If you’re not enjoying yourself you’re not doing it right.
Work will keep your mind of your worries.
Lose in the beginning; win in the end.
Always accept an outstretched hand.
Refuse to believe that your life will have a sad ending.
Be passionate about what you do, and you will be saved.
There is no ‘magic cure’ to your problems, so don’t try to reinvent the wheel.
Look for happiness in common things.
If you are not going forwards, you are going backwards.
I was walking one day in downtown Columbus. I had parked my car in the lot of restaurant next to the riverfront. The place was closed and I decided to take the pathway down to the place where there’s a replica of the Christopher Columbus’ boat – the Santa Maria that he and Spain used to find the new world. In fact, I had seen that boat numerous times, so I was not particularly interested in it, but last time I went there I noticed that near the boat, next to the road there is a small park – very little, triangular in shape, and mostly with concrete instead of grass. Anyway, this park caught my attention last time I had been there because it has a few bronze statues of mythological creatures. In fact, I went up to one of them and I saw that it was a unicorn, which looks like a small pony with a cone sticking out of its forehead. Then I read the plaque beneath that read: “Now the unicorn could not ask any more questions because he knew all things. The only thing the unicorn did not have was taste.” I thought those words to be rather interesting, although I did not contemplate on them much. Well, on this particular day, which was a few months later, in November, I wanted to go back to that little park to see that unicorn again, and to see if there were any other statues there that I might have missed the last time I had been there. And so I climbed the steps up to the park and I saw the unicorn again with his horn sticking out of his head. I read the plaque again, and again I was amused.
Then, interestingly enough, I saw another bronze statue of a quirky looking animal – another mythological creature. It looked like a leopard, but it had wings. I proceeded to read the plaque. The griffin, said the plaque, has what it does not need. Which if you think about it makes sense: why would a leopard need wings? Then the plaque said something extremely wise: “The griffin was afraid to be wrong. Do not be like the griffin.” As I read those lines, I thought they were revolutionary and very liberating. The griffin’s problem, you see, was fundamentally that he was afraid to be himself. And I think, especially when we are growing up, that is a problem that we all face. We are afraid that our behavior, or some characteristic of ours is unacceptable unto others, and so we hide it, in order to gain more acceptance. We, like the griffin, are afraid what other people will think. But ultimately, you need to realize that other people will not judge you. Other people are a lot less judgmental than your or the griffin believes! They are busy with their own lives. In fact, if you are one of those people who wants to please others at your own expense, here’s what I’ve got to say: do not be like the griffin. Do not be afraid to be wrong. There is no right or wrong when it comes to being yourself.
excerpted from my speech Good Luck!
Stick to the routine.
It’s always darkest before the dawn.
Give one hundred percent of your attention to the person you’re speaking with and make them feel like they’re the center of the universe.
No one makes it alone. Everyone needs a community, to bring them up when they’re down. -Josh Shipp
Live together… die alone. (folk)
Admit a mistake halfway, and change course before its too late.
Enjoy things; whether its a trivial moment in the day, or whether its a big party, enjoy it!
Live for others – Tolstoy
Respect is earned when respect is shown.
Live for virtue.
Work will keep your mind off your worries.
Live up to your own standards.
No one knows you better than you know yourself.
No one can help you better than you can help yourself.
Never underestimate the healing power of humor. Use humor to turn a bleak situation upside down on its head.
Life is a test. Heaven is the reward.
Not big things, but little things; they are the difference.
Reach out.
You have to earn it.
Catch all the breaks!
If you are depressed now, don’t give up. Look at the long view and take comfort in the bright future that lies ahead.
Don’t expect your whole day to be good, but if your whole day is bad, then you have a problem.
You can’t quit! You can’t give up!
Never underestimate the healing power of humor.
If you could change one thing about yourself, change your attitude!
Happiness is spontaneous and is unexpected;
Happiness cannot be induced.
Happiness cannot be planned for.
Spontaneity is the spirit.
Live spontaneously.
Work will keep you out of trouble.
What you do every day is what you are meant to be doing every day. What you dream about doing every day is meant to remain just a dream.
Success is the sum of all of your failures
Happiness is like a bolt of lightning; you never know when or where it is going to strike
Reach out and lift up each other, because by it, you lift up yourself. –John Kasich
Turn a wish into a long term goal and one day, you may achieve it.
Love it or you will lose it
They say “stay in school.” That’s how we teach our children to be good. Indeed, reading, not only has intellectual purpose, it has moral purpose. How many of the people sitting in jail are readers? Zero! If they were readers, they would never commit any crimes!
Reading is the antidote to a life on the streets. It is protection from trouble. Because good people are readers. My advice to young people would be make friends who are readers. There is plenty of trouble out there. But if read, you cannot partake in it even if you want to. The two are incompatible.
And who says that one must stop reading after graduation? All they taught you in school is what they wanted. But now its your turn! Teach yourself what you want to really learn. Read what you love. That’s where it counts. So when you graduate, don’t say, “Oh thank God, now I never have to pick up another book again!” Say, “Oh, thank God, now I’m free to read what I wanted to read all along” To read is to be good.
