Quotes

This is an ever-growing list of quotes, song-lyrics, or overheard statements (in no specific order) that have moved me, made me laugh, inspired me, were extremely well-said, or otherwise made me want to include them on my favorite quotes list:

• “Destiny is relentless. If you don’t find it, it has no choice but to find you.” – Jeffrey Carlson as Zarf, All My Children, 12/27/06
• “The first draft of anything is shit.” – Ernest Hemingway
• “Well, I know it wasn’t you who held me down / Heaven knows it wasn’t you who set me free / So oftentimes it happens that we live our lives in chains / And we never even know we have the key.” – The Eagles, Already Gone, (written by Jack Tempchin and Bob Strandlund)
• “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.” – Chinese proverb
• “A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.” – English proverb
• “Don’t let life be something that happens to you.” – John Edward
• “Oz never did give nothin’ to the tin man, that he didn’t . . . already have” – America, Tin Man
• “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone.” – Bill Cosby
• “What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” – Johann von Goethe
• “The chains which once held us are only the chains which we’ve made.” – Jewel, Deep Water
• “The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear.” – William Jennings Bryan
• “The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps – We must step up the stairs.” – Vance Havner
• “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.” – Thomas Jefferson
• “I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” – Winston Churchill
• “A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” – George Bernard Shaw
• “In this world, you’ve a soul for a compass and a heart for a pair of wings.” – Mary Chapin Carpenter, Why Walk When You Can Fly
• “Love when you can, cry when you have to, be who you must, that’s a part of the plan.” – Dan Fogelberg, Part of The Plan
• “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” – Rush, Free Will