harris (1855 - 1931)): as quoted in George Jean Nathan: “The World of George Jean Nathan” (1952), page 252

“I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.” -A. J. Liebling (Abbott Joseph ‘A. J.’ Liebling (1904 - 1963))

“The circumstance which gives authors an advantage above all these great masters, is this, that they can multiply their originals; or rather, can make copies of their works, to what number they please, which shall be as valuable as the originals themselves.” -Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719)

Writer: A wordsmith.

“To write well is to think well, feel well, and to render well; it is to possess at once intellect, soul, and taste.” -George Louis Buffon

“Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.” -Jules Renard (1864 - 1910)

“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents - except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.” -Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton (Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803 - 1873)): “Paul Clifford” (1830)

Writer: A word-dispensing machine.

“Altogether, the style of a writer is a faithful representative of his mind; therefore, if any man wish to write a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832) (14 April 1824): as quoted in “Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret” (1850)

“He has left off reading altogether, to the great improvement of his originality.” -Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834)

“Writing and rewriting are a constant search for what it is one is saying.” -John Updike (John Hoyer Updike (1932 - 2009))

“A man would do well to carry a pencil in his pocket and write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable, and should be secured, because they seldom return.” -Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626): as attributed in E. Bridgewater: “Extracts from Ancient and Modern Authors” (1828)

Ernest Vincent Wright was born in 1872. He was an American writer. He is known as the author of the 50,000-word book, “Gadsby” (1939), which does not contain the letter ‘e,’ except in the introduction and in a note at the end of the book. Ernest Vincent Wright passed on at about 67 years of age on 7 October 1939.

“Le Train de Nulle Part” (English: “The Train from Nowhere”) (2004) is a 233-page novel by a Frenchman named Michel Dansel, published under the pseudonym Michel Thaler. Set on a train, it features a series of caustic cameos of fellow passengers who, while not doing much, somehow bring out the vitriol in Thaler’s pen. It contains lengthy passages of flowery prose, but not a lot of action. A notable example of constrained writing, the novel does not contain a single verb. Thaler says he loves words, but not verbs. “The verb is like a weed in a field of flowers. You have to get rid of it to allow the flowers to grow and flourish. Take away the verbs and the language speaks for itself.”

“There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen to write.” -William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863)

“I am always at a loss to know how much to believe of my own stories.” -Washington Irving (1783 - 1859)

What is a ‘nom de plume’? A nom de plume (pronounced as näm də ˈplo͞om/) is a type of pseudonym. Pseudonyms are names people use for their professional work, typically that of a creative or entertainment nature. For example, actors use stage names, and writers use pen names.

“A man named Samuel Langhorne Clemens named his pen ‘Mark Twain,’ and then claimed credit for all of the things his pen wrote, using his hand.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“The pen is mightier than the sword.” -Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton (Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803 - 1873)): “Richelieu,” II, ii (1839)

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” -W. Somerset Maugham (William Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965))

“‘Harry Potter’ author J.K. Rowling says she might not stop at 7 books and might make an 8th book about Harry as an adult. When asked why, she said, ‘There’s still money in the world that I don’t have yet’.” -Conan O’Brien

“I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.” -Peter DeVries

“A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it.” -Samuel Johnson: as quoted in Boswell: “The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.” (1775)

“If you can’t annoy somebody, there’s little point in writing.” -Kingsley William Amis

“Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“To write a book is a task needing only pen ink and paper; to print a book is rather more difficult because genius often expresses itself illegibly; to read a book is more difficult still for one has to struggle with sleep; but to sell a book is the most difficult task of all.” -Frank Mumny

“Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.” -Edward Gibbon

“I take the view and always have that if you cannot say what you are going to say in twenty minutes, you ought to go away and write a book about it.” -Reginald Lord Brabazon

“Writing is manual labor of the mind: a job like laying pipe.” -John Gregory Dunne

“The secret of successful writing lies in striking the right keys on the typewriter.” -Evan Esar

“I never understand anything until I have written about it.” -Horace Walpole

“Novelists do not write as birds sing, by the push of nature. It is part of the job that there should be much routine and some daily stuff on the level of carpentry.” - William Golding (1911 - 1993): “Rough Magic” (16 February 1977) lecture

“Write without pay until somebody offers pay. If nobody offers within three years the candidate may look upon this circumstance with the most implicit confidence as the sign that sawing wood is what he was intended for.” -Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910))

“That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time.” -Charles Caleb Colton

“The fact that writers will go through so much to remain writers says something perhaps everything. It would be far easier (and nearly always more profitable) to become a real estate agent.” -Maria Lenhart

“I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog.” -Sandra Cisneros

This is MFOL! . . . brought to you by the magic of words . . . each one a tiny magician with hidden superpowers . . .

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Risks and Rewards

5/6/2020

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All things considered, activities such as skydiving are less dangerous to your health and longevity than eating starchy foods and staring at a computer screen day after day . . . give yourself a break!

“When we try to be safe, we live our lives being very, very careful; and we wind up having no lives.” -Byron Katie (Byron Kathleen ‘Katie’ Mitchell (born 1942))

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” -John Heywood (1497 - 1580): “A Dialogue of Proverbs” (1546)

“You have to be careful about being too careful.” -Beryl Pfizer (1928 - 2016)

“Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 per week.” -Author Unknown: Pony Express advertisement (1860)

“What is life, but one long risk?” -Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879 - 1958)

“Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.” -Bertrand Russell (Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872 - 1970))

“I risked much, but I made much.” -P. T. Barnum (Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810 - 1891))

“All men’s gains are the fruit of venturing.” -Herodotus (484 B.C.E. - 425 B.C.E.)

“The greatest rewards in life go to the risk takers.” -Jim McCormick (James ‘Jim’ McCormick (1856 - 1918))

“Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.” -David Lloyd George (1863 - 1945)

“They say we are all one risk away from being financially independent.” -Author Unknown

“‘You’ve got to be able to make those daring leaps or you’re nowhere,’ said Muskrat.” -Russell Hoban (Russell Conwell Hoban (1925 - 2011)): “The Mouse and His Child” (1967)

The Cautious Man

There was a very cautious man
     Who never laughed or played.
He never risked, he never tried,
     He never sang or prayed.
And when he one day passed away,
     His insurance was denied.
For since he never really lived,
     They claimed he never died.

by Author Unknown

“Ever since I started flying jets I’ve been driving cars slower and slower. I can’t explain why - just cautious.” -James Jabara (1923 - 1966)

“Being on the tightrope is living; everything else is waiting.” -Karl Wallenda (1905 - 1978)

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Aaron!
Aaron, who?
Aaron on the side of caution!

