I don’t. Never have. If someone asked me ‘what’s your life motto’ I’d either have to say I don’t have one, or make something up on the spot.
So, when you read the Title and decided to venture in. Did you have an established motto, or did decide to make one up, or recall one you’ve heard in the past. Or were you going to say you don’t have one?
I suppose if I had to make one up on the spot, based on hindsight, i’d say - Believe in your abilities.
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man”
“Solus Contra Mundum”
I’ve been trying to think of one that would be suitable 
A few years ago I would have chosen a bible quote, but a Classics degree and a post-grad degree in Enlightenment Literature have opened up my world-view somewhat 
I think I would choose Immanual Kant’s exhortation in his essay Was Ist Aufklaerung? (“What is Enlightenment?”) of 1783:
Sapere Aude - Dare to be wise!
Sums up my view of the world - I’m forever telling friends and colleagues to “think it though, dammit!”.
An alternative would be “Life’s too short for quiche”, but don’t tell the missus I said that
‘inter saxum et locum duro sum’
"Don’t let the bastards wear you down."
It’s programmed on my mobile phone and I read the message every morning when I turn it on before heading out the door.
Take it easy. But take it.
From Woody Guthrie.
I’m no activist, certainly not the folk hero Woody was.
That’s just sort of my attitude towards life.
“Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.” - Henri Bergson.
Well, that and my sig (which is “It’s such a fine line between clever and stupid” for those with sigs disabled).
I try to keep both in mind, although the former is vastly easier to accomplish than the latter.
My motto. @#$% Lotto! I’ll get the seven digits from your mother for a dollar tomorrow!
-8 mile
I never realised I had one until this thread. Well, not quite a motto, but as close as I have to one.
“Life is life.”
Which is basically another way of saying “Shit happens.”
Life’s a beach, so let’s get tan while we can.
My motto. Chaos. Mayhem. My work here is done.
Festivitas Ante Sapientia – Fun Before Wisdom
Damn, compared to most of these, mine sucks.
“Better than a stick in the eye.”
Which is true in most cases.
I’ve had one since I was about 12 or 13. I took it from my old music master. It goes something like this:
If you’re going to make a mistake, make it a big one.
Basically, playing in a band as a junior, everyone was too scared to play a bum note and would try and play as quiet as possible just in case they did. The music masters approach was play the damn thing out loud. If you screw up, you know what you did wrong (hopefully) and you’ll do better the next time, but don’t just play that thing like a whimp, put some breath into it.
I’ve taken that lesson along with me for the last 27 (or so) years and have found it to be a good motto for me. When faced with a challenge, don’t play soft and whimpy, get in there, make a noise, if you screw it up, most people will forgive you and you will learn a lesson. If you don’t screw it up everyone will think you’re the best.
“If something outweighs you by two thousand pounds, it has the right-of-way.” -Me
Granted, it’s not much of a motto. True nonetheless.
The thread was inspired by a channel four thing. during the ads, it shows clips of famous people answering questions (you don’t hear the question asked, the clips start just before the celeb answers. It’s not rehearsed)
One of them was clearly ‘what’s your motto’. Jimmy Carr’s was a good one “You live and learn. Then you die and forget everything”
“Motto? We don’t need no steekin’ motto!”
“What is… is.”
– Nathaniel Dayspring Summers Askani’son
Or the more mundane version, which is “Que sera sera.”
I still remember getting into a linguistics argument with a friend over the difference in these two versions based on the implications of the different tenses – present tense as opposed to the future perfect tense.
He saw no difference in the mottos, while I did. I argued that Cable’s use of the present tense left no room for past or future events. Especially given that he’s a time traveler, that means that the progression of events has lesser meaning to him. So it would be more of an eternal present where everything has already happened. This, in contrast to the use of the future perfect tense, which gave a bit more hope by acknowledging that there is a progression of events.
We ended up agreeing to disagree. To this day, I still don’t know if I was cracked out or not.
Usually, I’m a passive guy, so I choose “c’est la vie” or “such is life” as a personal motto. Other times, I use “damnit” to accurately display my go-getter attitude.
I agree with you lizardling.