ARCHIVE OF TODAY'S THOUGHTS

I discontinued the posting of a daily "Today's Thought" on January 1, 2020.  Here is the complete collection from 2019.  The previous ten years are contained in My Books.

Dec 31, 2019:
No matter what you accomplish in life, a part of you still sits at a curbside, still hearing the drumbeat of a distant parade, still waiting for it to turn the corner." 

Dec 30, 2019:
Too often the answer to the question, "What in God's name were you thinking?" is that you weren't thinking in God's name.

Dec 29, 2019:
"The mind is an exclusive club, a new belief admitted only on the thumbs-up of a present member."

Dec 28, 2019:
"It's a funny thing -- nostalgia.  It's like seeing an R-rated movie and recalling only the preview approved for all audiences."

Dec 27, 2019:
"Every great achievement can be traced to a dream, a plan and an underestimate."

Dec 26, 2019:
"As you wait for better days, don't forget to enjoy today, in case they've already started."

Dec 25, 2019:
"Once, in a far corner of a vast, empty universe, there was a tiny planet, orbited by a sleigh and eight miniature reindeer."

Dec 21, 2019:
The question, "How would my being there help?" is best answered by going there and finding out.

Dec 20, 2019:
"The lead story of any day is that 99% of the world's population went honestly about its business.  The rest is "Other News."

Dec 19, 2019:
"Don't know about you, but I have such a great set of New Year's resolutions this year that I can hardly wait for January 1."

Dec 18, 2019:
"There is no law that says the things that make your day can't be every bit as trivial as the things that ruin it."

Dec 17, 2019:
"Occasionally it's good to pause, take a moment and inventory all the things in your life that are just fine."

Dec 16, 2019:
"The heart has its reasons -- and they aren't debate topics."

Dec 15, 2019:
"Some, tired of wondering, turn to faith for answers.  Others, tired of answers, turn to faith for wonder."

Dec 14, 2019:
"The surest way to get ahead is to give it the same effort you give to getting even."

Dec 13, 2019:
"The hardest thing to resist, when you have all you need to make you happy, is the urge to add to it."

Dec 12, 2019:
"Maybe you never catch the dream you chase all your life, but it usually takes you up the road you want to travel."

Dec 11, 2019:
"The most deserving cries for help are never heard because they are never uttered."

Dec 10, 2019:
"There is only one animal species that can talk, evidence that the Creator may not be entirely satisfied with the experiment."

Dec 9, 2019:
"You can see it as traffic, or you can see it as a convocation of people who, with varying degrees of resilience and determination, got themselves up, dressed and out the door this morning."

Dec 8, 2019:
"The excuses good enough to keep us from acting are seldom good enough to keep us from regretting."

Dec 7, 2019:
"A part of friendship, sometimes, is accepting help you don't need because a friend needs to offer it."

Dec 6, 2019:
"Not all of us can be larger than life, but we can probably be larger than the life we're living."

Dec 5, 2019:
"Happiness?  Simple, really.  You don't let short-term concerns ruin your life, and you don't let long-term concerns ruin your day."

Dec 4, 2019:
"A modest goal for any day is to make everyone you encounter feel a little less invisible."

Dec 3, 2019:
"It is a rare relationship that celebrates the anniversary of only one promise."

Dec 2, 2019:
Never say to a friend in need, "You know where to reach me."  Observe, instead, that they have already reached you.

Dec 1, 2019:
"I believe in faith and hope, although as the years go by, I find myself putting a little less faith in hope and a little more hope in faith."

Nov 30, 2019:
"It's never too late, although if it were, it would motivate an awful lot of people to get started."

Nov 29, 2019:
"Charisma is the art of posing in other people's selfies looking like someone who wouldn't want to be anywhere else on earth."

Nov 28, 2019:
"Lord, we gather as a family to thank Thee for all Thy blessings, most especially for making us this  family and granting us this gathering."

Nov 27, 2019:
"It is said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, and yet each day the sun dawns, still crazy after all these years."

Nov 26, 2019:
"A secret I will take to the grave is how I carve the dark meat in slices and the white meat in chunks."

Nov 25, 2019:
"It is for those who would happily settle for second place that there are third-place prizes."

Nov 24, 2019:
"The wicked always claim that the virtuous are no better.  But there are moments in history when the virtuous know better." 

Nov 23, 2019:
"No one is perfect, a reality for which every parent finds a reason to blame themselves."

Nov 22, 2019:
"So often in life, reaching for opportunity takes two hands, and you find that one of your hands has already been tightly grasped."

Nov 21, 2019:
"If you never allow yourself to be seen as vulnerable, then, sadly, you never discover the heart it would have melted."

Nov 20, 2019:
"It is possible, by never exposing yourself to life's  disappointments, to never expose yourself to its rewards."

Nov 19, 2019:
"It is sad when people we love die, but it is either that or people dying unloved."

Nov 18, 2019:
Life is partly, "Been there, done that" but mostly, "Still there, still doing it."

Nov 17, 2019:
"I wouldn't say that all human beings are exactly the same -- maybe 96% the same and the rest within the margin of error."