“If you want something you have never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done.” -Hank Aaron (Henry Louis ‘Hank’ Aaron (born 1934))

“Stop being afraid of what could go wrong, and start being excited about what could go right.” -Author Unknown

“There is no security on this Earth; there is only opportunity.” -Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964)

“And the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.” -Erica Jong (Erica Mann Jong (born 1942))

“There’s as much risk in doing nothing as in doing something.” -Trammell Crow (Fred ‘Trammell’ Crow (1914 - 2009))

“Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.” -H. Jackson Brown, Junior (Harriett Jackson Brown, Junior (born 1940))

“The greatest risk is to risk nothing at all.” -Leo Buscaglia (Felice Leonardo ‘Leo’ Buscaglia, also known as Leo F. Buscaglia (1924 - 1998))

“There’s no such thing as a risk-free life.” -Author Unknown

“Just remember, kid: if it doesn’t kill you, it makes a great story later on.” -Adam Savage (Adam Whitney Savage (born 1967))

“Take risks - if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.” -Author Unknown

“You fail by not taking risks.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Land is always in the mind of the flying birds.” -Author Unknown

“Better hazard once than always be in fear.” -Thomas Fuller (1608 - 1661)

“The only way to be absolutely safe is never to try anything for the first time.” -Magnus Pyke (Magnus Alfred Pyke (1908 - 1992))

“If you’re never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances.” -Julia Sorel (pseudonym of Rosalyn Drexler): “See How She Runs” (1978)

“Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.” -Herodotus (484 B.C.E. - 425 B.C.E.)

“Anything can be achieved in small, deliberate steps. But there are times you need the courage to take a great leap; you can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.” -David Lloyd George (1863 - 1945)

“It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true.” -William James (1842 - 1910): “Is Life Worth Living?” (1895)

“Security is not the meaning of my life. Great opportunities are worth the risk.” -Shirley Hufstedler (Shirley Ann Mount Hufstedler (1925 - 2016))

“Don’t be careful. You could hurt yourself.” -Byron Katie (Byron Kathleen ‘Katie’ Mitchell (born 1942))

“Half the failures of this world arise from pulling in one’s horse as he is leaping.” -Augustus Hare (Augustus William Hare (1792 - 1834))

“Playing it safe is the riskiest choice we can ever make.” -Sarah Ban Breathnach (born 1947)

“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.” -George S. Patton (George Smith Patton, Junior (1885 - 1945))

“Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all that he can.” -Henry Drummond (1851 - 1897)

“Don’t play for safety. It’s the most dangerous thing in the world.” -Hugh Walpole (Hugh Seymour ‘Hugh’ Walpole (1884 - 1941))

“Every noble acquisition is attended with its risks; he who fears to encounter the one must not expect to obtain the other.” -Pietro Metastasio (pseudonym of Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (1698 - 1782))

“Leap, and the net will appear.” -John Burroughs (1837 - 1921)

“Look before you leap.” -Robert Greene (1558 - 1592): “Greenes Never Too Late” (1590)

“The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” -Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964)

“When you play it too safe, you’re taking the biggest risk of your life. Time is the only wealth we’re given.” -Barbara Sher (born 1935)

“Naught venture, naught have.” -Thomas Tusser (about 1524 - 1580)

“If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.” -Neil Simon (Marvin ‘Neil’ Simon (1927 - 2018))

“There is no safety. Only varying degrees of risk.” -Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949)

“Playing safe is probably the most unsafe thing in the world. You cannot stand still. You must go forward.” -Robert Collier (1885 - 1950)

“He that would have the fruit must climb the tree.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732)

“Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinion of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on Earth for you. Act for yourself.” -Katherine Mansfield (Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp Murry (1888 - 1923)): “Journal” (14 October 1922)

“If you don’t live on the edge, you can’t see the view.” -Vicky Corrington

“Take a risk a day - one small or bold stroke that makes you feel great once you’ve done it.” -Susan Jeffers (1938 - 2012)

Who Am I?

Who am I?
Where you go, I go.
I am always there,
I am built into everything.
Though perhaps you think of me not,
Though perhaps you do not even know,
I am dangerous.
There are stairs to fall down,
Curbs to trip over.
Falling trees.
Yet also new friendships, gardens to grow.
There is rejection, failure, disappointment.
There is acceptance, success, satisfaction.
I await you in every new attempt.
I am every risk you take,
And every risk you do not take.

by David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Yes, risk taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking.” -Tim McMahon (born 1949)

“The successful man is the one who had the chance and took it.” -Roger Babson (1875 - 1967)

“If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.” -Colin Cowherd (Colin Murray Cowherd (born 1964))

“Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.” -Author Unknown

“The biggest risk you will ever take is not taking one at all.” -Author Unknown

“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnagey (1888 - 1955)))

“If you take no risks, you’ll never be hurt, but you won’t really live, either.” -James Shiovitz (James Lowell Shiovitz (born 1949))

“It is not given us to live lives of undisrupted calm, boredom, and mediocrity. It is given us to be edge-dwellers.” -Jay Deacon (F. Jay Deacon)

“Live dangerously and you live right.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

“We fail more often by timidity than by over-daring.” -David Grayson (1870 - 1946)

“The secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and greatest enjoyment is - to live dangerously!” -Friedrich Nietzsche (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)): “Die fröhliche Wissenschaft” (English: “The Gay Science”) (1882), book 4

“If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.” -Geena Davis (Virginia Elizabeth ‘Geena’ Davis (born 1956))

“The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.” -Alfred Adler (1870 - 1937): as attributed in Ichak Adizes: “How to Solve the Mismanagement Crisis” (1979)

Affirmation: “I will subject myself to life’s challenges so that I may know the grace of survival.” -Author Unknown

Overheard: Take a chance; you never know what might happen.

“Who dares nothing, need hope for nothing.” -Johann von Schiller (Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805)): “Don Carlos” (1787) play

“The biggest rewards usually go to those who take the biggest risks.” -Author Unknown

“Of course risk taking does not always pay off. But it’s a lot of fun!” -Mary Wesley (born Mary Aline Mynors Farmar (1912 - 2002))

“He that is overcautious will accomplish nothing.” [translation to English]
“Wer gar zu viel bedenkt, wird wenig leisten.” [original German]
-Friedrich von Schiller (Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805)): “Wilhelm Tell” (1804)

“The desire for security stands against every great and noble enterprise.” -Tacitus (about C.E. 56 - about C.E. 120)

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” -T. S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965))

“If it’s both terrifying and amazing, then you should definitely pursue it.” -Erada Svetlana

“It is when we all play safe that we create a world of utmost insecurity.” -Dag Hammarskjöld (1905 - 1961)

“Without the very few risk takers who risk it all, none of us would enjoy freedom, because tyrants and oppressors are tireless and fearless in their determination to control humanity and the world, and the majority will do absolutely nothing to stop them.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“If you don’t take risks, you will always work for someone who does.” -Author Unknown

“Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.” -Denis Waitley (Denis E. Waitley (born 1933))

“Everything is a risk. What if it doesn’t work out? Oh - but what if it does?” -Mary Engelbreit (born 1952)

“Dare to be what you ought to be; dare to be what you dream to be; dare to be the finest you can be. The more you dare, the surer you will be of gaining just what you dare!” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

This is MFOL! . . . the website for hard-working people like you . . .

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Wishes and Wishing

4/30/2020

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Have you ever made a wish on a dandelion flower that has gone to seed, and then blew the tiny seed tufts into the breeze?

