"The future came and went in the mildly discouraging way that futures do" - Neil Gaimon

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." - Albert Einstein

"The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle." -Stephen King

"I wake up every morning determined to change the world and have one hell of a good time. This makes planning my day difficult." - E.B. White

Thanks Delilah! (I also collect interesting words)

“Pass the damn ham, please.”

-Scout, “To Kill a Mockingbird “

one of my all-time favorites.

I used to keep a book journal, writing down the books I read and rating them with my own system (Transcendent -> Undesirable.) I also would write down phrases from books when moved to do so. Here are a few of mine.

"Tell me which of two men are dead-the one who changed, or the one who stopped changing?" Belly of the Wolf (Lens of the World, Vol. 3)

"It's not being prejudiced, Mom said. It's a matter of accuracy in labeling." The Glass Castle.

Actually, I just spent 15' looking for the other quotes I though I'd kept and can't find them. Oh, well.

I only recently came across this and it resonated with me:

"There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday and the other is called Tomorrow. Today is the right day to Love, Believe, Do and mostly Live." - Dalai Lama

“Having a baby is like getting a tattoo on your face. You really need to be certain it's what you want before you commit.”

― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Michael Pollan

In Defense of Food

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I used to put a "Thought of the Day" outside my classroom every day. Few were from fiction, though. I am not sure if I left the folders for the teacher who replaced me or not (she was a first year teacher, so I left her lots of stuff. Unfortunately, she only lasted one yea (it is a pretty tough job and no first year teacher should be there) and there is someone else there now. Should have kept my things! I will look.

My father had a saying that I always remembered, and he would say this when we wanted someone who was driving to slow down: "Hold her Newt, she smells alfalfa."

I had no idea what this mean most of my life and never wanted to ask my father for explanations because he was way too long-winded. My much younger brother once told me the meaning. Newt was a hired hand who worked for my father, and he was driving a mule (the "she") that would speed up as she approached an alfalfa field. I never knew about the mule, and I had interpreted it to mean that she smelled like alfalfa, whoever that she was.

From Kierkegaard: "Boredom is the root of all evil." <Either/Or

ETA: I found the source for "Hold 'er Newt", and so my father did not make it up but had picked it up from someone else. I had no idea that it was a common phrase. My father may not have had a hired hand named Newt.

"Better to be at the table than on the menu." Anonymous

I couldn't crop out the left side, but the quote on the right caught my eye a couple of years ago. DD and DH used to read Roald Dahl books together, so it had extra meaning. I typed it up and literally just taped the paper to our dining room wall on a whim. Expected it to stay there for a few days. Then no one would let me take it down. We moved, and DH insisted on taking the piece of paper with us and it is now in his home office. A month or so ago, DD had to figure out a quote to use for her yearbook page...she decided to use this. I am not usually one for collecting quotes and/or displaying them, but we sure got a lot of mileage out of this one!

Just because I/you/we can doesn't mean we should.

I'm not sure where the saying came from.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead

I love all the above and realize I have a lot more reading to do to catch up with you all!

Lars, my g-grandfather used to say something similar.

"Hold her head up, Jude, she smells alfalfa!"

Only in that case, "Jude" was the mule.

“Monsters are real. Ghosts are too. They live inside of us, and sometimes, they win.” — Stephen King, The Shining

"Barn's burnt down,

now

I can see the moon." - Mizuta Masahide (1657-1723, Japanese poet)

"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan