borrowed wisdom

Sometimes a bit of borrowed wisdom goes a long way.

When I was a little girl, my father used to tell me to “soldier on.” Sometimes I’d repeat this to myself when the going got tough. Surprisingly, it helped. He also quoted Winston Churchill. A lot. And long before I had any idea who Winston Churchill actually was I was quoting him too. I think I was quoting Churchill while I was still in grade school (“Never, never, never give up.”)

So when I read the headline story in our local newspaper yesterday I was happy to see that the reporter began with one of my all time favourite Churchill gems – “When you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Oh yes – sage advice. That along with my other great favourites, “I can’t go on. I’ll go on,” by Samuel Beckett and “No way out but through” from Robert Frost’s long-winded  poem “A Servant to Servants.”

Perhaps I’m overly fond of quotations. It’s not that I have them printed on my walls or written in lipstick on my mirrors – but I do have a few favourites that help remind me what I’m doing as I muddle along my jagged course. I like the power of words and the fact that we bring forward the wisdom of those who have gone before us. It saves us reinventing the wheel. And it’s strangely comforting to think of those who felt the same things – suffered the same plights – the same joys.

Here, in random order, is a collection of a few of my favourite bits of borrowed wisdom. Borrow away….

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