“Few wishes come true by themselves.” -June Smith

“Make a wish . . . then make it happen!” -Author Unknown

“We can do whatever we wish to do, provided our wish is strong enough. But the tremendous effort needed - one doesn’t always want to make it - does one? . . . But what else can be done? What’s the alternative? What do you want most to do? That’s what I have to keep asking myself, in the face of difficulties.” -Katherine Mansfield (Katherine Mansfield Beauchamp Murry (1888 - 1923))

Wishes

If wishes were horses,
     beggars would ride.
If turnips were watches,
     I’d wear one by my side.
If ‘ifs’ and ‘ands’
     Were pots and pans,
There’d be no work
     for tinkers’ hands!

by Author Unknown

“They told us not to wish in the first place, not to aspire, not to try; to be quiet, to play nice, to shoot low, and aspire not at all. They are always wrong. Follow your dreams. Make your wishes. Create the future. And above all, believe in yourself.” -J. Michael Straczynski

“A wish is a desire without an attempt.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in “Reader’s Digest”

“It is always wise to stop wishing for things long enough to enjoy the fragrance of those now flowering.” -Patricia Clafford (Mary ‘Patricia’ (Wise) Clafford (1900 - 1998))

“Wishes are the echo of a lazy will.” -Author Unknown

It’s your birthday . . . make a secret wish and blow out the candles! What did you wish for - wait, it’s a ‘secret’ wish, so you can’t tell anyone or it might not come true!

“Work will win when wishy washy wishing won’t.” -Thomas S. Monson (born 1927)

“Any Fish You Wish.” -Author Unknown: sign at Larry’s Fish House in the movie “The Flamingo Kid” (21 December 1984)

This one makes a net,
     this one stands and wishes.
Would you like to make a bet -
     which one gets the fishes?
-Author Unknown

“Stop saying, ‘I wish,’ and start saying, ‘I will.’” -Author Unknown

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. Don’t let yourself indulge in vain wishes.” -Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

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l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ www.MakeFunOfLife.net ♥ l o v e ☼ g r o w
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Away with Wishing!

If wishing were being, we’d all be beautiful,
     Healthy and wealthy, wise and dutiful;
If wishing were having - what pleasure untold;
     With a heartful of joy and purseful of gold!

But wishes, alas! are but empty bubbles,
     And the longing heart may teem with troubles,
So idle wishing is vain, forsooth
     As the endless search for the fountain of youth.

But work that holds wealth may be had for the taking,
     Though it may not bring health, ’tis a balm for heart-aching;
And study makes wise, and love, people say,
     Gives the beauty that’s truest, which lasts for aye.

Then away with wishing; and ho! for labor!
     And ho! for love - each one for his neighbor!
For a life of labor and study and love
     Is the life that fits for the joy above.

by Emma C. Dowd (1851 - 1938)

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l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ www.MakeFunOfLife.net ♥ l o v e ☼ g r o w
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“Don’t wish for it . . . work for it!” -Author Unknown

“We will receive not what we idly wish for but what we justly earn. Our rewards will always be in exact proportion to our service.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“You don’t get what you want in life just by wishing.” -Author Unknown

“Many of us spend half our time wishing for things we could have if we didn’t spend half our time wishing.” -Alexander Woollcott (Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (1887 - 1943))

“We wish upon stars, coins tossed into fountains and wishing wells, birthday candles, wishbones, and dandelion tufts . . . perhaps it is time we placed our wishes upon hard work and made our dreams come true.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however.” -Richard Bach (Richard David Bach (born 1936)): “Illusions” (1977)

We are MFOL! . . . may your every good wish come true . . .

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Habits and Routines

4/25/2020

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“Consider carefully all things that you do, because a single choice - even if you tell yourself it will be only just this once - can begin the establishment of either a good or a bad habit.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“It takes a few weeks of work to build a new habit. Once the habit is in place, it must be guarded diligently to prevent a reversion to the old ways, but keeping watch is not stressful or difficult once the new habit is secure.” -Charlotte Mason

Good Habit

I dreamed that I found a good habit,
It scurried and skipped like a rabbit.
     It was shiny and neat,
     Polite and quite sweet,
But escaped when I reached out to grab it.

by Author Unknown

“Focus on the good habit you want to do, not the bad habit you don’t want to do. Overcome the bad with good.” -Joyce Meyer (born Pauline Joyce Hutchison (born 1943))

“All bad habits start gradually and before you know you have the habit, the habit has you.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

“Folks with good habits also seem to have most of the good luck.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in “The Country Parson”

“Habits of thinking need not be forever. One of the most significant findings in psychology in the last twenty years is that individuals can choose the way they think.” -Martin Seligman (Martin E. P. ‘Marty’ Seligman (born 1942)): “Learned Optimism” (1991)

“Habits form character and character is destiny.” -Joseph Kaines: “Our Daily Faults and Failings” (21 October 1883) address

Habit

How shall I a habit break?
     As you did that habit make.
As you gathered, you must lose;
     As you yielded, now refuse.
Thread by thread the strands we twist
     Till they bind us, neck and wrist.
Thread by thread the patient hand
     Must untwine, ere free we stand.
As we builded, stone by stone,
     We must toil, unhelped, alone,
     Till the wall is overthrown.

by John Boyle O’Reilly (1844 - 1890): “A Builder’s Lesson”

“Repetition of the same thought or physical action develops into a habit which, repeated frequently enough, becomes an automatic reflex.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

“Every grown-up man consists wholly of habits, although he is often unaware of it and even denies having any habits at all.” -Georges Gurdjieff (1866 - 1949)

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” -John C. Maxwell (John Calvin Maxwell (born 1947))

“Everybody ought to do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.” -William James (1842 - 1910)

“Any act often repeated soon forms a habit: and habit allowed, steadily gains in strength. At first it may be but as the spider’s web, easily broken through, but if not resisted it soon binds us with chains of steel.” -Tryon Edwards (1809 - 1894): as quoted in Tryon Edwards, editor: “A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern” (1891), page 212

“Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.” -Agatha Christie (Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie (1890 - 1976))

“Make it a point to do something every day that you don’t want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.” -Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910)): “Following the Equator” (1897)

“Powerful indeed is the empire of habit.” -Syrus (Publilius Syrus (85 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.))

“Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915))

“The fixity of habit is generally in direct proportion to its absurdity.” -Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)

Each year one vicious habit rooted out,
In time might make the worst Man good throughout.
-Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790): “Poor Richard’s Almanack” (1738)

“Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity.” -Augustine of Hippo (also known as Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis (C.E. 354 - C.E. 430)): as quoted in James Wood, editor: “Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources” (1899), page 138

“Only a habit can subdue another habit.” -Og Mandino (Augustine ‘Og’ Mandino II (1923 - 1996)): “The Greatest Salesman in the World” (1968)

“The unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.” -W. Somerset Maugham (William Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965))

“Good habits once established are just as hard to break as bad habits.” -Robert Puller

To rise at six, to dine at ten,
To sup at six, to sleep at ten,
Makes a man live for ten times ten.
-Author Unknown: inscription in Victor Hugo’s study

“Good habits result from resisting temptation.” -Author Unknown

“A nail is driven out by another nail, habit is overcome by habit.” [English translation]
“Clavus clavo pellitur, consuetudo consuetudine vincitur.” [original Latin]
-Erasmus (Desiderius Gerhard Erasmus (1469 - 1536)): “Diluculum”

“Old habits are strong and jealous.” -Dorothea Brande (1893 - 1948)

“Habit is a cable; we weave a thread each day, and at last we cannot break it.” -Horace Mann (1796 - 1859)

“Choose always the way that seems the best, however rough it may be; custom will soon render it easy and agreeable.” -Pythagoras of Samos (about 570 B.C.E. - about 496 B.C.E.): as quoted in Tryon Edwards, editor: “A Dictionary of Thoughts: Being a Cyclopedia of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, both Ancient and Modern” (1908), page 101

“It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky (Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821 - 1881))

“We are what we repeatedly do.” -Aristotle (384 B.C.E. - 322 B.C.E.)

