"It is a sad lament -- the happiness you might have found if you had taken the road that still lies right there in front of you."
"If you never look up, it is possible to live a dull, gray life under a clear, blue sky."
"What can be sadder than to realize that you had the key but never tried the lock."
~~ from Short Thoughts For The Long Haul
The way to get my attention is to give me yours. I am never more aware of you than when I know you are listening to me.
The first thing to learn about the art of conversation is that you are not the other person's favorite subject.
You don't have to have an opinion about everything, and if you do, not everyone has to know what it is.
I have learned to just quietly listen, finding that it is usually what people want when they ask for my opinion.
~~ from Reflections
"Did I make some complicated thing simple today, or did I make some simple thing complicated?"
"Was it wise to spend another day trying to accomplish Thing B as a means of accomplishing Thing A?"
"What are the things in my life I most cherish, and what did I do today to cherish them?"
~~ from A Few For The Road
"Another day of being old enough. Still waiting for the knowing better to kick in."
"The hardest part of thinking young is recapturing the notion that you're indestructible."
"One thing you notice about getting older and wiser is that you get older first."
~~ from A Few For The Road
"It is said that not all who wander are lost, which has always struck me as not getting the most out of wandering."
...every year you have the same conversation with the same couple about who you both still are.
...some stranger learns more about you in an hour than your spouse has learned in a lifetime.
...the host and hostess attempt to bring compatible people together by separating married couples.
...there is a rotation that brings married couples back together again every twenty minutes.
...you are always sorry you wrote anything on a napkin.
~~ from The Second Collection
"Will you spend your life pushing a boulder uphill so that, once uphill, you will have a boulder to sit on while regretting your life?"
"Do things while you can and while they matter to you, because neither is a permanent state of affairs."
"Life is like sailing -- you can use any wind to go in any direction."
"Life is a collection of moments you might have appreciated more if you had only known they were moments."
~~ from Short Thoughts For The Long Haul