What Are Your Favorite "Sayings" - Wisdom, Humor, One-liners, etc
Mates,
I think we all have some favorite capsules of wisdom and/or humor that we have learned over the years. Some are pretty ubiquitous like, 'A rolling stone gathers no moss' or 'A fool and his money are soon parted'. Some are pretty funny, particularly when delivered at the right time - maybe something like your dad told you as he chased you around the house: "I brought you into this world and I can take you out!"
I can think of a couple that I have frequently said or at least thought. One comes from one of my favorite investigators back in the day, an ex-marine Sgt, black belt, war vet, and all around genuinely tough dude. He opined: "The street is a hard school, but a fool will learn in no other". Another one that I have taught my kids and literally every team that I've ever coached, "Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who sent him" - i.e., nobody likes the lazy teammate, get out there and hustle!
So today's question is pretty simple: Share your favorite 'sayings', and maybe even the background about how you learned it, when you've used it, and things like that.
Some positive news about our serious C-19 situation seems to come out every day. Keep the faith and Go Blue!
XM
This too shall pass.
None shall pass. - Monty Python
You shall not pass - Gandalf
Three things can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad - Woody Hayes (and probably Bo)
As I tell me kid nearly every day - you don't have to like it, you just have to do it. There are things every single day that we must do (as responsible people, for ourselves, for others, for community, whatever it is) despite how unsavory it might be. Maybe its about being a good person (say 'thank you' despite the pony-tailed douchebag that just rudely cut in front before realizing and stepping aside)? Maybe its work-related (taking the extra hour near dinner time to refine some slides that look, just, off)? Maybe it's accepting the decision of some 18 yr old kid that you just realized fucked over one of the better people in the entire world of basketball?
You don't have to like it, you just have to do it.
Also, my favorite word in the entire English language is 'dubious'. It works in every situation!
Every situation? That's a dubious assertion.
Indubitably!
Leaders Eat Last
Winners earn the opportunity to improve (by running more). Anyone remember that one? People will probably use it a way to bash Harbaugh now though.
No matter how bad you think you have it, there will always be someone who is worse off than you.
I don't really go to clubs anymore, but that was the advice I took when I did sometimes go. Ok, I'm not the greatest dancer, but I'm not THAT weird dude over there.
That reminds me of one of my favorites:
"No one remembers the second-drunkest guy at the holiday party."
Perception is reality
We don't see things as they are.
We see them as we are.
Somewhere there is someone wishing for the things you take for granted
Strength isn't the ability to push through hardships, but to work around hardships.
Josh Christopher reaps what he sows
One year in sunny Arizona, playing basketball with his brother, with minimal academic responsibility, and smoking hot ASU girls all around me 24/7 before leaving for the NBA to make multi millions.
I mean, I’m not happy about it...but I TOTALLY get it.
"Bite my shiny metal ass."
Tell this to my students all the time “Life’s not fair, get used to it”
This reminds me of a great line from Theo Epstein’s commencement speech at Yale. Directed towards his sons...
And I will tell Jack and Drew that we all have our rain delay moments. There will be times when everything you have been wanting, everything you have worked for, everything you have earned, everything you feel you deserve is snatched away in what seems like a personal and unfair blow. This, I will tell them, is called life.
April 14th, 2020 at 10:50 AM ^
In the same vein is my favorite quote from "The Princess Bride:"
“Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”
Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm
-Winston Churchill
churchill has another one of my all-time favorites, given in october of 1941 with the germans sweeping toward england and the US not yet in the fight. love the grit:
Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
Yes. We don't have leaders like that anymore, and probably never will.
Attack each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
April 14th, 2020 at 11:26 AM ^
Circumstances tend to make the man (or woman). Most great leaders of history were forged in the crucible of conflict. We can't point to any larger than life figures in our generation because we've had leaders that were sufficiently competent at maintaining the peace. This is laudable but tends to not be the things that history books are made of.
Almost all of his recorded speeches are available to listen to online.
https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/
Apologies for the lack of a hyperlink.
"There ain't a horse that can't be rode; there ain't a man that can't be throwed."
Dyin' ain't no way to make a livin'
freelion = josey wales.
you heard it here first.
You caught me Captain Redlegs
April 14th, 2020 at 10:13 AM ^
i guess he doesn't like to be called high-handed
April 14th, 2020 at 10:58 AM ^
i think i'll tell him, the war is over....
April 14th, 2020 at 10:44 AM ^
mmmm. juicy fruit.
There are no stupid questions - only stupid people
If you meet three assholes on a single day, you're probably the asshole.
The simple reframing offered by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist practicing what he has labeled Engaged Buddhism, "What's not wrong?"
Or "If you can't be still, be kind", a nod towards the taoist tenet of non-interference and a twist on the more well known Western adage.
Bend over and pull down your panties.
Greater minds than ours make these decisions.
Said with sarcasm usually pertaining to work or politics.
Money is the answer to 99% of all questions.
Greater minds than ours make these decisions.
Said with sarcasm usually pertaining to work or politics.
Great minds think alike, and so do we....
Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everybody else.
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of the evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper, and the finder of lost children.
And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee!"
Better to be pissed off than pissed on.
Speak for yourself.
Ignorance doesn't know it exists.
The human's two greatest weaknesses are our inability to self-assess and our ability to rationalize.
And for us Mennonites: The thing we are most proud of is our humility.
“Same shit, different pile”
None of us get out of here alive
Actions have consequences (and so do inactions)
Mathematics is the study of patterns (yes, I am a math teacher!)
Two more of my favorites as a teacher: ATQ and ATD, which represent 'Answer The Question!' and 'Attention To Detail'. I write these abbreviations on many of the tests I grade. The first one is often represented in my brain as ATFQ, but I don't write that one down.
That decision is above my pay grade
Yet
If it is to be, it is up to me