Sunday, May 31, 2009

I’m not anything else

I don’t have much left from my childhood.  Some pictures I hold dear, a few books I managed to sneak away when I moved out, a storage tub full of cheap plastic trophy’s and medals, a few of my dad’s old shirts and my baby book (thank God).  Not a lot but things that meant something.  I also have a book of quotes I find every few times we move, something I completely forget about until I see it again.  I found it again today while finally cleaning up the office and had a good time reading through them. 

I was obsessed with quotes in high school.  I think a lot of girls go through this stage although I’m unsure why.  I think for me I was searching for meaning at a time I felt completely lost and suffocating in my crappy life.  I was very sad, very burdened, very romantic in my thinking.  A wistful teenager living in books, dreaming of freedom and drowning in awkwardness.  Ah the days of youth.  There is not enough money in the world to entice me to repeat those years, and probably nothing I would trade for what I learned.

I thought I might add a new quote from the book to the side bar every few days, anytime a new one stuck out to me.  I started with the quote on the cover of my book, “Sometimes the best way to figure out who you are is to get to that place where you don’t have to be anything else.”  I tried Googling the author but came up short so no credit here.  Just keep in mind that unless followed by “WRITTEN BY THE AWESOME AND TALENTED ME” it is not written by me, but by someone else much more famous, profound or loud mouthed. 

If you have one, what’s one of your favorite quotes?

10 comments:

  1. I think I saw it in a Ziggy cartoon, but one of my favorites has always been:

    You can complain that roses have thorns, or rejoice that thorns have roses.

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  2. Great idea!!

    Here's my favorite by Erma Bombeck:

    "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say 'I used everything You gave me'"

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  3. "Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you're put here on earth to do, with such passion and intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling." - Vincent van Gogh

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  4. "Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield." ~someone smart said that and Stuart quotes it ALL THE TIME.

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  5. I never really went through that phase, which is probably why I cannot remember my favorite quote right now. I know it's by Cicero and it relates to friendship, but I cannot for the life of me remember the actual WORDS. I'll have to look it up later.

    Other than that, there is an Emerson quote I'm pretty fond of: Give all to love; obey thy heart. That quote is literally what we built our wedding and (thus far) our marriage around =)

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  6. On the same line as Me and My Boys, my father is a big fan of the backcountry. He always says "Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you."

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  7. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

    I use that one a lot :)

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  8. I definately went through that phase and still find myself going through it at rough times in my life. I think you're right it has a lot to do with searching for meaning and feeling lost and wanting something anything to help you find your way.

    one of my favorites has always been "Live and Let Live" and since I am and always will be a romantic at heart this is a new favorite " To know that you were with one who cared for you, and who understood every fiber of your being, and who would not abandon you in even the most desperate of circumstances, that was the most precious relationship a person could have ...." .... It's from the book I'm reading right now, Brisingr.

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  9. "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away."

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  10. You will see it, when you come here. It's in STONE on my front porch.

    "It is, what it is!" One of those, if we can't change it, just accept it! I love this one. It gets me through the toughest of times! The judge said it when I went through bankruptcy, bawling my eyes out from embarassment of my situation. I took that literally and have recited those 5 words over and over through my years... so next time you don't have control, but start to have a panic attack, repeat: It is, what it is!

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