7/8/07

Where can I get some motivation?

I love motivational sayings. Yes, they are mostly all 100% cheese, but they are usually true, and I just love them. But really, it is any kind of quote that I love. Anything that can be a sound byte. Conversations between myself and BFF I finished 6th grade in 1990. I still use the term “BFF.”) are usually about 90% sound bytes from any number of movies or television shows we have watched eleventy-billion times or from some stupid other quote-filled conversation that we have had. And all of a sudden I am struck at the irony of that, as we are both quite creative, original people. Well, she is an all-around, all-the-time creative type, whereas I am a part-time creative-type – I have flashes creativity/originality in my work I guess.

Following are some of my faves.

-The harder you train, the harder it is to surrender/give up/quit.
-Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice. Wayne Dyer
-
Even a bad run is better than no run at all
-You can’t build a reputation on what you're going to do.
Henry Ford
-We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.
Oscar Wilde
-Is it possible to feel enriched and completely empty at the same time?
Tony Bourdain

On the flip-flop I also love Demotivators. These actually fit more with my sarcastic personality:

Blame – The secret to success is knowing who to blame for your failures.
Incompetence
– When you earnestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by doubling your efforts, there’s no end to what you can’t do.
Procrastination
– Hard work may pay off after time, but laziness always pays off NOW.

One of the best websites out there for finding good quotes is bartleby.com. You can keyword search all kinds of reference sources. Some of it is way out there, but history has produced some damn fine sound bytes.

If anyone out there has some of their own favorite phrases, please share - good, bad, or ugly!

5 comments:

Runner Leana said...

I heard one at the race yesterday that I really liked: "Suck it up, put on your big girl panties and run!"

Did you officially sign up for Disney by the way?

Before I'm 35 said...

I am waiting on one last thing to clear my account before I do it. My bank takes forEVER to get stuff cleared. Hopefully this week!

Laurel said...

These are all great quotes, but my favorite here is "Eleventy-billion"!

-"Keanu Reeves", SNL, Jeopardy sketch

I thought I was the only person who said that! (Cause I say it all the time and people look at me like, huh?)

That's so cool! :)

Before I'm 35 said...

"I'll take the penis mightier, Trebek"

See, 90% sound bytes!

Anonymous said...

Nice list of quotes. I am a quote freak too - but can never remember them. I did find one today by Thomas Edison that said something like, "Hell with the rules, we are trying to accomplish something here." I'm not crazy about rules around running, so it struck a cord with me today.