Make Fun Of Life!

Time To Scare Up Some Dinner

10/16/2019

For dinner tonight, we have scared up some boo-sketti, made from spaghetti worms and tomato blood . . . Halloween can’t be far away now . . .

If you came here looking for fun, you are in the right place . . . just travel down this page on MFOL! . . . skipping any topics that might not interest you, until you come to the ones that appeal to you. When you have a moment, be sure to explore some of the other pages on the website, such as the Inspiration and the Life pages, which can be viewed by clicking on the menu bar above.

Welcome to www.MakeFunOfLife.net . . . don’t just ‘have’ fun . . . ‘make’ the fun!

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Apple Trees and Apples

10/14/2019

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“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in the “Anaconda Standard” (23 December 1900) newspaper of Montana, United States of America

Jack: How do you make an apple turnover?
Jill: Roll it down a hill, silly.

According to school tradition, for a period of more than 100 years in the 18th and 19th centuries, the prestigious Yale University (at the time a college) of New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America, served its students the same supper every night: apple pie.

Brenda: What do you call an apple that plays the trumpet?
Melinda: A tooty-fruity!

A city slicker was driving through the country. He stopped at an orchard and asked the owner how much his apples were. “All you can pick for one dollar,” said the orchard’s owner. “All right,” said the city slicker. “I’ll take two dollars’ worth.”

Apple Trees and Apples Facts
- Apple trees produce apples after four or five years of age.
- Most apple blossoms (flowers) are pink when they open but gradually fade to white.
- Apple trees typically blossom in the Spring, with the fruit maturing in the Autumn (Fall).
- Apples can be eaten raw and are used to make juice, cider, vinegar, applesauce, dried apple slices, and many types of desserts and snacks.
- Apple trees can live for more than one hundred years.

Jimmy: What is red and goes putt, putt, putt?
Jeremy: An outboard apple. (Or an apple on a golf course.)

Apples come in a variety of colors, including lime green, golden yellow, burgundy, and chocolate brown.

Apple varieties range in size from a little larger than a cherry to as big as a grapefruit. The largest apple ever picked weighed 1.417 kilograms (3 pounds and 2 ounces).

Apple: A nutritious lunchtime dessert that children will trade for factory-made sugary cupcakes that some people say are a cause of obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, and nutritional deficiencies that lead to poor overall health.

The energy from about fifty apple tree leaves is needed to produce one apple. The apples harvested from an average tree can fill 20 bushel-size boxes that weigh 42 pounds each. A bushel of apples will yield 20 to 24 quarts of applesauce. About 36 apples make a gallon of apple cider. Two pounds of apples go into one 9-inch apple pie.

Daniel: If it took six pigs two hours to eat the apples in an orchard, how many hours would it take three pigs to do the same thing?
Samuel: None, because the six pigs have already eaten them all.

Apple trees can grow to be more than 12 meters (40 feet) tall, so orchard owners must buy or rent equipment that can reach those heights at harvest-time. To avoid the cost and complications that come with the equipment, apple orchard owners are starting to grow dwarf apple trees. Their shorter heights make it easier to prune the branches and harvest the apples. The moral of the story is that taller is not always better - often shorter is.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ l o v e ♥ g r o w ☼ l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ l o v e ♥ g r o w ☼
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

An Apple a Day

An apple a day
     Sends the doctor away.

Apple in the morning,
     Doctors take warning.

Roast apple at night,
     Starves the doctor outright.

Eat an apple going to bed,
     Knock a doctor on the head.

An apple each day, seven days a week,
     Rosy apple, rosy cheek.

by Author Unknown

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ l o v e ♥ g r o w ☼ l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ l o v e ♥ g r o w ☼
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What are apple peels good for? The peels are a source of substances called ‘antioxidants.’ Antioxidants can help reduce the type of damage to cells that triggers some diseases. An average person’s daily requirement for fiber is 25 grams, and one apple has about five grams of fiber, two-thirds of which is found in the peel. Apples are a good source of the soluble fiber called pectin, which can help lower cholesterol levels.

Peach: When is an apple not an apple?
Plum: When it is a pineapple!

A persistent fear of apples is called malusdomesticaphobia. The word is derived from the scientific name for apples, ‘Malus domestica,’ and the Greek word ‘phobos’ meaning ‘fear.’ The apples are coming to get you! Sorry, we didn’t mean to frighten you. One way to lessen fear is to learn something about what you are fearful of - what would you like to know about apples? It is also possible for a fear of apples to originate with something a person associates with apples. For example, maybe a person was bullied as a child by someone who habitually ate apples, or maybe a person was brought up in extreme poverty, neglect, and abuse, with apples being one of the few available foods, and the person fears returning to live again that part of his or her past.

Lucinda: If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what does an onion do?
Lucille: It keeps everyone away!

The apple is commonly known as the supposed forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden. But contrary to this erroneous belief, there is no mention of the apple as the forbidden fruit in “The Bible.” The forbidden fruit mentioned in “The Bible” is referred to as the “fruit from the Tree of Knowledge,” with no specification as to which kind of fruit. It was Hugo Van Der Goes who first implicated the apple as the forbidden fruit in C.E. 1470 in his painting, “The Fall of Man.” After that, it became popular to depict the apple as the forbidden fruit. So, the apple is not the fruit that got Adam and Eve into trouble with God. People can confidently eat an apple without worrying that they are committing a transgression.

Bertha: What is worse than finding a worm in your apple?
Bert: Finding only half a worm.

Eat an apple on going to bed,
And you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread.
-Author Unknown: Pembrokeshire proverb as quoted in “Notes and Queries” (1866)

Everybody likes apples! Animals that eat apples include horses, monkeys, squirrels, chimpanzees, bears, raccoons, rabbits, and your younger brother.

The world’s longest continuous length of apple peel was created by the then 16 years of age Kathy Wafler Madison on 16 October 1976 in Rochester, New York, United States of America. It was 52.5 meters (172 feet and 4 inches) long. She grew up to become a sales manager for an apple tree nursery.

Eat an Apple

Eat an apple;
Save the core.
Plant the seeds.
And grow some more.

by Author Unknown

Sweet, flavorful, crunchy, colorful apples are a great alternative to candy, chips, soda pop, and other processed, chemically-laden junk foods and junk beverages. An apple will provide you with energy, fill you up, and at about 84 percent water, will quench your thirst. Apples contain high levels of boron, which stimulates electrical activity in the brain, increasing mental alertness and improving memory. Apples may not be rich in calcium, but the high level of boron also makes them a great food to prevent osteoporosis and strengthen bones. Apples are fat-free, sodium-free, and cholesterol-free. A typical medium-size apple contains about 80 calories.

“Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness.” -Jane Austen (1775 - 1817)

The ‘Adam’s apple’ is so-called because of a popular idea that it was created when the forbidden fruit got stuck in Adam’s throat when he swallowed it, causing a visible lump in the throat.

Inside every apple is a five-pointed star, somewhat resembling a pentagram in shape. If you want to see the star, ask a responsible grownup to cut an apple in half horizontally, or through its girth.

Torey: What is the difference between apples and worms?
Corey: Apple pies are more common than worm pies.

Apples have five seed pockets, or carpels that contains seeds. The number of seeds per carpel is determined by the vigor and health of the plant. Additionally, different varieties of apples can have different numbers of seeds. On average, apples each have 10 seeds.

A man traveling through the country stopped at a roadside fruit stand and bought some apples. When he commented that they were awfully small, the farmer replied, “Yup.” The man took a bite of one of the apples and exclaimed, “Not very flavorful, either.” “That’s right,” said the farmer. “Lucky they’re small, ain’t it?”

Apples contain malic acid, a chemical used in some teeth whitening products, which helps dissolve stains. For more information about this, be sure to ask your dentist on your next visit to his or her office.

The saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” is derived from an old Welsh adage, “To eat an apple before going to bed, will make the doctor beg his bread.” While eating apples does not guarantee good health, they do have amazing nutritional value and recognized health benefits.

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” -Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)

Commercial grade wax is applied to some apples after they are harvested and cleaned, in an effort to keep out bacteria and slow the ripening process. It also makes them shinier. The waxes are made of natural ingredients.

“Surely the apple is the noblest of fruits.” -Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862): “Wild Apples” (1862)

Let’s consider liquefied apples. The difference between apple juice and apple cider is that apple juice is squeezed from only the usually white flesh of the fruit, while apple cider is squeezed from the whole apple - skin, seeds, stem, and all - which gives it a fuller body and deeper color. Additionally, apple juice is pasteurized, or flash heated to reduce the level of active naturally occurring microorganisms, and apple cider is generally not. Freshly pressed apple juice will immediately turn brown upon contact with air because of oxidation; however, a way to prevent this from happening is to add a few drops of lemon juice or lime juice to it, which helps prevent oxidation. One other liquid made from apples is apple cider vinegar, which is derived from the fermentation, or controlled spoilage, of apple mush. Apple cider vinegar is a brownish yellow color.

Apples for Sale! Apple varieties tend to have names chosen in hopes of making them commercially successful, just as other products have brand names. The ‘Delicious’ variety of apples originally was called ‘Hawkeyes.’ Without doubt, the name change makes them more appealing. There are thousands more varieties of apples with great names, including Gala, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith. Even the saying that ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ might be just a clever way to promote apple-awareness without spending an arm and a leg on advertising.

“Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.” -Robert H. Schuller (Robert Harold Schuller (1926 - 2015))

Archeologists have found evidence that humans have been enjoying apples since at least 6500 B.C.E. Apple trees are thought to have originated in Central Asia between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, in the area of present-day Kazakhstan. The only apple variety native to North America is the crabapple. Other varieties of apples were brought to North America by European settlers, who planted orchards all across the continent. The first apple tree in the United States of America was planted in 1620 by pilgrims who traveled from Europe by sea to what was then the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In time, the early settlers would discover that hardy varieties of apples could be successfully grown farther north than most other fruits because apple trees blossom late in the Spring, minimizing any frost damage.

Johnny Appleseed was the nickname of John Chapman (1774 - 1845), a pious American pioneer nurseryman who planted apple seeds in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.

Crab apples are small green apples with origins in North America. They are often just a little bigger than a cherry. They are not as popular for eating right off the tree as other varieties of apples are, because crab apples are bitter and tart in flavor and possess hardly any sweetness. However, they still grow wild in many areas, meaning they are often free for the taking. Crab apples can be used to make crab apple jelly for spreading on toast or used in fancy cuisine similar to the way mint jelly is used.

Martin: When is an apple a grouch?
Marvin: When it is a crab apple.

The word ‘apple’ is derived from the Old English word ‘aeppel.’ The Celtic word for ‘apple’ is the similar sounding ‘abhall.’

Granny Smith apples were originally cultivated in 1868 by Maria Ann Smith of Eastwood, New South Wales, Australia.

More than 7,500 varieties of apples are grown worldwide. The top apple-producing countries are China, the United States, Turkey, Poland, and Italy. The largest importers of apples are Russia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Apples are available year-around in most areas thanks to bulk transport and climate-controlled warehouses. Apples can be shipped from orchards by truck, train, and cargo ship to warehouses where they are stored at low temperatures for as long as a year, and then the temperature is raised to cause them to ripen shortly before selling them to buyers.

A large shiny red apple is a traditional gift a student might bring to a teacher - and the student does not have to wait for Teacher Appreciation Day, also known as National Teacher Day, which is observed on the Tuesday of the first full week in May of each year. Rather than a single apple, why not give a teacher a full bushel size basket of apples?

There are so many apple varieties that if you were to eat an apple a day, it would take you more than 27 years to try them all - and still more new varieties of apples are produced every year.

About 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States, including 100 varieties that are grown commercially. Apples are grown in all 50 states and commercially in 36 states. The top apple producing states are Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, and Virginia. Red Delicious is the most popular and most-produced apple in the United States, and Golden Delicious is the second most popular, with Granny Smith coming in third. The apple is the state fruit of Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia.

Some people claim that apples have a rosy aroma because they come from the Rose family, which is also known as ‘Rosaceae’ or ‘Rosacea.’

Apples Quiz
- How are apples harvested, or gathered?
- What are five uses for apples?
- Can you name two animals that eat apples?

Bobbing for apples at parties is possible because fresh apples are twenty-five percent air, making them buoyant. Buoyant means they float in water.

It is said that the custom of ‘apple polishing’ hails from the little red schoolhouses of yore, when young children whose math skills were less than exemplary sought to win their teacher’s favor instead with a bright, shiny apple. Remember this ditty: An apple for the teacher will always do the trick, when you don’t know your lesson in arithmetic.

Apples Quiz Answers
- Apples are harvested by hand-picking them off the trees, although machines that shake trees to cause the apples to fall to nets or tarps placed below the trees can be used.
- Uses for apples include making cider, juice, vinegar, pies, and snacks.
- Two animals that eat apples are horses and rabbits (and many other animals as well).

“Everybody’s 12 years old in an apple orchard.” -Rachael Ray (Rachael Domenica Ray (born 1968))

Crunch, crunch - mmm! Now that’s a good apple. More fun continues below . . . or you can join the stampede of people going out to get apples . . .

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Pirates

10/9/2019

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Here we have one of those fancy ‘made for the movies’ pirates. 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!

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 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.

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

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!

“I’ll never pet an alligator again,” Captain Hook said offhandedly.

Patrice: What is a pirate’s favorite hobby?
Tricia: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.

Lydia: What is a pirate’s favorite country?
Lynette: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgentina!

Renée: Where do pirates put their trash?
Sheila: In the garrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbage can!

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 coming up next . . . on MFOL!

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Self-Regard and Self-Acceptance

10/8/2019

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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)

“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

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

“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, knowing that 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

“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

“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

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” -Carl Rodgers

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: “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

“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”
*liege: a feudal superior to whom allegiance and service are due; a feudal society is one 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))

“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”

“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)

“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”

“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 (pseudonym of Sally Mahoney)

“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

“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

“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 Bennett (Roy T. Bennett)

“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

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

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

“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))

“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

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)

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

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Efforts and Benefits

10/5/2019

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“You can accomplish virtually anything if you want it badly enough and if you are willing to work long enough and hard enough.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“Much effort, much prosperity.” -Euripides (480 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.)

“Dig where the gold is unless you just need some exercise.” -John M. Capozzi

“When we do more than we are paid to do, eventually we will be paid more for what we do.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

“Be willing to give that extra effort that separates the winner from the one in second place.” -H. Jackson Brown, Junior (Harriett Jackson Brown, Junior (born 1940))

“I’ve got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.” -Larry Bird

“Working hard becomes a habit, a serious kind of fun. You get self-satisfaction from pushing yourself to the limit, knowing that all the effort is going to pay off.” -Mary Lou Retton (Mary Lou ‘Lou’ Retton (born 1968))

“Always take a job that is too big for you.” -Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878 - 1969)

“Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results.” -James Allen (1864 - 1912)

“It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.” -Theodore Roosevelt (Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt (1858 - 1919))

“The more we do the more we can do.” -William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)

“Who knows whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies.” -Erich Fromm (Erich Seligmann Fromm (1900 - 1980))

“Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.” -Gordon B. Hinckley (Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910 - 2008))

“Labor was the first price, the original purchase-money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labor, that all wealth of the world was originally purchased.” -Adam Smith (1723 - 1790): “The Wealth of Nations” (1776)

“Do more than you’re supposed to do and you can have or be or do anything you want.” -Bill Sands

“All great success and achievement is preceded and accompanied by hard, hard, work. When in doubt, ‘try harder.’ And if that doesn’t work, try harder still!” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“Energy, even like the Biblical grain of mustard-seed, will move mountains.” -Hosea Ballou (1771 - 1852)

“The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.” -Richard Bach (Richard David Bach (born 1936))

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” -William Faulkner (William Cuthbert ‘Will’ Faulkner (1897 - 1962))

“The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the effort you apply.” -Denis Waitley (born 1933)

“It’s true that the willing horse gets the heaviest load. It is also true that he develops the strongest muscles and gets the most oats.” -Author Unknown

“We work to become, not to acquire.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915)): “A Thousand and One Epigrams” (1911)

“You get what you work for, not what you wish for.” -Author Unknown

“Without work there will not be any bread in your mouth.” [English translation]
“Sine labore non erit panis in ore.” [original Latin]
-Author Unknown

“There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.” -Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819 - 1881)

“Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the tradeoff they’re making to win. Losers, on the other hand, see it as punishment. And that’s the difference.” -Lou Holtz (Louis Leo ‘Lou’ Holtz (born 1937))

Without Pains,
No Gains.
-Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734): “Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs” (1732), number 6360

“The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of all pleasures.” -Luc de Clapiers (1715 - 1747)

“In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result. Chance is not. Gifts, powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of effort; they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions realized.” -James Allen (1864 - 1912): “As a Man Thinketh” (1902), ‘Visions and Ideals’

“For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“Whatever you give to life will return to you - multiplied! This applies to our daily thoughts, feelings, and actions, be they positive or negative, uplifting or depressing.” -Frederick W. Babbel (Frederick William Babbel (1915 - 2001))

“Work is the grand cure for all maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind - honest work, which you intend getting done.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

“The man who rolls up his sleeves seldom loses his shirt.” -Thomas Cowan

“If there is no dull and determined effort, there will be no brilliant achievement.” - Xun Kuang (also known as Hsun Tzu, Xun Zi, and Xunzi (about 310 B.C.E. - about 235 B.C.E.))

