β
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
β
β
Douglas Adams (Mostly Harmless (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #5))
β
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
β
β
George Carlin
β
I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race-that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.
β
β
Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)
β
Technically, I am unarmed. But no one should ever underestimate the harm that fingernails can do. Especially if the target is unprepared.
β
β
Suzanne Collins (Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3))
β
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
β
β
Leo F. Buscaglia
β
When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love.
β
β
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
β
Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.
β
β
A.A. Milne
β
Thereβs no freedom quite like the freedom of being constantly underestimated.
β
β
Scott Lynch (The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1))
β
Never underestimate the big importance of small things
β
β
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
β
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a
listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all
of which have the potential to turn a life around.
β
β
Leo F. Buscaglia
β
A friend should always underestimate your virtues and an enemy overestimate your faults
β
β
Mario Puzo (The Godfather)
β
Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth.
β
β
J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6))
β
Let us never underestimate the power of a well-written letter.
β
β
Jane Austen (Persuasion)
β
Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.
β
β
Bill Gates
β
I am frequently underestimated. I think it's because I'm short.
β
β
Amie Kaufman (Illuminae (The Illuminae Files, #1))
β
I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I even simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant...I AM HAUNTED BY HUMANS.
β
β
Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)
β
I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I ever simply estimate it.
β
β
Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)
β
Never underestimate the meanness in people's souls... Even when they're being kind... especially when they're being kind.
β
β
Alice Munro
β
It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement β that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, and that they underestimate what is of true value in life.
β
β
Sigmund Freud (Civilization and Its Discontents)
β
Forgive me. I continue to underestimate the breadth of your ignorance.
β
β
Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1))
β
Never underestimate the determination of a kid who is time-rich and cash-poor.
β
β
Cory Doctorow (Little Brother (Little Brother, #1))
β
You underestimate your own power so you don't have to blame yourself for treating other people badly.
β
β
Sally Rooney (Conversations with Friends)
β
Never underestimate the power of thought; it is the greatest path to discovery.
β
β
Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
β
Never,' he tells me in a tone full of ice, 'underestimate who or what I care for.
β
β
Melina Marchetta (On the Jellicoe Road)
β
Never underestimate how much assistance, how much satisfaction, how much comfort, how much soul and transcendence there might be in a well-made taco and a cold bottle of beer.
β
β
Tom Robbins (Jitterbug Perfume)
β
Yes, I decided, a man can truly change. The events of the past year have taught me much about myself, and a few universal truths. I learned, for instance, that while wounds can be inflicted easily upon those we love, it's often much more difficult to heal them. Yet the process of healing those wounds provided the richest experience of my life, leading me to believe that while I've often overestimated what I could accomplish in a day, I had underestimated what I could do in a year. But most of all, I learned that it's possible for two people to fall in love all over again, even when there's been a lifetime of disappointment between them.
β
β
Nicholas Sparks (The Wedding (The Notebook, #2))
β
There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.
β
β
Lao Tzu
β
You are broken. But it is broken things that are the sharpest. The deadliest. It is broken things that are the most unexpected, and the most underestimated
β
β
Sabaa Tahir (A βSky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes, #4))
β
Sorry is the fool who ever underestimates my mother.
β
β
Kathryn Stockett (The Help)
β
Never, never underestimate the power of desire. If you want to live badly enough, you can live. The great question, at least for me, was: How do I decide I want to live?
β
β
Marya Hornbacher (Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia)
β
But you are the average of the five people you associate with most, so do not underestimate the effects of your pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized friends. If someone isn't making you stronger, they're making you weaker.
β
β
Timothy Ferriss (The 4-Hour Workweek)
β
Never underestimate the value of knowing another's language. It can be far more powerful than swords and arrows.
β
β
Melina Marchetta (Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles, #1))
β
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I knowβand I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help meβhas ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.
β
β
H.L. Mencken (Notes on Democracy)
β
Don't underestimate Camp Half-Blood.
β
β
Rick Riordan (The Mark of Athena (The Heroes of Olympus, #3))
β
Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it.
β
β
Henri J.M. Nouwen
β
If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is, too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.