Nov 16, 2019:
"Always be ready to do what you plan to do when people find out the truth."

Nov 15, 2019:
"How different might be our memories if the person who lived them had ever imagined the person who would recall them."

Nov 14, 2019:
"Chance has this in common with destiny -- that it is just as likely to be chiseled in stone."

Nov 13, 2019:
"Not every good friendship is a marriage, but every good marriage is a friendship."

Nov 12, 2019:
"Just because you call it reality doesn't mean you can't hold it to some minimum standard."

Nov 11, 2019:
"A hopeful dream is like fine glass -- easily shattered, hard to dispose of."

Nov 10, 2019:
'Tis a bold ballet
And a daring dance,
Dodging your destiny
And chasing your chance.

Nov 9, 2019:
"A question to ask yourself every day is whether the moment you've been waiting for might be in progress."

Nov 8, 2019:
"Truth is, I am still trying to find myself  -- and grateful to anyone who can tell me where I was last seen."

Nov 7, 2019:
"Nostalgia is the recollection of the happier times we once dreamed lay ahead of us."

Nov 5, 2019:
Ah, yes, the ubiquitous highway "Text Stop."  Formerly known as, "Rest Stop.  No Facilities."  Useful for travelers starting to drip text into their pants.

Nov 4, 2019:
"Nothing tends to make you a good and decent person like someone you know stubbornly operating under that assumption."

Nov 3, 2019:
"Life is a brief moment in eternity when you can't use the excuse that you weren't there."

Nov 2, 2019:
"As a general rule, a nation has as many political parties as there are ways its citizens can be misrepresented."

Nov 1, 2019:
The problem with settling for "good enough" is that it's so hard to distinguish it from "almost good enough."

Oct 31, 2019:
"To ask what love sees in its object is to ask what Michelangelo saw in a block of marble or Leonardo in a blank canvas."

Oct 30, 2019:
"We do not knowingly choose unhappiness over happiness. Rather we choose security over risk, stability over change, what seems permanent over what seems fleeting.  In the end we choose unhappiness because it has the better chance of lasting."

Oct 29, 2019:
"Actions have consequences, often mistaken for the darnedest luck."

Oct 28, 2019:
"What every clever liar eventually discovers is that telling the truth would not only have been more honest but more clever."

Oct 27, 2019:
"We are, in the course of a lifetime, many different people occupying the same body, not all familiar with the etiquette of time-sharing."

Oct 26, 2019:
"One advantage of silence over words is that there's a wider range of things you can claim you didn't mean by it."

Oct 25, 2019:
"There is a difference between not knowing because you never asked, not hearing because you never listened, not seeing because you looked away -- and not being responsible."

Oct 24, 2019:
"There are two parts to moving on in life -- living to tell about it and never speaking of it again."

Oct 23, 2019:
"It's frustrating when people don't understand you -- and even more frustrating when the people who understand you keep getting you all wrong"

Oct 22, 2019:
"There are personal secrets I would not reveal under torture.  There would have to be a silence at a cocktail party, or you would have to be sitting next to me in tourist class."

Oct 21, 2019:
"There are mind readers, seers, experts in body language --   and then there are people who need to be told they're appreciated."

Oct 20, 2019:
"You can awaken each day to obligations you never chose, or you can decide today to choose them."

Oct 19, 2019:
"Life is a sequence of events so arranged that eventually you learn for yourself what someone else was going through."

Oct 18, 2019:
"It is wiser to trust in the pride of workmanship than in the pride of quality assurance."

Oct 17, 2019:
"No matter what your complaint, there is a number to call where you will be told that you are the first person ever to complain about it."

Oct 16, 2019:
"If you give it a central place in your life, what does it matter if you call it faith or you call it doubt?"

Oct 15, 2019:
I had a dream where I talked to God, and God said, "There is no larger plan.  What you see about you is the plan."

Oct 14, 2019:
"If you could eavesdrop on everything said about you, you'd spend most of your time waiting for the subject to come up."

Oct 13, 2019:
"Never mind the value of Granddad's dollar in today's money.  What about the value of Granddad's word in today's morals?"

Oct 11, 2019:
"You wonder sometimes how cruelty became so tolerable and the simple aspirations of the human soul so threatening."

Oct 10, 2019:
Today's thought question: "What are the chances that you were put on this earth to leave everything just the way it is."

Oct 9, 2019:
"There is a tendency, if you don't believe in guardian angels, to believe that every miraculous escape is due to some sort of divine intervention."

Oct 8, 2019:
"Never let some trivial complaint ruin your day in the belief that there are only so many trivial complaints that can ruin your day."

Oct 7, 2019:
"My quest for cosmic understanding is a book I have picked up and put down many times, each time forgetting to insert a bookmark."

Oct 6, 2019:
"You don't have to believe in an afterlife to believe that there are people gone from this earth who you can still make proud of you."

Oct 5, 2019:
"One thing you notice about the happiest people is that they seem to have the littlest reason."

Oct 4, 2019:
"Sometimes what two people see in each other is the same last chance."

Oct 3, 2019:
"What we see in an old family photo is not just a still moment in time but a moment when there was still time."