“Getting the most out of life is giving life your most.” -Janice Markowitz

“There is no excellence anywhere without labor. We would think a man foolish indeed who would say I am willing that my business should prosper or that my farm should yield plentifully but I’ll not stir a peg. But he is no more foolish than the man who says I am willing that God should bless me abundantly but I shall not do anything toward that end myself. We must consistently rely upon the help of the Lord but we will not make any progress or meet with any success unless we put forth an earnest effort.” -Charles W. Nibley

“If you put forth the effort, good things will be bestowed upon you.” -Michael Jordan (born 1963)

“It’s the constant and determined effort that breaks down all resistance and sweeps away all obstacles.” -Claude M. Bristol (Claude Myron Bristol (1891 - 1951))

“For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice.” -John Burroughs (1837 - 1921)

“The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.” -John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

“Four little words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: A little bit more. They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more.” -A. Lou Vickery

“The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.” -Roger Bannister

“There’s no substitute for hard work.” -John Wooden (1910 - 2010)

“The difficulties and struggles of today are but the price we must pay for the accomplishments and victories of tomorrow.” -William J. H. Boetcker (William John Henry Boetcker (1873 - 1962))

“Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can.” -Lowell Thomas

“Nothing ever comes to one that is worth having except as a result of hard work.” -Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1915)

“Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.” -Joseph Joubert (1754 - 1824)

“If you’re not willing to put in the effort, don’t expect anything in return.” -Author Unknown

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.” -Winston Churchill: as quoted in Liane Cordes: “The Reflecting Pond: Meditations for Self-Discovery” (1981), page 89

“Men will get no more out of life than they put into it.” -William J. H. Boetcker (William John Henry Boetcker (1873 - 1962))

“Nothing will work unless you do.” - Maya Angelou (Marguerite Ann Johnson (1928 - 2014))

“Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more.” -Edward H. Harriman (Edward Henry Harriman)

“It is better to wear out than to rust out.” -Frances E. Willard (Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard (1839 - 1898))

“Men do less than they ought, unless they do all that they can.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881): as quoted in Horace Smith: “The Tin Trumpet” (1859)

“The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.” -Jonas Salk (1914 - 1995)

“No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required, that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction.” -Charles Kendall Adams (1835 - 1902)

“Nobody ever found a buried treasure without digging for it. Most success is beneath the surface. Dig every day.” -George W. Cummings, Senior

“I realized that with hard work, the world was your oyster. You could do anything you wanted to do. I learned that at a young age.” -Christine Marie ‘Chris’ Evert (born 1954)

This is MFOL! . . . life can be fun . . . if we make the effort to make it fun!

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Shopping and Retail Sales

10/5/2019

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Grocery Store Bagger, speaking to Customer: Paper or plastic?
Customer: Surprise me!

“I went into a general store. They wouldn’t let me buy anything specifically.” -Steven Wright (Steven Alexander Wright (born 1955))

Customer: Have you anything for gray hair?
Clerk: Nothing but the greatest respect.

To Market

To market, to market,
     To buy a fat pig,
Home again, home again,
    Jiggety jig,

To market, to market,
     To buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again,
     Jiggety jog,

To market, to market,
     To buy a plum bun,
Home again, home again,
     Market is done.

by Author Unknown

Customer to book storeowner: “I would like to return this book on modern medical procedures.”
Owner: “Is something wrong with it?”
Customer: “Someone removed the appendix.”

Shopper: Someone who goes buy-buy.

When the checker at the supermarket asked my uncle if he would like the milk in a bag, my uncle replied, “No, just leave it in the carton.”

A store manager overheard a clerk saying to a customer, “No, ma’am, we haven’t had any for some weeks now, and it doesn’t look as if we’ll be getting any soon.” Alarmed by what was being said, the manager rushed over to the customer who was walking out the door and said, “That isn’t true, ma’am. Of course, we’ll have some soon. In fact, we placed an order for it a couple of weeks ago.” Then the manager drew the clerk aside and growled, “Never, never, never, never say we don’t have something. If we don’t have it, say we ordered it and it’s on its way. Now, what was it she wanted?” “Rain.”

So a guy walked into an antiques store and asked, “What’s new?”

“If it’s good, they’ll stop making it.” -Herbert Block

“Self-Checkout Line - The place where customers of an establishment become unpaid employees of the establishment.” -Richard E. Turner (1937 - 2011): “The Curmudgeon’s Short Dictionary of Modern Phrases” (about 2009), ‘The Grammar Curmudgeon, a.k.a. ‘The Mudge’’

Overheard: Today I went to the corner shop - and bought four corners.

“Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.” -Publilius Syrus (85 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.): as attributed in Darius Lyman: “The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave: from the Latin” (1856): “Sententiae,” Maxim 847

Overheard: The food at the convenience store in my neighborhood is so old that the expiration dates are in Roman numerals.

Dolly: What do you get when alien teenagers invade shopping malls on Earth?
Molly: Clothes encounters of the weird kind.

Grocery list (grow•sree list), noun: What you spend half an hour writing, then forget to take with you to the store.

Two men were lost in the desert. They were desperate for water, but just as they thought there was no hope, they chanced upon a village where market day was in full swing. They went to the first market stall they saw, and asked if they could buy some water. “No,” replied the stall owner, “I only sell fruit. Try the next stall.” So off they went to the next stall and again they asked for water. “Sorry,” said the merchant, “but I only sell custard.” “Custard?” one of the men said to the other, “What kind of place is this?” By then completely desperate, they went to the next stall, only to be told, “Sorry, but I only sell jelly.” Hearing this, one of the thirsty men turned to the other and asked, “Do you think this is a trifle bazaar?”

Overheard: Whenever I am at the market, I always seem to get the shopping cart with the one bad wheel.

“When I was in the supermarket I saw a man and a woman wrapped in a barcode. I asked, ‘Are you two an item?’” -Author Unknown

Rule 1: The customer is always right.
Rule 2: If the customer is ever wrong, reread rule 1.
-Stew Leonard: policy of Stew Leonard’s dairy stores.

Overheard: Once you’ve seen one shopping center, you’ve seen a mall.

“Ill ware is never cheape.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in George Herbert (1593 - 1633): “Jacula Prudentum; or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. Selected by Mr. George Herbert” (1651), proverb 61

The manager of a grocery store nabbed a shoplifter in the act. He was escorting the suspect to the office in the front of the store near the cash registers, when the shoplifter broke from his grip and tried to run away. After a scuffle, the store manager pinned him against the wall and looked up to see a number of surprised customers staring at him. “Everything’s fine, folks,” he reassured them. “This guy just tried to go through the express line with more than ten items.”

Sign at a farmer’s market: Please Do Not Put All Of Your Eggs In One Basket.

“Don’t a fellow feel good after he gets out of a store where he nearly bought something.” -Frank McKinney Hubbard (Frank McKinney ‘Kin’ Hubbard (1868 - 1930))

Question: What is the most expensive vehicle to operate?
Answer: A shopping cart.

The first product to have a UPC bar code on its packaging was Wrigley’s gum.

“I’ve been shopping all my life and still have nothing to wear!” -Author Unknown

“Pleasing ware is halfe sould.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in George Herbert (1593 - 1633): “Jacula Prudentum; or Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, &c. Selected by Mr. George Herbert” (1651), number 14

A small storeowner was being pressured to sell his store to the owners of a large department store who had bought every building on the block, except his. Frustrated by the man’s refusal to sell, they eventually opened their huge store on either side of the small one, with a big banner running from one side to the other, proclaiming in huge letters “Grand Opening.” Below it, across the front of his small store, the man put up a small banner over his door: “Main Entrance.”

Storeroom: The distance required between the supermarket aisles so that children in shopping carts cannot easily reach everything.

The best time to buy a new car is at the end of the month, because the sales people want their monthly reports to look good.

Huan: What are cashiers in China called?
Lok: Chinese checkers.

“Cheap things are not good; good things are not cheap.” -Author Unknown

The proprietor of a highly successful optical shop was instructing his son on how to charge a customer. “Son,” he said, “after you have fitted the glasses, and the customer asks what the charge will be, you say,” ‘The charge is 98 dollars.’ Then you pause and wait to see if he flinches. If the customer doesn’t flinch, you then say, “For the frames. The lenses will be another 98 dollars.” Then you pause again, this time only slightly, and watch for the flinch. If he doesn’t flinch this time, you say firmly, “Each.”

“Shopping: Retail therapy.” -Joe Heuer

“A bargain is something you don’t need at a price you can’t resist.” -Franklin P. Jones (Franklin Pierce Jones (1908 - 1980))

Sales Clerk to Customer: “This is an actual fire sale. The boss said that if I do not make a sale today, I am fired.”

Overheard: Aspirin, 300 for $2.88 - at that price, I can’t afford not to have a headache!

Gift Shop: A place where you can see all of the things that you hope your relatives will not send to you for Christmas.

“Supermarket entrance: Say hello to good buys.” -Frank Tyger (1929 - 2011)

“There is hardly anything in the world that some man can’t make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man’s lawful prey.” -John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

“A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.” -Author Unknown

“Let the buyer beware.” -John Fitzherbert: “A Book of Husbandry” (1523)

Shopping Tip: Do not shop when you are hungry. Shop after eating something, otherwise you will be tempted to buy everything that looks good and is edible in the store, including things you normally would not buy, things that you should not buy, and things that can ruin your diet and your budget.

“He is never likely to have a good thing cheap who is afraid to ask the price.” -Author Unknown

“People will buy anything that’s one to a customer.” -Sinclair Lewis

“Right or wrong, the customer is always right.” -Marshall Field

This is MFOL! . . . your one-stop shop for humor and inspiration and learning . . .

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Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence

10/1/2019

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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

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

“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 E. Waitley (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

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

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

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

“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

“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

“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

“Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.” -Peter T. McIntyre (1910 - 1995)

“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)

“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: ‘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))

“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

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 (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”

“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

This is MFOL! . . . don’t wait long . . . enjoy more of life now . . .

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Bumper Stickers and License Plates

9/25/2019

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Bumper sticker: If You Lived In Your Car, You Would Be Home By Now.

Bumper sticker: When In Danger Or In Doubt, Run In Circles, Scream, And Shout!

License plate on a brown Land Rover: ARF ARF.

Bumper sticker: If You Can Read This, Thank A Teacher.

Bumper sticker: Relish Today . . . Ketchup Tomorrow!

Bumper sticker: Be Alert - The World Needs More Lerts.

Bumper sticker: To Err Is Human, To Moo Bovine.

Bumper sticker: Don’t Wish For It - Work For It.

Bumper sticker: Buckle Up - It Makes It Harder For The Aliens To Suck You Out Of Your Car.

Bumper sticker: The Truth Is Out There. It’s Just Not Very Well Indexed.

Bumper sticker: I Souport Publik Edekasi8n.

Bumper sticker: If You Think I’m A Lousy Driver, Wait Until You See Me Putt.

Bumper sticker: Save The Earth - It’s The Only Planet With Chocolate!

Bumper sticker: There Is No Shortcut To Anyplace Worth Going.

Bumper sticker: Warning - This Vehicle Protected By Anti-Theft Sticker.

Bumper sticker: I Drive Way Too Fast To Worry About Cholesterol.

Bumper sticker: Power To The People (seen on an electrician’s truck).

Bumper sticker: Help Stamp Out And Eradicate Superfluous Redundancy.

Bumper sticker: If You Can Read This Bumper Sticker You Are Driving Too Close.

Bumper sticker: So You’re A Feminist - Isn’t That Cute?

Bumper sticker: How Many Roads Must A Man Travel Down Before He Admits He Is Lost?

Bumper sticker: You Have Enemies? Good - That Means You Stood Up For Something.

Bumper sticker: Friends Don’t Let Friends Miss Out On Heaven.

Bumper sticker: Be The Kind Of Friend You’d Want to Have.

Bumper sticker: Turn Signals Are Not Just For Smart People Anymore.

Bumper sticker: I’d Rather Be Fishing!

Bumper sticker: My Other Vehicle Is A Romulan Warbird.

Bumper sticker: Follow Your Dreams, Except The One Where You Are Being Chased By A Giant Duck While Riding Your Tricycle Through Pistachio Pudding.

Bumper sticker: I Owe, I Owe, So It’s Off To Work I Go!

License plate: YRU FAT (seen on weight-loss guru Richard Simmons’ vehicle).

Bumper sticker on a Lamborghini: My Other Car Is A Lamborghini, Too!

Bumper sticker: Honk If You Are A Bad Driver.

Bumper sticker: Eagles Don’t Flock.

Bumper sticker: Honk If You Like Peace And Quiet.

Bumper sticker: Caution - I Drive Like You Do!

Bumper sticker: Caution - Blind Person Driving! (seen on a venetian blind installer’s vehicle).

Bumper sticker: I Do Whatever My Breakfast Cereal Tells Me To Do.

Bumper sticker: Just Say, “No,” To Negativity.

Bumper sticker: If Your Ship Hasn’t Come In . . . Swim Out To It!

Bumper sticker: Be Nice To Americans, Or We’ll Bring Our Style Of Democracy To Your Country!

Bumper sticker: I Don’t Repeat Gossip.

Bumper sticker: Be Ye Fishers Of Men. You Catch Them - He Will Clean Them.

Bumper sticker: I Have Animal Magnetism. Every Time I Go Outside, Squirrels Stick To My Clothes.

Bumper sticker: Just Because You Are Paranoid Does Not Mean They Are Not Out To Get You.

Bumper sticker: What If There Were No Hypothetical Questions?

Bumper sticker: The Internet Is An Information Source Not A Lifestyle Choice.

Bumper sticker: I Am Speeding Because I Have To Get Someplace Before I Forget Where I Was Going!

Bumper sticker: People Who Anger You Control You.

Have you read the bumper sticker that reads, “Ban All Bumper Stickers!”?

Bumper sticker: It Is Bad Luck To Be Superstitious.

Bumper sticker: Honk If You Have No Control Over Your Impulses.

Bumper sticker: Quantum Mechanics Is The Dreams Stuff Is Made Of.

Bumper sticker: Humans Aren’t The Only Species On Earth, We Just Act Like It.

License plate on the vehicle of a sewing machine dealership: SEWBIZ.

Bumper sticker: Don’t Follow Me - I’m Lost, Too!

Bumper sticker: It’s Lonely At The Top, But You Eat Better!

Bumper sticker: Mistakes Are Proof That You Are Trying.

Bumper sticker: Save The Whales! Trade Them For Valuable Prizes.

Bumper sticker: What If The Hokey Pokey Really Is What It’s All About?

Bumper sticker: Can You Hear Me Now!?

What does an atheist do when he drives up behind a car with a “Honk If You Love Jesus!” bumper sticker, and the car doesn’t move when the traffic light turns green?

Bumper sticker: National Atheist’s Day Is April 1st.

Bumper sticker: Men Are From Earth. Women Are From Earth. Deal With It.

Bumper sticker: Cole’s Law: Thinly Sliced Cabbage.

Bumper sticker: Lottery - A Tax On People Who Are Bad At Math.

Bumper sticker: I Is A College Student.

License plates in the Canadian Northwest Territories are shaped like polar bears.

License plate: HMMMM (seen on a choir director’s vehicle).

Bumper sticker: Forget World Peace And Visualize Using Your Turn Signal.

Bumper sticker: As Long As There Are Tests, There Will Be Prayer In Public Schools.

Bumper sticker: Driver Carries No Cash - He’s Married!

Bumper sticker: If Your Job Pays You Peanuts, Make Peanut Butter.

Bumper sticker: I May Be Slow, But I’m Ahead Of You.

Bumper sticker: Honk If Anything Falls Off.

Bumper sticker: By The Time You Read This, You Will Have Already Read It.