β
β
Timothy Ferriss (The 4-Hour Workweek)
β
Never underestimate the power of the page.
β
β
Shannon Messenger (Neverseen (Keeper of the Lost Cities, #4))
β
We are prone to overestimate how much we understand about the world and to underestimate the role of chance in events.
β
β
Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast and Slow)
β
Never underestimate a girlβs love for her favorite band. Never think even for a minute, that she wonβt defend them to her death. Because itβs not just the music that makes that band her favorite. Itβs the guys, the gals. Itβs the fans. People whom of which she has interacted with thanks to the band. That band might of saved her life, or just made her smile everyday. That band has never broke her heart and has yet to leave her. No wonder she finds such joy in her music.
β
β
Alex Gaskarth
β
My dear Watson," said [Sherlock Holmes], "I cannot agree with those who rank modesty among the virtues. To the logician all things should be seen exactly as they are, and to underestimate one's self is as much a departure from truth as to exaggerate one's own powers.
β
β
Arthur Conan Doyle (The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, #9 ) (Sherlock Holmes))
β
Quiet people always know more than they seem. Although very normal, their inner world is by default fronted mysterious and therefore assumed weird. Never underestimate the social awareness and sense of reality in a quiet person; they are some of the most observant, absorbent persons of all.
β
β
Criss Jami (Healology)
β
When they judge you, yawn.
When they misunderstand you, smile.
When they underestimate you, laugh.
When they condemn you, ignore.
When they envy you, rejoice.
When they oppose you, prevail.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
One should never underestimate the power of books.
β
β
Paul Auster (The Brooklyn Follies)
β
Never underestimate a well-dressed bimbo.
β
β
Karen Marie Moning (Shadowfever (Fever, #5))
β
When emerging from humble beginnings, those around you tend to underestimate your authenticity because they knew you before you were 'somebody'.
β
β
Criss Jami (Killosophy)
β
Never underestimate the pain of a person, because in all honesty, everyone is struggling. Some people are just better at hiding it than others.
β
β
Will Smith
β
Light always underestimates the viciousness of Darkness
β
β
P.C. Cast (Burned (House of Night, #7))
β
For future reference: do not underestimate the seductive power of math.
β
β
Rachel Hartman (Seraphina (Seraphina, #1))
β
The strongest weapon a woman has at her disposal is that she is often underestimated,
β
β
Lauren Roberts (Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1))
β
Never underestimate how extraordinarily difficult it is to understand a situation from another person's point of view.
β
β
Eleanor Catton (The Luminaries)
β
Never underestimate human stupidity.
β
β
Pittacus Lore (The Fallen Legacies (Lorien Legacies: The Lost Files, #3))
β
I try not to underestimate my opponents, no matter how ridiculous their beards.
β
β
Derek Landy (Death Bringer (Skulduggery Pleasant, #6))
β
Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories...they're the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, loss and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Only the details are different.
β
β
Rohinton Mistry (Family Matters)
β
Don't underestimate us nerds!
β
β
Katsura Hoshino
β
Donβt underestimate the value of ironyβit is extremely valuable.
β
β
Henry James (Washington Square)
β
We should never underestimate human stupidity. Both on the personal and on the collective level, humans are prone to engage in self-destructive activities.
β
β
Yuval Noah Harari (21 Lessons for the 21st Century)
β
Never underestimate the difference YOU can make in the lives of others. Step forward, reach out and help. This week reach to someone that might need a lift
β
β
Pablo
β
Now don't you understand man universal law
What you throw out comes back to you, star
Never underestimate those who you scar
Cause karma, karma, karma comes back to you hard
β
β
Lauryn Hill
β
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
β
β
Robert A. Heinlein (Time Enough for Love)
β
Never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Never underestimate spite as a motivator for genius.
β
β
Sam Kean (The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements)
β
Don't underestimate your worth by comparing yourself with others.
β
β
Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
β
Don't ever underestimate the people who love you.
β
β
Benjamin Alire SΓ‘enz (The Inexplicable Logic of My Life)
β
Happens to me all the time...People are always underestimating my dumbness.
