grandma?

Youth is not a time of life;  it is a state of mind;  it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees;  it is  a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions;  it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease.  This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20.  Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.  We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.  Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of living.  In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station;  so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.  –Samuel Ullman

normal day

For most of life, nothing wonderful happens.  If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy.  If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time.
If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.  –Andy Rooney

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.
Mary Jean Irion

I am sure it is a great mistake always to know enough to go in when it rains.  One may keep snug and dry by such knowledge, but one misses a world of loveliness.  –Adiline Knapp

worth re-reading

Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

easier said than done…

Establish a policy of taking all criticism as friendly.  Once you insist to yourself that the other person is well-intentioned, you’ll get value from legitimate  criticism, if there’s any there to get, and you won’t be bothered by the rest.  When you concede a critic’s good will, you disarm an attacker and encourage an ally.  –Carroll O’Conner

So many gods, so many creeds,
so many paths that wind and wind
while just the art of being kind
is all the sad world needs.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, American Poet, 1896

In the end, it is attention to detail that makes all the difference.  It’s the center fielder’s extra two steps to the left, the salesman’s memory for names, the lover’s phone call, the soldier’s clean weapon.  It is the thing that separated the winners from the losers, the men from the boys and very often, the living from the dead.  Professional success depends on it, regardless of the field.  –David Noonan