Twelve Personal Favorites

Here are twelve personal favorites that I have seldom, if ever, seen quoted elsewhere. I thought I'd give them a second chance.



"Be careful of selfish motives. You can mistake them for principles and end up dying for them."



"Overnight it rained, and the wind switched into the west, and this morning my garden is fresh in the sun,and its scent wafts through my window. But if I sit in my garden, who will keep my appointment in town? But if I go into town, who will sit in my garden?"



"Most pessimists would be optimists if it weren't for the rise-and-shine requirement."



"Born to loving parents and grandparents, we imagine that the world is full of people who will place our happiness above their own. We discover, if we are lucky in our lives, that there is exactly one more."



"I nod to a passing stranger, and the stranger nods back, and two human beings go off, feeling a little less anonymous."



All parties are masquerade parties. Even "Come as you are" is an invitation to come in casual disguise.



"One's conscience should never be apprised of one's property holdings."



"As among God, country and apple pie, the least harm has been done in the name of apple pie."



"The first job of motherhood is to get a child safely to the stage where its father is ready for fatherhood."



"Your child is wary of accepting you as a playmate, knowing that you will become a parent again the first time things don't go your way."



"Many a north country boy of my generation knows of a snapshot of himself as a tyke, seated with his father on a sled atop some snowy hill. He looks at this photo and realizes -- it is the only proof he has of ever being held in his father's arms."



"The verdict is still out on my life, the judge having not yet instructed the jury, both of whom are me."


~~ Robert Brault