β
β
Janet Evanovich (Motor Mouth (Alex Barnaby #2))
β
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest accomplishment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
β
β
Leo F. Buscaglia
β
I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human raceβthat rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.
None of those things, however, came out of my mouth.
All I was able to do was turn to Liesel Meminger and tell her the only truth I truly know. I said it to the book thief and I say it now to you.
I am haunted by humans.
β
β
Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)
β
Never underestimate yourself
β
β
Carolyn Mackler (The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (Virginia Shreves, #1))
β
You underestimate how deeply you cut when your intentions carry no knives.
β
β
Penny Reid (Beauty and the Mustache (Knitting in the City, #4; Winston Brothers, #0))
β
Most people underestimate eyes. They're infinite. You look someone straight in the eye and your whole soul can be sucked out in a nanosecond. Other people's eyes are limitless and that's what scares me.
β
β
Sophie Kinsella (Finding Audrey)
β
The price tag you put on yourself decides your worth. Underestimating yourself will cost you dearly.
β
β
Apoorve Dubey
β
No one in this world, so far as I knowβand I have searched the record for years, and employed agents to help meβhas ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.
β
β
H.L. Mencken (The Gist of Mencken: Quotations from America's Critic)
β
If you ever put a student at this school in danger again-'
'Oh, I thought you Gallagher Girls were immune to danger.'
Despite the hundred girls the filled the foyer, no one moved or gasped or tried to defend our honor. We stood silently, waiting for our headmistress to say, 'Oh, we are quite used to being underestimated, Agent Townsend. In fact, we welcome it.
β
β
Ally Carter (Only the Good Spy Young (Gallagher Girls, #4))
β
To everyone who has been underestimated. I hope you prove everyone wrong, including yourself.
β
β
Lauren Asher (Final Offer (Dreamland Billionaires, #3))
β
Two simple words that will take you far in life: thank you. Donβt underestimate their power.
β
β
Gregory S. Works (Triumph: Life on the Other Side of Trials, Transplants, Transition and Transformation)
β
But one mustn't underestimate the primal appealβto lose one's self, lose it utterly. And in losing it be born to the principle of continuous life, outside the prison of mortality and time.
β
β
Donna Tartt (The Secret History)
β
Because Mary, a female, is so important to Catholicism, you feel that no one should be disappointed by having a girl instead of a boy, or if they are, they might just discover one day what a big mistake they made. Mary showed the world that girls shouldnβt be underestimated.
β
β
Kathleen Zamboni McCormick (Dodging Satan: My Irish/Italian, Sometimes Awesome, But Mostly Creepy, Childhood)
β
God does not give us more than we can handle," I am told but I wonder if God doesn't overestimate me just a little. Or perhaps, and this is likely, I underestimate God.
β
β
Julia Cameron (Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance)
β
Don't underestimate the power of friendship. Those bonds are tight stitches that close up the holes you might otherwise fall through.
β
β
Richelle E. Goodrich (Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, and Grumblings for Every Day of the Year)
β
Donβt underestimate the power of vision and direction. These are irresistible forces, able to transform what might appear to be unconquerable obstacles into traversable pathways and expanding opportunities. Strengthen the individual. Start with yourself. Take care with yourself. Define who you are. Refine your personality. Choose your destination and articulate your Being. As the great nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche so brilliantly noted, βHe whose life has a why can bear almost any how.
β
β
Jordan B. Peterson (12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos)
β
Do not underestimate the strength it takes to be kind in a world as cruel as ours.
β
β
Roseanne A. Brown (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, #1))
β
You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not
always be able to solve all of the world's problems at once
but don't ever underestimate the importance you can have
because history has shown us that courage can be contagious
and hope can take on a life of its own.
β
β
Michelle Obama
β
When people complain of your complexity, they fail to remember that they made fun of your simplicity.
β
β
Michael Bassey Johnson
β
The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around. Itβs overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt.
β
β
Leo F. Buscaglia
β
Indeed, your biggest challenge may be to fully harness your strengths. You may be so busy trying to appear like a zestful, reward-sensitive extrovert that you undervalue your own talents, or feel underestimated by those around you. But when youβre focused on a project that you care about, you probably find that your energy is boundless.
