Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life, etc.

"A river does not beat its head against obstacles. It always goes around -- and it always gets to the sea."


"I decided long ago that if I miss something important in life, it won't be because I hurried past it."


"If I were Opportunity, I wouldn't just knock, you'd have to sign."


"When you have tried all your life to solve a mystery, and never solved it, you might consider the possibility that it is not a mystery."


"World-weary, I look out my window and watch my child find a dozen fascinating detours from the school bus to the front door."


"You have a choice: you can raise kids, or you can live in a home where nothing touches the floor but the furniture."


"My metaphor for loneliness? I'm standing alone on a station platform, having missed the last train to eternity."


"Might as well face it, they can skimp on material faster than you can lose weight."


Ever since seeing "GoodFellas" I have this nightmare where it's Judgment Day and the first words out of God's mouth are, "I amuse you? I make you laugh?"


"Is there a heaven? I don't know, but I know that life ends with something that takes your breath away."


"You don't want to get to the end of life's journey and discover you never left the interstate."


"The universe was born in mystery and will die, I suspect, when the mystery is solved."


"In the end it's all about what you get done while you're wondering if there's any use in doing it."


"Frugality would be an estimable virtue if it were ever voluntary."


It finally happened. I got the GPS lady so confused, she said, "In one-quarter mile, make a legal stop and ask directions."


~ Robert Brault

22 comments:

patriciapaddey said...

Once again you've taken my breath away, Robert. Thank you.

Marlene said...

They were all good and the corners of my mouth were turning up, but when I reached that last one, the laughter exploded and would not be held back.

Jan said...

LOVE the thought about frugality being a virtue if only it were voluntary -- so true! Thanks for the smile today.

Raj said...

"I decided long ago that if I miss something important in life, it won't be because I hurried past it." So well said Robert – Long back I resolved to devote sufficient time for eating & praying! It also applies to spending quality time with close ones! And writing & sharing notes is spending quality time with me!!

Robert Brault said...

patriciapaddey, Marlene, Jan, Raj:

Thank you. You are true friends to comment as frequently as you do. I'm especially encouraged when my attempts at humor get a chuckle.

smiles,
rb

Ken Devine said...

Hi Robert
"Is there a heaven? I don't know, but I know that life ends with something that takes your breath away." Such a clever way of putting it.

If only death was as exciting as something that takes your breath away in the exciting way that it implies in the quote...or are you saying that heaven could be as big a lie as an exhilarating death?

You don't know this, but I actually tell the woman off when she asks me to turn around. 'I am, I am, for goodness sake!'

You may miss the last train to eternal life but there'll always be a train to immortality and you'll never be alone there. You might want to be though.

A mystery isn't really a mystery to some. I don't have mysteries in my life...just things I don't yet understand. Immortality should sort that out easily enough. I reckon a few million years should crack the current batch.

Robert Brault said...

Ken,
I only say 'em, I don't explain 'em, but I would never suggest that heaven is a lie. That would imply I know something. Think of me not as a cynic but as someone who occasionally cannot resist a facile phrase.

smiles,
rb

K7 said...

Go to http://machinesandlife.blogspot.com/ and view that site.. It'll be interesting one

Robert Brault said...

K7,
I'm pleased that you posted a collection of my thoughts on your site, but I didn't notice that you attributed them to me. Might you include my name in there somewhere? Thanks.

rb

Michelle Quillin said...

Wow -- I've been reading your quotes on a website called The Quote Garden recently, and thought you were some long-dead guy who shared amazing pearls of wisdom along the likes of other long-dead guys. Curiosity got the better of me as to who you were, so I clicked on the link next to one of your quotes.

Imagine my delightful surprise when I found you're quite alive, and continuing to share pearls of wisdom!

~Michelle Quillin

Anonymous said...

To my amazing, amusing, muse/mentor:

At times I say "Huh?" Other times, "Hmmmmm" and again "Aha!" Or "Ha." Or occasionally a gut-busting nearly hilarious, "Ha ha ha ha ha, he,he ho ho" which brings tears to my eyes and always provokes thoughts or stirs memories.
Incidentally, I sold out (or gave away) my first experimental printing. Don't ask how many we printed. Keep going, my friend! donkimrey

Maria said...

Hi Robert!
I just finished watching short track speed skating and the amazing Apolo Anton Ohno... I think this quote suits him very well~

"A river does not beat its head against obstacles. It always goes around -- and it always gets to the sea."

A great philosophy ~ To be like water ~
Have a wonderful Sunday * Maria

Robert Brault said...

Michelle,
It's one my goals -- to be a long-dead guy sharing his pearls of wisdom. Maybe I'll get there some day. Welcome.

Don/Anon
Yes, there's a "huh?" or two in this batch. Not intentional. Maybe this blog needs an experimental printing.

Maria,
Saw Apollo save the bronze also, although he tends to fake going around, then sneaks past on the inside. I guess the rule is, "Keep your sights on the goal and your peripheral vision on your opponent."

Cindy La Ferle said...

I often find your quotes in "Quote Garden," and am always inspired or delighted by your wisdom. It's about time I visited your site!

Robert Brault said...

Cindy,
I just visited back and was pretty overwhelmed to discover who Cindy La Ferle is. Welcome to the roll of artists more accomplished than I who drop by here. I encourage all to pay you a visit -- a real treat awaits.

smiles,
rb

Bob McCarthy said...

How do you maintain a positive outlook? I do nothing but think all day, but my thoughts tend towards such dark paths. Derivations so subtle as to escape awareness. Is the secret in interaction? I've isolated myself ever since I was a child, and now I'm completely maladjusted socially, but it never stood to reason (in my mind, at least) that "having a life" was fundamental to keeping lucid thought.

Or, to put more directly- As a thinker, how are you not depressed all the time? Is it merely brain chemistry, beyond thought?

Robert Brault said...

Bob,
Well, depression may well be brain chemistry, and there's treatment and prescribed medications that can address that, but the self-awareness in your questions suggest a quite healthy mind to me.

Without social interaction, we all head down "dark paths." It's a needed counterpoint to the meditative life -- the antidote for the tendency to contemplate one's navel. The whole trick to staying positive is to realize that we're all in this together. Everyone's more or less lonely, everyone feels socially maladroit, everyone is bolstered by finding that there's someone else who thinks, feels, as they do.

I note, Bob, that you're 21. At age 40, I could have written much the same comment you did. You can steal a 19-year headstart on me by just deciding to be a little more sharing of your life.

smiles,
rb

Anonymous said...

Robert, You are a vert talented writer! love the quotes up here!!!

Robert Brault said...

Anon,
Is that you, roaming my archives? Welsome to the mausoleum of my thoughts.

smiles,
rb

Viagra Online Without Prescription said...

Wonderful. all thoughts seems to be very passionate and make think over around all things doing wrongly and to find any answer for question that we have in our way of living.

Laurie Phillips said...

Robert, I have been trying to e-mail you for three months and the mails keep getting rejected. I want to talk with you about your relationship quotations. Can you e-mail me please at pax@peace.co.uk

Robert Brault said...

Laurie,
I sent you an email today, 9/7/10.

rb

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