Bumper sticker: Question Everything.

Bumper sticker: Taxation With Representation Isn’t So Wonderful, Either!

Bumper sticker: This Truck Has Been In Fifteen Accidents, And Hasn’t Lost One Yet!

Bumper sticker: I Love Animals - They Are Delicious!

Bumper sticker: All Generalizations Are False - Including This One.

Bumper sticker: My Other Car is a Broom.

Bumper sticker: Drive carefully, your government needs every taxpayer it can get.

Bumper sticker: The shortest distance between two points is under construction.

Bumper sticker: Yes, this is my truck, and no, I won’t help you move.

Bumper sticker: I Chose The Road Less Traveled - Now Where In The World Am I?

Bumper sticker: This Bumper Sticker Holds My Car Together.

Bumper sticker: In The Absence Of Light, Darkness Prevails.

Bumper sticker: My Other Car Has A Funny Bumper Sticker On It.

MFOL! . . . It all started one morning when we woke up and said, “Let’s do something different today.”

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Opportunities and Possibilities

9/22/2019

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Your opportunity awaits . . . right this way, please . . .

“Opportunity, sooner or later, comes to all who work and wish.” -Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley (1799 - 1869)

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” - George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Anne Evans (1819 - 1880))

“Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so.” -Doris Lessing (Doris May Lessing (born 1919 - 2013))

“You may miss all of the good opportunities if you are willing to try only what you are fairly certain you can succeed at. You have to try many things that might not work out.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Far too many people have no idea of what they can do because all they have been told is what they can’t do.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

“Opportunity is rare, and a wise man will never let it go by him.” -Bayard Taylor (1825 - 1878)

“Be ready when opportunity comes . . . Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet.” -Roy D. Chapin, Junior (Roy Dikeman Chapin, Junior (1915 - 2001)) (Similar quotations attributed to Earl Nightingale, Neil Pert, and others)

“Many an opportunity is lost because a man is out looking for four-leaf clovers.” -Author Unknown

“Be a can-do, will-try person. Focus on what you have and not what you don’t have, what you can do rather than what you cannot do.” -Marian Wright Edelman

“Opportunity does not come and knock on our doors. We must ourselves go knocking on doors to find opportunity, persistently knocking until we have an answer, either yes or no, and then we go on to the next ten thousand doors, one at a time, without pausing between them, smiling as best we are able, and speaking our carefully prepared and memorized introductions in a polite conversational style.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“We must look for the opportunity in every difficulty instead of being paralyzed at the thought of the difficulty in every opportunity.” -Walter E. Cole

“Your aspirations are your possibilities.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“Small opportunities are often the beginnings of great achievements.” -Calvin Coolidge (John Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933))

“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” -Sun-Tzu: “The Art of War”

“Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.” -Chris Grosser

“I’ve been lucky. Opportunities don’t often come along. So, when they do, you have to grab them.” -Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993)

“If you don’t hear opportunity knocking, find another door.” -Author Unknown

Knock, knock!
Who’s there?
Opportunity.
Opportunity, who?
Fooled you - opportunity only knocks once!

“Some say opportunity knocks only once, that is not true. Opportunity knocks all the time, but you have to be ready for it.” -Louis L’Amour (born Louis Dearborn LaMoore (1908 - 1988))

“If you’re looking for a big opportunity, seek out a big problem.” -Author Unknown

“Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss.” -F. Scott Fitzgerald (Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940)): “Tales of the Jazz Age” (1922), ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’

“Thou hast only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it.” -Marguerite de Angeli: “The Door in the Wall” (1949)

“Just because a door closes, doesn’t mean that it’s locked.” -Hannah Vlach

“Opportunity seems to have an uncanny habit of favoring those who have paid the price of years of preparation.” -Author Unknown

“The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are.” -John Burroughs (1837 - 1921)

“Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity; whenever there is opportunity, there lurks danger. The two are inseparable. They go together.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“Don’t wait for the right opportunity; create it.” -George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

“Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” -Author Unknown

“Our thoughts and imagination are the only real limits to our possibilities.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“Your only limitations are those you set up in your mind, or permit others to set up for you.” -Og Mandino (Augustine ‘Og’ Mandino II (1923 - 1996))

“Your big opportunity may be right where you are now.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970))

“You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.” -Author Unknown

“Are you missing opportunities because you are too focused on obstacles?” -Jeffrey Gitomer (born 1946)

“Opportunities are seldom labeled.” -John A. Shedd (John Augustus Shedd (1859 - 1928))

“Most people live, whether physically, intellectually, or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul’s resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger.” -William James (1842 - 1910): as quoted in “The Letters of William James” (1920)

“Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in yonder seas; they are in your own backyard, if you but dig for them.” -Russell H. Conwell (Russell Herman Conwell (1843 - 1945)): “Acres of Diamonds” (1890)

“Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities.” -Sue Ebaugh

“Men who are resolved to find a way for themselves will always find opportunities enough; and if they do not find them, they will make them.” -Samuel Smiles (1812 - 1904)

“It is one of life’s laws that as soon as one door closes another opens. But the tragedy is we look at the closed door and disregard the open one.” -André Gide (André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951)) (similar quotation attributed to Helen Adams Keller)

“Opportunity seekers do not sit at home waiting by the telephone or the computer, nor do they hang out in familiar haunts and with the same old crowd. Opportunity seekers go out and knock on unfamiliar doors and enter intimidating buildings and go up and down on elevators and stairs. They do a lot of walking, dressed and groomed as best they can, doing best what they can with what they have until they have more and know more. They meet people who are better than they are, who outclass them in every way, but they continue on.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Opportunity . . . often it comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970))

“Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.” -Orison S. Marden (Orison Swett Marden (1850 - 1924))

“Sometimes opportunity knocks, but most of the time it sneaks up and then quietly steals away.” -Doug Larson (1902 - 1981)

“It’s hard to hear when opportunity is knocking if you are too busy knocking the opportunity.” -Author Unknown

“What is opportunity, and when does it knock? It never knocks. You can wait a whole lifetime, listening, hoping, and you will hear no knocking. None at all. You are opportunity, and you must knock on the door leading to your destiny. You prepare yourself to recognize opportunity, to pursue and seize opportunity as you develop the strength of your personality, and build a self-image with which you are able to live - with your self-respect alive and growing.” -Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)

“Opportunity knocks once at every man’s door and then keeps on knocking.” -George Ade (1866 - 1944)

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” -Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

“Opportunity is always knocking. The problem is that most people have the self-doubt station in their head turned up way too loud to hear it.” -Brian Vaszily

“Opportunity is more valuable than money.” -Grant Cardone

“When opportunity knocks, you can’t say, ‘Come back later.’” -Leonard Turkel

“That old saying about opportunity only knocking once is as archaic as the flat-earth theory and as patently untrue. Opportunity knocks all the time - and it rings your doorbell, calls you up, and sends you e-mails.” -Victoria Moran

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” -Milton Berle (born as Mendel Berlinger (1908 - 2002))

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” -Jesus of Nazareth: as quoted in “The Bible,” ‘Book of Matthew,’ chapter 7, verses 7 and 8 (see also verses 9 through 12)

“The activity you’re most avoiding contains your biggest opportunity.” -Robin Sharma (born 1965)

“Old ways won’t open new doors.” -Author Unknown

“We have the power within, but the secret of success is to employ our power and talents and be prepared for opportunity when it comes.” -Walter Matthews

“Opportunities are often things you haven’t noticed the first time around.” -Catherine Deneuve

“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))

“Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along.” -Hugh Allen

“Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand.” -Bruce Barton (1886 - 1967)

“Arrange whatever pieces come your way.” -Virginia Woolf (Adeline Virginia Woolf (1882 - 1941))

“Every situation, properly perceived, becomes an opportunity.” -Helen Schucman

“With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.” -Thomas Buxton (Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786 - 1845)): as quoted in Frank Leslie: “Sunday Magazine” (January - June 1886), Volume XIX, page 89

“When opportunity knocks, don’t question your ability based on your shortcomings. Know your strengths and start your journey!” -Author Unknown

“If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes - then learn how to do it later.” -Richard Branson

This is MFOL! . . . wishing you many glorious days as you make your way through a world of endless possibilities . . .

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Changing and Adjusting

9/20/2019

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“If you would like to change things in your life that seem too big to change all at once, could you be happy changing them a little at a time?” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Any day we wish, we can start the process of life change.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“It is always safe to assume, not that the old way is wrong, but that there may be a better way.” -Henry F. Harrower

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” -Steve Jobs

“Never assume that you’re stuck with the way things are. Life changes, and so can you.” -Ralph Marston (Ralph S. Marston, Junior (born 1955))

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead (1901 - 1978): as quoted in the “Christian Science Monitor” (1 June 1989)

“It’s never too late to change your life.” -Author Unknown

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” -R. Buckminster Fuller (Richard Buckminster ‘Bucky’ Fuller (1895 - 1983))

“Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life.” -Herbert Ottl

“The greatest discovery of my age is that men can change their circumstances by changing the attitude of their mind.” -William James (1842 - 1910)

“The only thing certain is nothing is certain.” -Michel de Montaigne (1533 - 1592)

“Times will change for the better when you change.” -Maxwell Maltz (1899 - 1975)

“Know what’s weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty soon . . . everything’s different.” -Bill Watterson (Bill Watterson II (born 1958)): “Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes”; type of work: cartoon

“If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” -Giuseppe Tomasi de Lampedusa (1896 -1957)

“People can change until they take their last breath.” -Alton R. Jorgenson

“Change is the only thing that will make things different.” -Author Unknown

“Much as we may wish to make a new beginning, some part of us resists doing so as though we were making the first step toward disaster.” -William Bridges

“If you want things to change, you have to change. If you want things to be better, you have to be better.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“There is nothing permanent except change.” -Heraclitus (Heraclitus of Ephesus (544 B.C.E. - 483 B.C.E.)) (513 B.C.E.)

“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.” -Richard Hooker (1554 - 1600)

“To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” -John Henry Newman (1801 - 1890): “The Development of Christian Doctrine” (1834)

“The only thing constant in life is change.” -Francois de La Rochefoucauld (François Duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680))

“Never be afraid to try something new - remember, it was amateurs who built the Ark and professionals who built the Titanic.” -Author Unknown

“Changes happen, and life gets better and worse, and life somehow goes on.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Change before you have to.” -Jack Welch (John Francis ‘Jack’ Welch, Junior (born 1935))

“Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those opening a new road.” -Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778)): as quoted in Ben Ray Redman, editor: “The Portable Voltaire” (1949)

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” -Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi (1869 - 1948))

“Change is not merely necessary to life - it is life.” -Alvin Toffler (1928 - 2016)

“Only you can change your life. No one can do it for you.” -Author Unknown

“I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.” -Aldous Huxley (Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894 - 1963))

“Change is the only evidence of life.” -Evelyn Waugh (Arthur Evelyn Saint John Waugh (1903 - 1966))

Affirmation: I want to change my life.

To change one’s life:
Start immediately.
Do it flamboyantly.
No exceptions.
-William James (1842 - 1910)

“Change is not difficult, it is the resistance to change that is difficult.” -Author Unknown

“The nature o’* things doesn’t change, though it seems as if one’s own life was nothing but change. The square o’ four is sixteen, and you must lengthen your lever in proportion to your weight, is as true when a man’s miserable as when he’s happy; and the best o’ working is, it gives you a grip hold o’ things outside your own lot.” -George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Anne Evans (1819 - 1880)): “Adam Bede” (1859)
*o’: of

“The more things change, the more they are the same.” -Alphonse Karr (1808 - 1890)

“Resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“It is the greatest mistake to think that man is always one and the same. A man is never the same for long. He is continually changing. He seldom remains the same even for half an hour.” -Gurdjieff (1873 - 1949)

“In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” -Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” -John Cage (John Milton Cage, Junior (1912 - 1992))

“All change is not growth; as all movement is not forward!” -Author Unknown

“Everyone alters and is altered by everyone else. We are all the time taking in portions of one another or else reacting against them, and by those involuntary acquisitions and repulsions modifying our natures.” -Gerald Brenan (1894 - 1987)

“We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature, and the means perhaps of its conservation.” -Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

“The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.” -Okakura Kakuzō (Okakura Tenshin (1862 - 1913)): “The Book of Tea” (1906)

“If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” -Woodrow Wilson (Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924))

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” -Henri Bergson (Henri-Louis ‘Henri’ Bergson (1859 - 1941))

“Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.” -Mandy Hale

“Sometimes we must make a choice, to take a chance, or our lives will never change.” -Author Unknown

“We may dig in our heels and dare life never to change, but, all the same, it changes under our feet like sand under the feet of a sea gazer as the tide runs out. Life is forever undermining us. Life is forever washing away our castles, reminding us that they were, after all, only sand and sea water.” -Erica Jong (born 1942): “Parachutes and Kisses”

“Our only security is our ability to change.” -John Lyly (1554 - 1606)

“The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything or nothing.” -Nancy Astor (1879 - 1964)

“Everything is in motion. Everything flows. Everything is vibrating.” -William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)

“Change almost always represents improvement of the human condition. Constancy almost always represents stagnation. In any event, change is certain. There’s no point in complaining about it. Natural history teaches that survival in a changing world does not depend on physical strength or on high intelligence. Survival depends on the ability to change.” -Alex Sanders

“Things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state.” -John Locke (1632 - 1704)

“All things are only transitory.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Breckenridge Carnegie (1888 - 1955))

“The world hates change yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.” -Charles F. Kettering (Charles Franklin Kettering (1876 - 1958))

“Once you make the decision to change, all kinds of things happen.” -Charles S. Dutton

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” -Leo Tolstoy (Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828 - 1910))

“To change your circumstances, first start thinking differently. Do not passively accept unsatisfactory circumstances, but form a picture in your mind of circumstances as they should be. Believe and succeed.” -Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

“In all change, well looked into, the germinal good out-vails the apparent ill.” -Francis Thompson (1859 - 1907)

“Be okay with where you are, even if you know you want to change.” -Author Unknown

“Change is inevitable. Because it is driven by expanding knowledge and technology, it is accelerating at a speed never seen before.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“Change is inevitable . . . except from vending machines.” -Author Unknown

“Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.” -W. Somerset Maugham (William Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965)): “The Razor’s Edge” (1943)

“All is change; all yields its place and goes.” -Euripides (484 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.)

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” -Ed Foreman

“Turn over a new leaf.” -Thomas Dekker

“To the fearful, change is threatening because they worry that things may get worse. To the hopeful, change is encouraging because they feel things may get better.” -Buck Rogers

“Welcome change.” -Author Unknown

“Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end.” -Robin Sharma (born 1965)

“There is yet time enough for you to take a different path.” -Author Unknown

“Too much consistency is as bad for the mind as for the body.” -Aldous Huxley (Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894 - 1963))

“Life is like an ever-changing kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter.” -Sharon Salberg

“Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference.” -Author Unknown

“Someday change will be accepted as life itself.” -Shirley MacLaine (pseudonym of Shirley MacLean Beaty (born 1934))

Welcome to MFOL! . . . an ever-changing endeavor in an ever-changing world . . . mostly because we have a hard time being still for too long!

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Kindness and Good Deeds

9/17/2019

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“Kindness begins with the understanding that we all struggle.” -Charles Glassman (Charles F. Glassman)

“From now on, your kindness will lead you to success.” -Author Unknown

“It is difficult to give away kindness. It keeps coming back to you.” -Cort Flint (Cort Ray Flint, Junior (1915 - 1983))

“Little words of kindness, little acts of love - bring us just a little bit of Heaven from above.” -Author Unknown

“The whole worth of a kind deed lies in the love that inspires it.” -Author Unknown: “The Talmud”

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Kind Hearts

Kind hearts are the gardens,
     Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the flowers,
     Kind deeds are the fruits.

Love is the bright sunshine
     That warms into life,
For only in darkness
     Grow hate and strife.

Take care of your garden,
     And keep it from weeds,
Fill, fill it with flowers,
     Kind words and kind deeds.

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

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“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” -Teresa of Calcutta (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (1910 - 1997))

“Kind words are the music of the world.” -Frederick William Faber (1814 - 1863)

“Let us be kinder to one another.” -Aldous Huxley (Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894 - 1963))

“Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.” -Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

“A gentle word, a kind look, a good natured-smile, can work wonders and accomplish miracles.” -William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)

“The best way to keep good acts in memory is to refresh them with new.” -Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato (233 B.C.E. - 148 B.C.E.))

