Some of My Favorite Sayings and Quotes

I am most definitely my father's daughter.  Dad had a host of colorful sayings that I can still remember.  You need that like a Hog needs Easter.  Nervous as a whore in church.  Up a creek without a paddle.  Out in left field, balls falling all around him.  And there were SO many more.

I love a pithy phrase and a good quote.  These are some of my favorites.

"It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."  (I've run a LOT of my life using that simple rule which I first heard from Archbishop O'Hara's long time bookkeeper, Mary Quanty, when I asked her oh so many years ago if it was okay to dispose of several old adding machines that hadn't seen service since the late 1960s.)  Ah, she said, "no one will know and it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."

"Trust, but verify."  Ronald Reagan

"Keep Swimming"  Dory

One that I recently discovered completely resonates with me.  "Love many, trust few, and always paddle your own canoe."  (Sometimes my penchant for independence drives my family and loved ones crazy, but long ago, I decided that "paddling my own canoe" was the only way I could be certain of arriving at my destination.  I learned this one the hard way as an Admissions Counselor for Rockhurst University back in 1982-1983.  One of my first assignments was the Catholic College week program in Omaha, Nebraska, and I was up there for my very first official visit at a college program at Mount Michael outside Omaha.  Since there were many of us, we were traveling together and we decided to eat first before arriving at Mount Michael.  Well, the food was late, we were late, Father Chris (I believe) was highly upset!  I always drove my own car from that point forward!)

"When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen:  There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly."  Barbara J. Winter

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.  Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.  It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.  It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.  It will make or break a company, a church, a home.  The remarkable thing is we have a choice very day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.  I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.  And so it is with you.  We are in charge of our Attitudes".  Charles Swindoll

Hope is a golden cord connecting you to heaven.  This cord helps you hold your head up high, even when multiple trials are buffeting you.  Hope lifts your perspective from your weary feet to the glorious view you can see from the high road.  You are reminded that the road we're traveling together is ultimately a highway to heaven.  I am training you to hold in your heart a dual focus:  My continual Presence and the Hope of Heaven.  Sarah Young
(I have always thought that St. Paul perhaps had it wrong.  Love, hope, and faith abide and the greatest of these is Love.  For me, I think it's Hope.  It's what gets me up in the morning and keeps me going!)