Collection of Random Quotations

It can prove both fun and intriguing to come upon nuggets of wisdom in unusual places. Many authors, though not world renowned, have written thoughts and experiences ranging from the lighthearted to the poignant. We offer them here, as a walk on a beach where one might find small shells and sea-washed pebbles, along with the occasional bit of driftwood brought to the shore by the waves.

♥ My wife has no real cause to feel jealous. It’s true I’ve had a lot of affairs, but never one real girlfriend. George Burns

• In describing her childhood, S. Hanala Stadner writes with delightful irony:

♥ Mom and Dad are out working hard to make money so that one day they can afford to send me to a therapist, where I can talk about how they were never there. There’s no place like home, thank God.

♥The only substitute for revenge is acknowledgement. Acknowledgment is more than regret; it is accepting responsibility. It’s when you own your guilt. The power of acknowledgment should not be underestimated. It establishes a new reality. Prof. Hanoch Yerushalmi: psychologist at Hebrew university sourced from the book: "Revenge: A Story of Hope by Laura Blumenfeld"

Recently, while food shopping with my husband, an elderly lady touched my arm and asked if I minded if she requested my husband to reach an item on a high shelf. I did not mind in the least, and my husband was happy to help. Then she thanked us both with genuine grace. Afterwards, I thought how nice it was, in this age where many people tend to barge into wherever, to find such gentle dignity in a fellow shop customer. Pauline Miles

♥ One grows accustomed to beauty, but not to stupidity. King Louis XIV of France

♥ There are things that are always beautiful and held dear to humankind and there are things that must be loved to become beautiful. Nita Lowell

♥ Beauty is expression that speaks to the mind and feared by the narrow-minded. Ben Heckerman

♥ The seed, the vine, the grape, the wine; this is the beautiful journey. June Teller

♥ Just as ecstasy is tinged with pain beauty casts a shadow. Malcolm McLaren

The so-called “silent treatment” is one of the cruellest ways one human being can convey displeasure to another. This proves especially true when this silence is inflicted upon a small child by a mother for an unspecified offense: The following quote is by S. Hanala Stadner

“It’s bad when Ma yells, but not as bad as when she stops yelling. The lips disappear, and she skewers me with her eyes and then the eyes turn away. That’s when the begging begins, “Please, Mommy, I’m sorry. I’ll never do it again. I don’t know what I did, but I swear I’ll NEVER do it again. Hit me, but don’t not talk to me.”

♥ Referring to the sense of individuality flaunted by most of those living or even passing through New York City, a hotel manager recounts: In New York City, it didn't matter where you came from, or what kind of person you originally thought you had to be. Here, you could be a pill junkie, drag queen, singer-songwriter, hip-hop head–painter, anything. What kind of person are you really? Just point at your head and say, “This person” Source: Jacob Tomsky

♥ No man is born prodigious; it is his overcoming of non-chosen challenges that make him a great man. Edgar Meredith Compton

♥ When politicians announce a pragmatic solution is the only way forward you can be sure you have something to lose. Dudley Melrose

♥ During a conflict between Native Americans and white persons, one satirist wrote: Coalition leaders are permitted to mention established facts only 22 per cent of the time. The rest of the time, they must spew a smoke screen of vulgarities in order to conceal the specific problems of Native Americans in the city. Unknown

♥ City administration members are allowed to speak as many platitudes as they desire. They must not, however, under any circumstances, say anything that would lead the populace to believe they have any constructive ideas for alleviating the problem. Unknown

♥ Pay a liar in his own coin. A rational reply is wasted on him. If he flies to high, don’t lose your temper. Fly a little higher. L A Fontaine

♥ They put every obstacle in my path, yet they could not match my power of parody. Thus, my voice and message was heard and more importantly, recalled and repeated. Source: David Tynan O'Mahony. Born 6 July 1936 died 10 March 2005 known as Dave Allen, a controversial and renowned Irish comedian.

♥ Deep in the heart of the judges of destiny is the desire to end ours with theirs. Imelda Yukon

• A blind woman travelling with her sighted partner recounts:

♥ Over the days, several real arguments occur in quick succession over trivial things, inconsequential matters previously laughed off. When they start, Bernard goes quiet on me. Everything then spirals out of control, as the silent treatment shuts me off from everything, as the flow of information ceases.