“A habit is something you can do without thinking - which is why most of us have so many of them.” -Frank A. Clark (Frank Atherton Clark (1911 - 1991))

“Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow.” -Author Unknown: Yiddish proverb

In ways and thoughts of weakness and of wrong,
Threads turn to cords, and cords to cables strong.
-Isaac Williams (1802 - 1865): “The Baptistery, Or the Way of Eternal Life” (1842 - 1844), ‘Image 18’

“Not for nothing is habit called a second and a kind of manufactured nature.” -Augustine of Hippo (also known as Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis (C.E. 354 - C.E. 430)): “On Music” (C.E. 389), Book VI, chapter 19

Overheard: Sorry, force of habit!

“Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.” -Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910)): “Pudd’nhead Wilson” (1894), chapter 15 epigraph: ‘Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar’

Ill habits gather by unseen degrees,
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.
-Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C.E. - C.E. 17 or 18)): “Metamorphoses” (about C.E. 2), Book XV: ‘The Worship of Aesculapius, lines 155 and 156; as translated by John Dryden (1700)

“Make good habits and they will make you.” -Parks Cousins

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“A single bad habit will mar an otherwise faultless character, as an ink-drop soileth the pure white page.” -Hosea Ballou (1771 - 1852)

Habit with him was all the test of truth;
“It must be right: I’ve done it from my youth.”
-George Crabbe (1754 - 1832): “The Borough” (1810), Letter 3: ‘The Vicar’

“Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you.” -Rob Gilbert

“To uproot an old habit is sometimes a more painful thing, and vastly more difficult, than to wrench out a tooth.” -Samuel Smiles (1812 - 1904): “Self-Help; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct” (1859), chapter 13: ‘Character: The True Gentleman’

“The will that yields the first time with some reluctance does so the second time with less hesitation, and the third time with none at all, until presently the habit is adopted.” -Henry Giles (1809 - 1882)

“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” -John Dryden (1631 - 1700)

“Habit is stronger than nature.” [English translation]
“Consuetudo natura potentior est.” [original Latin]
-Quintus Curtius Rufus: “De Rebus Gestis Alexandri Magni,” V, 5, 21

“A large part of Christian virtue consists in right habits.” -William Paley (1743 - 1805)

“Habit is a compromise effected between an individual and his environment.” -Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989): “Proust” (1930) essay

“Each day, compel yourself to do something you would rather not do.” -Author Unknown

“The best way to stop a bad habit is to never begin it.” -J. C. Penney (James Cash ‘J. C.’ Penney (1875 - 1971))

“First we form habits, then they form us.” -Rob Gilbert

“We must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can.” -William James (1842 - 1910)

“The habits you practice every day will make you or break you.” -John C. Maxwell (John Calvin Maxwell (born 1947))

“The secret to permanently breaking any bad habit is to love something greater than the habit.” -Bryant McGill (Bryant H. McGill (born 1969))

“Habit is, as it were, a second nature.” [English translation]
“Consuetude quasi altera natura effici.” [original Latin]
-Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero, also known as Tully (106 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.)): “De finibus bonorum et malorum” (“On the ends of good and evil”) (45 B.C.E.) V, 25, ’Tusculanarum Disputationum,’ II, 17

“It’s not what you do once in a while, it’s what you do day in and day out that makes the difference.” -Jenny Craig (born 1932)

“The worst boss anyone can have is a bad habit.” -Monta Crane (Monta Mildred Henrichs Crane (1911 - 2009))

“Every day do at least one good thing.” [English translation in English characters]
“Ichi nichi, ichi zen.” [original Japanese in English characters]
「毎日少なくとも1つ良いことをする。」[original Japanese in Japanese characters]
-Author Unknown: Japanese proverb

“Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.” -Author Unknown

“The way you react has been repeated thousands of times, and it has become a routine for you. You are conditioned to be a certain way. And that is the challenge: to change your normal reactions, to change your routine, to take a risk and make different choices.” -Don Miguel Ruiz (pseudonym of Miguel Ángel Ruiz Macias (born 1952))

“Habit had made the custom.” [English translation]
“Morem fecerat usus.” [original Latin]
-Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C.E. - C.E. 17.)): “Metamorphoses,” II, line 345

“If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten.” -Jane Kirkpatrick (born 1946): “What Once We Loved” (2001)

“Infinite toil would not enable you to sweep away a mist, but by ascending a little you may often look over it altogether. So it is with our moral improvement; we wrestle fiercely with a vicious habit, which could have no hold upon us if we ascended to a higher atmosphere.” -Arthur Helps (1813 - 1875)

“Habits change into character.” -Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C.E. - C.E. 17 or 18.))

“Habits are formed by the repetition of particular acts. They are strengthened by an increase in the number of repeated acts. Habits are also weakened or broken, and contrary habits are formed, by the repetition of contrary acts.” -Mortimer J. Adler (Mortimer Jerome Adler (1902 - 2001))

“Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters.” -Nathanael Emmons (also spelled Nathaniel Emmons (1745 - 1840))

“Read something positive every night and listen to something helpful every morning.” -Tom Hopkins (born 1944)

“The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt till they are too strong to be broken.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784): as quoted in “The Guardian” (May 1871) magazine, volume XXII

“Habit is more important in determining our destiny than almost any other influence.” -Author Unknown

“Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.” -Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888)

“A bad habit is nothing more than a mistake repeated.” -Author Unknown

“We should get into the habit of reading inspirational books, looking at inspirational pictures, hearing inspirational music, associating with inspirational friends.” -Alfred A. Montapert (Alfred Armand Montapert (1906 - 1997))

“Nothing is stronger than habit.” [English translation]
“Nil consuetudine majus.” [original Latin]
-Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C.E. - C.E. 17 or 18.)): “Ars Amatoria,” II, line 345

“It is worth a thousand pounds a year to have the habit of looking on the bright side of things.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“Pursuits become habits.” [English translation]
“Abeunt studia in mores.” [original Latin]
-Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C.E. - C.E. 17 or 18.)): “Heroides,” XV, line 83

“It takes 3 weeks to break a habit, 6 weeks to develop a new habit, and 36 weeks to hardwire this new habit.” -Patrick Holford

“The secret of your success is hidden in your daily habits.” -Mike Murdock (born 1946)

“I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.” -Charles Dickens (Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812 - 1870))

This is MFOL! . . . if it’s getting to be a habit, at least it’s a good one!

