Wednesday, January 04, 2012


Worth repeating

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Walt Emerson

Life is like riding a bicycle- in order to keep your balance you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.
John Barrymore

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
Albert Einstein

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.
Mark Twain

The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.
Voltaire

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
Mahatma Ghandi

Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes, and adversity is not without comfort and hopes.
Francis Bacon

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill

There’s much to be said for challenging fate instead of ducking behind it.
Diana Trilling

Diana Trilling was the one name I was unfamiliar with.  She was married to the literary critic Lionel Trilling and was a writer and reviewer for The Nation magazine.  Our own Martin Amis said of her:

In New York, Diana Trilling is regarded with the suspicious awe customarily reserved for the city's senior literary ladies. Whenever I announced my intention of going along to interview her, people looked at me with trepidation, a new respect, a certain holy dread. I felt I was about to enter the lion's den — or the den of the literary lioness, which is often just as dangerous."

9 comments:

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

This is exactly what I need today. Every single quote speaks to me.

That Churchill quote is the best, I love the enthusiasm in it, hahaha.

Two days ago, an advertiser here had used a quote and hadn't given credit to the author, and I was on my soapbox about it...and here it is, the first one.

Pat said...

GG: good - I'm glad.
I agree with you about the Churchill one and it is appalling that any advertiser should not give credit to the original author. Move over I'll join you on the soapbox:)

Anonymous said...

Given that Lionel Trilling was notorious curmudgeon, I can only imagine what his wife was like. Quite a pistol, I'm sure.

As for the Churchill quote, it sort of sums up the English in 1939-41. Norway, Dunkirk, Greece, Crete, etc. Fortunately, he never wavered. Such are few and far between these days.

BTW, the Churchill "Iron Curtain Speech" museum and memorial, along with a transplanted Christopher Wren chapel in Fulton, Missouri, is a wonder to visit.

Cheers.

Nea said...

Once again, thank you, Pat. You make me sit up straighter.

Granny Annie said...

That is such a good Diana Trilling quote and thanks for telling us about her. I had not heard of her either. Here you go, educating us again:)

Pat said...

Randall: I'd love to see the museum; nice to know the old boy is remembered over there.
BTW I mentioned my grand-daughter would possibly spend a year from UNI in the US. Looks like it's going to be Florida.

Nea: oh dear! I often used to be asked if I was a school teacher.

Granny Annie: if only one could retain the information:)

kenju said...

I like the Barrymore quote.

Pat said...

Judy: in 'vino veritas' they say:)

Unknown said...

I'm sorry to have to say this (he being French) but the one I find truest and most helpful, is the one by Voltaire.
I remember my father once saying in the middle of a family discussion "Well, I blame the French meself." It didn't seem to have anything to do with what was being discussed, so I said "Why do you blame the French for it ?" and he said "Because I always blame the French. It's what they're there for !"
Despite that, I still think Voltaire must have been a very wise man.