I have a love-hate relationships with quotes. I love reading them and understanding the meaning in how it relates to me and my life. I post quotes only occasionally because the endless quote-quoting is annoying, tiresome, and lazy. In another words, I always feel like there are ways to get your point across by using your own words.
However, I have stumbled on a handful of quotes recently that have truly touched me and have said what I know I couldn't say any better.
1. "I know that when one door closes another always opens...but man, these hallways are a bitch!"
This quote makes me laugh because in my own little space on this earth, this is SO TRUE! Not only are the hallways a bitch, they are dark and sometimes scary! And, that other door doesn't always open when you WANT it to open. I know that life is full of hallways but I just want to sit in a nicely lit room and enjoy the sunshine again.
2. "Friendship isn't about whom you have known the longest...it is about who came, and never left your side."
Poignant. These types of friends are becoming harder and harder to find through the fog. I realize that some friends are only convenient friends and some are in your life for a certain time for a certain reason but when you invest with your whole heart, it breaks your heart when the friend does indeed get up and leave your side. I try to be consistent. I am what I am and what I have always been. To the ones who HAVE stayed and never left my side: THANK YOU. Having people in your corner through thick or thin marks the true character of a friend and speaks volumes.
3. "Sometimes, when you give up on someone, it's not because you don't care anymore, but because you realize they don't."
This is one of those quotes that I don't think I could have articulated myself. When I read it, I almost cried. I have several friends in which this applies. The phone calls stop. The emails stop. All communication comes to a halt. I find that I have stopped trying not because I don't care nor love that person (I do!) but because you sit down one day and the reality hits you like a slap across the face: THEY DON'T CARE ANYMORE. Ouch. Ultimate pain and betrayal and sadness.
4. "It's not the what you are, it's the who you are that matters."
I want t-shirts that say this. We are a sad society that values men and women based on what they do and how much they make...and then ultimately what kinds of bells and whistles all that glorious money gets to buy them. Meanwhile, these men are rude, mean, and/or controlling to their wives/co-workers/friends/family but by golly let's not rock the boat because my husband is a doctor or he makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. I would rather my husband make a modest salary and be known more for what a good man he is...what a good father he is...how thoughtful and caring and kind he is...how honest and trustworthy he is. It IS the WHO that matters more than the WHAT you happen to be. Anyone can get lucky in his/her career and land a job that they would normally never be qualified for but be a thoughtless/unkind husband and/or a mediocre father...THAT is the tragedy here.
Why are we less likely to praise a man for being kind and honest and thoughtful and instead talk only of the great job he has making a ton of money? Sad.
5. "If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree." -Michael Crichton
I have tried many times to explain to my children why history is so important...that by learning about and recognizing our past is a way to not repeat the same mistakes into the future. When I read this quote I actually found myself nodding with excitement. I am a firm believer that history doesn't have to be dull, dry, or boring to learn but instead can be interesting, fascinating, and riveting as well. Those that know me know I am passionate about history and if you read my blog on Monday you can get a small glimpse of my crazy love of history and as I sit down to write this I wanted to delve deeper into why I seem so passionate about history...
Part of me has always been fascinated with old artifacts. I love seeing items today that once operated hundred+ years ago as new...what was the person like who held this very item? As if by the mere act of touching something will bring it back to life in front of my eyes...what was the woman's life like who once wore this apron or what the soldier was thinking as he marched off into battle? Or, how surreal it is touch the actual bannister that President Lincoln touched regularly in his own home. I am intrigued with past presidents because through them our country was ultimately shaped. I could walk graveyards with important people from history scattered about and think, just below this plaque lies the actual body of Benjamin Franklin or Abraham Lincoln...people and a time that I will never see for myself. (When it comes to dead people, I am equally fascinated with grandparents and other relatives that I have neve met too.) I'm fascinated with how people lived hundreds of years ago...how they ate, what they wore, how they spent their days, HOW THEY SURVIVED, and how they were affected by the world around them. I love the little known facts of events that are familiar and yet details that were never taught us in school. I love being in a historical city or building because I can feel the buzz of what was...
I wasn't always in love with history. I distinctly remember a high school history teacher that bored me to pieces about dreadful details of the Louisiana Purchase and the Spanish-American War but somewhere buried by immaturity and boys I had a burning love and fascination with United States History. I am a leaf that definitely knows I am part of a tree.
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