Inspirational quotes/sayings etc

[peterjohn]

Wow - great threads and posts !!!
From George Orwell - " It's never too late to be the person you wish to be. When I'm in the gutter I look up and see the stars."
From a story by Tolstoy " The most important time is now, the most important person is the one your with and the most important thing to do is to be kind."
Maybe from Dorothy Parker something like " if you reach for the moon you might land on a star."

Peter

[peterjohn]

Just thought of 3 more that amuse me :

When my boat comes in I'll be at the airport.
When I see some light at the end of my tunnel it will probably be the light of a train coming the other way !
From an American comedian, said with a snarl, " When I get up in the morning I smile, gets it over with"

[zen]

Originally Posted by peterjohn

When I see some light at the end of my tunnel it will probably be the light of a train coming the other way !

ah that made me laugh

[peterjohn]

Originally Posted by zen

ah that made me laugh

Cheers mate - I find it funny too !

[peterjohn]

Originally Posted by girlinterrupted

Came across this one today and thought it was a good way of looking at the times when we have setbacks:

" No one ever won a chess match by making only forward moves. Sometimes you have to move backward to take a better step forward. The same is true for Life " ~ author unknown

As a very keen chess player I really like this quote. Very true !

[Anxious Adam Black]

Oh, here's one:

"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among stones."
-Charlottle Bronte

Just remember that the next time someone tries or succeeds in prejudging you or others...or you think they are, I guess...

[wjfox]

"No one can make you inferior without your consent." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

[moike]

Well, I'm not sure if it counts as an inspirational quote but Nike's "Just do it" is up there with the best of them in my opinion. It may not have the same eloquence but for someone having problems such as SA, it is in my opinion more use that most others.

[Ajax Amsterdam]

Originally Posted by moike

Well, I'm not sure if it counts as an inspirational quote but Nike's "Just do it" is up there with the best of them in my opinion. It may not have the same eloquence but for someone having problems such as SA, it is in my opinion more use that most others.

I actually use that one myself sometimes.

I do like the straight-up, don't think about it, don't analyse it, don't ponder it ... just do it, approach at times.

[Anxious Adam Black]

Originally Posted by wjfox

"No one can make you inferior without your consent." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

It's good because it half ties in with:

"What they (say behind your back/don't say to your face) is none of your business."

It does sound a bit hostile and negative if you read it the wrong way round, but it means well because what is basically being said is "who cares what they're saying about you, if they can't say it to your face, it doesn't matter". Apologies if it was already obvious and I sound patronising, though.

A shame I can't remember who originated this phrase...

[Sadie]

"beware of those angels with their wings glued on, cus deep down they are frightened and they're scared if you don't stare.."
Billy Corgan

[peterjohn]

From my fridge magnet - Every day is a gift, that's why we call it the present !

[Anxious Adam Black]

Originally Posted by GT

Its probably a version of this quote
http://www.openzine.com/aspx/Zine.aspx?IssueID=1738
peoples gossip/criticism/judgements of others are mostly about themselves, their own personal taste and preference, their own irritability and fears, perhaps transferance, http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_i...=1&w=12&e=8253 someone else who they are reminded of from their upbringing and projecting the same traits on others, or a quality they dislike or are worried about themselves that they are projecting, or they could be exaggerators who spin or scapegoat for various reasons of their own. I remember reading an old saying ' criticism is a form of autobiography' - it can sometimes reveal morze about the gossiper than the gossiped about one.
This is an essay about defence mechanisms/coping strategies people use
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_d...pe=doc&id=4054
So when gossipped about, a person could stay calm by thinking do they really know me, my thoughts, my intentions etc or are they projecting/ talking bullshit for their own reasons/ being silly and basing their opinion on a misunderstanding or rumour.If what they are criticising is true and fair in your own belief, then maybe it could be useful to help see what you want to change anyway. But it could be to do with their own fears/discomfort, their drive to entertain/help, or promoting their own ambitions/agenda so it's very little about knowing what other people are about, unless it's a good friend, unbiased relative, or psycologist or therapist who has got to know the person.
Edit- it's similar to the quote about prejudice/ weeds you posted already, Anxious Adam Black.
Maybe a more modern version is *haterz gonna hate*
But each person has to live their own life, so it's we want and think of our own selves that is important.
Although i also like the quote I read on here ' it's not so much what you say or do that people remeber as much as how you made them feel'.
Like, I can be quiet because of shyness, but people might feel hurt that I don't seem interested, so might remeber me as being aloof or not friendly. So though that's not my business/problem, it's something I myself would like to change as i wouldn't want people to feel snubbed or whatever.
Err.. I'll think of some cheerful and uplifting quotes later, but the above is quite useful to me anyway.

Yes, I think that was the exact quote I was after, and that first link has some very valid points (as I've experienced it, anyway). And there does seem to be a bit of a tenuous link to the Charlotte Bronte quote I posted previously. I think it depends on context and individual personalities, as you alluded to already. Prejudice can be a result of either early upbringing and teachings or a scarce experience during that early upbringing (whether right or wrong) and/or a lack of knowledge on a certain aspect, thus breeding blind assumption for the sake of making oneself feel better with some sort of psuedo-knowledge that, more often than not, is all-generalising and, in the first place, corrupting. But once you know prejudice, gossip and the like is a symptom for hiding a weakness (as far as I know) and sometimes based on little info on the other person's part, it empowers you to know that you're on a higher plane than they are, that's why the sayings aforementioned are all the more empowering and inspirational...but of course, depends on the person and situation (without ulterior motive, e.g. malicious criticism designed to bring you down and masked as "constructive" because you're somehow detected as a threat).