Oct 2, 2019:
"When you think of the chances in your life -- the chance you dared to take, the chance someone gave you, the chance you gave someone else -- you realize how little they had to do with chance."

Oct 1, 2019:
"Only in the play world of a child's imagination is there a logical reason for everything."

Sep 30, 2019:
"One thing that social networking has made possible is the application of mob psychology without having to assemble a mob."

Sep 29, 2019:
"One thing you eventually come to realize is that nothing that benefits you and you alone benefits anyone."

Sep 28, 2019:
"It's hard to look in a bathroom mirror and believe that you're somebody's great love.  On the other hand, it does seem likelier than infatuation."

Sep 27, 2019:
"You don't have to be an optimist to know that many a bright day hides in a morning mist."

Sep 26, 2019:
"It's a shame not to idle away the few precious moments of life intended for that purpose."

Sep 25, 2019:
"It is a sad thing to say about happiness that you pursued it, overtook it and kept on going."

Sep 24, 2019:
"The reason we blame the messenger is that the messenger seems always to be getting such a kick out of it."

Sep 23, 2019:
"How, child, do I know where you're headed?  Because I'm there, and I can see you coming."

Sep 22, 2019:
"One thing you can learn from your dog is when to go lie under the dining room table and await developments."

Sep 21, 2019:
"One problem with losing your soul is that it never does gain you the whole world, the payoff being a classic bait-and-switch."

Sep 20, 2019:
"All I know about heaven and hell is that it's probably a mistake to judge them by the people who expect to go there."

Sep 19, 2019:
"Sometimes the best thing to do is to just sit back quietly and let people come to their senses."

Sep 18, 2019:
"What makes doing things together so special is that so much of a relationship is time spent apart and so much of time spent together is just doing your own thing in each other's presence."

Sep 17, 2019:
"It is unlikely that anyone is born into a world where nothing is any of their business."

Sep 16, 2019:
"It's not about finding fun things to do.  It's about finding someone in whose company it's all fun."

Sep 15, 2019:
"There is no actual law that says that a love once shouted to the world must become a private exchange, conveyed by silent signals."

Sep 14, 2019:
"There is a point in life when we take over the reins of our own upbringing, and what makes it challenging is that we must start with the child our parents handed over to us."

Sep 13, 2019:
"You never know if the person who fell into the trap your suspicion set would have flourished in the arms of your trust."

Sep 12, 2019:
"The tragedy of a sad child is that there is no creature on earth with a greater capacity to be cheered up."

Sep 11, 2019:
"They seem so fumbling and foolish -- the words of consolation we offer to a friend.  But one day it becomes our turn to hear them, and how consoling to us those words become and how cherished the friend who stands there, fumbling for them."

Sep 10, 2019:
"One sign of age is that you remember a time when telling the truth did not necessarily mean you had been granted immunity from prosecution."

Sep 9, 2019:
"If you can be unaccountably sad, you can unaccountably happy."

Sep 8, 2019:
"One thing to remember in setting priorities is that your employer does not usually write your obituary."

Sep 7, 2019:
"Never imagine that someone knows you appreciate them unless you can also imagine how they would know."

Sep 6, 2019:
"Nothing lasts forever, although we often underestimate how long it will last in the meantime."

Sep 5, 2019:
"You wonder if there is a religion that would not benefit from calling home its missionaries and setting them to work among its hypocrites."

Sep 4, 2019:
"Yes, you can sacrifice your friends and relatives to your political views -- and hope that, come Thanksgiving, your politics will pass you the gravy."

Sep 3, 2019:
"To stay true to one another is not merely a promise but at times your only plan."

Sep 2, 2019:
The thing missing from most "How To" books on parenting is how to be on the receiving end of it.

Sep 1, 2019:
"There is a point where the evil condoned by otherwise good people begins to strain the meaning of otherwise."

Aug 31, 2019:
"Nothing we do for our kids quite repays what they do for us, which is to present us the world brand-new again."

Aug 30, 2019:
"There is no more common trick of memory than to recall alternatives that never existed."

Aug 29, 2019:
"Sometimes, genius is just the bright idea to look for the needle in a needle stack."

Aug 28, 2019:
"As long as there are women in the world, men will have an exaggerated idea of how many jobs do themselves."

Aug 27, 2019:
"The tears that evaporate on your cheek fall again as a gentle rain, in case you thought they were for nothing."

Aug 26, 2019:
"It is wiser to assume that God is just and discover He is forgiving than to assume that God is forgiving and discover He is just."

Aug 25, 2019:
What you realize over the years is how often the words, "This doesn't mean goodbye" mean goodbye.

Aug 24, 2019:
"If you knew that some day you would live happily ever after, would you necessarily want to start today?"

Aug 23, 2019:
"Never say that someone does not deserve mercy.  Mercy is never deserved.  If it were, it would be justice."

Aug 22, 2019:
"The present oft replays the past,
Same old drama, different cast, 
The former cast, you somehow sense,
Sitting in the audience." 

Aug 21, 2019:
"You just hope that a politician who claims to know what you deserve is better informed on other subjects."

Aug 20, 2019:
"One reason to try to become a better person is so that someone you know will have a better friend."

