# Quotes you try to live your life by.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 8, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940 "2004-08-08T22:58:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Paulies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paulies)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/1 "2004-08-08T22:58:06Z")
“I spent my life trying not to be careless. Woman and children can be careless. But not men.” — Vito Corleone
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/2 "2004-08-08T23:00:33Z")
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
- Albert Einstein
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### Author:  [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2004, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/3 "2004-08-08T23:11:18Z")
“What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. All the rest is commentary.”
-Talmud
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/4 "2004-08-08T23:19:39Z")
“Do, or do not. There is no try.”
–Yoda
“You probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do.”
–Olin Miller
“Be excellent to each other and party on.”
–_Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey_
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### Author:  [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/5 "2004-08-08T23:46:50Z")
All paraphrased:
“Do unto others…”
–from the Bible somewheres.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
–Nietsche (yeah, it’s trite)
“I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death to defend your right to say it.”
– I’ve looked this up but can never remember who said it.
“Sh\*t washes off.”
– family adage
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### Author:  [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/6 "2004-08-08T23:52:19Z")
“Righteousness, righteousness, ye shall pursue.”
I know it’s biblical in nature, but I still reference it to my late grandfather. He instilled a great love of learning and religion in me, and this was one of his favorite quotes to ‘explain’ in a talmudic sense. Stays with me.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/7 "2004-08-08T23:55:00Z")
If it was funny, clowns wouldn’t be doing it.
Some think that not obeying rules is somehow cool. I think that rules like “Don’t fall into this huge pit of spikes” are there for a purpose.
The reward for toil is too often more toil. If you dig the best ditches they give you a bigger shovel.
Some people are permanently angry, in the same way that mountains are permanently large.
I have never girded my loins, because I’m not certain how you do that and have never dared ask…
{thanks to TP !}
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### Author:  [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/8 "2004-08-09T00:42:44Z")
“Son, any statement that begins with ‘I really ought to–’ is suspect. It means you haven’t analysed your motives. . . . Find out what you want to do, then do it. Never talk yourself into doing something you don’t want.” — R. A. Heinlein
“Work smarter, not harder.” — Scrooge McDuck
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/9 "2004-08-09T01:15:00Z")
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” -Jesus
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” -Abraham Lincoln
“We owe it to our husband or wife, our fellow workers, our children, our friends, indeed to everyone who comes into our lives, to be as happy as we can be.” -Dennis Prager
“Always look on the bright side of life.” -Eric Idle
“I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.” -Oliver Cromwell
“Remember that there are only three kinds of things anyone need do. (1) Things we _ought_ to do. (2) Things we’ve _got_ to do. (3) Things we _like_ doing. I say this because some people seem to spend so much of their time doing things for none of the three reasons.” -C. S. Lewis
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### Author:  [@MizQuirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizQuirk)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/10 "2004-08-09T01:39:20Z")
“It’s easier to get forgiveness than permission.”
I don’t know who said it first, but it often gets a response quicker than waiting around for an answer you don’t want, and at least you’ve gotten to do it one time.
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### Author:  [@Welfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Welfy)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/11 "2004-08-09T02:34:50Z")
“It doesn’t hurt to be an optimist. You can always cry later.”
–Lucimar Santos de Lima
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/12 "2004-08-09T02:39:00Z")
That which kills you doesn’t make you stronger.
Unknown - so true
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/13 "2004-08-09T02:39:32Z")
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
- Abe Lincoln
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### Author:  [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/14 "2004-08-09T02:49:31Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#):
>
> “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
>
> - Abe Lincoln
[homer]Better say something or they’ll think you’re stupid. “It takes one to know one!” SWISH![/homer]
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/15 "2004-08-09T02:50:24Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> That which kills you doesn’t make you stronger.
>
> Unknown - so true
That which doesn’t kill me, makes me more irritable.
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### Author:  [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/16 "2004-08-09T03:06:51Z")
_It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."_ **Theodore Roosevelt**
I spent a good part of my life thinking that not making waves was a worthy way to live a life. Something changed in me, and that has made all the difference.
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### Author:  [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/17 "2004-08-09T03:06:59Z")
“Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they’re yours.”
“And when I knew better, I did better.”
“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.”
“If it’s never our fault, we can’t take responsibility for it. If we can’t take responsibility for it, we’ll always be its victim.”
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### Author:  [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/18 "2004-08-09T03:10:30Z")
Lyrics, from _It’s Not Up to You_ by Bjork. They make sense to me:
“I can decide
What I give
But it’s not up to me
What I get given
Unthinkable surprises
About to happen
But what they are
It’s not up to you”
It sounds fatalistic, but more than that to me it’s realistic, I tend toward unrealistic expectations, a lot of weight on what I hope people will do, and it’s good to remind myself that one can act, but one cannot guarantee the reaction.
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### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/19 "2004-08-09T03:11:51Z")
I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind, and that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free. J. D. Rockefeller, Jr.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
M. L. King, Jr.
Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt. Shakespeare-Twelfth Night
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### Author:  [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quotes-you-try-to-live-your-life-by/258940/20 "2004-08-09T03:54:30Z")
Everything in moderation. Including moderation. – My great-grandmother
Live each day as though you know it is your last, because one day you’ll be right. – My mother
You must BE the change you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi
Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. – Winston Churchill
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