β
β
Susan Cain (Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking)
β
Problem with an old friend who is too busy:
he always perceives you as if never changed.
β
β
Toba Beta (Master of Stupidity)
β
But it became clear very quickly that I'd underestimated how much I liked him. Not him, perhaps, but the fact that I had someone on the other end of an invisible line. Someone to update and get updates from, to inform of a comic discovery, to imagine while dancing in a lonely basement, and to return to, finally, when the music stopped.
β
β
Marina Keegan (The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories)
β
... don't ever underestimate people, don't ever underestimate the pleasure they receive from viewing pain that is not their own... Pain by itself is just Pain. But Pain + Distance can = entertainment, voyeurism, human interest, cinΓ©ma vΓ©ritΓ©, a good belly chuckle, a sympathetic smile, a raised eyebrow, disguised contempt.
β
β
Zadie Smith (White Teeth)
β
Do you know that there's a halfway world between each ending and each new beginning? It's called the hurting time, Jean Perdu. It's a bog; it's where your dreams and worries and forgotten plans gather. Your steps are heavier during that time. Don't underestimate the transition, Jeanno, between farewell and new departure. Give yourself the time you need. Some thresholds are too wide to be taken in one stride.
β
β
Nina George (The Little Paris Bookshop)
β
It is a peculiarity of knitters that they chronically underestimate the amount of time it takes to knit something. Birthday on Saturday? No problem. Socks are small. Never mind that the average sock knit out of sock-weight yarn contains about 17,000 stitches. Never mind that you need two of them. (That's 34,000 stitches, for anybody keeping track.)
Socks are only physically small. By stitch count, they are immense.
β
β
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (At Knit's End)
β
Look at that chessboard we put back in place,β said Mrs Elm softly. βLook at how ordered and safe and peaceful it looks now, before a game starts. Itβs a beautiful thing. But it is boring. It is dead. And yet the moment you make a move on that board, things change. Things begin to get more chaotic. And that chaos builds with every single move you make.β
βItβs an easy game to play,β she told Nora. βBut a hard one to master. Every move you make opens a whole new world of possibilities...In chess, as in life, possibility is the basis of everything. Every hope, every dream, every regret, every moment of living...never underestimate the big importance of small things.
β
β
Matt Haig (The Midnight Library)
β
Maybe love was no match for ice...but Piper had used it to wake a metal dragon. Mortals did superhuman feats in the name of love all the time. Mothers lifted cars to save their children. And Piper was more than just a mortal. She was a demigod. A hero.
The ice melted on her blade. Her arm steamed under Khione's grip.
'Still underestimating me,' Piper told the goddess. 'You really need to work on that.
β
β
Rick Riordan (The House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus, #4))
β
LADY LAZARUS
I have done it again.
One year in every ten
I manage it--
A sort of walking miracle, my skin
Bright as a Nazi lampshade,
My right foot
A paperweight,
My face a featureless, fine
Jew linen.
Peel off the napkin
O my enemy.
Do I terrify?--
The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth?
The sour breath
Will vanish in a day.
Soon, soon the flesh
The grave cave ate will be
At home on me
And I a smiling woman.
I am only thirty.
And like the cat I have nine times to die.
This is Number Three.
What a trash
To annihilate each decade.
What a million filaments.
The peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see
Them unwrap me hand and foot--
The big strip tease.
Gentlemen, ladies
These are my hands
My knees.
I may be skin and bone,
Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman.
The first time it happened I was ten.
It was an accident.
The second time I meant
To last it out and not come back at all.
I rocked shut
As a seashell.
They had to call and call
And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.
Dying
Is an art, like everything else.
I do it exceptionally well.
I do it so it feels like hell.
I do it so it feels real.
I guess you could say I've a call.
It's easy enough to do it in a cell.
It's easy enough to do it and stay put.
It's the theatrical
Comeback in broad day
To the same place, the same face, the same brute
Amused shout:
'A miracle!'
That knocks me out.