Aug 19, 2019:
Once said of parenting: "I was too busy addressing its daily urgencies to be overwhelmed by its impossibilities."

Aug 18, 2019:
"I am less motivated by people urging me to do the right thing than by people assuming I will."

Aug 17, 2019:
"It is a sad lament -- the happiness you might have found if you had taken the path that still lies right there in front of you."

Aug 16, 2019:
"Do I believe in miracles?  Let me put it this way -- I believe in miracle workers."

Aug 15, 2019:
"You spend years learning what's important and one heart-stopping moment learning what's more important."

Aug 14, 2019:
"It can be a lifelong battle to love someone through the chinks in their armor."

Aug 13, 2019:
"Looking back, you realize that everything would have explained itself if you had only stopped interrupting."

Aug 12, 2019:
"August -- a month that draws so many back to places where they were young and hopeful and cast slimmer shadows on the sand."

Aug 11, 2019:
"A family vacation is one-third pleasure, fondly remembered, and two-thirds aggravation, completely forgotten."

Aug 10, 2019:
"It is better when the hope we have in one another becomes trust than when the trust we have in one another becomes hope."

Aug 9, 2019:
"When the hard way is the only way, it is also the easiest."

Aug 8, 2019:
"What is new in our time is not senseless cruelty but a growing willingness to see sense in it."

Aug 7, 2019:
"Never underestimate the power of listening as a way of getting someone's attention."

Aug 6, 2019:
"It is a shame to separate from the right companion because you are on the wrong journey."

Aug 5, 2019:
"Occasionally it's good to tell someone you love exactly what you would tell them if they had just died in your arms."

Aug 4, 2019:
"What if one fine day you put on your clothes in the morning and forgot to put on your attitude?"

Aug 3, 2019:
"We don't always get the miracle we pray for, but we nearly always get the strength we pray for."

Aug 2, 2019:
"It is hard to say which is more indelible in memory -- the anxious minute that lasted forever or the comfortable forever that lasted a minute."

Aug 1, 2019:
"The believer prays for God's help.  It is the non-believer who must pray for a miracle."

Jul 31, 2019:
"If you could be the perfect person your lover imagines, what would be the point of love?"

Jul 30, 2019:
"What you note about productive people is that they don;t normally look as fresh at the end of the day as they did at the beginning."

Jul 29, 2019:
"We think we've had our chance, or that our chance is yet to come.  It is a rare ability to recognize one's chance in progress.

July 28, 2019:
"Growing old together is a stage where two people who could never part without a kiss never part and so never kiss."

Jul 27, 2019:
"It all comes down to self-esteem.  To be capable of humility, or compassion, or tolerance, you must be able to look in a mirror and be proud of yourself."

Jul 26, 2019:
"It is generally a more productive day when you learn something from life rather than try to teach it something."

Jul 25, 2019:
"Nothing lasts forever, and forever doesn't last, either."

Jul 24, 2019:
"The measure of any day is what you get done while you're wondering if there's any use doing it."

Jul 23, 2019:
"For every person who despairs of ever being loved, there is someone, somewhere, who thinks they will never find someone to love."

Jul 22, 2019:
"The hurtful words you cannot retrace you can usually retract."

Jul 21, 2019:
"You can live the same life happily, with acceptance, or sadly, with complaint."

Jul 20, 2019:
"The best proof that you are still capable of learning is that there is something you recently unlearned."

Jul 19, 2019:
"To accept reality is to accept the furniture, not necessarily the current arrangement."

Jul 18, 2019:
"There is a tendency to treat unjustly those whose only crime is that we have treated them unjustly."

Jul 17, 2019:
"The illusion that love weaves is not just that your partner is perfect but that you are perfectible."

Jul 16, 2019:
"Never postpone taking a vacation thinking you won't get another chance to postpone taking a vacation."

Jul 15, 2019:
"Occasionally it's good to devote a day to letting someone who wants to make you happy have a go at it."

Jul 14, 2019:
"Some people will always allow themselves to be happy, while others will always be standing in line for the permit."

Jul 13, 2019:
"So often what we take as a kindness is just someone acting in his or her capacity as a human being."

Jul 12, 2019:
"What can one person do?  One person can prove false the notion that nobody cares."

Jul 11, 2019:
"One challenge of our times is to remember which subject you must never bring up in the presence of which friend."

Jul 10, 2019:
"Of what satisfaction is a houseful of things if none of them greets you as you walk through the front door?"

Jul 9, 2019:
"What we never see in a mirror is the smile that greets our friends or the blush that welcomes our lover."

Jul 8, 2019:
"You can get so busy overcoming the obstacles in your path that you fail to ask the obvious question, "Why did I think this was a path?" 

Jul 7, 2019:
"So often we change a thing for the sake of change when we might better have let it be for the sake of letting be."

Jul 6, 2019:
"The challenge of every day is to establish some relationship between what you want from life and your Daily Planner." 

Jul 5, 2019:
"Why do I sometimes let my emotions get the better of me?   For the same reason I let it rain last Tuesday." 