“Never lose a chance of saying a kind word.” -William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863)

“The first rule of kindness is to be kind to yourself.” -Bryant McGill (born 1969)

“Kindness is more than a thought, it’s an action.” -Author Unknown

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
-William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616): “The Merchant of Venice” (about 1596), Act 5, Scene 1; line spoken by character Portia

“Plant kindness and gather love.” -Author Unknown

“A word of kindness is seldom spoken in vain. It can be and is often treasured by the recipient for life.” -George D. Prentice (George Dennison Prentice (1802 - 1870))

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

“Kindness is wisdom.” -Philip James Bailey (1816 - 1902)

“I wonder why it is that we are not all kinder to each other than we are. How much the world needs it! How easily it is done!” -Henry Drummond (1851 - 1897)

“Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together.” -Johann von Goethe (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832))

“Caring people help others not because they expect a reward but because it is natural to show kindness.” -Author Unknown

“Kindness makes you the most beautiful person in the world no matter what you look like.” -Author Unknown

Be Kind

Be kind in all
     You say and do
That others may
     Be kind to you.

by Author Unknown

“Remember, there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” -Scott Adams (Scott Raymond Adams (born 1957))

“One of the most difficult things to give away is kindness - it is so often returned.” -Author Unknown

“A good deed brightens a dark world.” -Author Unknown

That day is best wherein we give
A thought to others’ sorrows;
Forgetting self, we learn to live,
And blessings born of kindly deeds
Make golden our to-morrows.
-Rose H. Thorpe (Rose Hartwick Thorpe (born Rose Alnora Hartwick (1850 - 1939)))

“A good deed is never lost: he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.” -Basil (C.E. 330 - C.E. 379): as attributed in Reverend Elon Foster’s “New Cyclopaedia of Prose Illustrations” (1877), ‘Second Series,’ page 395

“Do one good deed for another person every day.” -Author Unknown

“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the Sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstandings, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.” -Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

There is in every human heart
     Some not completely barren part,
Where seeds of truth and love might grow,
     And flowers of generous virtue flow;
To plant, to watch, to water there,
     This be our duty, be our care.
-John Bowring (1792 - 1872)

“Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of their way, but must accept their lot calmly, even if people roll a few stones upon it.” -Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965): “Out of My Life and Thought” (1949)

“Indulge yourself by being generous - help someone out, perform an act of kindness, offer a compliment. The person who will feel most uplifted by you having done so is . . . you.” -Paul Wilson: “The Little Book of Calm” (1996)

“Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, believing that one day someone might do the same for you.” -Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer (1961 - 1997))

“Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” -Teresa of Calcutta (Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (1910 - 1997))

Do it this very moment!
     Don’t put it off, don’t wait!
There’s no use in doing a kindness
     If you do it a day too late.
-Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875)

“Honey catches more flies than vinegar.” -Giovanni Torriano (about 1609 - about 1666): “Italian Proverbs” (1666)

“Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight: always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?” -J. M. Barrie (James Matthew Barrie (1860 - 1937))

“Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart.” -Henry Clay (1777 - 1852): “The Great Compromise” (1850)

“It’s a greater accomplishment to be kind than to be brilliant.” -Joseph Telushkin (born 1948): “Words That Hurt” (15 April 1996), page 126

“Whenever you feel that something as simple as a smile or a kind act will go unnoticed, do it anyway. You never know how much it might change someone else’s life.” -Erin Bishop

“Kind words don’t cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” -Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)

“Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them.” -Author Unknown

“The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention.” -Dugnet (similar quotation attributed to Larry Eisenberg, Duguet, and Dugnat)
-John Burroughs (1837 - 1921)

Do not take lightly small good deeds,
     Believing they can hardly help.
For drops of water, one by one,
     In time, can fill a giant pot.
-Patrul Rinpoche (1808 - 1887)

“Remember that if the opportunities for great deeds should never come, the opportunities for good deeds are renewed day by day. The thing for us to long for is the goodness, not the glory.” -Frederick William Faber (1814 - 1863)

“Being kind is more important than being right.” -Author Unknown

“To cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“Blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds, and though a late, a sure reward succeeds.” -William Congreve (1670 - 1729)

“Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.” -Henry James (Henry James, Junior (1843 - 1916))

“The greatness of a man can nearly always be measured by his willingness to be kind.” -George W. Young

Have you done your good deed for the day?

“The kindness lavished on dogs, if evenly distributed, would establish peace on Earth.” -William Feather (1889 - 1981): as quoted in Ted Landphair (at VOA News): “Featherisms” (6 October 2008)

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

“Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“Be kind. Everyone you meet is carrying a heavy burden.” -Ian MacLaren (pseudonym of John Watson (1850 - 1907)): as quoted in Dale Turner: ‘Quiet Wounds: Be Kind, the Pain is Heavy’ published in “The Seattle Times” (21 July 1984), Page A-8, Column 4; newspaper of Seattle, Washington, United States of America

“The kindest word in all the world is the unkind word, unsaid.” -Author Unknown

“There are three rules of dealing with all those who come to us: 1. Kindness, 2. Kindness, 3. Kindness.” -Fulton J. Sheen (1895 - 1979)

“Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August Sun.” -Kent Nerburn (Kent Michael Nerburn (born 1946))

“No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.” -Aesop: “The Lion and the Mouse”

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness.” -Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca (3 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))

“The greatest pleasure I know is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.” -Charles Lamb (1775 - 1834): as quoted in “The Athenaeum” (4 January 1834), ‘Table Talk by the late Elia’

“No good act performed in the world ever dies. Science tells us that no atom of matter can ever be destroyed, that no force once started ever ends; it merely passes through a multiplicity of ever-changing phases. Every good deed done to others is a great force that starts an unending pulsation through time and eternity. We may not know it, we may never hear a word of gratitude or recognition, but it will all come back to us in some form as naturally, as perfectly, as inevitably, as echo answers to sound.” -William George Jordan (1864 - 1928)

“You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

“Small acts of kindness restore hope in times of darkness.” -Jordan Rosenfeld, author website: https://jordanrosenfeld.net

“Do one good deed each day . . . and on some days do as many as you possibly can!” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

You never can tell when you do an act
     just what the result will be;
for with every deed, you are sowing a seed -
     though its harvest you may never see.
-Author Unknown

“You never know what someone is going through. A few nice words can help a person a lot more than you think.” -Author Unknown

“Seek to do good, and you will find that happiness will run after you.” -James Freeman Clarke (1810 - 1888)

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” -Leo F. Buscaglia (Felice Leonardo ‘Leo’ Buscaglia (1924 - 1998)): “Born for Love: Reflections on Loving” (1992)

“One good turn deserves another.” -Gaius Petronius Arbiter (C.E. 27 - C.E. 66)

“The good that you do in this world for others will eventually find its way back to you, as echo returns to sender.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

This is MFOL! . . . and we are going out to do our good deed for the day . . .

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Luck and Chance

9/14/2019

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Sometimes the odds can seem a little odd . . . and can leave you feeling cheated . . .

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

Al: Why so glum?
Bert: I just spent my luck penny on a piece of bubblegum.

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

“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

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

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

“Some people like to boast about their winnings in gambling, lotteries, card games, and other games of chance. What they will never tell you is that to win one dollar, they had to lose one hundred dollars.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Hard work beats luck every time.” -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

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

“Luck is mere statistical probability that can, and usually 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 returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” -Solomon: as quoted in “The Bible,” 'Ecclesiastes,' chapter 9, verse 11

“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)

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

“Chance happens to all, but to turn chance to account is the gift of few.” -Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton (1803 - 1873)

“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)

“Luck is when preparedness meets opportunity.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

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

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

“Walk boldly and wisely . . . There is a hand above that will help you on.” -Philip James Bailey (1816 - 1902)

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

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

“Long-ago-people believed in something called ‘providence’ . . . so, if an individual happened upon a ripe apple hanging from a branch of a tree within reach, it was accepted that it was providence that provided.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“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

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

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

Luck and Chance Quiz
- Can people be 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.” [English translation]
-Author Unknown

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

Charms Said to Bring Good Luck
- Horseshoe
- 4-Leaf clover
- Rabbit’s foot
- Penny or other coin
- 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

“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

“If you engage in gambling, or games of chance, you will have to sell your house, your clothes, you friends, and your family. How much are they worth . . . to you?” -Author Unknown

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

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

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

“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)

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

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

“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

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

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

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

“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 sure thing about luck is that it will change.” -Wilson Mizner (1876 - 1933)

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

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

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

“The only ones who win every game of chance are the gambling establishments.” -Author Unknown

“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 Zuckmeyer

“Good luck is often with the man who doesn’t include it in his plans.” -Author Unknown

“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))

Overheard: You lucky duck, you!

“The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.” -Joyce Carol Oates (born 1938)

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

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

“How often things occur by mere chance which we dared not even hope for.” -Terence (Publius Terentius Afer (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

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

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

“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

This is MFOL! . . . where we’re always working to turn bad luck into fortuitous happenstance . . .

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Meaning and Purpose of Life

9/13/2019

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“You are asking yourself, as all of us must: ‘Who am I?’ . . . ‘Where am I?’ . . . ‘Whence do I go?’ The process of enlightenment is usually slow. But, in the end, our seeking always brings a finding. These great mysteries are, after all, enshrined in complete simplicity.” -Bill W. (William Griffith Wilson (1895 - 1971))

“Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart.” -Gordon B. Hinckley (Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910 - 2008))

“Every noble life leaves its fiber interwoven forever in the work of the world.” -John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

“We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from life.” -William Osler (1849 - 1919)

“The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The meaning of life is giving your gift away.” -David Viscott

“We are here on Earth to do good unto others. What the others are here for, I have no idea.” -W. H. Auden (Wystan Hugh Auden (1907 - 1973))

“Love life and help others to love life. Be happy and make others happy.” -Author Unknown

“It’s not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.” -Author Unknown

“The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.” -Horace Walpole (1717 - 1797)

“I don’t know why we are here, but I’m pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.” -Ludwig Wittgenstein (Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (1889 - 1951)): as quoted in Peter Hershey: “The Beginning of the End” (2004), page 109

“We are not powerless specks of dust drifting around in the wind, blown by random destiny. We are, each of us, like beautiful snowflakes - unique, and born for a specific reason and purpose.” -Elizabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004): “To Live Until You Say Goodbye”

“What allows us, as human beings, to psychologically survive life on Earth, with all of its pain, drama, and challenges, is a sense of purpose and meaning.” -Barbara De Angelis (born 1951)

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I woke and saw that life was service. I served and behold, service was joy.” -Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

“If you would find happiness and joy, lose your life in some noble cause. A worthy purpose must be at the center of every worthy life.” -Jack H. Goaslind, Junior

“The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.” -William James (1842 - 1910)

“I see my purpose in life as making the world a happier place to be in.” -David Niven

“The service we render to others is really the rent we pay for our room on this Earth. It is obvious that man is himself a traveler; that the purpose of this world is not ‘to have and to hold’ but ‘to give and to serve.’ There can be no other meaning.” -Wilfred T. Grenfell

“No matter what age you are, or what your circumstances might be, you are special, and you still have something unique to offer. Your life, because of who you are, has meaning.” -Barbara De Angelis (born 1951)

“Life is not long, and too much of it should not be spent in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784): as quoted in James Boswell: “Life of Johnson”

“Unless a life is lived for others, it is not worthwhile.” -Teresa of Calcutta (Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (1910 - 1997))

“Above all be of single aim; have a legitimate and useful purpose, and devote yourself unreservedly to it.” -James Allen (1864 - 1912)

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” -Robert Byrne: “The 1,911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said” (1988)

“I have discovered the meaning of life. It resides in what I can wrest* from each day that I live.” -Nancy Thayer
* wrest: take with effort.

“There are ten or twenty basic truths, and life is the process of discovering them over and over and over.” -David Nichols

“Man cannot stand a meaningless life.” -C. G. Jung (Carl Gustav Jung (1875 - 1961))

“Our destiny can be examined, but it cannot be justified or totally explained. We are simply here.” -Jean Iris Murdoch

“Perhaps the meaning of life is something each of us is meant to try to figure out for our own selves, and in so doing, learn things that we could learn in no other way and upon which we might not otherwise place so high a value.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be ‘happy.’ I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.” -Leo Rosten (1908 - 1997): “Passions and Prejudices” (1978)

“There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our own life.” -Anaïs Nin (born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell (1903 - 1977))

“There is only one meaning of life, the act of living itself.” -Erich Fromm (Erich Seligmann Fromm (1900 - 1980))

“Don’t ask what the meaning of life is; you define it.” -Author Unknown

“Man is the only animal for whom his existence is a problem which he has to solve.” -Erich Fromm (Erich Seligmann Fromm (1900 - 1980)): “Man for Himself” (1947)

“The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life, and, having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

“Life’s meaning has always eluded me and I guess it always will. But I love it just the same.” -E. B. White (Elwyn Brooks White (1899 - 1985))

“The meaning of earthly existence lies, not as we have grown used to thinking, in prospering, but in the development of the soul.” -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (1918 - 2008))

“Life is rather like a tin of sardines - we’re all of us looking for the key.” -Alan Bennett (born 1934)

“What is the meaning of life? Whatever you want it to be.” -James Frey

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.” -Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)

“Purpose is what gives life a meaning.” -Charles Henry Parkhurst (1842 - 1933)

“I used to trouble about what life was for; now being alive seems sufficient reason.” -Joanna Field

“The meaning of life is to give life meaning.” -Ken Hudgins

“There is one purpose to life and one only: to bear witness to and understand as much as possible of the complexity of the world - its beauty, its mysteries, its riddles. The more you understand, the more you look, the greater is your enjoyment of life and your sense of peace. That’s all there is to it.” -Anne Rice (born 1941)

“The meaning and purpose of life is too important to be decided by philosophers and sages; let’s hear what the simpletons and fools have to say about it.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“To be human is to keep rattling the bars of the cage of existence hollering, ‘What’s it for?’” -Robert Fulghum (Robert Lee Fulghum (born 1937))

“The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” -Mitch Albom (born 1958)

“Life itself has no meaning; life is an opportunity to create a meaning.” -Author Unknown

“He who has a ‘why’ to live can bear almost any ‘how’.” -Friedrich Nietzsche (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)): “Twilight of the Idols” (1888), ‘Maxims and Arrows,’ 12

Meaning and Purpose of Life Quiz
- Why do people ask the question, “What is the meaning and purpose of life?”
- What is the meaning and purpose of life?
- Can different people believe that life has different meanings and purposes?
- What meaning and purpose have you given to your life?

“Life is a great and wondrous mystery, and the only thing we know that we have for sure is what is right here right now. Don’t miss it.” -Leo Buscaglia (1924 - 1998)

“The essence of life is finding something you really love and then making the daily experience worthwhile.” -Denis Waitley (Denis E. Waitley (born 1933))

“Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.” -Myrna Lay

This is MFOL! . . . because what would life be, without fun?

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Inspiration and Motivation

9/11/2019

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“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

“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!” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (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 (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 find it, go to the top of this page and click on Inspiration on the menu bar.

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Camping and Hiking

9/7/2019

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“Earth and Sky, Woods and Fields, Lakes and Rivers, the Mountain and the Sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.” -John Lubbock (1834 - 1913): “The Use of Life” (1894), chapter IV: ‘Recreation’

“I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.” -Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

For those who have trouble sleeping, researchers say that one week of camping - without electronics - resets our biological body clocks and synchronizes our melatonin hormones with sunrise and sunset.

“The purpose of a wilderness journey is not to get from one end of the trail to the other, but to enjoy the landscape, and adapt to its ever-changing moods.” -Bill Mason

“It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds, for the opportunity to rain on a tent.” -Dave Barry (born 1947)

“Hiking is a bit like life: The journey only requires you to put one foot in front of the other . . . again and again and again. And if you allow yourself the opportunity to be present throughout the entirety of the trek, you will witness beauty every step of the way, not just at the summit.” -Author Unknown

“When you are lost in the woods, the most basic rule of survival is: Never look like food.” -Author Unknown: park ranger advice

Backpacking: An extended form of hiking in which people carry double the amount of gear they need for half the distance they planned to go in twice the time it should take.

Overheard: How can it be that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box of matches to start a campfire? The Universe has a funny sense of humor.

The great outdoors is now available in your choice of ‘wonderful fresh natural outdoorsy scent’ or the ‘all-new coffee and stew and garlic bread over a campfire aroma’ . . .

The International Appalachian Trail is a scenic nature path that extends from Key West, Florida, United States of America north to Belle Isle, Canada (with a ferry ride between the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec and Newfoundland). But wait, there’s more: there are other trails and proposed extensions of trails, meandering through parts of Europe and Africa, along a path that was once in what are known as the Central Pangean Mountains that existed long ago as part of the continent of Pangea.

