For many years now, I’ve collected snippets and quotes and compiled them in a little project I’ve titled, “Life is a Series of Disappointments. Then you Die.” I have over 1,300 of these gems. Some passages are inspirational, some are profound, some are silly; all are interesting.
As we move into 2016, who couldn’t use some motivation, some inspiration, a smile on their face? Here are some of my favorites for 2015; I hope you find one or two that you enjoy.
• Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. - Benjamin Franklin
• Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. – William James
• This is your life and it’s ending one moment at a time. – Chuck Palahniuk
• Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. – Socrates
• I have learned that to be with those I like is enough. – Walt Whitman
• Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed with the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. – Mark Twain
• Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. – Frederick Buechner
• You’re a ghost driving a meat-coated skeleton made from stardust, riding a rock, hurtling through space. Fear nothing. – Unknown
• A ship in harbour is safe, but that's not what a ship is built for. – William Shedd
• Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats. – H. L. Mencken
• The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me. – Ayn Rand
• Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you. – Saint Augustine
• I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me. – Edgar Watson Howe
• A friend cannot be considered a friend unless he is tested on three occasions: in time of need, behind your back and after your death. – Hasrat Ali
• Often we change jobs, friends and spouses instead of ourselves. – Akbarali Jetha
• Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears. – Rudyard Kipling
• Who is wise? He that learns from every One. Who is powerful? He that governs his Passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody. – Benjamin Franklin
• It's never too late to have a happy childhood. – Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
• Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. – Marilyn Vos Savant
• Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years. – James Thurber
• They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price. – Kahlil Gibran
• Man must be prepared for every event of life, for there is nothing that is durable. – Menander
• Life is mostly froth and bubble, two things stand like stone. Kindness in another's trouble, courage in your own. – Adam Lindsay Gordon
• You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences. – W. Somerset Maugham
• Everybody sooner or later, sits down to a banquet of consequences. - Robert Louis Stevenson
• You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm. – Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette
• You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. – Kahlil Gibran
• You are always only one choice away from changing your life. – Marcy Blochowiak
• He who gives when he is asked has waited too long. – Seneca
• 6+3=9 but so does 5+4. The way you do things is not always the only way to do them. – Unknown
• Immaturity can last a lifetime. – Robert Half
• If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. – Paul (Romans 12:18)
• When hungry, eat your rice; when tired, close your eyes. Fools may laugh at me, but wise men will know what I mean. – Lin-Chi
• The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. – Bertrand Russell
• I will prove by my life that my critics are liars. – Plato
• Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are. – Jose Ortega y Gasset
• To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. – Bertrand Russell
• Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one less scoundrel in the world. – Thomas Carlyle
• Sometimes the light to see your way forward is provided by the bridge burning behind you. – Unknown
• Let's not pray that the Lord be on our side, let's pray that WE are on the Lord's side. – Abraham Lincoln
• It is polite to say and do these things: Smile and Say Good Morning, How are you and Good Afternoon. – Sign on a Customs office in Divisa, Panama
• What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. – William Morrow
• If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves. – Thomas A. Edison
• Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your Destiny. – Unknown
• You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings. – Pearl S. Buck
• There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way, and not to give others absurd maddening claims upon it. – Christopher Morley
• A useless life is an early death. – Johann W. von Goethe
• Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to go to his class. – Choi, Hong Hi
• I have learned to cooperate with the inevitable. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. – Paul (Philippians 4:11)
• Cooperate with the inevitable. If you know a circumstance is beyond your power to change or revise, say to yourself: "It is so; it cannot be otherwise.” – Dale Carnegie
• Many people lose the small joys in the hope for the big happiness. – Pearl S. Buck
• When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. - Abraham Lincoln
• When grasping for the last breath in the stranglehold of life, a close inspection will show that the hands around your throat are your own. – Bill Deslippe
• Men are born to succeed, not to fail. – Henry David Thoreau
• Beware what you set your heart upon. For it shall surely be yours. Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• It's not your job to like me -- it's mine. – Byron Katie
• The goal is the same: life itself; and the price is the same; life itself. – James Agee
• The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them. – Ernest Hemingway
• A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company. – Charles Evans Hughes
• One is never as fortunate or as unfortunate as one thinks. – Francois De La Rochefoucauld
• Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you won't do anything with it. – M. Scott Peck
• What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do? – Ralph Ellison
• There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. – Aristotle
• It is always our own self that we find at the end of the journey. The sooner we face that self, the better. – Ella Maillart
• Without the possibility of death, adventure is not possible. – Reinhold Messner
• Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. – Ernest Hemingway
• You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go. – Dr. Seuss
• Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life. – Bertolt Brecht
• Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle. – Plato
• The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried. – Stephen McCranie
• A Marine is a Marine. I set that policy two weeks ago – there's no such thing as a former Marine. You're a Marine, just in a different uniform and you're in a different phase of your life. But you'll always be a Marine because you went to Parris Island, San Diego or the hills of Quantico. There's no such thing as a former Marine. – General James F. Amos (35th Commandant of the Marine Corps)
• There are two rules for being successful in life. Rule 1: Never tell others everything you know.
• The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you don't really know if they are accurate. – George Washington