Jul 4, 2019:
"No matter what you accomplish in life, a part of you still sits at a curbside, still hearing the drumbeat of a distant parade, still waiting for it to turn the corner." 

Jul 3, 2019:
"I have been humbled by praise, and I have been humbled by whiffing on the first tee, and, I dunno, it's different." 

Jul 2, 2019:
"What would I do with 15 minutes of fame?  Seek a secluded spot and hope to ride it out." 

Jul 1, 2019:
"There are few decisions man has made about animal welfare where it wouldn't have more judicial to recuse himself." 

Jun 30, 2019:
"The tricky thing about cowardice is that it loves to pose as the common sense thing to do." 

Jun 29, 2019:
"We are born with an instinct for self-preservation, the purpose of life being to find a motive for it." 

Jun 28, 2019:
"Set your hopes for the young no higher than your example." 

Jun 27, 2019:
"One of life's regrets is how few goodbyes you say compared to the number of people you never see again." 

Jun 26, 2019:
"Few are humble, for it requires a self-esteem that few possess." 

Jun 25, 2019:
                           On Searching For Happiness

"How little you know
As you follow its track
How much of the search
Will be circling back." 

Jun 24, 2019:
"The surest way to become the person you were meant to be is to take upon yourself to mean it." 

Jun 23, 2019:
"You have to believe there's a little good in everyone, unless, of course, there is some mandatory minimum to qualify.

Jun 21, 2019:
"We are all multiple personalities, sanity being the knack of settling on one spokesperson." 

Jun 20, 2019:
"If you have to get down on your knees to beg for justice, what will you do for mercy?" 

Jun 19, 2019:
"Nothing supports evil like the assumption of good people that there is some sort of line it will not cross." 

Jun 18, 2019:
"The principal social grace is to just find the other person interesting." 

Jun 17, 2019:
"No one lacks a hope and a prayer who somewhere has a mom still praying and a dad still hoping." 

Jun 16, 2019:
"Once there was a world where people lived and died and everything they thought was their fault went right on happening." 

Jun 15, 2019:
"I like friends who, when you tell them you need a moment alone, know enough not to stray too far." 

Jun 14, 2019:
"You pass them every day on the street -- people who have settled for life, liberty and the pursuit of can't-complain." 

Jun 13, 2019:
"If you only believe what you know for sure, you sadly underestimate the possibilities of belief."

Jun 12, 2019:
I see the smiling faces in old family photos, and I'm thinking there ought to be a caption: "Based on what we knew at the time."

Jun 11, 2019:
"There is no such thing as a list of reasons.  There is either one sufficient reason or a list of excuses."

Jun 10, 2019:
"Is it so much that love asks -- that one day you be its strength and the next day its babe-in-arms?"

Jun 9, 2019:
"Do things while you can and while they matter to you, because neither is a permanent state of affairs."

Jun 8, 2019:
"Never expect that a list of insufficient reasons is going to come to a good one."

Jun 7, 2019:
There are people who never say, "In my opinion... ."  They say, "The reality is... ." when the reality is, it's their opinion.

Jun 6, 2019:
"There is no human weakness so universal that it cannot be made an unforgivable sin by calling it betrayal."

Jun 5, 2019:
"No, I don't think the U.S. is bordering on madness.  I think Canada and Mexico are."

Jun 4, 2019:
"It is a trick of memory to recall choices we never had and alternatives that never existed."

Jun 3, 2019:
"One of the harder things we do as parents is to allow our kids their disappointments."

Jun 2, 2019:
"There are times in a loving relationship when the band plays, but mostly you dance to a remembered tune."

Jun 1, 2019:
"You pass them every day on the street -- people older and wiser keeping promises made when they were young and foolish."

May 31, 2019:
Said of a couple I know:  "Sometimes, when they needed the counsel of an impartial third party, they would take a stroll together on the beach and tell it to the sea."

May 30, 2019:
"The first thing to learn about the art of conversation is that you are not the other person's favorite subject."

May 29, 2019:
"Nothing makes a good first impression like some visible evidence that you are trying to do so."

May 28, 2019:
"I guess if I had it to do again, I'd give things a little more time -- and people a little more space."

May 27, 2019:
We honor today those who kept their end of a sacred trust. We must now ask ourselves, "Will we keep ours?"

May 26, 2019:
"One shudders to think -- which is probably why so many people have given up the practice."

May 25, 2019:
"There can be heroism in the moment, but courage is always in the day-to-day."

May 24, 2019:
"It doesn't matter that you pretend, provided you keep up the pretense when others are counting on it."

May 23, 2019:
"Before you criticize a boastful person, remember -- it's hard to be humble when no one is proud of you."

May 22, 2019:
"If you would sow the seeds of faith among the doubtful, you must first sow the seeds of doubt among the certain."

May 21, 2019:
"To spread your belief, you must exude your belief.  It is not enough that people hear it from you; they must catch it from you."

May 20, 2019:
"Of course I doubt.  I do not practice a certainty.  I practice a faith."

May 19, 2019:
"If there's one thing we can learn from evil, it is to have greater faith in what one person can do."

May 18, 2019:
"A rule I try to follow is to never let my day be ruined by something that wouldn't matter to me otherwise."