After the first time it happens he explains that, for him, the least said the soonest mended. But this does not help me. Feeling isolated, helpless and alone, it only amplifies my own anger and emotion. Source: Touching the world: A Blind Woman Two Wheels 25,000 Miles by Cathy Birchall and Bernard Smith

♥ For cupids yolk I lower my head. Will love be mine again? Will my dull heart dare once more to burn, or am I too old for love. Maurice Ayton

♥ Fulfilment once savoured pleasures one less than the yearning and discovery. Matt Braithwaite

♥ Too many plans become a delusion; they lead to indecision and confusion, tis better to have but one and be sure it is steadfast. James Whitman

• Extract from “Living Forever” by Joseph Des Hilary

My heart pumps harder as I walk towards my metal body, to climb and sink into the cockpit. I am joined with this magnificent machine. Fire up the engine, spin the prop, open the throttle, and play in the clouds. Bullets dig patterns into my wings; I twist and turn, dive, rise, returning the punch. I am gone, falling into bliss. My heart pumps harder as I walk…

♥ This concoction is blessed with my request for your death and contains the dust and stuff and bits of spiders spat upon and kissed by vipers. Anton LaVey

♥ I am a great salesman but I hate pretending to like everyone I meet. John Ratner

During my childbearing years, aside from the occasional twinge, I felt no wish to have children. Now that this option has passed, I find my nightly dreams increasingly focused on various aspects of childbirth.

The most recent of these, some few nights ago, cantered once again on pregnancy. Its vividness was such that I felt, having placed my hand on my womb area, the actual shape of a small leg and foot. This dream, having stayed with me, has made me sad, though not wholly regretful. I suppose whatever life choices we make leaves a residue of wonder as to its alternative. Every choice involves sacrifice. Amy Erickson

♥ Before you share the joy of your discovery you must first discard the ridicule and scorn of critics. Brandon Dewar

♥ Kick away the negatives of yesterday, and start each day afresh like the hummingbird that does not remember the words to its song. Jeffrey Mendoza

♥ It took me years to understand the reason, before and after high school graduation, my dearest friend began to say mean things, like razor shafts in my most fragile places. What could have happened? It took her twenty years or more to tell me getting the leading role in our school play meant more to her than anything thus far.

When on the week that play was scheduled, she had to go home due to German measles. I volunteered to play her part; if I had not, it could have been postponed. How could I do that? My only answer was, I was eighteen, too self-involved to weigh the feelings even of her, my closest and most long-term friend against my own desire to perform. At over forty, I asked her to forgive me. Colleen Swan

♥ It is when the stupid are educated beyond their level of ability and then enter politics that the suffering of mankind is assured. Perry Elton

♥ I only drink champagne, and I never wait. Jacob Tomsky

♥ A good politician can persuade people to appear conciliatory by first disclaiming their bigotries. Kenneth Keane

• A hotel manager offers the following warning to potential guests:

♥ A coin tip gets left right outside your door, for you to find on your way out, supposedly working on that “You need it more than I do, you cheap ...”

♥ I hate parades of eloquence, what we want is common sense, but if either came to the fore I know not which I would loathe more. Terence D Housman

♥ A fanatic can wrap the torrid truth in bindings of self-delusion and cluck-cluck as would a turkey destined for the banquet. James R Minion

♥ The workings of a bruised brain go by chance; that two facts cannot be the same, for it is destiny that controls the game. Ciaran P Melrose

♥ Let happy lovers meander if they will, let one be to the others thought a world of beauty never twice the same, each all in all to each. Veronica Gascoigne

♥ If to be happy, one must needs be chaste, dull and neglected, middle-class and kind, surrounded by a garden and four walls, croquet and a tennis court behind, surely one would choose then to be sad. Daphne du Maurier

♥ Of all the passions in man’s breast, fear is by far the liveliest. It can overwhelm both love and detestation. Jorgen Ibsen

♥ The first tears are the uninvited guests that oil the locks. Terence Campbell

Two Englishmen, visiting an impoverished country, decided to take a photo of an especially gorgeous sunset. At one point, a passing driver opened his window and shouted something which, when translated was, “You (epithet) westerners, you’ve stolen everything from us; now you want our sunset too.” Source: The boy in the river by Richard Hoskins