Today's Smile: 10 Inspiring Quotes

Some sayings that make me smile or think or both

A ship in harbor is safe.

But that is not what ships are built for.

           - John Shedd

The mind is not a vessel to be filled,

but a fire to be kindled.

             - Plutarch

When one must, one can.

         - Jewish proverb

I would have written a shorter letter,

but I didn't have the time.

       - Blaise Pascal

You can't control the wind,

but you can adjust your sails.

       - Jewish proverb

God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose.

Take which you please—you can never have both

                - Ralph Waldo Emerson

(Or the Yiddish version - With one butt, you can't sit on two horses)

I always knew I would one day come to this road;

but yesterday, I did not know it would be today.

                  - Ariwara Narihara

Boys have a penis; gIrls have a giant. - Isaac, age 3

Man is harder than iron,

     Stronger than stone,

            and more fragile than a rose.

                 - Turkish proverb

(For a discussion of what prompted the Smile a Day column, see an earlier post)

Click here for my book (one of O: The Oprah Magazine's 10 Titles to Pick Up in May; with Foreword by New York Times columnist David Brooks): The House on Crash Corner and Other Unavoidable Calamities—about the sad, hilarious and meaningful ways we deal with the crises in our lives.