May 17, 2019:
"There are people who never learn, one of the rare instances where it's safe to say never."

May 16, 2019:
"There are times when one must tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth or be held in contempt of marriage."

May 15, 2019:
"Occasionally it's good to devote a day to letting someone who wants to make you happy have a go at it."

May 14, 2019:
"The most important lesson life can teach us is how to recognize our last chance."

May 13, 2019:
"They say it's never too late, but sometimes it is, and you have to wait a day or two before it isn't again."

May 12, 2019:
"What is a mom but the sunshine of our days and the north star of our nights."

May 11, 2019:
Hide and Seek

A mother always counts to ten,
And never, never peeks,
But always knows just where you hide,
And there she never seeks,
Until the very nick of time,
Lest tears run down your cheeks.


May 10, 2019:
"I guess I have never doubted that we are each born to our guardian angel."

May 9, 2019:
"Nothing brings people together like having the same deck stacked against them."

May 8, 2019:
Whenever I see a lost person and think, "There but for the grace of God go I,"  I realize that the grace of God was my mom.

May 7, 2019:
"Life is short, except for the endless hours -- and long, except for the fleeting years."

May 6, 2019:
"An old family photo... this still moment in time... this moment when there was still time."

May 5, 2019:
"The hardest thing about reshaping minds is getting to them before the cement dries."

May 4, 2019:
"Sorrow differs from happiness in that it is recognizable while in progress."

May 3, 2019:
"If it's justice you want, blame those responsible.  If it's action you want, blame yourself."

May 2, 2019:
"Why chase a hopeless dream?  Maybe for the dream, maybe for the chase, maybe to meet another hopeless dreamer."

May 1, 2019:
"I would gladly go back and travel the road not taken, if I knew at the end of it I'd find the same set of grandkids."

Apr 30, 2019:
"Most of us never achieve the happiness we dreamed of, having exchanged it for a happiness we never dreamed of."

Apr 29, 2019:
"If I had it to do over, there'd be a hand I'd take and a silence I'd break."

Apr 28, 2019:
"Mom -- the person most likely to write an autobiography and never mention herself."

Apr 27, 2019:
"Is it worth it, I wonder, to spend your life climbing the social ladder in order to hobnob with people who got there by helicopter?"

Apr 26, 2019:
"Happiness always looks like risk -- and unhappiness like safety."

Apr 25, 2019:
"The hardest thing about accepting reality is keeping current."

Apr 24, 2019:
"Time -- that which heals all wounds, reveals all lies and rights all wrongs.  In other words, retires all politicians."

Apr 23, 2019:
"Called to do good, I protest that I am but one person.  Tempted to do evil, I reckon I can handle it myself."

Apr 22, 2019:
"The promise to love forever is always based on the merest taste of love and the tiniest sampling of forever."

Apr 21, 2019:

One Morning

One morning, in a spring that seemed
forever dark and drear,
the sun was on the meadow,
and a fragrance filled the air,
and those who had succumbed to thoughts
of sadness and despair
were caught again, as usual,
completely unaware.

Apr 20, 2019:
"You can as easily accept Christ and ignore His teachings as you can accept the Ten Commandments and ignore the Shalt Nots."

Apr 19, 2019:
Good Friday, and again we're reminded never to lose hope -- or at least give it the weekend."

Apr 18, 2019:
"To some, God is the final explanation that explains everything.  To others, God is the final mystery that explains everything else."

Apr 17, 2019:
"One thing that varies from person to person is how many times you must do the same fool thing before you learn not to do it twice."

Apr 16, 2019:
"Shall I regret a dream that never came true -- or shall I be grateful for the dream?"

Apr 15, 2019:
"You don't wake up one morning believing in miracles.  It comes gradually -- from following the clues and keeping an open mind to the forensics."

Apr 14, 2019:
Over the years there is a transformation in one's sense of duty.  At first we say, "It's my duty."  Then we say, "Just doing my job." Then we say, "It's my pleasure."

Apr 13, 2019:
"The human species is made up of seven billion subspecies, each consisting of one specimen."

Apr 12, 2019:
"In the end there is just one marriage vow, and that is to be the person someone thinks they're marrying."

Apr 11, 2019:
"The past is but memories / The future but dreams / Only the present / Is just what it seems."

Apr 10, 2019:
"It is sufficient challenge for any day to live up to your dog's opinion of you -- and maybe pleasantly surprise your cat."

Apr 9, 2019:
"Each morning I wake up with pretty much the same thought -- how can I can better results from waking up?"

Apr 8, 2019:
"There are people who refuse to believe a miracle, even when they witness it with their own two miracle deniers."

Apr 7, 2019:
Tribute to a single mom:  "The best friend I ever had was not trying to be my friend; she was trying to be my dad."

Apr 6, 2019:
"Perhaps the marriage vows could use a promise of a little conversation at dinner and an occasional stroll together at sunset."

Apr 5, 2019:
"What can you do as just one person?  You can prove false the notion that nobody cares."

Apr 4, 2019:
"If you had a choice, and you do, would you choose a lifetime of feeling entitled or feeling blessed?

