Cold Days

Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is time for home. - Edith Sitwell

Cold! If the thermometer had been an inch longer we'd have frozen to death. - Mark Twain

Winter is nature's way of saying, "Up yours." —  Robert Byrne

Quotes For Happy George

The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don't know what you're doing, someone else does. - Anonymous

Living in a small town...is like living in a large family of rather uncongenial relations. Sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes it’s perfectly awful, but it’s always good for you. People in large towns are like only-children. - Joyce Dennys

Small towns make up for their lack of people by having everyone be more interesting.  - Doris "Granny D" Haddock

On life

What you are must always displease you, if you would attain to that which you are not. - St. Augustine

Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. 
       From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men—above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. My peace of mind is often troubled by the depressing sense that I have borrowed too heavily from the work of other men. - Albert Einstein

Life never becomes a habit to me. It’s always a marvel.-  Katherine Mansfield

Three for St. Stephen

The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins. ―  Søren Kierkegaard,

We can see clearly that the end of following Christ wholeheartedly is to share, very possibly, in his very end. We can have great confidence that multitudes of fellow pilgrims have won the contest, fought the good fight, and endured martyrdom before the watching hosts of heaven. ― Greg Gordon, The Following of Christ

It is not the torture, but the cause which makes the martyr.  - St. Augustine 

Christmas Eve

It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you.  - Mother Teresa

Blessed is the season, which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. - Hamilton Wright Mabi

Its Christmas Eve! Its the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we smile a little easier, we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be.  - Bill Murray

In memory of Tom Holstein: Friendship, Service and Faith

Friendship that flows from the heart cannot be frozen by adversity, as the water that flows from the spring cannot congeal in winter. - James Fenimore Cooper

The best things in life are never rationed. Friendship, loyalty, love do not require coupons. - George T. Hewitt

To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity. - Douglas Adams

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. - Albert Einstein

“The word "Eucharist" means literally "act of thanksgiving." To celebrate the Eucharist and to live a Eucharistic life has everything to do with gratitude. Living Eucharistically is living life as a gift, a gift for which one is grateful. But gratitude is not the most obvious response to life, certainly not when we experience life as a series of losses! Still, the great mystery we celebrate in the Eucharist and live in a Eucharistic life is precisely that through mourning our losses we come to know life as a gift.” - Henri J.M. Nouwen

“I held the Host with two fingers and thought: How small Jesus made Himself, in order to show us that He doesn't expect great things of us, but rather little things with great love.”  -  Mother Teresa

The human condition - Oxymoronica Style

A life of ease is a difficult pursuit. - William Cowper

Life is easier than you'd think; all that is necessary is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable. - Kathleen Norris

The most exquisite folly is made of wisdom spun too fine. - Benjamin Franklin

More humor from oxymoronica

Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you. - Carl Jung

Ours is a world where people don't know what they want and are willing to go through hell to get it. - Don Marquis

I'm often wrong, but never in doubt. - Ivy Baker Priest

Oxymoronica Humor

Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing. - Robert C. Benchley

We started off trying to set up a small anarchist community, but people wouldn't obey the rules. - Adam Bennett

Instant gratification takes too long. - Carrie Fisher

To appreciate nonsense requires a serious interest in life. - Gelett Burgess

Coming soon to a blog near you: Quotes from Oxymoronica

I love books of quotes, quotations and proverbs and sayings. When I started building my collection of books years ago, I went with all the old standard books of quotes, but as my collection grew, fun books like this one came along. The best things about quotes, is the amount of wisdom and humor that can be packed in just a few words.

OY VEY! - Some Yiddish Proverbs

Small children don’t let you sleep; big children don’t let you rest. - Yiddish Proverb 

All is not cream that comes from a cow. - Yiddish Proverb

He who is no good to himself is no good to another. - Yiddish Proverb

Taken from a little collection of proverbs, just happened to pick the Yiddish ones today. The first one made me chuckle and then I looked for some more fun Yiddish ones.

