Fun Monday - Don't Quote Me but...

This week's Fun Monday is being hosted by Robyn at Pensieve. She has asked us to share words that inspire us. More specifically: please share words that inspire and motivate you--brief or bloviatory, silly or serious, from great world leaders to last night's Comedy Central...from a Hallmark greeting card to your favorite book. Choose one, choose many; let the quotes stand on their own or tell where you first read or heard them and how they affected you. There's a lot of leeway with how this topic can be handled.


I've been thinking about this topic all week because I've always been really big on quotes and inspring words. In fact, over the years, I've collected quotes that are taped to my desk, at work and at home. Here are just a few of the words that inspire me, cheer me up or just plain make me think:


"If you think you're too small to make a difference,you haven't been in bed with a mosquito." - Anita Roddick


Anita is the founder of The Body Shop, and I worked as an at home consultant for the company for several years. Ms. Roddick in general is an extremely inspirational person, and has done some amazing things for others, and this quote pretty much sums up her take on life, which I admire tremendously.


"Am I not destryoing my enemies when I make friends of them?" - Abe Lincoln

I love this quote, and have always tried to sort of live this way. It doesn't always work, but it's pretty cool when it does.

"Humility does not mean you think less of yourself, it means you think of yourself less" - Ken Blanchard

Something we should all remember.


"Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with" - Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City)

I love this quote, and I actually remember hearing it when I was watching the show, and rewinding the dvd to hear it again, and writing it down. It just reverberated with me, and sort of still does.


"Just when you think you've got the world on a string, someone comes by with a pair of scissors"


I'm actually not 100% sure where I heard this. I think it was an yout group leader who said it, but I've had it taped up to my desk for years and years. Just a reminder not to get too comfortable, because things can change in a second. But it's not a negative though, it's just a reminder to be on your toes, and pay attention.


"It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice"


Another one that I'm not sure where it originated, but I think I saw it on a t-shirt a while back.


And this last is more than a quote, it is a poem. One of my teachers in high school had a version of this poem taped the front of her desk, and I copied it down, typed it up, and printed it out. I have had it taped to my desk at work or at home in one form or another all these years:


Risk
To Live...is to risk dying
to do...is to risk failure
to laugh...is to risk appearing a fool.
To love...is to risk not being loved in return.
To cry...is to risk appearing soft and sentimental.
To reach out to another...is tor istk involvement or rejection.
To place your ideas, dreams and desires before people...is to risk ridicule.
The greatest omission in life...is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing gets nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering, pain and sorrow,
but does not learn, grow, live or love.
He is only a slave - chained by safety - locked away by fear.
Only a person who is willing to risk - not knowing the results - is truly alive!


It was only yesterday as I was trying to research the author that I realized the version I had wasn't exactly correct or complete. I'm not sure which version I like better,so I'll give you both...here's the correct one:


To Risk by William Arthur Ward

"To laugh is to risk appearing a fool,
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement,
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To live is to risk dying,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow,
But he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live.
Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.
The pessimist complains about the wind;
The optimist expects it to change;
And the realist adjusts the sails."


And there you have it, a few of the words that inspire me.


By the way, in last week's Fun Monday I mentioned that I was born in Africa, and quite a few of you wanted to know more about that. Come back tomorrow, I'll give you the "short version" of the how, why, where, when and what about my "African Roots".