“I would rather be among forest animals and the sounds of nature, than amongst city traffic and the noise of man.” -Anthony Douglas Williams

Sleeping bag: A nap-sack.

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” -Edward Abbey (1927 - 1989)

Fun fact: You can’t run through a campground. You can only ran, because it’s past tents.

Camping Tips
- Get even with a bear that raided your food bag by kicking his favorite stump apart and eating all the ants.
- Old socks can be made into high fiber beef jerky by smoking them over an open fire.
- A hot rock placed in your sleeping bag will keep your feet warm. A hot grilled cheese sandwich works almost as well, but the cheese sticks between your toes.
- While the Swiss Army Knife has been popular for years, the Swiss Navy Knife has remained largely unheard of. Its single blade functions as a tiny canoe paddle.
- When using a public campground, a tuba placed on your picnic table will keep the campsites on either side vacant.
- Lint from your navel makes a handy fire starter. Warning: Remove lint from navel before applying match.
- You can compress the diameter of your rolled-up sleeping bag by running over it with your car.
- In emergency situations, you can survive in the wilderness by shooting small game with a slingshot made from the elastic waistband of your underwear.
- Check the washing instructions before purchasing any apparel to be worn camping. Buy only those that read, “Beat on a rock beside a stream.”
- Tent stakes come only in the quantity ‘N-1’ where N equals the number of stakes necessary to stake down a tent.
- If you are on a tight budget, you can duplicate the warmth of a down-filled bedroll by climbing into a plastic garbage bag with several geese.

Intense: Where campers sleep.

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” -John Muir (1838 - 1914)

CAMPING

Casually strolling through the woods,
Accepting the outdoors as our home,
Mischievous squirrels appearing out of nowhere,
Plenty of fresh air to fill our lungs,
Inviting us to venture out and explore,
Nature’s wonders to see,
God’s handiwork is everywhere around us.

by Author Unknown: acrostic
(An acrostic poem or list is one in which the first letters of each line combine to spell a word.)

Hiker Ted: Look, the sign reads, “Waterfall - Five Miles.”
Hiker Theo: Wow, that’s pretty big!

Did you know that you can go camping without ever making a campfire or using fuel and a cooking stove? You can still have coffee or tea, just use packets of an instant coffee and or tea, and drink the beverages cold. You can eat foods such as beef jerky, nuts and seeds, fruits, and other ready-to-eat foods that you can carry with you.

“The outdoors is what you must pass through to get from your apartment to a taxicab.” -Fran Lebowitz (born 1950): as quoted in “Mademoiselle” (1976)

One Summer, a father took his son camping for the first time. At every opportunity, he passed along outdoor-survival lore. One day they got lost hiking in the deep woods. He tried the usual tactics to determine direction - moss on the trees (there was none), direction of the Sun (it was an overcast day), and so forth. Just as his son was beginning to panic, the father spotted a small cabin off in the distance. He pulled out his binoculars, studied the cabin, turned in the right direction, and led them right back to camp. “That was amazing,” the son said. “How did you do it?” “Simple,” the father replied. “In this part of the country, all of the satellite television antenna dishes point south.”

Your Adventure Starts Here! Find gear for Fishing, Boating, Hunting, Camping, and much more at Bass Pro Shops by clicking on this link: www.BassPro.com.

Dog’s best friend is man . . . especially when man takes dog along for a hike!

Campers: Nature’s way of feeding mosquitoes.

The following are actual statements left on United States Forest Service registration sheets and comment cards by backpackers after completing wilderness camping trips:
- A small deer came into my camp and stole my bag of pickles. Is there a way I can get reimbursed? Please call.
- Escalators would help on steep uphill sections.
- Trails need to be wider so people can walk while holding hands.
- Ban walking sticks in wilderness. Hikers that use walking sticks are more likely to chase animals.
- Trails need to be reconstructed. Please avoid building trails that go uphill.
- Too many bugs and leeches and spiders and spider webs. Please spray the wilderness to rid it of these pests.
- The coyotes made too much noise last night and kept me awake. Please move these annoying animals to another part of the park.
- Reflectors need to be placed on trees every 50 feet so people can hike at night with flashlights.
- Too many rocks in the mountains.

“Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business.” -Dave Barry (born 1947)

Pack out what you pack in. Make sure that every bit of packaging and containers and other material that you bring with you when you go camping or hiking or exploring the great outdoors goes back into your backpack or pocket and is carried with you back out of the area. Leave the wonders of nature unspoiled by litter and garbage, for the sake of those who will be there after you, both humans and animals.

“Out-Of-Doors, noun: That part of one’s environment upon which no government has been able to collect taxes. Chiefly useful to inspire poets.” -Ambrose Bierce (Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (1842 - 1914)): “The Devil’s Dictionary” (1911)

Now for your outdoorsy tongue twister: Stalwart Stewart seldom shuns strolling in the sunshine on satisfying September days.

“Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.” -George Carlin (1937 - 2008)

Campfire Lights

Each campfire lights anew
     The flame of friendship true
The joy we’ve had in knowing you
     Will last our whole life through.

And as the embers fade away
     We wish that we might ever stay
But since we cannot have our way
     We’ll come again some other day.

by Author Unknown

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” -Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931)

This is MFOL! . . . reminding you that the adventure of life is out there waiting for you . . . what are you waiting for?

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Risks and Rewards

8/31/2019

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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 T. 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

“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

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Aaron!
Aaron, who?
Aaron on the side of caution!

“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.” -Trammel Crow

“Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.” -H. 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

“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

“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)

“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

“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.” -Author Unknown

“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))

“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” -Kurt Vonnegut (Kurt Vonnegut, Junior (1922 - 2007))

“Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all that he can.” -Henry Drummond

“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)

“Naught venture, naught have.” -Thomas Tusser (about 1524 - 1580)

“If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.” -Neil Simon (born 1927)

“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)

“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)

“Life is not without risk; life is a series of risks; all life is risk; life is a risk; life is risk.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“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 your constant companion,
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

“Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.” -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 L. Shiovitz)

“It is not given us to live lives of undisrupted calm, boredom, and mediocrity. It is given us to be edge-dwellers.” -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

“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

“He that is overcautious will accomplish nothing.” [English translation]
“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.” -Author Unknown

“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

“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))

“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! . . . try it, you might like it; if not, later you can honestly say, “I tried that once, and it didn’t suit me at all.”

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Self-Improvement and Self-Help

8/27/2019

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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?

“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))

“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

“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: Unconditional Self-Acceptance.

“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

“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 (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))

“Do not think of your faults, still less of other’s 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)

“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.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“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

“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

“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

“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

This is MFOL! . . . and we are learning right along with you . . .

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Henry David Thoreau

8/23/2019

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Let us get to know Henry David Thoreau through his own words . . .

“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” -Henry David Thoreau

“It is not worth while to go around the world to count the cats in Zanzibar.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854)

“The bluebird carries the sky on his back.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Journals” (1838 - 1859), ‘3 April 1852’

Henry David Thoreau was born on 12 July 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts, United States of America. He is remembered as an essayist, a poet, a naturalist, a transcendentalist, and a practical philosopher.

“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Pursue, keep up with, circle round and round your life, as a dog does his master’s chaise. Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.” -Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau, the writer of the book “Walden” (1854), was a pencil-maker by trade. Of course, as everyone knows, if you allow a person to have a pencil, the next thing he or she might very well do is to start using it to put words on paper.

“Writing your name can lead to writing sentences. And the next thing you’ll be doing is writing paragraphs, and then books. And then you’ll be in as much trouble as I am!” -Henry David Thoreau

“I know of no more encouraging fact than the ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden, or Life in the Woods”

“Almost all wild apples are handsome. They cannot be too gnarly and crabbed and rusty to look at. The gnarliest will have some redeeming traits even to the eye.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Wild Apples”

“It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?” -Henry David Thoreau: letter (16 November 1857) to Harrison Gray Otis Blake

“If a man constantly aspires, is he not elevated?” -Henry David Thoreau

“I was never unusually squeamish; I could sometimes eat a fried rat with a good relish, if it was necessary.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Water is the only drink for a wise man.” -Henry David Thoreau

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854), chapter I, ‘Economy’

“Nowadays most men lead lives of noisy desperation.” -James Thurber (1894 - 1961): “Fables for Our Time” (1940)

“I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn or been awarded.” -Henry David Thoreau

“It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.” -Henry David Thoreau

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” -Henry David Thoreau

“It is as hard to see one’s self as to look backwards without turning around.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Our life is frittered away by detail . . . Simplify, simplify.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854)

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” -Henry David Thoreau: as attributed in “Locomotive Engineers Journal” (1942), Volume 76, page 711

“The secret of achievement is to hold a picture of a successful outcome in the mind.” -Henry David Thoreau

“If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see.” -Henry David Thoreau

“I have lived some thirty years on this planet and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors.” -Henry David Thoreau

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” -Henry David Thoreau

“As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854), ‘Economy’

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” -Henry David Thoreau (similar quotation attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson)

“I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.” -Henry David Thoreau

“I am grateful for what I am and have. My Thanksgiving is perpetual.” -Henry David Thoreau: letter (6 December 1856) to Harrison Gray Otis Blake, as published in “The Correspondence of Henry David Thoreau” (1958), page 444

“I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits unless I spend four hours a day at least . . . sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.” -Henry David Thoreau

“I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854)

“The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.” -Henry David Thoreau

“A single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” -Henry David Thoreau

“I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.” -Henry David Thoreau

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” -Henry David Thoreau (similar quotation attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” -Henry David Thoreau

“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.” -Henry David Thoreau

“All good things are wild and free.” -Henry David Thoreau

“The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man’s adobe; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace.” -Henry David Thoreau

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” -Henry David Thoreau

“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Men are born to succeed, not to fail.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Thoreau wants a little ambition in his mixture. Fault of this, instead of being the head of American Engineers, he is captain of a huckleberry party.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson: as quoted in Lawrence Rosenwald, editor: “Selected Journals 1841 - 1877” (2010), page 557

“When were the good and the brave ever in a majority?” -Henry Thoreau

“All misfortune is but a stepping stone to fortune.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Every child begins the world again.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.” -Henry David Thoreau

“None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.” -Henry David Thoreau: as attributed in Kate Sanborn: “A Year of Sunshine” (1886)

“Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it.” -Henry David Thoreau: “The Main Woods” (1848), ‘Chesuncook’

“Man is the artificer* of his own happiness.” -Henry David Thoreau
*artificer: maker

“We live but a fraction of our lives.” -Henry David Thoreau

“There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.” -Henry David Thoreau

“When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.” -Henry David Thoreau

“There is no remedy for love but to love more.” -Henry David Thoreau

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Journals” (1838 - 1859), ’19 August 1851’

“Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” -Henry David Thoreau (similar quotation attributed to Nathaniel Hawthorne)

“Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.” -Henry David Thoreau

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854)

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty, poverty, nor weakness, weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854), ‘Conclusion’

“Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Journals” (1838 - 1859), ‘7 September 1851’

“Live your life as though every act were to become a universal law.” -Henry David Thoreau

“What lies before us and what lies behind us . . . are small matters compared to what lies within us . . . and when we bring what lies within into the world . . . miracles happen!” -Henry David Thoreau: as attributed in Dan Millman: “The Life You Were Born to Live” (1995), page xi (similar quotation attributed to Henry Stanley Haskins)

“Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Be yourself - not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” -Henry David Thoreau

“The man who goes alone can start today. But he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.” -Henry David Thoreau

“‘Hear! hear!’ screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, ‘winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it.’” -Henry David Thoreau: journal entry on 28 November 1858

“Who hears the rippling of rivers will not utterly despair of anything.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854)

“Many men go fishing all their lives not knowing it is not fish they are after.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854)

“A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is the earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.” -Henry David Thoreau

Any fool can make a rule,
And any fool will mind it.
-Henry David Thoreau: “Journals” (1838 - 1859), ‘3 February 1860’

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854), ‘Higher Laws’

“Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Life Without Principle” (1863)

“This world is but a canvas to our imagination.” -Henry David Thoreau: “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers” (1849), ‘Wednesday’

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854), chapter 18

“I like the story about Henry David Thoreau, who, when he was on his deathbed, his family sent for a minister. The minister said, ‘Henry, have you made your peace with God?’ Thoreau said, ‘I didn’t know we’d quarreled.’” -Stewart Udall

Henry David Thoreau passed on at 44 years of age on 6 May 1862 in Concord, Massachusetts, United States of America, succumbing to the then-common condition tuberculosis. His thoughts live on in books, and are scattered across the internet like brilliantly colored wildflowers growing in a vast prairie.

“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” -Henry David Thoreau: “Walden” (1854), ‘Conclusion’

This is MFOL! . . . doing the best with what we’ve been given . . .

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Goals and Planning

8/20/2019

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Never give up on your dreams . . .

“Take your dreams up off the shelf! Put your goals in front of you, and follow them. Focus. Strive. This is what you should be doing; this is what you are here for! You are here to dream, and to live your dreams! This is how things were meant to be. It is time to get back to basics. The essence of your life is your dream! What have you always been dreaming about, ever since you were a youngster? Visualize it, define it, and then go for it! Become happy and share that happiness with the world.” -Author Unknown

“I have come up with a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel.” -Rowan Atkinson (born 1955): “Black Adder the Third” (British television show)

“If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“If ‘Plan A’ fails, remember there are twenty-five more letters.” -Claire Cook

“One simple mental trick has changed my life. A wise retired railway worker named Danny Breslin told me about it. When you are faced with a task you do not want to perform, do not think of the task as a whole. Do not focus on the hardest part of it. Instead, ask yourself, ‘What is the least I can do towards accomplishing this task? What is the irreducible minimum?’ Do that and you have started on the task itself. So, for instance, if you are procrastinating about a letter you have to write, put aside the thought of the letter itself and what you will say in it. Instead, think of the least you can do towards it, which is getting a pen and paper ready. By doing this you will usually find that you can then actually start writing the letter itself.” -Celia Haddon (born 1945)

“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.” -Leonard Bernstein (1918 - 1990)

When any great design thou dost intend,
Think on the means, the manner, and the end.
-John Denham (1615 - 1669): “Of Prudence”

“The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish something; whereas the strongest, by dispersing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything.” -Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)

“Plan your work and work your plan.” -Author Unknown

“He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidence, chaos will soon reign.” -Victor Hugo (Victor Marie Hugo (1802 - 1885))

“Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so.” -Belva Davis (born Belvagene Melton (1932))

“It takes a mad genius to reach some goals.” -Daniel Akst (born 1956)

“We rarely succeed at anything unless we have fun doing it.” -Author Unknown

Work diligently toward a goal;
On plans and dreams often dwell;
Don’t wait until you are thirsty,
Before you dig a well.
-Rosemary Perry

“People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“The person with a fixed goal, a clear picture of his desire, or an ideal always before him, causes it, through repetition, to be buried deeply in his subconscious mind and is thus enabled, thanks to its generative and sustaining power, to realize his goal in a minimum of time and with a minimum of physical effort. Just pursue the thought unceasingly. Step by step you will achieve realization, for all your faculties and powers become directed to that end.” -Claude M. Bristol (Claude Myron Bristol (1891 - 1951))

“The vital, successful people I have met all had one common characteristic. They had a plan.” -Marilyn Van Derbur (Marilyn Elaine Van Derbur (born 1937))

“The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” -Lee Iacocca (Lido Anthony ‘Lee’ Iacocca (born 1924))

“You will have wonderful surges forward. Then there must be a time of consolidating before the next forward surge. Accept this as part of the process and never become downhearted.” -Eileen Caddy (1917 - 2006)

“The most important thing about having goals is having one.” -Geoffrey F. Abert
Abert F. Geoffrey

“Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work.” -H. L. Hunt (Haroldson Lafayette ‘H. L.’ Hunt, Junior (1889 - 1974))

“The basic goal-reaching principle is to understand that you go as far as you can see, and when you get there you will be able to see farther.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

Write Down Your Goals!