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Procrastination and Procrastinating

4/24/2020

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“Don’t put off till tomorrow what can be enjoyed today.” -Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw (1818 - 1885))

They said ‘procrastination’ was
     The source of all my sorrow
I don’t know what that big word means -
     I’ll look it up tomorrow
-Author Unknown

Jimmy: Can you give me the definition of procrastination?
Jenny: I will do it later.
Jimmy: You are right!

procrastination is the
art of keeping
up with yesterday
-Don Marquis (Donald Robert Perry ‘Don’ Marquis (1878 - 1937)): “the lives and times of archy & mehitabel” (1940), using lower case letters and no punctuation, in the style of the fictional writer character he created

“Procrastination makes easy things hard, hard things harder.” -Mason Cooley (1927 - 2002)

“Slaying the dragon of delay is no sport for the short-winded.” -Sandra Day O’Connor (born 1930)

“Procrastination is not laziness,” I tell him. “It is fear. Call it by its right name, and forgive yourself.” -Julia Cameron (Julia B. Cameron (born 1948)): “The Prosperous Heart” (2012)

“It was my fear of failure that first kept me from attempting the master work. Now, I’m beginning what I could have started ten years ago. But I’m happy at least that I didn’t wait twenty years.” -Paulo Coelho (born 1947)

“Join the circus of chaos . . . juggling, stilt walking, and other skills for socially acceptable procrastination.” -Pat Murphy (Patrice Ann ‘Pat’ Murphy (born 1955))

“Every duty which is bidden to wait, returns with seven fresh duties at its back.” -Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875): “Sermons for the Times” (1855)

“In delay there lies no plenty.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

Overheard: I bought a book titled “How to Stop Procrastinating,” and I have promised myself that someday, I am going to actually read it.

“Do not put your work off till tomorrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn.” -Hesiod (about 800 B.C.E. - about 720 B.C.E.)

“When we procrastinate, we also put a hold on happiness.” -Charles F. Glassman

“I’m a multi-tasking procrastinator . . . I can put off all kinds of things at once.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done.” -Aaron Burr (Aaron Burr, Junior (1756 - 1836)): as quoted in Jacob Morton Braude: “The Complete Art of Public Speaking” (1970), page 84

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” -Stephen King (born 1947)

“The dread of doing a task uses up more time and energy than doing the task itself.” -Rita Emmett (1943 - 2019)

“Things dreaded require double time to accomplish them.” -James Lendall Basford (1845 - 1915)

“If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.” -Ivan Turgenev (Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818 - 1883))

“Begin while others are procrastinating. Work while others are wishing.” -William A. Ward (William Arthur Ward (1921 - 1994))

“If you wait until all the lights are ‘green’ before you leave home, you’ll never get started on your trip to the top.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

“KISS Procrastination Away: Keep It Super Simple, Keep It Step-by-Step, Keep It Scheduled and Systematic.” -Lisa A. Mininni (Lisa Ann Mininni (born 1954))

“How soon ‘not now’ becomes ‘never’.” -Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)

“Doing just a little bit during the time we have available puts you that much further ahead than if you took no action at all.” -Byron Pulsifer (Byron R. Pulsifer), website https://www.quoteschristian.com

“Someday is not a day of the week.” -Janet Dailey (Janet Anne Haradon Dailey (1944 - 2013))

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” -Anne Frank (1929 - 1945): “The Diary of a Young Girl” (1952)

Lose This Day Loitering

Lose this day loitering - ‘twill be the same story
     To-morrow - and the next more dilatory;
Each indecision brings its own delays,
     And days are lost lamenting o’er lost days,
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute -
     Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated -
     Begin it, and then the work will be completed!

by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 - 1832): “Faust,” Part 1 (1808) and Part 2 (1832)

Overheard: Some tasks have to be put off dozens of times before they will completely slip your mind.

“Things don’t get any easier by putting them off.” -W. Somerset Maugham (William Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965)): “The Razor’s Edge” (1943)

Shun delays, they breed remorse;
     Take thy time while time is lent thee;
Creeping snails have weakest force,
     Fly their fault lest thou repent thee.
Good is best when soonest wrought,
     Linger’d labours come to nought.
-Robert Southwell (1561 - 1595): “Loss in Delay”; as quoted in William B. Turnbull, editor: “The Poetical Works of the Rev. Robert Southwell” (1856)

“I’m very busy doing things I don’t need to do in order to avoid anything I’m actually supposed to be doing.” -Author Unknown

“Do you know what happens when you give a procrastinator a good idea? Nothing!” -Donald Gardner

“Waiting to develop courage is just another form of procrastination. We must take action while we’re afraid.” -Author Unknown

“A procrastinator’s work is never done.” -Author Unknown

“Getting an idea should be like sitting on a pin; it should make you jump up and do something.” -E. L. Simpson

“Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” -Thomas Draxe (birth year unknown - 1618): “Adages” (1616)

“Remember, action today can prevent a crisis tomorrow.” -Steve Shallenberger (Steven R. Shallenberger (born 1958)): “Becoming Your Best: The 12 Principles of Highly Successful Leaders” (2014)

“What is deferred is not avoided.” -Thomas More (1478 - 1535): “Utopia” (1516)

Procrastination is the thief of time:
     Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves
     The vast concerns of an eternal scene.
-Edward Young (1683 - 1765): “Night Thoughts” (1742 - 1745), line 393

“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” -Charles Dickens (Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812 - 1870))

“Procrastination is a road-block in the path of success.” -Author Unknown

“The habit of always putting off an experience until you can afford it, or until the time is right, or until you know how to do it, is one of the greatest burglars of joy. Be deliberate, but once you’ve made up your mind - jump in.” -Charles R. Swindoll (Charles Rozell ‘Chuck’ Swindoll (born 1934)): “Living on the Ragged Edge” (1985), page 110

“Often greater risk is involved in postponement than in making a wrong decision.” -Harry A. Hopf (Harry Arthur Hopf (1882 - 1949))

“Procrastination is something best put off until tomorrow.” -Gerald Vaughan

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnagey (1888 - 1955))): “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” (1948)

“I’m going to stop putting things off, starting tomorrow!” -Sam Levenson (Samuel ‘Sam’ Levenson (1911 - 1980))

“What may be done at any Time will be done at no Time.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 5500

“Procrastination is a teardrop in the sands of time.” -Heath Byers

“One of these days is none of these days.” -H. G. Bohn (Henry George Bohn (1796 - 1884))

“If you procrastinate when faced with a big, difficult problem . . . break the problem into parts, and handle one part at a time.” -Robert Collier (1885 - 1950)

“It has been a productive day - I got a lot of procrastinating accomplished.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“The man who will not act until he knows all will never act at all . . .” -Jim Elliot (1927 - 1956)

“Procrastination usually results in sorrowful regret. Today’s duties put off until tomorrow give us a double burden to bear; the best way is to do them in their proper time.” -Ida Scott Taylor (Ida Scott Taylor McKinney (1855 - 1932))

“The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.” -Richard Cushing (Richard James Cushing (1895 - 1970))

“There are those of us who are always about to live. We are waiting until things change, until there is more time, until we are less tired, until we get a promotion, until we settle down - until, until, until. It always seems as if there is some major event that must occur in our lives before we begin living.” -George Sheehan (1918 - 1993)

“One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” -Paulo Coelho (born 1947)

Defer not till to-morrow to be wise,
To-morrow’s Sun to thee may never rise.
-William Congreve (1670 - 1729): “Letter to Cobham,” line 61

“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon ‘Napoleon’ Hill (1883 - 1970))

“Putting off an easy thing makes it hard. Putting off a hard thing makes it impossible.” -George Claude Lorimer (1838 - 1904): as quoted in George Horace Lorimer (1867 - 1937): “Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son” (1902), ‘June 25, 189-,’ page 48

“While we are postponing, life speeds by.” -Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))

“I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung.” -Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

“You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” -Jerry Alan West (Jerome ‘Jerry’ Alan West (born 1938))

“Postpone not a good action.” -Author Unknown: Irish proverb

“If you put off everything till you’re sure of it, you’ll never get anything done.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

All the Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
Layin’ in the Sun,
Talkin’ bout the things
They woulda-coulda-shoulda done . . .
But those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All ran away and hid
From one little did.
-Shel Silverstein (Sheldon Allan ‘Shel’ Silverstein (1930 - 1999)): “Falling Up” (1996)

“Let’s get started while we’re still young!” -Author Unknown: comment made by a man who was seventy-five years of age

“By the street of By-and-By, one arrives at the House of Never.” -Miguel de Cervantes (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547 - 1616)): “Don Quixote” (1605)

“I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work.” -Pearl S. Buck (Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892 - 1973))

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Butter.
Butter, who?
Butter late than never!

“Don’t put off for tomorrow what you should do today.” -Aesop: “The Grasshopper and the Ants” (about 6th century B.C.E.)

“By one delay after another they spin out their whole lives, till there’s no more future left for them.” -Roger L’Estrange (1616 - 1704)

“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970))

“He who hesitates is last.” -Mae West

“If you have goals and procrastination, you have nothing. If you have goals and you take action, you will have anything you want.” -Thomas J. Vilord (Thomas Joseph Vilord (born 1975))

“Always put off till tomorrow what you should not do at all.” -Author Unknown

“A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.” -Hunter S. Thompson (Hunter Stockton Thompson (1937 - 2005)): “The Proud Highway” (1997)

“Following through is the only thing that separates dreamers from people that accomplish great things.” -Gene Hayden

“If and When were planted, and Nothing grew.” -Catherine Pulsifer (born 1927): “If and When,” website https://www.quoteschristian.com

“There is no avoidance in delay.” -Aeschylus (about 525 B.C.E. - about 456 B.C.E.): “Agamemnon” (about 458 B.C.E.)

“Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment.” -Robert Benchley (Robert Charles Benchley (1889 - 1945)): as quoted in Robert E. Drennan, editor: “The Algonquin Wits” (1968)

“If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.” -Rita Mae Brown (born 1944)

Overheard: I am just waiting to do my work at the last minute, because by then I will be older and wiser.

“Often just by taking action, by doing something about the situation, you can relieve the stress and help correct the situation.” -Catherine Pulsifer (born 1927), website https://www.quoteschristian.com

“He who begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.” -Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 B.C.E. - 8 B.C.E.))

“The really happy people are those who have broken the chains of procrastination, those who find satisfaction in doing the job at hand. They’re full of eagerness, zest, productivity. You can be, too.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

This is MFOL! . . . by choosing to make ‘someday’ into ‘today,’ we can make the future even greater than the present . . .

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Impossible and Possible

4/17/2020

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“I’ve always had the feeling that nothing is impossible if one applies a certain amount of energy in the right direction. If you want to do it, you can do it.” -Nellie Bly (pseudonym of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (1864 - 1922))

“Impossible things are simply those which so far have never been done.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915))

“You can’t pick a lock with a pickle, you can’t cure the sick with a sickle, pluck figs with a figment, drive pigs with a pigment, nor make your watch tick with a tickle. You can’t slacken your gait with a gaiter, you can’t get a crate with a crater, catch moles with a molar, or bake rolls with a roller. But you can get a wait from a waiter.” -Author Unknown: in “Sunshine Magazine”

“Never let the word ‘impossible’ stop you from pursuing what your heart and spirit urge you to do. Impossible things come true every day.” -Robert Cooper

“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.” -Vince Lombardi (Vincent Thomas Lombardi (1913 - 1970))

“Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.” -Author Unknown

“I’m always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.” -Vincent van Gogh (Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890)): letter (1885) to Anthon van Rappard

“When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible.” -Nancy Coey

“The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.” -Richard M. DeVos (Richard Marvin DeVos, Senior (1926 - 2018))

“I have learned to use the word ‘impossible’ with the greatest caution.” -Wernher von Braun (Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun (1912 - 1977))

“I believe anything is possible. Research into quantum physics proves that a system changes simply by someone observing it. Therefore, all you have to do is be awake and aware of your environment, and that enables you to transform everything around you. It sounds like hocus pocus, but scientists are coming to realize that just thinking about something can make it happen. Turns out maybe faith can move mountains.” -Christine Anderson

“Most of the things worth doing in the world were said to be impossible before they were done.” -Louis Brandeis (Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856 - 1941))

“Things that are impossible just take longer.” -Ian Hickson

“Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.” -Doug Larson (1902 - 1981)

“Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said. ‘One can’t believe impossible things.’ ‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it half an hour a day. Why, sometimes, I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’” -Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 - 1898)): “Through the Looking-Glass” (1872), chapter 5

“What is impossible today that if made possible would change everything?” -Joel Barker

“If you develop the absolute sense of certainty that powerful beliefs provide, then you can get yourself to accomplish virtually anything, including those things that other people are certain are impossible.” -William L. Phelps (William Lyon Phelps (1865 - 1943))

“The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer.” -Fridtjof Nansen (1861 - 1930): as quoted in the “Listener” (14 December 1939)

“The impossible is often the untried.” -Jim Goodwin

“It is our duty as human beings to proceed as though the limits of our capabilities do not exist.” -Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881 - 1955)

“Impossible: Something that nobody can do - until somebody does it!” -Author Unknown

“We have no limits - we create them in our mind.” -Bud LaBranche

“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” -Arthur C. Clarke (Arthur Charles Clarke (1917 - 2008))

“Yes, you can be a dreamer and a doer too, if you will remove one word from your vocabulary: impossible.” -Robert Schuller (Robert Harold Schuller (1926 - 2015))

“There is nothing impossible to him who will try.” -Alexander of Macedonia (also known as Alexander the Great (356 B.C.E. - 323 B.C.E.))

“Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.” -John Heywood (about 1497 - 1580): “Proverbs” (1546)

“The impossible is possible if you want it to be.” -Author Unknown

“Nothing is impossible.” -Author Unknown

“Everything is always impossible before it works.” -Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

“What we need are more people who specialize in the impossible.” -Theodore Roethke (1908 - 1963)

“Nothing is impossible; the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” -Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993)

“You can do the impossible, because you have been through the unimaginable.” -Christina Rasmussen (born 1972)

“When someone tells you that you can’t do something, perhaps you should consider that they are only telling you what they can’t do.” -Sheldon Cahoon

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” -Francis of Assisi (1181 - 1226)

“It is impossible to walk rapidly and be unhappy.” -Howard Murray

“It is the act of a madman to pursue impossibilities.” -Marcus Aurelius (also known as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (C.E. 121 - C.E. 180))

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” -Author Unknown

“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” -Jamie Paolinetti (born 1964)

“It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.” -Robert H. Goddard (Robert Hutchings ‘Bob’ Goddard (1882 - 1945))

“There is no limitation other than what you think.” -Kenneth Mills

“You have to believe in the impossible.” -Howard Head

“To get profit without risk, experience without danger, and reward without work is as impossible as it is to live without being born.” -A. P. Gouthey (Aldolph Philip Gouthey (some sources may show Adolph Philip Gouthey) (1892 - 1963))

“All things are possible until they are proved impossible and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.” -Pearl S. Buck (Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892 - 1973)): “A Bridge for Passing” (1962)

“You cannot make a silk purse of a sow’s ear.” -Stephen Gosson (1554 - 1624): “The Ephemerides of Phialo” (1579)

“So many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible.” -Norton Juster (born 1929): “The Phantom Tollbooth” (1961)

“To believe a Business impossible, is the Way to make it so.” -Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 5138

“A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” -Walter Bagehot (1826 - 1877)

“If you will tell me why the fen* appears impassable, I then will tell you why I think that I can cross it if I try.” -Marianne Moore (1887 - 1972)
*fen: a wetland or often flooded area.

“Knowledge of what is possible is the beginning of happiness.” -George Santayana (1863 - 1952)

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” -Author Unknown: Adidas print advertisement published in “ESPN” (1972) magazine, as attributed in John C. Maxwell (John Calvin Maxwell (born 1947)): “The Difference Maker” (2006), page 53

“Don’t undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.” -Edwin Land

“Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.” -Cherie Carter-Scott (born 1949)

“Anything in life is possible if you make it happen. And it’s never too late.” -Jack LaLanne (François Henri ’Jack’ LaLanne (1914 - 2011))

“What is now proven was once only imagined.” -William Blake (1757 - 1827): “Proverbs of Hell” (1790 - 1793)

“To the timid and hesitating everything is impossible because it seems so.” -Walter Scott

“Nothing is impossible to industry*.” -Periander (about 625 B.C.E. - 585 B.C.E.)
*industry: hard work.

“Impossibility simply means ‘I’m possibility.’” -Monsieur Nana Adom

“When someone tells you it can’t be done, it’s more a reflection of their limitations, not yours.” -Author Unknown

“Nothing is impossible: there are ways which lead to everything; and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.” -François de La Rochefoucauld (also known as François Duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680))

“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.” -Author Unknown

“There are many things that seem impossible only so long as one does not attempt them.” -André Gide (André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951))

“Impossible is only an opinion.” -Author Unknown

“Never tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the Moon.” -Paul Brandt

“What ‘exists’ is only a small part of what is ‘possible.’” -Pere Alberch (born Pere Alberch Vie (1954 - 1998))

“Jesus said unto him, ‘If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.’” -Author Unknown: “The Bible,” ‘Mark,’ chapter 9, verse 23

“Do not suppose that, if you find something hard to achieve, it is beyond human capacity; rather, if something is possible and appropriate for man, assume that it must also be within your own reach.” -Marcus Aurelius (also known as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (C.E. 121 - C.E. 180)): “The Meditations” (C.E. 167)

“Think of the thing you cannot do, and then do it.” -Author Unknown

“Every noble work is at first impossible.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

“It’s going to be difficult, but difficult is not impossible.” -Author Unknown

“Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities - always see them, for they’re always there.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

“Either I will find a way, or I will make one.” -Philip Sidney (1554 - 1586)

“Most of the things worth doing in the world have been declared impossible before they were attempted.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” -Tommy Lasorda (Thomas Charles Lasorda (born 1927))

“It is certain because it is impossible.” [English translation]
“Certum est quia impossibile.” [original Latin]
-Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (also known simply as Tertullian (C.E. 155 - C.E. 240))

“Nothing is impossible to the man who can will and then do; this is the only law of success.” -Mirabeau (Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Count of Mirabeau (1749 - 1791))

“All big things in this world are done by people who are naive and have an idea that is obviously impossible.” -Frank Richards

“There is a better way to spell ‘impossible’: ‘I’m possible.’” -Author Unknown

“I dwell in possibility.” -Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

“Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784): “Rasselas” (1759)

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” -Charles R. Swindoll (Charles Rozell ‘Chuck’ Swindoll (born 1934))

“Once you stop dismissing something as unattainable, then you start working on its development.” -Jerome Pearson

“The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.” -Arnold Palmer (Arnold Daniel Palmer (1929 - 2016))

“You can’t roller-skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy if you’ve a mind to.” -Roger Miller

We are MFOL! . . . wishing you many trouble-free days as you make your way through a world in which more and more is possible all the time . . .

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Happiness

4/10/2020

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“There is always something to be happy about.” -Author Unknown

Cheerfulness

I’m glad the sky is painted blue
And the Earth is painted green
And such a lot of nice fresh air
All sandwiched in between.

by Author Unknown

“On the whole, the happiest people seem to be those who have no particular cause for being happy except that they are so.” -William R. Inge (William Ralph Inge (1860 - 1954))

“A happy life is built up of little clumps of violets noticed along the roadside.” -Author Unknown

“The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” -Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719): as quoted in Tryon Edwards: “A Dictionary of Thoughts” (1908), page 217

“You have it easily in your power to increase the total sum of this world’s happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Harbison Carnegie (born Dale Breckenridge Carnagey (1888 - 1955)))

“Happiness is a choice.” -Barry Neill Kaufman (born 1942), website: http://www.barryneilkaufman.com/

“Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.” -Aeschylus (about 525 B.C.E. - about 456 B.C.E.): “Agamemnon,” 928

“Happiness seems made to be shared.” [English translation]
“Le bonheur semble fait pour être partagé.” [original French]
-Pierre Corneille (1606 - 1684): “Notes par Rochefoucauld”

“Being happy doesn’t mean everything’s perfect; it just means you’ve decided to see beyond the imperfections.” -Author Unknown

“Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it.” -Jacques Prévert (1900 - 1977)

“Happiness walks on busy feet.” -Kitte Turmell

“A lot of happiness is overlooked because it doesn’t cost anything.” -Author Unknown

“Whoever is happy will make others happy too.” -Anne Frank (1929 - 1945): “The Diary of a Young Girl” (1952)

“It’s being so cheerful as keeps me going.” -Mona Lott’s catchphrase on “ITMA” (1939 - 1949), a BBC radio program; Mona Lott is a fictional character portrayed by Joan Harben (1909 - 1953)

“Happiness is not perfected until it is shared.” -Jane Porter (1776 - 1850)

“Not only is there a right to be happy, there is a duty to be happy. So much sadness exists in the world that we are all under obligation to contribute as much joy as lies within our powers.” -John Sutherland Bonnell (1893 - 1992)

“Happiness will bring you good luck.” -Author Unknown: fortune cookie saying

“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars . . . and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers - for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.” -Osho (Rajneesh Chandra Mohan Jain)

“Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” -Teresa of Calcutta (also known as Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997))

“Whoever said you can’t buy happiness forgot about puppies.” -Gene Hill (Gene Atkins Hill (1928 - 1997))

“Happiness! Can any human being undertake to define it for another?” -Dinah Craik (Dinah Maria Craik (1826 - 1887)): “A Woman’s Thoughts about Women” (1858), Chapter 10

“Happiness is a direction, not a destination.” -Author Unknown

“I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.” -Martha Washington (1731 - 1802)

“Happiness is a way-station between too little and too much.” -Channing Pollock (1880 - 1946)

“To me there is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.” -Robert Louis Stevenson (Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (1850 - 1894))

“How true it is that, if we are cheerful and contented, all nature smiles, the air seems more balmy, the sky clearer, the Earth has a brighter green . . . the flowers are more fragrant . . . and the Sun, Moon, and stars all appear more beautiful, and seem to rejoice with us.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“True happiness consists in making others happy.” -Author Unknown

Happiness: hap-pi-ness, ha-pē-nǝs, noun. A mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy.

