Category: Quotes

Quotes from others that mean something to me

Posted on by Stephen

“Hello, you long shots, you dark horse runners
Hairbrush singers, dashboard drummers
Hello, you wild magnolias just waitin to bloom
There’s a little bit of all that inside of me and you
Thank God, even crazy dreams come true

I stood at the bottom of some walls I thought I couldn’t climb
I felt like Cinderella at the ball just runnin out of time
So I know how it feels to be afraid
And think that it’s all gonna slip away
Hold on, hold on

Here’s to you free souls, you firefly chasers
Tree climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players
Here’s to you fearless dancers, shakin walls in your bedrooms
There’s a lot of wonder left inside of me and you
Thank God, even crazy dreams come true

Never let a bad day be enough
To go and talk you into givin up
Sometimes everybody feels like you
Oh, feels like you, just like you
Thank God, even crazy dreams come true
Thank God, even crazy dreams come… true.”

– Carrie Underwood, George Barry Dean, Troy Verges

Posted on by Stephen

“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.

– Dawna Markova

Enlightenment

Posted on by Stephen

As recounted by Tom Robbins in the video 1 Giant Leap

“There was a Bodhisatva who decided he needed to see the Buddha so he set out on foot. And somewhere along his journey, he came upon a man who was seated in the lotus position, meditating, but he had made several mistakes in that he hadn’t chosen a shady spot, so he was out in the sun and he was being absolutely cooked. He was all sunburned and dehydrated and he also had made the mistake of sitting on an anthill, so the ants were crawling all over him and eating his flesh and he was absolutely miserable. And as the Bodhisatva went by, he said “when you see the Buddha, ask him how long it’s going to take for me to become enlightened.” The Bodhisatva promised to do that and continued on his way.

“A few days later, he came across a second man who was dancing and laughing and singing. Just in a state of exhilaration, just bopping around, and as the Bodhisatva went by, this man said, “When you see the Buddha, ask him how long it’ll be before I’m enlightened.” The Bodhisatva promised, so he went on, had his audience with the Buddha, and a few weeks later came back along the way and this time he came upon the first man first and by now the ants had taken most of the flesh off of his body and he was just blistered from the sun and he was practically dead, absolutely miserable and the Bodhisatva said “The Buddha says it will take six more lifetimes for you to become enlightened.” The guy says, “Oh, no, I can’t stand it.”

“The Bodhisatva goes on and come upon the other man, who is still laughing, still dancing, still singing, having his sips of wine and nice food out of the food bowl from time to time. As the Bodhisatva went by, he said, “You see that bush over there? That small tree, the one with all the leaves on it? The Buddha said, ‘for every leaf on that tree, that’s another lifetime you’re going to have to endure before you’re enlightened’” And the man said, “Is that all?” and began dancing and laughing and singing even more exuberantly.

“And at that moment, he became enlightened.”

Posted on by Stephen

“You may not see it now, but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly beats his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in a pond; and whenever you’re sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it’s much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer”

– Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

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“Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements – the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life – weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be today.”

– Lawrence Krauss

Carrie Fisher Quotes

Posted on by Stephen

In honour of her forthcoming memoir, Wishful Drinking. She’s one of my favourite writers, with an amazing gift for words

“But I figure if I had to give up everything I put between me and my feelings, I’d stand at the centre of my being and howl like a lonely old dog”
Postcards from the Edge

“Sometimes I’m not sure I have any friends. I may just have a large group of people that I tell everything to. It’s like I’ve made intimacy a superficial gesture.”
Postcards from the Edge

“Cora basically didn’t believe in her ability to have a relationship. She doubted that she had the appropriate disposition or capacity to boil it down to something even approaching a learnable skill. She would have felt more optimistic if she’d even had the sense that she could fake it.”
Delusions of Grandma

“If my life wasn’t funny, then it’d just be true, and that would be totally unacceptable.”
The Best Awful