[Anxious Adam Black]

Originally Posted by Sadie

"beware of those angels with their wings glued on, cus deep down they are frightened and they're scared if you don't stare.."
Billy Corgan

Reminds me of an ex

[Deepest Blue]

'Everything is OK in the end, if it's not OK, then it's not the end...'

[Worried]

there's one quote I read somewhere, maybe here, that I really like. Goes something like ' your fear only has power if you decide to give it power' ??? any ideas?

[ajc]

Don't know if it's inspirational, but this poem always makes me laugh:


If People Disapprove Of You.
By Sophie Hannah.

Make being disapproved of your hobby.
Make being disapproved of your aim.
Devise new ways of scoring points
In the Being Disapproved Of Game.

Let them disapprove in their dozens.
Let them disapprove in their hordes.
You'll find that being disapproved of
Builds character, brings rewards.

Just like any form of striving
Don't be arrogant; don't coast
On your high disapproval rating.
Try to be disapproved of most.

At this point, if it's useful,
Draw a pie chart or a graph.
Show it to someone who disapproves.
When they disapprove, just laugh.

Count the emotions you provoke:
Anger, suspicion, shock.
One point for each of these
And two for each boat you rock.

Feel yourself warming to your task -
You do it bloody well.
A last you've found an area
In which you can excel.

Savour the thrill of risk without
The fear of getting caught.
Whether they sulk or scream or pout,
Enjoy your new-found sport.

Meanwhile all those who disapprove
While you are having fun
Won't even know your game exists
So tell yourself you've won.

[Existentially_impaired]

^Love it!

Thanks for that.

And from Emily Dickinson, similarly:

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us -- don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

[hint_of_amaretto]

Originally Posted by ajc

Don't know if it's inspirational, but this poem always makes me laugh:


If People Disapprove Of You.
By Sophie Hannah.

Make being disapproved of your hobby.
Make being disapproved of your aim.
Devise new ways of scoring points
In the Being Disapproved Of Game.

Let them disapprove in their dozens.
Let them disapprove in their hordes.
You'll find that being disapproved of
Builds character, brings rewards.

Just like any form of striving
Don't be arrogant; don't coast
On your high disapproval rating.
Try to be disapproved of most.

At this point, if it's useful,
Draw a pie chart or a graph.
Show it to someone who disapproves.
When they disapprove, just laugh.

Count the emotions you provoke:
Anger, suspicion, shock.
One point for each of these
And two for each boat you rock.

Feel yourself warming to your task -
You do it bloody well.
A last you've found an area
In which you can excel.

Savour the thrill of risk without
The fear of getting caught.
Whether they sulk or scream or pout,
Enjoy your new-found sport.

Meanwhile all those who disapprove
While you are having fun
Won't even know your game exists
So tell yourself you've won.

Hahahaha,...love this!Thanks for posting!

[sojourn]

"Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get, but if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen."

Conan O’Brien

[schneebeli]

^ particularly like the Emerson one

[Deepest Blue]

"Absence and death are the same - only that in death there is no suffering."

Theodore Roosevelt

[AxelFendersson]

"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance."
- Japanese Proverb

[Only_human]

Life has no smooth road for any of us; and in the bracing atmosphere of a high aim the very roughness stimulates the climber to steadier steps, till the legend, over steep ways to the stars, fulfills itself.
W. C. Doane

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden

We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.
Martin Luther King

[Deepest Blue]

"If you're alone, I'll be your shadow. If you want to cry, I'll be your shoulder. If you want a hug, I'll be your pillow. If you need to be happy, I'll be your smile. But anytime you need a friend, I'll just be me."

[xTKsaucex]

Originally Posted by ajc

Don't know if it's inspirational, but this poem always makes me laugh:


If People Disapprove Of You.
By Peter Mandleson.

Make being disapproved of your hobby.
Make being disapproved of your aim.
Devise new ways of scoring points
In the Being Disapproved Of Game.

Let them disapprove in their dozens.
Let them disapprove in their hordes.
You'll find that being disapproved of
Builds character, brings rewards.

Just like any form of striving
Don't be arrogant; don't coast
On your high disapproval rating.
Try to be disapproved of most.

At this point, if it's useful,
Draw a pie chart or a graph.
Show it to someone who disapproves.
When they disapprove, just laugh.

Count the emotions you provoke:
Anger, suspicion, shock.
One point for each of these
And two for each boat you rock.

Feel yourself warming to your task -
You do it bloody well.
A last you've found an area
In which you can excel.

Savour the thrill of risk without
The fear of getting caught.
Whether they sulk or scream or pout,
Enjoy your new-found sport.

Meanwhile all those who disapprove
While you are having fun
Won't even know your game exists
So tell yourself you've won.

[Deepest Blue]

"Happiness is not the belief that we don't need to change. It's the realisation that we can." - Shawn Achor

[MrMr]

"You can't get better than a Kwik Fit fitter, they're the ones to trust"

I may not have taken this post as seriously as I should have

[StarMemory]

"If someone wants to be a part of your life, they'll make an effort to be in it. So don't bother reserving a space in your heart for someone who doesn't make an effort to stay"

[peterjohn]

My daughter gave me this :

AS I LIVE EACH DAY

As I live each day
may I do my part
to make one difference
to touch one heart
and through each day
may it be my goal
to encourage one mind
and inspire one soul