If you don’t write your goal down on paper,
Beware, it may try to be an escaper.
But when you do write your goal in your journal,
What you have done is planted a kernel.
And everyone, who knows anything knows,
That what a man reaps is what a man sows!
So write down your hopes and journal your goals
And press on through the highs and the lows.
Through the thick and through the thin,
If you never, never quit - eventually you win.
In every failure is a seed of success,
So keep trying, keep trying -
And you’ll be the best.
Write down your goals
And surprise the rest.

by Al Argo

“What you get by reaching your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012)): “Biscuits, Fleas, and Pump Handles” (1974), ‘Segment 4: Goals,’ Chapter 4: Reaching Your Goals, page 171

“Don’t let anyone steal your dream. It’s your dream, not theirs.” -Dan Zadra

“You can do anything you want in your life and in your career if you have written goals and a plan to get there, and also the commitment to follow through.” -Carol Halsey

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Achieving Your Goals

1. Break your goals into smaller parts.
- Many people abandon their goals because the goals are too big and vague.
- Break goals down into smaller parts.
- Decide on concrete and measurable actions.
- Have solid ideas of what a successful completion of a goal looks like.
2. Commit time daily to goals.
- You do not have necessarily have to commit hours at a time to accomplish a goal, you just have to be focused.
- The greatest advances often occur as the sum total of a series of small efforts.
- Commit to spending at least 15 minutes a day on specific goals.
- Do something that moves you closer to accomplishing your goals.
3. Talk to yourself.
- Repetition is the root of success.
- Remind yourself of your goals every day.
- Turn your most important goal into a one-sentence afﬁrmation.
- Phrase it as though you have already accomplished your goal.
- Repeat regularly and it becomes your natural way of thinking.
4. Make a serious commitment to your goals.
- Make yourself accountable by telling a few trustworthy people of your plans.
- Hope they become interested in your progress and check in with you.
- This will inspire you to keep going and overcome obstacles.
- It is hard not to achieve goals when others are watching and encouraging us.
5. Write your goals down.
- If you write goals down, they are more likely to come to pass.
- Invest time and energy writing your goals down.
- Putting goals on paper makes you more committed to the outcome.
- Reread your goals list periodically.
- It is beneficial to cross items off when they are completed.
6. Review your goals and your progress weekly.
- Re-evaluate each goal as circumstances change.
- If your priorities change, drop goals from your list or add new ones.
- Ask yourself ‘why’ if you have not made progress; ﬁnd out what is in your way.
- Question if unachieved goals are still important to you.
7. If possible, ﬁnd a friend.
- Try to get friends to help out with your project.
- Offer to reciprocate and help your friend in return.
- Two can get more done in a shorter period of time than one.
- You hold each other accountable to accomplishing your goals.
8. Reward yourself.
- As you plan your goals, attach speciﬁc rewards to each goal.
- The reward should be commensurate with the amount of work.
- Be consistent about rewarding yourself for every accomplishment.
- Each completion deserves a reward, no matter how small.
9.Take time to enjoy success.
- Take time to acknowledge the fact that you have accomplished a goal.
- Don’t simply charge into the next task or in time, you will likely burn out.
- Remember the time and effort you invested.
- Savor the feeling of completion.
- Refresh and renew your enthusiasm before you continue.

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“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))

“Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once, whether you’re ready or not, to put it into action.” -Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970)

“Whether or not you reach your goals in life depends entirely on how well you prepare for them and how badly you want them.” -Ronald McNair (1950 - 1986)

“Cultivate the habit of setting clearly-defined written goals; they are the road maps that guide you to your destination.” -Roy Bennett (Roy T. Bennett)

“You must keep your mind on the objective, not on the obstacle.” -William Randolph Hearst (1863 - 1951)

“The secret to productive goal setting is in establishing clearly defined goals, writing them down and then focusing on them several times a day with words, pictures, and emotions as if we’ve already achieved them.” -Denis Waitley (Denis E. Waitley (born 1933))

“Each step forward is one less step that has to be taken.” -Brian Adams

The goal shapes the plan.
The plan shapes the action.
The action achieves the results.
The results bring success.
-Author Unknown

“Goals are simply tools to focus your energy in positive directions, these can be changed as your priorities change, new ones added, and others dropped.” -O. Carl Simonton (Oscar Carl Simonton, Junior (1942 - 2009))

“Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915))

“If you have no goals, another day of your life just passes you by.” -Author Unknown

“To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never before done.” -Richard G. Scott (Richard Gordon Scott (1928 - 2015))

“Have the dogged determination to follow through to achieve your goal; regardless of circumstances or whatever other people say, think, or do.” -Paul J. Meyer (Paul James Meyer (1928 - 2009))

“You cannot trust everyone with your dreams, just a very few people. Beware of dream destroyers, those people who pick away at you and your ideas, people who only find fault and reason to criticize, people who keep themselves and others locked into small lives that lack any worthy attainments. Seek out those few individuals who can inspire and motivate you as you work to make your dreams come true.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“Reduce your plan to writing . . . The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.” -Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970)

“Every minute you spend in your life is either spent bringing you closer to your goals or moving you away from your goals.” -Bo Bennett

“Even if I don’t reach all my goals, I’ve gone higher than I would have if I hadn’t set any.” -Danielle Fotopoulos (Danielle Ruth Garrett Fotopoulos (born 1976))

“You can achieve almost any goal if you just do what other successful people have done to achieve the same goals before you.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“Review your goals twice every day in order to be focused on achieving them.” -Les Brown (Leslie Calvin ‘Les’ Brown (born 1945))

“You become successful the moment you start moving toward a worthwhile goal.” -Author Unknown

“The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do.” -Henry Moore (1898 - 1986)

“Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.” -John Dewey (1859 - 1952)

“Find a peaceful place where you can make plans for the future. Clear away all distractions: everything within your visual field, everything in your periphery vision, all noises . . . now get to the work of considering what you want to achieve, writing it down in simple yet specific words.” -Nathan Thomas Taylor (born 1966)

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900 - 1944)

“You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” -Alvin Toffler (1928 - 2016)

“Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can’t cross a chasm in two small steps.” -David Lloyd George (1863 - 1945)

“You can do what you want to do, accomplish what you want to accomplish, attain any reasonable objective you may have in mind - not all of a sudden, perhaps not in one swift and sweeping act of achievement - but you can do it gradually, day by day and play by play, if you want to do it, if you work to do it, over a sufficiently long period of time.” -William E. Holler (William E. ‘Bill’ Holler)

“Keep true to the dreams of thy youth.” -Johann Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805)

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” -attributed to Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910))

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” -Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

“If you really want something, and really work hard, and take advantage of opportunities, and never give up, you will find a way.” -Jane Goodall (born 1934)

“Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. There’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them.” -Author Unknown

This is MFOL! . . . where you can learn some things that you can take with you throughout all of life . . .

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Railroads and Trains

8/19/2019

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According to model railroad enthusiasts, model trains and toy trains are two completely different things. Sometimes in life, it is best not to disagree.

Ricky: What do you call a train carrying a load of apples and bananas and oranges?
Martin: A tooty-fruity!

What is the difference between railroads and railways? The two words are frequently taken to mean the same thing, and are often used interchangeably. Most of the English-speaking world uses the term ‘railways,’ except for Americans, who have a preference for the term ‘railroads.’

Clarabelle: What is the most difficult train to catch?
Maribel: The 12:50, because it’s 10 to 1 if you catch it.

On a typical train, the locomotive is the vehicle that contains the engine or motor, the controls, and the engineer (driver or operator). The wheeled sections of trains that carry freight, passengers, or equipment are called cars. Cabooses were special cars that are mostly no longer in use, attached at the ends of trains, to carry train crewmembers, signaling devices, and repair tools and supplies.

Laura: I would like to take a train to Chicago.
Ticket Agent: I’m sorry, only qualified engineers are allowed to drive them.
Laura: Very well - may I go to Chicago by way of Buffalo?
Ticket Agent: I’m sorry; none of our buffalo go to Chicago.
Laura: Just let me have a round-trip ticket, please.
Ticket Agent: To where?
Laura: Back here, of course!

Railroad: A thing having two backbones and a thousand ribs.

A British commuter hopped on a train to London and told the conductor he was going to Doncaster. “We don’t stop at Doncaster on Wednesdays,” said the conductor. “But I’ll tell you what, mate. We slow down at Doncaster to go through the junction. I’ll open the door, and you hop off. Mind you, we’re going fast. Hit the ground running so you don’t get pulled in by the train’s wake.” At Doncaster, the door opened, and the commuter hit the ground running. He was running so fast that his momentum carried him forward to the car ahead. There, another conductor opened the door, pulled him on board and, as the train resumed speed, said, “You’re mighty lucky I saw you, mate. This train doesn’t stop at Doncaster on Wednesdays.”

At some point before modern trains, people laid down metal tracks on roadways and built wagons with metal wheels to roll over them. The tramway system initially ran on horsepower. Electric motors, supplied by power from cables strung overhead, would come later in time.

Marcello: What kind of train do ballerinas travel in?
Arturo: Tutu trains.

The very first train reached a top speed of 8 kilometers (5 miles) per hour.

Chuck: What kind of train has no wheels?
Norris: A train of thought.

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Get a Transfer

If you are on the Gloomy Line,
     Get a transfer.
If you’re inclined to fret and pine,
     Get a transfer.
Get off the track of doubt and gloom,
Get on the Sunshine Track - there’s room -
     Get a transfer.

If you’re on the Worry Train,
     Get a transfer.
You must not stay there and complain,
     Get a transfer.
The Cheerful Cars are passing through,
And there’s lots of room for you -
     Get a transfer.

If you’re on the Grouchy Track,
     Get a transfer.
Just take a Happy Special back,
     Get a transfer.
Jump on the train and pull the rope,
That lands you at the station Hope -
     Get a transfer.

by Author Unknown

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Would you believe it - giants have taken over the train!

The standard American railroad width of 1.4351 meters (4 feet and 8.5 inches) originated in the width of Roman war chariots. Former English subjects living in the United States of America designed the railroad system based on measurements of pre-railroad tramways built in England. The tramways were built using the same tools used to build wagons, which were also the same width. The reason wagons were built to that width is that otherwise, they would break during long treks across the old English roads. Those roads, built by the Romans, were full of ruts carved out by the wheels of Roman war chariots. All Roman chariots were built to a standard width of 1.4351 meters (4 feet and 8.5 inches), and so English wagons were built with wheels that would fit into those ruts. Thus, chariots of ancient Rome are the forerunners of modern trains.

Mary: What do you call a train loaded with bubble gum?
Marty: A chew-chew train

Railroads and Trains Facts
- Train track rails are made of steel, and train wheels are made of steel; the combination is literally steel on steel, a very efficient and effective mechanism.
- The two main types of trains are freight trains and passenger trains. Light rail trains are used mostly for passengers and sometimes small shipments of mail and packages. Light rail trains include electric trolleys and trams.
- Despite the constant improvements being made to air-filled, rubber-tire vehicles that move on asphalt and concrete roads, freight trains are still the best way to move extremely large and heavy items and bulk materials such as manufacturing equipment, mining and drilling equipment, military equipment, construction equipment, coal, and grain, particularly over long distances.
- Passenger trains and light rail can carry large numbers of people at high speeds between and within populated areas, which can help ease traffic congestion and provide transportation for people who are unable to drive, who have no vehicles, or who seek convenience.

Doctor Watson: How can you tell a train just went by?
Sherlock Holmes: You can see its tracks!

Doctor Watson: How do you find a missing train?
Sherlock Holmes: Follow its tracks!

“There’s a train at 4:04,” said Miss Jenny
“Four tickets I’ll take; have you any?”
     Said the man at the door,
     “Not four for 4:04,
For four for 4:04 is too many.”
-Author Unknown

The longest railway in the world is the Trans-Siberian Railroad, built between the years 1891 and 1916. It is a network of railways connecting European Russia with the Russian Far East provinces. It is 9,288 kilometers (5,787 miles) long and spans 8 time zones.

Stella: How many train conductors does it take to change a light bulb?
Lester: Only one, but it doesn’t help, because he punches a hole in the new light bulb.

Railroad Tracks and Trains Safety
- All railroad tracks, the land around them, and any bridges, tunnels, fences, walls, buildings, or other structures, and the trains themselves, are the property of individuals, corporations (companies), public utilities, government agencies, or other organizations or entities. There are legal penalties for trespassing on someone else’s property, including monetary fines and jail time.
- Train conductors (drivers or operators) may or may not announce their presence by sounding the train horn or whistle or by having the vehicle lights on. Even when they do, because of auditory and optical illusions and the wide range of speeds at which trains run, a person can be fooled into thinking that a train is further away than it actually is, or not even be aware that a train is on a track headed for them.
- If a person walks on railroad tracks or alongside them as a shortcut to someplace, and falls and gets hurt, or is injured in some other way, he or she will probably be there for a very long time before anyone comes to the rescue, if anyone ever comes at all.
- When a person is hit by a train, he or she will not likely survive.
- Riding on a train without paying the fare or without permission, is also a form of trespassing and fare theft, and once again, trespassing is a crime with civil and criminal penalties.
- Railroad tracks and trains are a serious business, and not places to play or playthings. There are plenty of other places for people to be that are better and safer, such as sidewalks, parks, home, friends’ homes, relatives’ homes, libraries, public spaces, schools, jobs (workplaces), museums, galleries, stores, restaurants, and so forth.

The Ombley-Wombley

Once upon a railroad track
     The Ombley-Wombley sat.
Rumble clang,
     Jumble jang,
Crumble bang -
     And that’s the end of that.

by Peter Wesley-Smith

The highest railway in the world is in Peru, where the Central Railway climbs to 4,784 meters (15,694 feet) in altitude in the Galera tunnel, at a location 174 kilometers (108 miles) from Lima. Tourists take it to get to the world-renowned ruins of ancient Machu Picchu.

At a station stop, the railroad’s president walked up to the locomotive and spoke to the engineer. “You were going 65 miles per hour and the speed limit is only 60 miles per hour, I saw it myself on the speedometer in the business car!” After a heated exchange, the engineer finally said, “You couldn’t possibly have been going 65, my speedometer said 60 miles per hour - and we never saw you go by us!”

Ernie: What kind of ears do trains have?
Arnie: Engine-ears. (Engineers.)

So you just woke up from your nap . . . long slumbers can have strange consequences . . . just look at how much the world has changed while you slept . . . even trains are not the same!

“Are you going sixty miles an hour or is the train going sixty miles an hour and you’re just sitting still?” -J. Paul Getty

Siderodromophobia is a persistent fear of railroads or of trains. Oh, my good-golly, what if I board a train and it never stops and I can never get off it! I’ll be stuck on the train forever!

Trains and Railroads Quiz
- From what material are train tracks and train wheels made?
- What are the two main types of trains, based on what they carry?
- Why should you never walk on, or play near, railroad tracks?

“Know the name of the station you’re headed for. It’s a help in catching the right train.” -Author Unknown: “Agents Record” (1915), Volume 10, Issue 5, page 4, ‘The Real Salesman’ (“Agents Record” is a publication of the National Casualty Company)

Trains and Railroads Quiz Answers
- Train tracks and train wheels are made of steel.
- The two main types of trains, based on what they carry, are freight trains and passenger trains.
- Walking on, or playing near, railroad tracks is unsafe because trains travel at high speeds and usually are not able to stop in time to avoid hitting a person. Additionally, the tracks can cause a person who tries to walk on them to trip, fall, and be injured.

Clyde: What is the difference between a railroad guard and a teacher?
Claude: One minds the trains, and the other trains the mind.

Ask your know-it-all friend, “So, which was invented first: the train, or the railroad tracks?”

Problem: Trains travel from one town to another town all day always on the same track, always going nonstop, and always at the same speed. The 12:00 noon train took 80 minutes to complete the trip but the 4:00 p.m. train took an hour and 20 minutes. Why?
Solution: 80 minutes is the same as an hour and 20 minutes, so both trains ran in the same amount of time.

Overheard: No, I did not miss my train. I just chased it out of the station because I didn’t like the looks of it!

“Dear Mr. President: The canal system of this country is being threatened by a new form of transportation known as ‘railroads’ . . . As you may well know, Mr. President, ‘railroad’ carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by ‘engines’ which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock, and frightening women and children.” -Martin Van Buren (1830)

Passenger to railroad engineer: “What’s the use of having a train schedule if the trains are always late?”
Railroad engineer: “How would we know they were late, if we didn’t have a schedule?”

This is MFOL! . . . all aboard that’s coming aboard! Choo, choo! Chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-chug-a! Choo, choo! Clickety-clack! Clickety-clack!

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Scarecrows

8/18/2019

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Scarecrow: Guardian of the Garden.

Scarecrows

We’re the farmer’s scarecrows
     We scare away the birds,
We keep the farmer’s corn safe
     Without any words;
But when Hallowe’en comes
     We jump out of the ground
And we scare the boys and girls
     When they come walking ’round.
Boo!

by Author Unknown: sung to the same tune as that of “Sing a Song of Sixpence”

Apparently, scarecrows are effective at scaring not only birds, but people as well, which may be why they are a feature in Halloween holiday decorations and in scary movies.

