It's just an expression...

"I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." Robert Frost

“We must be willing to give up the life we planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell

"My Mom always said men are like linoleum floors: Lay 'em right and you can walk all over them for 30 years." Brett Butler

Don't you love a good quote? Funny, inspirational, motivational. My friend Scott writes down quotes that inspire him, personally and professionally. I was really pleased when something I said made his list because I keep a list of my own. Well, list is probably being generous. Mine are tacked up on the refrigerator, stuck in books as bookmarks, torn out of magazines, stuffed in a drawer or crammed in my head.

I wish I could always remember where I picked up the phrase from, but sometimes that piece is lost. But the words aren't. The expression, the life lesson, the joke, that part I keep. And I have found that a really good turn of phrase can really bring you comfort. I mentioned in another blog the power I found in the phrase "I can't let who he is change who I am." It really did turn into a mini mantra of sorts. Another one I love is "just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have."

Another friend, Norma, would size up a bad situation in the office and say either "walk down the same path, fall in the same hole" or "no good can come of this." I actually took that last quote to heart and put a personal spin on it. Often when I am sizing up a situation, and deciding to act or not to act, to speak my mind or to stay silent I will think, "what good can come of this?" and if the answer is none, then I hold my tongue. I wish I had figured that one out earlier in life, it would have spared a lot of hurt feelings and prevented more than one useless argument.

So I thought I would take a page from Scott's book (or future book anyway) and share a few phrases that I love. Some of them I apply to my life, some of them I just like the way they sound. I will give credit to who I first heard the phrase from if I remember! So here are a few more of mine:

"Never raise your voice at each other or your children unless the house is on fire" the only premarital counseling my parents received

"When budgeting never skimp on food or woman's lingerie." Larry Pierson -the only piece of premarital counseling Brent and I received that I remember.

"Never let the facts get in the way of a good story." Marshall Clifton (my dad)

"Don't should on me and I won't should on you." Megan Clark

"You don't know what you don't know." Scott Dickinson

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

"If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit next to me."

"When you know better, you do better."

"Everyone is the star of their own movie."

"Inside every skinny person is a fat person who is really cramped."

"If you aren't sleeping with your husband, someone else is."

"First we mock" Christopher Mastenbrook. Okay this is mine, but it's a good life lesson and a good story for another blog

"After the final no there comes a yes, and on that yes the future world depends." Wallace Stevens

"Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live." Goethe

"Trust yourself, Think for yourself. Act for yourself. Speak for yourself. Imitation is suicide." Marva Collins

"All appears to change when we change." Henri Ameil

"Make Voyages! Attempt them! -there's nothing else..." Tennessee Williams

"Follow your bliss." Joseph Campbell

"I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get." Anne Tyler

"If not now, when?" The Talmud


This list is only partial, I am sure there are a ton more that are just escaping me at the moment. Oh and my quote that made Scott's list? I actually have two now.

"Sometimes the best hand up is a kick in the ass!"

and a team effort

"His heart is in the right place (said by Scott trying to be the good guy) too bad his head is up his ass (my retort)"