Collected Thoughts

Often I stumble across lines I find thought-provoking, comforting or inspiring, that have helped me face adversity, or recover from it. I jot them down, print them out, or make a photocopy to stick up on my refrigerator, but after a while I forget. So I thought I'd assemble some here, with appropriate citations, in the hope these ideas are helpful to others.
  • Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. - unknown
  • Don't look back in anger, or ahead in fear. Look around you in awareness. - James Thurber
  • Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs. Professionals built the Titanic. - unknown
Or, for something slightly different:
  • Never be afraid to try something new. But remember, amateurs built the Ark and professionals built the Titanic.
  • Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. - Abraham Lincoln
  • Just because a story is true, doesn't mean it's good fiction. - unknown
  • Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. - Chinua Achebe, quoted in The Economist
  • Don't believe everything you read, but believe everything you say. - L. Ron Hubbard's renegade son
A new one that has been guiding my decision-making in 2021:
  • Be decisive. The road of life is paved with flat squirrels who couldn't make a choice.
Another new one, I can't believe I didn't but this in sooner:
  • I have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute. - Rebecca West

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