Sayings

Over the years I have read many quotations and sayings, some of which have set even me thinking, and to some extent shaped who I am, and inspired the way I think and act.  I can't remember them all, but in an effort to keep them in one place, I have decided to start jotting them down as and when I find them, and sharing them, so maybe others can find inspiration from them too.  So here we go, no particular order.  I will update this thread as I find more. 

The first one I mention is one that I saw in Whitehorse in the Yukon, during my trip in the Lotus in 2012. The weather had been really wet and miserable for days, and I was so very close to turning round and going back to Australia. Then I received messages of support on my blog overnight, and so went walking around Whitehorse the next morning, and found this lovely statue of a prospector and his dog, from the gold rush of 1898, and underneath is the inscription "This statue is dedicated to all those who follow their dream."  It put a huge lump in my throat, and truly inspired me to keep going - so I jumped in my car and continued to Alaska and the Arctic Circle.  
Here are some more that I like:-

"Obstacles are placed in our path to determine whether we really want something, or whether we just thought we did." 

Each morning, I look at myself in the mirror, and say "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?  And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."   Steve Jobs, Apple.   

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover."
Mark Twain. 

"The purpose of life is to live it., to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience."
Eleanor Roosevelt.  

"The luxuries of civilization satisfy only those wants which they themselves create."  Aspley Cherry-Garrard (With Scott) during an Antarctic Winter in 1911. 

"Happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price
to make them come true."
Anonymous

"Be not afraid of moving slowly, only of standing still."  Chinese proverb.

"Everything will be all right in the end.   If its not all right, then it's not yet the end."   Sonny, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

"The galleries are full of critics.
They play no ball, they fight no fights.
They make no mistakes because they attempt nothing.
Down in the arena are the doers.
They make mistakes because they try many things,
The man who makes no mistakes
lacks boldness and the spirit of adventure.
He is the one who never tries anything.
He is the brake on the wheel of progress.
And yet it cannot be truly said that he makes no mistakes,
because his biggest mistake
is the very fact that he tries nothing,
does nothing - except criticize those who do things."
Gen David M. Shoup. (Late) Commandant, US Marine Corps

"Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature,
nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is not safer in the long run than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or Nothing."
Helen Keller

"The test of an adventure is that
when you're in the middle of it,
you say to yourself,
"Oh, now I've got myself into an awful mess
I wish I were sitting quietly at home."
And the sign that something's wrong with you
is when you sit quietly at home
wishing you were out having lots of adventure."
Thornton Wilder, US playwright.

"Any coward can sit in his home
and criticize a pilot
for flying into a mountain in a fog.
But I would rather, by far,
die on a mountainside than in bed.
What kind of man would live
where there is no daring?
And is life so dear
that we should blame men for dying in adventure.
Is there a better way to die ?"
Charles Lindbergh, Jr.


"Never forget that life can only be
nobly inspired and rightly lived
if you take it bravely and gallantly,
as a splendid adventure
in which you are setting out
into an unknown country,
to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade,
to win and lose many a battle."
Annie Besant


"A ship in a harbour is safe,
but thats not what ships are built for."
William G.T. Shedd, American Theologian.

"You'll never achieve your dreams
if they don't become goals."
Anonymous 

"Man cannot discover new oceans
unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."
Andre Gide

And, given that my blog address is taken from something Bilbo says in the Hobbit as he sets off on his adventure, this one by the author of the Hobbit seems particularly relevant !
 
"Not all those who wander are lost."
J. R. R. Tolkien

I hope all of you enjoy your particular and individual journeys as much as I intend to enjoy this one !  Travel safely, wherever you may go in life. 
Giles