Apr 3, 2019:
"Of what use is freedom of choice if you always choose freedom and never choose choice?"

Apr 2, 2019:
"To know exactly what you want from life is to become a magnet to everyone who doesn't."

Apr 1, 2019:
"No matter what it is, it is always better to discover it yourself than have it brought to your attention."

Mar 31, 2019:
"Time -- that which heals all sorrows, reveals all lies and overripens all bananas."

Mar 30, 2019:
"Love is at first a set of romantic fancies, which, as the years go by, you discard like training wheels, and you learn to love truly."

Mar 29, 2019:
Never say "I love you" if there's something you don't mean by it.

Mar 28, 2019:
"There is a child in every one of us, not always accompanied by an adult."

Mar 27, 2019:
"You make a difference in the world not merely by raising yourself above the average but by raising the average."

Mar 26, 2019:
"Life is a collection of moments that you might have appreciated more if you had only known they were moments."

Mar 25, 2019:
"No one who has been a wanderer in this world has ever confused it with traveling."

Mar 24, 2019:
"You don't take over a room by making everyone in it feel small; you take over a room by making everyone in it feel noticed."

Mar 23, 2019:
"The one chance to repair a reputation for dishonesty is while you are the only one who knows about it."

Mar 22, 2019:
"It helps when the solemn vows two people exchange at the altar are something they already shook hands on."

Mar 21, 2019:
"Every good speech contains a summary that would have made a great speech."

Mar 20, 2019:
"Actually you can change the past.  There are many ways to do it -- by apology, by atonement, by admission, and that's just the a's."

Mar 19, 2019:
"The people who care about you are not trying to discourage you; they are trying to protect you from disappointment.  You must appreciate them, and, of course, ignore them."

Mar 18, 2019:
"We realize we can't have everything, and so begins the mad dash to have everything else."

Mar 17, 2019:
"One difference between good and evil is that evil never requires payments in the first year."

Mar 16, 2019:
"I've learned this -- that it is impossible to understand any human being using just what you know about them."

Mar 15, 2019:
"What to do with your one life?  The same thing you would do if you had two lives and this were the second."

Mar 14, 2019:
"It is unlikely that any of us was born to find out what someone else would do in our shoes."

Mar 13, 2019:
"If you could apply for a life of ease, what exactly would you state as the purpose of your request?"

Mar 12, 2019:
"Nostalgia is not so much the memory of better times as of higher hopes."

Mar 11, 2019:
"The hardest thing about finding real happiness is leaving behind something that seemed like it."

Mar 10, 2019:
"By all means, accept reality -- but be sure to subscribe to the monthly updates."

Mar 9, 2019:
"I don't think that anyone wants to be unhappy.  It is just something you become comfortable with -- and good at."

Mar 8, 2019:
"The hardest thing asked of us in a loving relationship is to trust after having been certain."

Mar 7, 2019:
Before you say to me, "There is no easy way to tell you this," understand that I am willing to wait until there is.

Mar 6, 2019:
"As for pondering the meaning of life, I'm still pondering the meaning of meaning."

Mar 5, 2019:
"Nothing is so underrated as the independent streak it takes to be a normal, everyday person."

Mar 4, 2019:
"Sometimes the way we make a difference in the world is by helping to keep some good thing exactly the same."

Mar 3, 2019:
"It always seems that we would be happier in some faraway place, as if you could hop a plane to a state of mind."

Mar 2, 2019:
"Somewhere in everyone's family tree are two people who never should have got married and never should have had kids."

Mar 1, 2019:
"If you spend your days waiting for a chance, you are spending your chance waiting."

Feb 28, 2019:
"The first step toward finding the one answer is to see it all as one mystery."

Feb 27, 2019:
"There are secrets we keep even from our life's partner, who, of course, secretly knows them all."

Feb 26, 2019:
"It takes a keen eye, sometimes, to see the beauty that lies hidden beneath the layers of trying to look young."

Feb 25, 2019:
"A salute today to every blameless person who ever took the blame in order to just get on with it."

Feb 24, 2019:
"It is seldom a good idea to have a stubbornness contest with someone who inherited your stubbornness gene."

Feb 23, 2019:
"For every person who was ever loved too much, there was someone who couldn't love enough."

Feb 22, 2019:
"Head always in the direction of your dream, and don't listen to anyone who passes you, headed back."

Feb 21, 2019:
"A best friend is not someone who badgers you to become a better person.  A best friend is someone who prefers you to better people."

Feb 20, 2019:
"Actions have consequences, often mistaken for a run of bad luck."

Feb 19, 2019:
"Hope is not a plan, but without it, nothing else is a plan, either."

Feb 18, 2019:
"An apology is that rare obligation that has no due date.  If it is owed, it is due.  And if it is due, it is overdue."

Feb 17, 2019:
"Never mind that your actions seem hopeless.  Act nevertheless, for you have a greater ability to act than to judge hopelessness."

Feb 16, 2019:
"To the coward, there is no such thing as cowardice -- it is all excuse.  To the brave, there is no such thing as bravery -- it is all duty."

Feb 15, 2019:
"Nothing is so underestimated as the collateral good done by simple people seeking their own honest ends."

