"Time is like a river. You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment in life."
Aurelius, Marcus, modified (121 - 180)
"There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes ... I love not Man the less, but Nature more."
Byron, Lord (1788 - 1824)
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence."
Coolidge, Calvin (1872 -1933)
"... stay calm. Reason things out. Act sensibly. Decide what needs to be done and DO it. Don't let fear master you. It can kill you quicker than anything else. Just THINK - and then act."
"If you become lost ... keep your head. Think. You MUST think! Panic destroys reason. Don't run, don't walk, don't even move for a while. Just think about where you are and where you came from and where you are heading. ... stay calm, keep your head, think. Do it know. Stay calm. THINK!"
Eckert, Allan W. (From: Savage Journey, 1979)
"Focus on the things you control and not worry about those you do not."
Epictetus (50 - 135 A.D.)
"Here I go once again, with my suitcase in my hand
And I'm running away down River Road
...
I'm chasing my dreams down River Road"
Gayle, Crystal (From: River Road song, sung by Crystal Gayle, written and sung by Sylvia Fricker Tyson, 1976)
(I hummed this tune while pulling canoe and portaging down a flooded trail that I called "river road" in 2022.)
"There is freedom waiting for you,
On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask, 'What if I fall?'
Oh but ...,
What if you fly?"
Hanson, Erin (1995 - )
"Rainbows are visions, but only illusions
... so amazing that keeps us stargazing
... what's on the other side?"
Henson, Jim (From: Rainbow Connection, 1979 song in "The Muppet Movie", Walt Disney Music Company, sung by Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, written by Kenny Ascher, Paul Hamilton Williams)
“There are no wrong roads to anywhere.”
“Expectations is the place you must always go to before you get to where you're going.”
“Expect everything, I always say, and the unexpected never happens.”
"Since you got here by 'not thinking', it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must 'start thinking'."
"It's much harder to tell if you 'are' lost than whether you 'were' lost."
“The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what's in between.”
“Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn? ... Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? Or perhaps you know the silence when you haven't the answer to a question you've been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you're alone in the whole house? Each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful if you listen carefully.”
“It's very much like trying to reach infinity. You know that it's there, but you just don't know where - but just because you can never reach it doesn't mean that it's not worth looking for.”
“The only thing you can do easily is be wrong, and that's hardly worth the effort.”
"It's not what's behind that worries me, ... but what's ahead."
“It 'has' been a long trip, said Milo, ... but we would have been here much sooner if I hadn't made so many mistakes."
"You must never feel badly about making mistakes, explained Reason, ... as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.”
“You may not see it now ... but whatever we learn has a purpose and whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world; when a speck of dust falls to the ground, the entire planet weighs a little more; and when you stamp your foot, the earth moves slightly off its course. Whenever you laugh, gladness spreads like the ripples in the pond; and whenever you're sad, no one anywhere can be really happy. And it's much the same thing with knowledge, for whenever you learn something new, the whole world becomes that much richer.”
“And remember, also ... that many places you would like to see are just off the map and many things you want to know are just out of sight or a little beyond your reach. But someday you'll reach them all, for what you learn today, for no reason at all, will help you discover all the wonderful secrets of tomorrow.”
“So many things are possible just as long as you don't know they're impossible.”
"What you 'can' do is often simply a matter of what you 'will' do."
“Just because you can never reach it, doesn’t mean that it’s not worth looking for.”
“Time is a gift, given to you, given to give you the time you need, the time you need to have the time of your life. ”
Juster, Norton. (From: The Phantom Tollbooth, 1961.)
"I ain't as good as I once was, But I'm as good once as I ever was."
Keith, Toby (From: As Good as I Once Was, sung by Toby Keith, written by Toby Keith, Scotty Emerick, 2005)
"Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"
Laurel and Hardy slapstick comedy movies, Stan Laurel (1890 - 1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892 - 1957)
"You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have."
Marley, Bob (1945 - 1981)
"... grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference."
Niebuhr, Reinhold, attributed to (From: The Serenity Prayer, 1943), Winnifred Crane Wygal wrote an earlier version in 1933.
"Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
...
Sweet the rains new fall, sunlit from Heaven
Like the first dewfall on the first grass
...
Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
...
Praise with elation, praise every morning"
Stevens, Cat (From: Morning Has Broken, 1971 song sung by Cat Stevens, written by Eleanor Farjeon, 1931)