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The Scarecrow

The farmer made a scarecrow
     And stuffed it full of straw.
He put it in the cornfield,
     but the crows laughed, “Haw-caw.”

One crow sat on Scarecrow’s hat.
     He was not scared at all.
That scarecrow did not scare
     A single crow away all Fall!

by Author Unknown

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Hey, wait a second . . . that scarecrow appears to be a crow . . .

Question: A scarecrow is one of the characters in the movie, “The Wizard of Oz” (1939). What was the scarecrow seeking?
Answer: The Scarecrow in the “Wizard of Oz” wanted the Wizard to give him a brain.

Scarecrow Joel

There once was a scarecrow name Joel
Who couldn’t scare crows, save his soel.
     But the crows put the scare
     Into Joel. He’s not there
Any more. That’s his hat on the poel.

by David McCord (David Thompson Watson McCord (1897 - 1997)

Many different ways exist to make a scarecrow. A typical scarecrow with a human shape can be made by sticking a pole in the ground in a farm field or garden. A shorter cross-stick is attached to it and becomes the arms. Alternatively, a dummy can be made from stuffing old clothes with straw. A head can be made by stuffing an old burlap sack or pillowcase with straw, and then attaching a hat. A scarecrow scares away crows and other birds that eat crops. Also effective is a shiny metal pie tin or pan hung from a rope tied between two poles or to a fence; a slight breeze will cause it to move, attracting the eyes of birds and causing them to take flight. Similarly, city folks are known to use large plastic owls to scare away pigeons.

Scarecrow: Cop of the cornfield.

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The Scarecrow

Five fat blackbirds,
     Sitting in the straw.
Laughing at the scarecrow,
     Caw! Caw! Caw!

Five fat blackbirds,
     Eating all the corn.
Silly old birds,
     It’s going to storm.

Poor sad scarecrow,
     Sitting on a fence.
“Boo!” yelled the scarecrow,
     Away they went!

by Author Unknown

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l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ l o v e ♥ g r o w ☼ l i v e ☆ l a u g h ツ l o v e ♥ g r o w ☼
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Question: Why did the scarecrow win the Nobel Peace Prize?
Answer: He was outstanding in his field.

The Scarecrow

Scarecrow standing in the field
     On a bright and sunny day,
Don’t forget to do your job.
     Scare the hungry crows away!

by Author Unknown

Scarecrow: One who takes as a compliment the words, “You’re scary.”

The Scarecrow

The scarecrow stands
With hanging hands,
Beside the farmer’s stile.
He scares the jay and crow away.
With just a painted smile.

by Author Unknown

Say this tongue twister three times fast: Seth said some serious scarecrows scare crows silly.

Further fantastically fascinating frivolity follows next . . . on MFOL!

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Shoes and Footwear

8/14/2019

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These shoes are absolutely the cat’s meow . . .

Shoe store sign: Limited Time Offer - Buy Two Shoes - And Get A Third Shoe Free!

A man walked into a shoe store, and tried on a pair of shoes. “How do they feel?” asked the sales clerk. “Well . . . they feel a bit tight,” replied the man. The assistant bent down and looked at the shoes and the man’s feet. “Try pulling out on the tongue,” offered the clerk. “Nath theyth sthill feelth a bith tighth,” the man said.

If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.

The earliest known footwear is a pair of sandals that date back to about 7,000 B.C.E. However, anatomical analysis of early humans seems to indicate that we may have begun wearing shoes as early as 40,000 years ago. Before then, we ran around barefoot and ate rocks. What’s that . . . oh, apparently, early humans did not eat rocks . . . just wild plants, raw meat, and bugs. Aren’t you glad you wear shoes?

Dustin: Do your shoes have holes in them?
Austin: No.
Dustin: Then how did you get your feet into them?

“If high heels were so wonderful, men would still be wearing them.” -Sue Grafton

Edith: Who always goes to bed wearing shoes?
Edna: A horse, of course.

Shoes all over the world were identical until 1822, when left-footed and right-footed shoes were made for the first time in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America.

Overheard: “I have enough shoes.”

If the shoe fits, it must be some kind of trick - don’t be fooled!

Ida: What has a tongue but cannot speak?
Emma: A shoe.

Overheard: Those shoes certainly make you look ‘well-heeled’!

Sonya: Why did the two shoes not get along?
Sonny: Because they both thought they were ‘right.’

The boots Neil Armstrong wore when he walked on the Moon are still floating around somewhere in outer space. He had to leave his boots there so that he could bring as many Moon rocks as possible back to Earth.

If the shoe fits, buy a pair in every color.

Sabrina: What runs around all day and then lies on the floor with its tongue hanging out?
Katrina: Your shoe!

In the silent movie, “The Gold Rush” (August 1925), comedic actor Charlie Chaplin actually ate his shoe. He portrayed his signature character, ‘The Tramp’ as a gold prospector who was trapped in a cabin during a snowstorm. Starving, he decided to boil his boot and eat the laces like spaghetti. Fortunately for Mr. Chaplin’s digestive system, the shoe used in the movie was made of licorice candy provided by the American Licorice Company.

“High heels were invented by a woman who had been kissed on the forehead.” -Christopher Morley (Christopher Darlington Morley (1890 - 1957))

Tutor: Can you name at least six things you can wear on your feet that begin with the letter ‘s’?
Student: Sandals, shoes, skates, skis, slippers, sneakers, snowshoes, socks, stilts, and stockings.

Many years ago, two salesmen were sent by a British shoe manufacturer to Africa to investigate and report on market potential. The first salesman reported back, “There is no potential here - nobody wears shoes.” The second salesman reported back, “There is massive potential here - nobody wears shoes.”

Joe’s Shoes

The shoes of old Eskimo Joe
Fell apart as he walked in the snow.
“Have you needle and thread?”
I enquired, but he said,
“No, igloo them, not sew them, you know.”

by Author Unknown

If the shoe fits your foot, it will not fit your budget.

Apparently, bears never wear shoes, as they prefer to gallop around in just their ‘bear feet.’

“I have tennis shoes with little rhinestones that I slip on if I exercise. But I always wear heels, even around the house. I’m such a short little thing, I can’t reach my kitchen cabinets.” -Dolly Parton (born 1946)

“A man can walk without shoes, but shoes can’t walk without a man.” -George Daly

Squeakers: Shoes that mice wear.

Gregory: Who wears two pairs of shoes, both at the same time?
Geoffrey: Mules - as do horses, ponies, and mammoth donkeys used for riding.

“You cannot put the same shoe on every foot.” -Publilius Syrus (85 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.)

If the shoe fits, you are asleep and having a dream about shoes.

“The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.” -C. G. Jung (Carl Gustav Jung (1875 - 1961))

Melody: What is made of leather and sounds like a sneeze?
Clarabelle: A shoe.

A typical pair of casual shoes will last for about 500 miles of walking.

If the shoe fits, it must be some kind of magical shoe.

“A handsome shoe often pinches the foot.” -Author Unknown

Presto: What results from wearing tight shoes.

Al: What goes, “Thump, thump, thump, squish! Thump, thump, thump, squish!”?
Fred: An elephant wearing a soggy tennis shoe.

“Give a girl the right pair of shoes and she’ll conquer the world.” -Marilyn Monroe (pseudonym of Norma Jean Mortenson Baker (1926 - 1962))

“Never buy shoes early in the day when your feet are their smallest.” -Frances Patiky Stein

The best time to buy shoes is when you are cranky and tired from walking and standing around all day, say for example, after work or school. This is because your feet are likely to be at their largest at this time of the day. That is right, your feet change in size throughout the day. It is shocking, we know. In the morning, you arise with your feet well-rested, but as the day progresses, you put a lot of pressure on your feet, causing them to spread out and swell up. If you try on shoes at the start of the day, well, that is when your feet are small, and if you were to continue to wear that same pair of shoes all day long, by the end of the day, your feet would not be happy, because they will be crammed into shoes that are too tiny.

Maxwell: Why do cobblers (shoemakers) go to Heaven?
Maxine: Because they have good soles.

“If the shoe fits, it’s too expensive.” -Adrienne Gusoff

A man walked into a shoe store and asked for a pair of shoes in size eight. The well-trained salesman said, “But sir, you need an eleven or an eleven-and-a-half.” “Just bring me a size eight,” the man said. The sales guy brought them out and the man stuffed his feet into them and stood up in obvious pain. He turned to the salesman and said, “I’ll take them. You see, I have lost my house to the tax collector, I live with my mother-in-law, my daughter ran off with her no-account boyfriend, and my business has filed for bankruptcy. The only pleasure I have left is at the end of the day when I go home and take my shoes off.”

“Sure, I may walk around as if everything is fine . . . but deep down, inside my shoe, my sock is sliding off. I think that my shoe is trying to eat my sock, and that is a scary thought.” -Author Unknown

Darlene: What did the shoe say to the gum?
Darla: “Stick with me and we’ll go places!”

Shoe Facts
- The bottom of a shoe that touches the ground is called the ‘sole.’
- The part of a shoe above the sole is called the ‘upper.’
- The plastic casings on the ends of shoelaces that prevent them from unraveling are called ‘aglets.’
- The holes in shoes that laces are fed through are called ‘eyelets.’
- The tongue of a shoe will not lick your feet.
- The edge around the opening of a shoe is called the ‘collar.’

If the shoe fits, it’s obviously on somebody else’s foot.

Many people do not know that feet can increase by one-and-a-half shoe sizes or more throughout their lifetimes. A person’s feet can flatten and spread out as he or she ages, causing a permanent increase in both length and width. Additionally, changes in weight, surgery, amount of time spent standing and walking on the feet, lifting and moving heavy items all day long and other physical exertion at work and in play, and pregnancy can cause foot size to increase. You may want to consider this the next time you go shoe shopping, especially if you have been torturing yourself by trying to wear the same shoe size now that you wore years ago as a teenager or a young adult. Try on slightly larger size shoes in slightly bigger widths, perhaps with more toe room. Your feet will thank you!

“I bought these shoes in Taiwan, and they said in the inside, ‘Made around the corner.’” -Frank Carson

Shoes called sneakers were first produced in about 1800. They had a simple rubber sole design, with the name ‘sneaker’ coming from the fact that their soles are so smooth and yielding that they hardly make a sound on the ground.

Hubert: What kind of shoes do detectives wear?
Hugh: Sneakers!

Another name for a detective is a ‘gumshoe,’ because detectives have traditionally worn soft-soled shoes.

If the shoe fits, buy it.

“It is totally impossible to be well-dressed in cheap shoes.” -Hardy Amies (Edwin Hardy Amies (1909 - 2003))

Otis: What does a shoemaker use to repair shoes?
Otto: Toe-nails.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Pear.
Pear, who?
Pear of shoes.

Shoestring: What every self-made businessperson claims to have built a business on.

You can tell a lot about a person’s character by the shoes he or she wears.

Need money? How about this zany idea: Become a ‘shoe reading’ expert. People come to you, you look at their shoes, you tell them what their shoes reveal about them, and you then advise them on what kind of shoes to buy if they want people to have a different opinion of them based on their shoes. This idea makes a lot more sense than palm reading and other methods of ‘fortune telling.’

Overheard: So many shoes . . . and only two feet.

“Your shoes are only as good as the laces they’re attached to.” -Greg Sampson

Norma: Why did the shoelaces arrive late at the party?
Nora: Because they got all tied up earlier.

If the shoe fits, it is too good to be true.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe . . . rumor has it that it once belonged to a giant who lived at the top of a beanstalk . . . the old woman was walking along, looking for affordable housing in a safe neighborhood for herself and her children, when all of a sudden, a really big shoe dropped out of the sky. Aren’t fairy tales fun?

If the shoe fits, buy the store.

Emma: What is six feet long, green, and has two tongues?
Emily: The Jolly Green Giant’s sneakers!

Shoes Quiz
- What features should a person look for in a shoe?
- What are arch supports?
- What is a padded collar on a shoe?
- What are aglets and what is their purpose?
- Which of the following shoe toe shapes is best for your feet: pointed, squared, or rounded?
- In what types of jobs do people need steel-toed boots or shoes?
- Describe the perfect pair of shoes.
- What items make up a shoeshine kit?
- What are sensible shoes?

“I stand corrected!” said the man in the orthopedic shoes.

Shoe store sign: Buy One Shoe - Get Second Shoe Free!

The ‘boat shoe’ was invented by Paul Sperry. He modeled the sole of the shoe after his dog’s paw.

Ernie: What did one shoe say to the other shoe?
Bernie: “You stay here, and I’ll go on ahead to see what’s underfoot.”

“Shoes divide men into three classes. Some men wear their father’s shoes. They make no decisions of their own. Some are unthinkingly shod by the crowd. The strong man is his own cobbler. He insists on making his own choices. He walks in his own shoes.” -S. D. Gordon

Here’s a great title for a song: “I’ve Got the Squeaky Shoes Blues, Yeah!” Now we just need you to write the lyrics, or words, to go along with the song title.

“Shoes speak louder than words.” -Author Unknown

Moses: What kind of shoes are made from banana skins?
Moe: Slippers!

If the shoe fits, you have somehow been magically transported to a fairy tale land.

This just in: There is more to life than shoes. We are kidding, of course!

Riddle:
I run over fields and woods all day;
Under a bed at night, I wait not alone
With long tongue hanging out,
I will be filled in the morn.
What am I?
Solution:
I am a shoe.

If the shoe fits, you are daydreaming again . . . time to get back to work.

Geoffrey: What has no feet but wears out shoes?
George: A sidewalk.

This is MFOL! . . . and that’s everything we have cobbled together about shoes . . . What’s that? . . . Our shoes are calling to us . . . seems they want to go out walking . . . maybe we will see you out there . . .

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Failures and Successes

8/8/2019

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Violet: May I ask you the secret of your success?
Iris: There is no easy street. You simply jump at your opportunity.
Violet: But how can I tell when my opportunity comes?
Iris: You can’t. You’ve just got to keep on jumping.

“There is no point at which you can say, ‘Well, I’m successful now, I might as well take a nap.’” -Carrie Fisher (born 1956)

“In public, we say the race is to the strongest; in private, we know that a lopsided man runs the fastest along the little side hills of success.” -Frank M. Colby (Frank Moore Colby (1865 - 1925))

“I am not a failure if I don’t succeed; I am successful because I tried.” -Susan Jeffers (1938 - 2012))

“You never become a howling success by just howling.” -Bob Harrington (1950 - 1992)

“The secret of success is to triple your rate of failure.” -Og Mandino (Augustine ‘Og’ Mandino II (1923 - 1996))

“How can they say my life isn’t a success? Have I not for more than sixty years got enough to eat and escaped being eaten?” -Logan Pearsall Smith (1865 - 1946)

“Success is not about ‘who you know,’ but rather ‘who knows you.’” -Author Unknown

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try a grin!” -Author Unknown

“You are the only person who can really label what you do as a success or a failure.” -Author Unknown

“Failures and setbacks are ingredients for a great success story.” -Author Unknown

“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” -John C. Maxwell (John Calvin Maxwell (born 1947))

Judgement

Before God’s footstool to confess
     A poor soul knelt, and bowed his head;
“I failed,” he cried. The Master said,
     “Thou didst thy best - that is success!”

by Author Unknown

“Drifting through life without aim or purpose is the first cause of failure.” -Author Unknown

“I owe all my success in life to having been always a quarter of an hour beforehand.” -Horatio Nelson (1758 - 1805)

“Success is difficult, it requires enormous effort. Those who can work through the struggle become successful.” -Jackie Joyner (Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born 1962))

“Success and failure. We think of them as opposites, but they’re really not. They’re companions - the hero and the sidekick.” -Laurence Shames (born 1951)

“No matter how far you have gone on the wrong road, turn back.” -Author Unknown: Turkish proverb

“If at first you don’t succeed, you’re running about average.” -M. H. Alderson (Miles Henry Alderson (1841 - 1924))

“You have to look successful in order to be successful.” -Author Unknown

If I should win, let it be by the code,
     With my faith and my honor held high,
But if I should lose, let me be the first to stand by the road,
     And cheer as the winner walks by.
-Sam Haskell: “Promises I Made My Mother” (April 2009) autobiography

“What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail?” -Robert Schuller (Robert Harold Schuller (1926 - 2015))

“For success, take the ‘t’ out of can’t.” -Author Unknown

“Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed.” -Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