Feb 14, 2019:
It's a simple sentiment, "I love you," and yet so hard sometimes to get the wording right.

Feb 13, 2019:
"Sometimes two people stay together for the sake of the kids -- two kids who sat under a full moon and pledged to be forever true."

Feb 12, 2019:
"Occasionally the people in our lives who don't need an invitation need to be reminded that they don't."

Feb 11, 2019:
"The only thing that can ruin the memory of shared times, no matter how hard the times, is the discovery that they weren't shared."

Feb 10, 2019:
Overheard at a cocktail party: "I don't quite remember who you are, but I remember being delighted to make your acquaintance."

Feb 9, 2019:
"You wonder sometimes if remaining ignorant in the Information Age is an art or a skill."

Feb 8, 2019:
"The introvert and the extrovert have this in common -- that each mistakenly believes they are the center of attention."

Feb 7, 2019:
"No one falls in love for the purpose of proving how smart they are, although, often, that is exactly what it proves."

Feb 6, 2019:
"The goal for any day is to give that which needs attention enough attention and that which needs leaving alone enough leaving alone."

Feb 5, 2019:
I had a dream.  It was Judgment, and God said to me, "Before you blame your parents, I should tell you that they're already in heaven."

Feb 4, 2019:
"Only a man is allowed to give up.  There is always someone for whom a woman must carry on."

Feb 3, 2019:
"The key to compassion is to realize that everyone you meet is a set of extenuating circumstances."

Feb 2, 2019:
"You can complain of family and friends taking you for granted -- or you can make it your achievement and your happiness."

Feb 1, 2019:
"The problem, in a busy life, is that opportunity always knocks at an inopportune moment."

Jan 31, 2019:
"Never be surprised if what must inevitably happen happens today."

Jan 30, 2019:
"It is a mercy that the things we do in our youth to ruin our lives have so little youth to work with."

Jan 29, 2019:
"Who does not wish to be beautiful and clever and rich and to have back in old age the time spent trying to be any of them."

Jan 28, 2019:
"Perhaps optimism is a rosy interpretation of the facts -- or perhaps optimism is a factual interpretation of the rose."

Jan 27, 2019:
"God created an endless day with intervals of light and darkness.  It is the optimist who created tomorrow."

Jan 26, 2019:
"The surest sign that you're on the right path is that you like the company you're keeping."

Jan 25, 2019:
"Two people can have a middling day, but one rounds up and the other rounds down."

Jan 24, 2019:
"Politics is a game of chess, and what you know about a game of chess is that the pawns will be sacrificed."

Jan 23, 2019:
"You try to raise kids secure in your love and certain of their next meal, which, let's face it, doesn't leave you a lot of bargaining chips."

Jan 22, 2019:
"Many pray to God, but few pray to God for the purpose of getting a different opinion."

Jan 21, 2019:
"The difference between a miracle and luck is that you can have luck without believing in it."

Jan 20, 2019:
"The time to wonder if you're doing the right thing is when it seems to be getting easier."

Jan 19, 2019:
"One proof that you're still learning is that there is something you recently unlearned."

Jan 18, 2019:
"Whether a relationship begins by fate or chance, it nearly always endures by second chance."

Jan 17, 2019:
"You can hold beliefs that give you an unearned advantage in life, but, please, don't go around calling them principles."

Jan 16, 2019:
"The hope in a two-party system is that the 2 + 2 = 3 party and the 2 + 2 = 5 party can work out a compromise."

Jan 15, 2019:
"To know the innermost fears of anyone is to know the innermost fears of everyone."

Jan 14, 2019:
"I remember a different time -- when if you did what was clearly and morally right, you didn't have to explain your reasoning."

Jan 13, 2019:
"You complain of the passing years, but then you look in a mirror and realize that very few of them actually got past."

Jan 12, 2019:
"Nothing lasts forever, although it is hard to think of a human emotion that doesn't assume something will."

Jan 11, 2019:
"We each have two reputations -- the one by which we are known to the world and the one by which we are known to ourselves. There is still time to repair the second." 

Jan 10, 2019:
"The thing most missed from childhood days is the ability to recognize happiness while in progress." 

Jan 9, 2019:
"There are days when your life seems like a furniture arrangement where everything is where you told the delivery guy to leave it for now." 

Jan 8, 2019:
"Every family has arguments that scare the dog.  The concern is when they alarm the cat." 

Jan 7, 2019:
"There is no limit to what one person can do, which is fortunate, because that is who most of us are." 

Jan 6, 2019:
"The brain forgets much, but the lower back remembers everything." 

Jan 5, 2019:
"At some point you have to decide if you want to be a success or just someone who was never to blame for anything going wrong." 

Jan 4, 2019:
"We find in ourselves the strength to overcome every obstacle, which is a good thing, because we also find in ourselves every obstacle." 

Jan 3, 2019:
"Ah, yes, the real you -- someone you briefly were before common sense prevailed." 

Jan 2, 2019:
"I have come to believe this about self-esteem -- that a false sense of it is better than none." 

Jan 1, 2019:
"New Year's Day -- a good time to list all the things you regularly do for which there was once a good reason."