Know Thyself

 "I've learned this about myself -- that beneath my carefree, superficial exterior lies a thoughtful inner spirit that just wants to party." 

Thoughts From Our Resident Know-It-All

 "To know what makes another person tick is to have information they would give a lot to know."

"What those born to wealth invariably have more of than those who have earned their wealth is pride in the achievement."

"There is almost no advantage in life that people are not willing to risk totally rather than give up partially."

"It is always those who have already won the game who believe that it should now have rules."

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!"

"The lesson of Holy Saturday is to never give up hope -- or at least give it another day."

A Best Friend...

"A best friend is someone who recognizes the tiny shrugs and faint smiles that constitute your cries for help." 

On Miracles

"One of the things we are allowed to decide for ourselves is whether we wish to have miracles in our lives."

"We don't always get the miracle we pray for, but we always get the strength we pray for."

"You can wait for a miracle, but it is usually a better strategy to meet it halfway."

"One of life's sadder realizations, looking back over the years, is that you were the miracle you didn't believe in."

On Hope

 "What does hope get you?  It gets you a hopeful life, and when you think about it, what more can you hope to have?"

3000 Books Sold! Thank you.

 On the one hand, 3000 books sold over ten years is not exactly best-seller territory.  On the other hand, I won't deny the satisfaction I felt upon the sale of my 3000th book yesterday.

My book sales have never been a torrent.  They are more a persistent trickle, one or two at a time, sometimes skipping a few days but seldom more than that.  So while 3000 copies over ten years doesn't blow your socks off, it does amount to 5 or 6 copies a week, every week, for ten years  -- and, that, let me tell you, can be quite an ongoing boost to one's self-esteem.

I am pleased, too, to know that my books have sold without promotion.  I have never made a public appearance on behalf of my books, never a signing or a reading, never a celebrity endorsement, never a cent paid for advertising.  All I've ever done is to offer my books on my blog and via my Twitter account. For the rest, it has been a case of folks noticing my quotes on the internet, Googling my name and finding their way to my Amazon book pages.

And so I thank all you book buyers out there for your support over these ten years.  You are indeed patrons of the arts and, as supporters of the hard-copy printed word, a bit of a dying breed, I'm afraid.  I thank you and cherish you.  You have made very happy a fellow named Bob in Connecticut.