Words to live by.......

(I wish I'd said that.......)

For most of my 51 years, all around me, I've heard/seen/read about those who have "quotes" by other people that have meant everything to them, or even in some ways shaped their lives. I had never come across anyone else's words that had that kind of impact on me.....until about 3 years ago. I don't know if it's my "mature" age (mature??) or the place that I find myself at this stage of my life, but I recently realized that I had quite a nice little collection of quotes that I'd been writing down for future reference.

I'm sharing them here, with the hope that you might find some of them useful to you as well.....

1. My Daughter shared this one with me. She saw Oprah quoting it on her show one day and I only wish I'd heard this a lifetime ago (definitely words to live by for all of us!):

"When someone shows you who they are, believe them the FIRST time!" (Maya Angelou)

2. A close male friend shared this with me. It was the barometer he used to know his wife was the "right one":

"Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having to neither weigh thought or measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keeping what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away" (author??)

3. I wish I'd heard this one 35 years ago......

"Marriage is not a ritual or an end. It is a long, intricate, intimate dance together, and nothing matters more than your own sense of balance and your choice of partner." (Amy Bloom in New Woman)

4. This one has made a huge difference in my life. It's the one across the top of my blog.

"Time you enjoyed wasting is not time wasted" (T.S.Eliot)

5. This one speaks for itself:

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." (Judy Garland)

6. I found this one recently and have it posted in my office for everyone to see every day. I find that almost every stranger I deal with at work on a daily basis annoys me tremendously and I need this little reminder in front of me (**I would NOT be good at customer service! Bless all of you who do that for a living!)

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." (author??)

7. And this last one I would like to have tattooed on the foreheads of all of my granddaughters, backwards, so they could read it in the mirror everyday! Every girl in the world should have to memorize this one!

"I decided I wouldn't marry a man unless I could be proud if we had a son who turned out exactly like him." (Maggie Mason)

I only wish I was as smart and wise as all of the authors of these words.....but since I'm not, I'll just have to be content to pass on their words whenever possible.