Adages worth considering
Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun.
Birthdays are good for you, the more you have, the longer you live.
How long a minute is depends on what side of the bathroom door you're on.
A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
We could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colours. But they all have to learn to live in the same box.
Often I have quoted Churchy La Femme from Walt Kelly's Pogo:
Don't take life too serious, son. It ain't nowhow permanent.
A lesson to learn is from Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist.
No need to go far to seek your treasure, it could always have been beneath your feet.
The theme of Hemingway's masterpiece For Whom The Bell Tolls was from 16th century author John Donne's Meditation XVII:
Do not seek out for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.
(In his day, long before people learned of events through media, when a person in the village died, the church bell would toll, and people would go to the church to find out who it was. John Donne's philosophy also included that no man is an island, that we are all connected, a part of each other, so that when a person died, we all died a little ourselves.)
My favourite is by Siddhartha:
There is a time in life to go with the tides.
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What is your favourite adage, saying, or quotation?
Too many to count Buzz but your question did bring two to mind.
Perhaps I'm just bi-polar but two sayings that nicely sum up my personal world view are;
"The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long But It Bends Toward Justice"
And
"Life's a bitch and then you die"
I used the latter one so often back in the 80's that my co-workers surprised me with a coffee mug with that saying written on it however it's the former one that's kept me going all these decades.
Good combination, AH - One optimistic, one pessimistic.
Words to live by --
I was most fortunate in my professional life, to have a boss and mentor that allowed me to learn and grow, sometimes by taking a wrong approach to solving a problem, but always being their with the safety net.
He told me once that "he was okay if I started the occasional waste basket fire, but would be there with an extinguisher if it looked like the building was about to catch fire"
Thanks for sharing these.
"Regret Is Vain"
ascribed to the Buddha
"Don't look back. Something may be gaining on you."
Satchel Paige
"You're making a mountain out of an ant hill"
unknown
Foghorn Leghorn statement is my all time favorite.
Also
IT IS WHAT IT IS.
Dear Friend Buzz of the Orient: Teo From Pirke Avoth (Sayings of the Fathers).
"Al shlosha davarim omed ha olam. Torah, Avodah, Veh Gemilat chasadim".
"On three pillars does the world rest. On Divine Guidance rules for living life most fully. On worship. And on acts of loving kindness".
From Rabbi Yochanan ben-Zakkai in Pirke Avoth. "Yesh le tazzdikim meh col ha olam heleg bah olam ha bah".
"The righteous among all nations will have a share in the world to come".
The points raised here are that following Divine laws in order toincrease acts of loving kindness, and universally practiced righteousness lead to a better world for our children and grandchildren than our present one.
That isa source of hope and inspiration tome.
E.
Ha!
My wife one actually called me a "Hopeful Pessimist!", with that little smile on her face.
I guess it's kind of like how, these days, I can still love humanity but can't stand to be around people.
Whenever a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm. -Hippocrates
Closely related to "What is, is..."
He who knows, tell it not; he who tells, knows it not -- Lao-tzu
Thanks, RW, for my first morning smile.
I think this should apply to all environmentalists, too-- those that are cleaning up things, anyway.
I mean no ugliness to anyone-- I say it to myself all the time...
RW, I believe that Johnny Carson also once stated this philosophy very well. "Be nice to the people you pass on the way up; you're likely to pass the same people on the way down."
AH,
The problem with this one is that, first, you must define the word "justice". It is objectively indefinable or, at least, is defined differently by every person. All of those definitions, differently stated, generally add up to one overriding definition. Justice=when my side wins and your side loses. I don't think that it's so much a problem with semantics as it is a problem in the emotional balance of human beings.
John, that sounds very much like something Leo Durocher might have said, as in his classic, "The game ain't over till it's over".
TTGA defining moral justice might seem objective but, to me, it's kind of like defining pornography, "We know it when we see it".
The history of America is a fine example of the "Long arc bending toward justice".
Country starts out being ruled by white, male, land owners but over time more and more of it's citizens elbow their way to the table. Heck, even women get a say these days.
Many segments of our population are still fighting for an equal say in things, but we are slowly improving.
Our children no longer need to be born rich to get an education or are being forced to work in dangerous jobs at ages as young as 7 years old. Our senior citizens no longer make up the largest percentage of this Nations poor.
More Americans than ever are getting access to health care.
Just a few examples and very broad strokes but hey, we're talking adages here.
My favorite one is...."It is, what it is". (I say it a lot)
I think there's an easier way to say that.
"Be yourself".