Inspiring Quotations
from the book, For Widows Only! by Annie Estlund

 

I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow,
and ne'er a word said she,
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!

                                                                     --Robert Browning Hamilton     

Dame Fortune is a fickle gipsy,
And always blind, and often tipsy,
Sometimes for years and years together,
She'll bless you with the sunniest weather,
Bestowing honor, pudding, pence,
You can't imagine why or whence'
Then in a moment--Presto, pass!--
Your joys are withered like the grass

                                                                   --"The Haunted Tree" by Winthrop Mackworth Praed 

 

We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full.

                                                                      --Marcel Proust 

  

Music I heard with you was more than music,
and bread that I broke with you was more than bread.
Now that I am without you, all is desolate;
All that was once so beautiful is dead.  
 
                                       --Conrad Aiken        

 

I never knew a man trubbled with melankolly,
who had plenty to do, and did it.

                                  --Josh Billings     

If you want to be happy, be.

                                                   --Tolstoi     

 

God gave us memories so that we might have roses in December.

                                       --James M. Barrie     

 
Life can only be understood backwards,
but it must be lived forwards. 

                                                                 --Soren Kierkegaard   

If you will call your 'troubles' 'experiences,'
and remember that every experience
develops some latent force within you,
you will grow vigorous and happy,
however adverse your circumstances may seem to be

                                                                    --Celestial Seasonings Herbal Tea box       

An easy task becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance.

                                                                --Terence     

You can't prevent birds of sorrow
from flying over your head,
but you can prevent them
from building nests in your hair.

                                    --Chinese Proverb     

   

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

                                                                                          --Bertrand Russell       

O money, money, money,
I'm not necessarily one
Of those who think thee holy,

But I often stop to wonder
how thou canst go out so fast
when thou comest in so slowly.

                                                                     --Ogden Nash      

 

When evil times prevail,
take care to preserve the serenity of your heart. 

                                                           --Horace  
    
I'm sorry,
I can't express anger,
I grow a tumor instead. 

                                                                             --Woody Allen, Manhattan 
      

You can't do anything about the length of your life,
but you can do something about its width and depth.

                                  --Evan Esar, Thoughtful Books  

...the only way to have a friend is to be one.

                                                                   --Ralph Waldo Emerson 

     Give sorrow words;
The grief that does not speak
Whispers the o'er fraught heart
And bids it break.

                                   --William Shakespeare       

The world is round
and the place which may seem like the end
may also be the beginning.

                                      --Ivy Baker Priest        

 
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you,
Will you join the dance?

                                                         "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"  --Lewis Carroll  
 

  

Life is the art of drawing insufficient conclusions
From insufficient premises.  

                                                          --Samuel Butler       

To fear love is to fear life,
and those who fear life
are already three parts dead.

                                  --Bertrand Russell       

Happiness is beneficial for the body,
but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind.

                                                                    --Marcel Proust