Hopeful thinking

Great hopes make great men. - Thomas Fuller

Every heart that has beat strong and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world, and bettered the tradition of mankind. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Hope never abandons you; you abandon it. - George Weinberg

The gift of joy

Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4: 4 - 7

The greatest joy of a thinking man is to have searched the explored and to quietly revere the unexplored. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The very society of joy redoubles it; so that, while it lights upon my friend, it rebounds upon myself, and the brighter his candle burns, the more easily will it light mine. -  Robert Southey

The sanity of God

We should not be discouraged if our prayers go unanswered; if some were, we most certainly would have grave reservations about the sanity of God. - J.K. Stuart

What we turn out

The true test of civilization is, not the census nor the size of cities, nor the crops—no, but the kind of man the country turns out. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

In a living civilization there is always an element of unrest, for sensitiveness to ideas means curiosity, adventure, change. Civilized order survives on its merits and is transformed by its power of recognizing its imperfections.-  Alfred North Whitehead

Taxes, taxes, taxes

Why does a small tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents? - Peg Bracken

The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality. - Andrew Jackson

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on Paul’s support. - George Bernard Shaw

As seen on TV

The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story. So speed and quantity substitute for thoroughness and quality, for accuracy and context. - Carl Bernstein

Television thrives on unreason, and unreason thrives on television. It strikes at the emotions rather than the intellect. - Robin Day

Body & Mind

Possessions, outward success, publicity, luxury—to me these have always been contemptible. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for every one, best both for the body and the mind. - Albert Einstein

Among wolves and robbers

If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. - Thomas Jefferson

In general, the art of government consists of making as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to the other. - Voltaire

I am not worthy to untie the straps of His sandal

By humility I mean not the abjectness of a base mind, but the prudent care not to overvalue ourselves. - Nathaniel Crew

Humility is the most difficult of all virtues to achieve; nothing dies harder than the desire to think well of self. - T. S. Eliot

We never seem to have enough

Patience is the companion of wisdom. - St. Augustine

Patience strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, subdues pride, bridles the tongue. - George Horne

Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult things easily. - Johann Friedrich von Schiller

Holiness

We are 100 percent responsible for the pursuit of holiness, but at the same time we are 100 percent dependent upon the Holy Spirit to enable us in that pursuit. The pursuit of holiness is not a pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps approach to the Christian life. - Jerry Bridges

Catholicism actually resembles a family that survives because even as it aspires to holiness, it understands and can live with sin and imperfection. - Eugene Kennedy

The Wisdom of St. Ambrose

The best way to use the gold of the Redeemer is for the redemption of those in peril.

Our own evil inclinations are far more dangerous than any external enemies.

Let there be a door to thy mouth, that it may be shut when need arises, and let it be carefully barred, that none may rouse thy voice to anger, and thou pay back abuse with abuse. - St. Ambrose

Three for chaity

In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity. - Richard Baxter

And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday. - Isaiah 58:10

 And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ - Matthew 25: 40

Double the politics

Politics is an excellent career, unless you get caught. - Robert Half

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. - Groucho Marx

Mutual and Apt

Two for this First week of Advent - Happy Monday.

The old repeat themselves and the young have nothing to say. The boredom is mutual. - Jacques Bainville

Young men are apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are apt to think themselves sober enough. - Lord Chesterfield

Two handles

Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. We should live for the future, and yet should find our life in the fidelities of the present; the last is only the method of the first. - Henry Ward Beecher

Chill or ill

People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness. - John Wanamaker

Looking ridiculous

Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not. - Vaclav Havel

Until the heavens grow dark

Morality without religion is a tree without roots; a stream without any spring to feed it; a house built on the sand; a pleasant place to live in till the heavens grow dark, and the storm begins to beat. -  James B. Shaw

Born of Enthusiasm

Indifference never wrote great works, nor thought out striking inventions, nor reared the solemn architecture that awes the soul, nor breathed sublime music, nor painted glorious pictures, nor undertook heroic philanthropies. All these grandeurs are born of enthusiasm, and are done heartily. - Anonymous

Not rich enough

No one is rich enough to do without a neighbor. - Danish Proverb

89th Rule

Speak not evil of the absent, for it is unjust. - President George Washington

Bonus Rule 79: Be not apt to relate news if you know not the truth thereof. In discoursing of things you have heard, name not your author; always a secret discover not. - President George Washington

Unshakable Strength

Prayer is a force as real as terrestrial gravity. As a physician, I have seen men, after all other therapy had failed, lifted out of disease and melancholy by the serene effort of prayer. Only in prayer do we achieve that complete and harmonious assembly of body, mind and spirit which gives the frail human reed its unshakable strength. - Alexis Carrel

Genius, Power & Magic

Whatever you can do, or believe you can do, begin it. For boldness has genius, power and magic in it. - Goethe

Bottomless pit

Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. -  Erich Fromm

Gratitude Transforms

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. - William Arthur Ward

A thankful and cheerful heart

The worship most acceptable to God comes from a thankful and cheerful heart. - Plutarch

How you use it

Latent abilities are like clay. It can be mud on shoes, brick in a building or a statue that will inspire all who see it. The clay is the same. The result is dependent on how it is used. - James F. Lincoln