“Success: All it takes is all you’ve got.” -Author Unknown

“Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, ‘I have failed three times,’ and what happens when he says, ‘I am a failure.’” -S. I. Hayakawa (Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (1906 - 1992))

“Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have.” -Zig Ziglar (Hilary Hinton ‘Zig’ Ziglar (1926 - 2012))

“Success comes in cans; failure comes in can’ts.” -Author Unknown

“Success comes to many men because they were deprived of advantages others had.” -Author Unknown

“Failure is the path of least persistence.” -Author Unknown

“The next best thing to winning is losing! At least you’ve been in the race.” -Nellie Hershey Tullis (Nellie Helen Hershey Tullis (1872 - 1964))

“The secret to success is to start from scratch and keep on scratching.” -Author Unknown

“Keep steadily before you the fact that all true success depends at last upon yourself.” -Theodore T. Munger (Theodore Thornton Munger (1830 - 1910)): as quoted in Elizabeth P. Bemis: “Primary Plans” (1909), Volume 7, page 54

“Failure is the first step towards success.” -Author Unknown

“The common denominator of success - the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful - lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.” -Albert E. N. Gray: speech (1940) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, at the annual convention of the National Association of Life Underwriters

“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.” -Jim Rohn (Emanuel James ‘Jim’ Rohn (1930 - 2009))

“Achieve success in any area of life by identifying the optimum strategies and repeating them until they become habits.” -Charles J. Givens (Charles J. ‘Chuck’ Givens (1941 - 1998))

“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” -Dale Carnegie (Dale Breckenridge Carnegie (1888 - 1955))

“The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed.” -Lloyd Jones (born 1955): “Mister Pip” (2006) novel

“Ninety-nine percent of success is built on failure.” -Charles F. Kettering (Charles Franklin Kettering (1876 - 1958))

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” -Robert Collier (1885 - 1950)

“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day, while failure is simply a few errors in judgement, repeated every day. It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgements that leads us to either fortune or failure.” -Author Unknown

“The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970))

“If at first you do succeed, try something harder.” -Ann Landers (Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer (1918 - 2002))

“Failures are the stepping stones by which we reach success.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is erroneous; on the contrary it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant, and kind. Failure makes people bitter and cruel.” -W. Somerset Maugham (William Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965)): “The Summing Up” (1938), page 182

“You always pass failure on the way to success.” -Mickey Rooney (1920 - 2014)

“The most unfortunate thing that happens to a person who fears failure is that he limits himself by becoming afraid to try anything new.” -Leo Buscaglia (Felice Leonardo ‘Leo’ Buscaglia, also known as Leo F. Buscaglia (1924 - 1998))

“One fails forward toward success.” -Charles F. Kettering (Charles Franklin Kettering (1876 - 1958))

“An Unfailing Success Plan: At each day’s end write down the six most important things to do tomorrow; number them in order of importance, and then do them.” -Author Unknown

“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.” -Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)

“Failure is success if we learn from it.” -Malcolm S. Forbes (Malcolm Stevenson Forbes (1919 - 1990))

“Ask yourself the secret of your success. Listen to your answer, and practice it.” -Richard Bach (Richard David Bach (born 1936))

“Failure is not falling down; failure is when you don’t get back up.” -Author Unknown

“For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.” -Author Unknown: “The Bible,” ‘Book of Proverbs,’ chapter 24, verse 16

“Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.” -Oliver Goldsmith (1728 - 1774)

“Failure? I never encountered it. All I ever met were temporary setbacks.” -Dottie Walters

“One of the commonest mistakes and one of the costliest is thinking that success is due to some genius, some magic - something or other which we do not possess. Success is generally due to holding on, and failure to letting go. You decide to learn a language, study music, take a course of reading, train yourself physically. Will it be success or failure? It depends upon how much pluck and perseverance that word ‘decide’ contains. The decision that nothing can overrule, the grip that nothing can detach, will bring success. Remember the Chinese proverb, ‘With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes satin.’” -Maltbie D. Babcock (Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858 - 1901))

“Failure is an event, never a person.” -William D. Brown (William David Brown (born 1936)): “Welcome Stress!” (1983)

“We are all self-made but only the successful admit it.” -Author Unknown

“Failure is God’s way of saying, ‘Excuse me, you’re moving in the wrong direction.’” -Author Unknown

“The most successful people are not necessarily the most popular.” -Author Unknown

“There is only one success . . . to be able to spend your life in your own way, and not to give others absurd maddening claims upon it.” -Christopher Morley (Christopher Darlington Morley (1890 - 1957)): “Where the Blue Begins” (1922)

“If you could find out what the most successful people did in any area and then you did the same thing over and over, you’d eventually get the same results they do.” -Brian Tracy (born 1944)

“He who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great.” -Herman Melville (1819 - 1891)

“Success consists of doing the common things of life uncommonly well.” -Author Unknown

“I couldn’t wait for success . . . so I went ahead without it.” -Jonathan Winters (Jonathan Harshman Winters III (1925 - 2013))

“It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” -Napoleon Hill (Oliver Napoleon Hill (1883 - 1970))

“Behind every success is a succession of failures.” -Rick Beneteau

“I can give you a six-word formula for success: ‘Think things through - then follow through.’” -Eddie Rickenbacker (1890 - 1973)

“Supposing you have tried and failed again and again. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.” -Mary Pickford (born Gladys Louise Smith, also known as Gladys Marie Pickford (1893 - 1979)): as quoted in Carolyn Warner: “The Last Word - A Treasury of Women’s Quotes” (1992)

“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.” -Joyce Brothers (Joyce Diane Brothers (1927 - 2013))

“Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.” -Louis E. Boone (Louis Eugene Boone (1941 - 2005))

“If you fail, never give up, because FAIL means First Attempt In Learning. End is not the end. END means Effort Never Dies. If you get no as an answer, remember NO means Next Opportunity. Positive thinking!” -Author Unknown

“What is called failure is still partial success, because you tried - and success can come only through trying. To achieve complete success, just keep trying.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)

“Behind every successful man there are a lot of unsuccessful years.” -Bob Brown

“A failure is not always a mistake; it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.” -B. F. Skinner (Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904 - 1990))

“Success is waking up in the morning, whoever you are, wherever you are, however old or young, and bounding out of bed because there’s something out there you love to do, that you believe in, that you’re good at - something that’s bigger than you are, and you can hardly wait to get at it again today.” -Whit Hobbs

“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.” -Earl Nightingale (1921 - 1989)

“Success is dependent on effort.” -Sophocles (496 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.)

“Success isn’t how far you get, but the distance you travel from where you start.” -Author Unknown

“You are successful the moment you start moving toward a worthwhile goal.” -Chester Floyd Carlson (1906 - 1968)

“It is infinitely more exciting to live a life of catastrophic failures than a life of could-haves, should-haves, and would-haves.” -M. H. Meng (Moh Hon Meng)

Now what could be better than that . . . except possibly what is coming up next . . . on MFOL!

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Inquisitiveness and Curiosity

8/1/2019

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“Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness.” -Bryant McGill (born 1969)

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” -Carl Edward Sagan (1934 - 1996)

“I would rather live in a world where life is surrounded by mystery, than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.” -Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878 - 1969): “Riverside Sermons”

Inquisitive Lad

There once was a boy of Bagdad,
An inquisitive sort of a lad.
He said, “I will see
If a sting has a bee.”
And he very soon found that it had!

by Author Unknown

“A good scientist is a person in whom the childhood quality of perennial curiosity lingers on. Once he gets an answer, he has other questions.” -Frederick Seitz (1911 - 2008)

Patrice: You’re a real curiosity - did you know that?
Shaun: Well, thank you, though I doubt if you shall ever solve me.

“The Quest Quotient has always interested me more than the Intelligence Quotient.” -Eugene S. Wilson (Eugene S. ‘Bill’ Wilson (1905 - 1981)): as quoted in “Reader’s Digest” (April 1968)

“Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.” -James Stephens

“Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why.” -Bernard Baruch (1870 - 1965)

“Be curious always! For knowledge will not acquire you; you must acquire it.” -Sudie Back (Sudie E. Back)

“Leave no stone unturned.” -Euripides (484 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.)

“To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all is that which says: ‘Leave no stone unturned.’” -Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton (1803 - 1873)

“The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.” -Isaac Asimov (1919 - 1992)

“Look and you will find it - what is unsought will go undetected.” -Sophocles (496 B.C.E. - 406 B.C.E.)

“Curiosity is a willing, a proud, an eager confession of ignorance.” -S. Leonard Rubinstein (Samuel Leonard Rubinstein (1922 - 2013)): “Writing: A Habit of Mind” (1972)

“Be aware of wonder. And then remember the, “Dick and Jane,” books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - look.” -Robert Fulghum (Robert Lee Fulghum (born 1937))

“Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse.” -Author Unknown

“Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784): as quoted in “The Rambler” (12 March 1751)

“I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.” -Eleanor Roosevelt (Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962))

“A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly than an eminent degree of curiosity.” -Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

“There are two sorts of curiosity - the momentary and the permanent. The momentary is concerned with the odd appearance on the surface of things. The permanent is attracted by the amazing and consecutive life that flows on beneath the surface of things.” -Robert Lynd (Robert Wilson Lynd (1879 - 1949))

“Curiosity is the one thing invincible in nature.” -Freya Stark (Freya Madeline Stark (1893 - 1993))

“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.” -Author Unknown

“The greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity.” -Anatole France (pseudonym of Jacques Anatole François Thibault (1844 - 1924))

“Curiosity killed the cat.” -Author Unknown: as quoted in the “Los Angeles Times” (22 August 1901) newspaper

Overheard: ‘Curiosity killed the cat’ is a common saying, but until someone shows me the record of the incident, I shall be disinclined to believe it.

“The place where you lose the trail is not necessarily the place where it ends.” -Tom Brown, Junior

Amy: Who crossed the road and left everyone wanting an explanation?
Eva: The chicken.

“The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.” -Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

“Satisfaction of one’s curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness in life.” - Linus Pauling (1901 - 1994)

“Things that people learn purely out of curiosity can have a revolutionary effect on human affairs.” -Frederick Seitz (1911 - 2008): in an interview (3 September 1997) for the George C. Marshall Institute

A ‘clue’ originally meant a ball of thread . . . hence, one ‘unravels’ the clues of a mystery.

“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive - it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?” -L. M. Montgomery (Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 - 1942)): “Anne of Green Gables” (June 1908), Chapter 2; line spoken by fictional character Anne

“‘Curiouser and curiouser!’ cried Alice.” -Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 - 1898)): “Alice in Wonderland” (1865), Chapter II

This is MFOL! . . . the website for anyone who has ever been told that he or she is a real curiosity . . . which is what we happily are . . .

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Adventure and Exploration

7/30/2019

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Ernest Henry Shackleton placed the above advertisement in “The Times” (29 December 1913) newspaper of London to recruit men, and in 1914, 28 men set out on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

“You know all those things you’ve always wanted to do? You should go do them.” -Author Unknown

“Everyone needs a friend that will call and say, ‘Get dressed, we’re going on an adventure.’“ -Author Unknown

“Never say ‘no’ to adventures. Always say ‘yes’; otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life.” -Ian Fleming (Ian Lancaster Fleming (1908 - 1964)): “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car” (22 October 1964)

Flamingo: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Skylark: She was excited at the possibility of new adventures.

“If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet.” -Author Unknown

You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So . . . get on your way!
-Doctor Seuss (pseudonym of Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904 - 1991))

“Maybe it won’t work out. But maybe seeing if it does will be the best adventure ever.” -Author Unknown

“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” -André Gide (André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951)): “Les faux-monnayeurs” (English: “The Counterfeiters”) (1925)

“I can’t say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.” -Daniel Boone (1734 - 1820), (June 1819), as quoted in Chester Harding: “My Egotistigraphy” (1866)

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are for.” -John A. Shedd (John Augustus Shedd (1859 - 1928)): “Salt from My Attic” (1928), page 20 (similar quotation attributed to William G. T. Shedd)

“If you’re not lost, you’re not much of an explorer.” -John Perry Barlow (born 1947)

“You are about to begin the hero’s journey. Travel well on the quest. A life of more is your birthright. Know the vast resources that reside in you and are provided for you in the world. You have raised the battle cry of, ‘There must be more than this.’” -Judith Wright

“To forever new frontiers!” -Author Unknown

“They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea.” -Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)

“Adventure can be real happiness.” -Author Unknown

“A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints.” -Wilfred A. Peterson

“The adventure is just beginning.” -Susan Greenfield

“Go everywhere, do everything.” -Author Unknown

“The world is not in your books and maps. It’s out there.” -J. R. R. Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892 - 1973)): “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (28 November 2012) movie; words spoken by character Gandalf

“Adventure awaits.” -Author Unknown

“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world . . .” -Herman Melville (1819 - 1891): “Moby Dick” (18 October 1851)

“Your current safe boundaries were once unknown frontiers.” -Author Unknown

“It’s when you’re safe at home that you wish you were having an adventure. When you’re having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.” -Thornton Wilder (Thornton Niven Wilder (1897 - 1975))

“Time for a new adventure.” -Author Unknown

There was a young lady named Laura,
Who went to the wilds of Angora,
She came back on a goat
With a beautiful coat,
And notes of the fauna and flora.
-William Cosmo Monkhouse

“Where the old tracks are lost, new country is revealed with its wonders.” -Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)

“Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to face many a danger, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle.” -Annie Besant (1847 - 1933)

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910)); attributed and possibly apocryphal

“The world is yours to explore.” -Author Unknown

“Whoever starts out toward the unknown must consent to venture alone.” -André Gide (André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951))

“Grand adventures await those who are willing to turn the corner.” -Author Unknown

Who never walks, save where he sees men’s tracks
Makes no discoveries.
-Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819 - 1881): “Kathrina: Her Life and Mine” (1867), part 3

“And then I realized adventures are the best way to learn.” -Author Unknown

“One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.” -William A. Feather (William Arthur Feather (1889 - 1981))

“The growth of the human mind is still high adventure, in many ways, the highest adventure on Earth.” -Norman Cousins (1915 - 1990)

Mission top secret,
Destination unknown -
Don’t even know
When we’re coming home.
-Author Unknown: American military double-time marching cadence

“Can’t keep still all day . . . I like adventures, and I’m going to find one.” -Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888): “Little Women” (volume 1, 1868 and volume 2, 1869)

Where to Find Adventure and Where to Explore
- The bottom of the ocean.
- Libraries and museums.
- Wilderness areas including forests, deserts, tundra, and woodlands.
- Beautify your neighborhood.
- Interests such as mathematics and biology.
- Start a business or nonprofit venture.
Where else can people find adventure and explore?

“You should know there is adventure in simply being among those we love and the things we love, and beauty, too.” -Lloyd Alexander

“The explorers of the past were great men and we should honor them. But let us not forget that their spirit lives on. It is still not hard to find a man who will adventure for the sake of a dream or one who will search, for the pleasure of searching, not for what he may find.” -Edmund Hillary (Edmund Percival Hillary (1919 - 2008))

“The only life worth living is the adventurous life. Of such a life a dominate characteristic is that it is unafraid. It is unafraid of what people think. Like Columbus, it dares not only to assert a belief but live in the face of contrary opinion. It does not adopt either its pace or its objectives to the pace and objectives of its neighbors. It thinks its own thoughts, it reads its own books, it develops its own hobbies, and it is governed by its own conscience. The herd may graze where it pleases, but he who lives the adventurous life will remain unafraid when he finds himself alone.” -Raymond B. Fosdick

“You must go on adventures to find out where you belong.” -Sue Fitzmaurice

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” -Confucius (K’ung Fu-tzu or K’ung Ch’iu (about 551 B.C.E. - about 479 B.C.E.))

“Among my favorite half-dozen topics in the field of Victorian female explorers, the intrepid women who packed up their parasols and petticoats and roamed the world in search of adventure. Some were scientists, some artists, some unabashed curiosity-seekers who simply went out to see what they could see.” -Deanna Raybourn

“To young men contemplating a voyage I would say go.” -Joshua Slocum

“Old men ought to be explorers.” -T. S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888 - 1965)): “Four Quartets,” ‘East Coker’ (1940)

“It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves.” -André Gide (André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951))

“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” -Amelia Earhart (Amelia Mary Earhart (1897 - 1937))

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” -Helen Keller (Helen Adams Keller (1880 - 1968))

“It’s a magical world, Hobbes, ol’ buddy . . . Let’s go exploring!” -Bill Waterson (Bill Waterson II (born 1958)): “Calvin and Hobbes,” last panel, line spoken by fictional character Calvin

This MFOL! . . . make an adventure of your life and never stop exploring . . .

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