“Don’t let failure go to your heart and don’t let success go to your head.”
-Daphne Maxwell Reid, quoted by Will Smith
“Don’t let failure go to your heart and don’t let success go to your head.”
-Daphne Maxwell Reid, quoted by Will Smith
“Virtue -even attempted virtue- brings light; indulgence brings fog.”
“I find myself worrying most that when we hand our children phones we steal their boredom from them. As a result, we are raising a generation of writers who will never start writing, artists who will never start doodling, chefs who will never make a mess of the kitchen, athletes who will never kick a ball against a wall, musicians who will never pick up their aunt’s guitar and start strumming.”
-Glennon Doyle, Untamed.
“If you don’t enjoy what you have how could you be happier with more?”
-Mother Teresa, maybe
“You can’t go back and make a new start, but you can start right now and make a brand new ending.”
–James R. Sherman, PhD, Rejection
(Language warning. Don’t read if you don’t like the word ‘shit.’)
“I happened to mention this to a hypnotist I saw many years ago, and he looked at me very nicely. At first I thought he was feeling around on the floor for the silent alarm button, but then he gave me the following exercise, which I still use to this day. Close your eyes and get quiet for a minute, until the chatter starts up. Then isolate one of the voices and imagine the person speaking as a mouse. Pick it up by the tail and drop it into a mason jar. Then isolate another voice, pick it up by the tail, drop it in the jar. And so on. Drop in any high-maintenance parental units, drop in any contractors, lawyers, colleagues, children, anyone who is whining in your head. Then put the lid on, and watch all these mouse people clawing at the glass, jabbering away, trying to make you feel like shit because you won’t do what they want—won’t give them more money, won’t be more successful, won’t see them more often. Then imagine that there is a volume-control button on the bottle. Turn it all the way up for a minute, and listen to the stream of angry, neglected, guilt-mongering voices. Then turn it all the way down and watch the frantic mice lunge at the glass, trying to get to you. Leave it down, and get back to your shitty first draft.”
–Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
“Don’t count the days. Make the days count.”
“Failure is success in progress.”
“You make mistakes, mistakes don’t make you.”
“Tough times never last. Tough people do.”
-Robert Schuller (it’s the title of his book)