“Happiness is in the heart, not in circumstances or in things.” -Author Unknown

“Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.” -William Cowper (1731 - 1800): “Task,” book III, line 41

“Folks are generally as happy as they make up their minds to be.” -Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

“Happiness belongs to those who are sufficient unto themselves. For all external sources of happiness and pleasure, are by their very nature, highly uncertain, precarious, ephemeral, and subject to chance.” -Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)

Do more of what makes you happy . . . like writing messages on foggy windows and sandy beaches.

“Spread happiness; a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.” -Author Unknown

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.” -Marcus Aurelius (also known as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (C.E. 121 - C.E. 180))

“Jumping for joy is good exercise.” -Author Unknown

“Happiness doesn’t depend on what we have, but it does depend on how we feel toward what we have. We can be happy with little and miserable with much.” -William Dempster Hoard (1836 - 1918)

“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” -Author Unknown: “Holy Bible,” (King James Version (1611)), ‘The Book of Proverbs,’ chapter 17, verse 22

“There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something.” -Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)

“Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it is too late.” -Robert R. Updegraff (Robert Rawls Updegraff (1889 - 1977))

“Cheerful people, the doctors say, resist disease better than glum people. In other words, ‘The surly bird catches the germ.’” -Author Unknown

“We deem those happy who, from the experience of life, have learned to bear its ills, without being overcome by them.” [English translation]
“Ducimus autem hos quoque felices, qui ferre incommoda vitæ, nec jactare jugum vita didicere magistra.” [original Latin]
-Juvenal (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (about C.E. 55 - C.E. 130)): “Satires,” XII, 20

“Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” -Eleanor Roosevelt (Anna Eleanor ‘Eleanor’ Roosevelt (1884 - 1962))

“The greatest happiness is to be that which one is.” -Theodore Herzl (1860 - 1904)

“He is happy that knoweth not himself to be otherwise.” -Thomas Fuller (1608 - 1661)

“The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime.” -Author Unknown

“Now and then, it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” -Guillaume Apollinaire (Wilhelm Apollinaris de Dostrowitsky (1880 - 1918))

“Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.” -Margaret Runbeck (Margaret Lee Runbeck (1900 - 1956)): “Time for Each Other” (1944)

“A single joy can scatter a hundred griefs.” -Author Unknown

“The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness. For this were arts invented, sciences cultivated, laws ordained, and societies modelled, by the most profound wisdom of patriots and legislators. Even the lonely savage, who lies exposed to the inclemency of the elements and the fury of wild beasts, forgets not, for a moment, this grand object, of his being.” -David Hume (1711 - 1776): “The Stoic,” ‘Essays, Moral, Political and Literary,’ part 1, essay 16, as published in “The Philosophical Works of David Hume” (1826), volume 3, page 167

“The happy people are those who are producing something; the bored people are those who are consuming much and producing nothing.” -William R. Inge (William Ralph Inge (1860 - 1954))

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” -Frederick Koenig (Friedrich Gottlob Koenig (1774 - 1833))

“A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.” -Hugh Downs (Hugh Malcolm Downs (born 1921)): as quoted in Roy B. Zuck: “The Speaker’s Quote Book: Over 4,500 Illustrations” (1997), page 185

“The path to cheerfulness is to sit cheerfully and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there.” -William James (1842 - 1910)

“I have chosen to be happy because it is good for my health.” -Voltaire (pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1788))

“Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.” -Steve Maraboli (born 1975)

“A light heart lives long.” -William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

“What is happiness and unhappiness? It depends so little on the circumstances; it depends really only on what happens inside a person. I am grateful for every day . . . and that makes me happy.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 - 1945)

“The happiest people are the ones who make others happy.” -Author Unknown

“There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.” -George Sand (pseudonym of Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin (1804 - 1876))

“When you seek happiness for others, you will find it for yourself.” -Lori Moreno

“The happiest people are those who think the most interesting thoughts. Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good company, good conversation, are the happiest people in the world. And they are not only happy in themselves, they are the cause of happiness in others.” - William L. Phelps (William Lyon Phelps (1865 - 1943))

“Resolve to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment.” -Sydney Smith (1771 - 1845)

“I do not know of any sure way of making others happy as being so oneself.” -Arthur Helps (1813 - 1875)

“Be happy. It’s one way of being wise.” -Sidonie Gabrielle Colette (1873 - 1954)

“The joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you.” -John Greenleaf Whittier (1807 - 1892)

“Happiness is no laughing matter.” -Richard Whately (1787 - 1863): “Apophthegms” (1854)

“You cannot always have happiness, but you can always give happiness.” -Author Unknown

“Happiness lies, first of all, in health.” -George William Curtis (1824 - 1892)

“There is only one real happiness in life, and that is the happiness of creating.” -Frederick Delius (1862 - 1934)

“In whatever situation we are placed, our greater or less degree of happiness must be derived from ourselves. Happiness is in a great measure the result of our own dispositions and actions.” -Hannah Webster Foster (about 1758 - 1840)

“Happiness is not a matter of events; it depends upon the tides of the mind.” -Alice Meynell (1847 - 1922)

“The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.” -William Morris (1834 - 1896)

“An effort made for the happiness of others lifts us above ourselves.” -Lydia M. Child (Lydia Maria Francis Child (1802 - 1880))

“Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination.” -Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804): “Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics” (1785)

“If you do not have the capacity for happiness with a little money, great wealth will not bring it to you.” -William Feather (William Arthur Feather (1889 - 1981)): “The Business of Life” (1949)

Affirmation: I choose happiness.

“The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions - the little soon-forgotten charities of a kiss, a smile, a kind look, a heartfelt compliment in the disguise of a playful raillery, and the countless other infinitesimal of pleasurable thought and genial feeling.” -Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834)

“Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.” -Daphne du Maurier (1907 - 1989)

“It is the inalienable right of all to be happy.” -Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815 - 1902) (1861)

“Happiness is surely the best teacher of good manners: only the unhappy are churlish in deportment.” -Christopher Morley (Christopher Darlington Morley (1890 - 1957)): “Where the Blue Begins” (1922)

“The happy man is not he who seems thus to others, but who seems thus to himself.” -Publilius Syrus (85 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.)

“Some pursue happiness, while others create it.” -Author Unknown

“There are only two roads that lead to something like human happiness. They are marked by the words: love and achievement . . . In order to be happy oneself it is necessary to make at least one other person happy . . . The secret of human happiness is not in self-seeking but in self-forgetting.” -Theodore Reik

“Happiness is the atmosphere in which all things grow.” -Author Unknown

We are MFOL! . . . spread the merriment . . .

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