There is a charge
For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge
For the hearing of my heart--
It really goes.
And there is a charge, a very large charge
For a word or a touch
Or a bit of blood
Or a piece of my hair or my clothes.
So, so, Herr Doktor.
So, Herr Enemy.
I am your opus,
I am your valuable,
The pure gold baby
That melts to a shriek.
I turn and burn.
Do not think I underestimate your great concern.
Ash, ash--
You poke and stir.
Flesh, bone, there is nothing there--
A cake of soap,
A wedding ring,
A gold filling.
Herr God, Herr Lucifer
Beware
Beware.
Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air.
-- written 23-29 October 1962
β
β
Sylvia Plath (Ariel)
β
Penryn? Who are you talking to?β My mother sounds almost frantic now.
βJust my own personal demon, Mom. Donβt worry. Heβs just a little weakling.β
Weak or not, we both know he could have killed me if thatβs what he wanted. I wonβt give him the satisfaction of knowing I was scared, though.
βOh.β She sounds calm suddenly, as if that explained everything. βOkay. Donβt underestimate them. And donβt make them promises you canβt keep.β I can tell by her fading voice as she says this that sheβs reassured and walking away.
The baffled look the angel shoots at the door makes me chuckle. He glances my way, giving me a youβre-weirder-than-your-mom look.
β
β
Susan Ee (Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1))
β
We cannot control the way people interpret our ideas or thoughts, but we can control the words and tones we choose to convey them. Peace is built on understanding, and wars are built on misunderstandings. Never underestimate the power of a single word, and never recklessly throw around words. One wrong word, or misinterpreted word, can change the meaning of an entire sentence and start a war. And one right word, or one kind word, can grant you the heavens and open doors.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
Trust me, I never underestimate my charm or any of my other magnificent attributes. They work great on women. Alas, men tend to see me as an unwelcome rival. You, he might listen to. You're good at talking people into things."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because I'm perched in the rafters of a cannery, at risk from a man-slaying magical creature, and spending time with a drunk, a gangster, and an assassin at . . . what time is it?
β
β
Lindsay Buroker (The Emperor's Edge (The Emperor's Edge, #1))
β
When Hel and I were Fivers, a Barbarian raiding party took us prisoner. I was trussed like a festival-day goat, but they tied Helene's hands in front of her with twine and propped her on the back of a pony, assuming she was harmless. That night, she used the twine to garrote three of our jailers and broke the necks of the other three with her bare hands.
βThey always underestimate me,β she said afterward, sounding puzzled.
β
β
Sabaa Tahir (An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes, #1))
β
Mostly something called Sanctuary Moon.β He shook his head, dismissing it. βItβs probably using it to encode data for the company. It canβt be watching it, not in that volume; weβd notice.β I snorted. He underestimated me. Ratthi said, βThe one where the colonyβs solicitor killed the terraforming supervisor who was the secondary donor for her implanted baby?β Again, I couldnβt help it. I said, βShe didnβt kill him, thatβs a fucking lie.β Ratthi turned to Mensah. βItβs watching it.
β
β
Martha Wells (All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1))
β
Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world."
β¦
"There is no greater misfortune
than underestimating your enemy.
Underestimating your enemy
means thinking that he is evil.
Thus you destroy your three treasures
and become an enemy yourself.
When two great forces oppose each other,
the victory will go
to the one that knows how to yield.
β
β
Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching)
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Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference. Don't allow the phone to interrupt important moments. It's there for your convenience, not the callers. Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is. Don't burn bridges. You'll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river. Don't forget, a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated. Don't major in minor things. Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Helen Keller, Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. Don't spread yourself too thin. Learn to say no politely and quickly. Don't use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Don't waste time grieving over past mistakes Learn from them and move on. Every person needs to have their moment in the sun, when they raise their arms in victory, knowing that on this day, at his hour, they were at their very best. Get your priorities straight. No one ever said on his death bed, 'Gee, if I'd only spent more time at the office'. Give people a second chance, but not a third. Judge your success by the degree that you're enjoying peace, health and love. Learn to listen. Opportunity sometimes knocks very softly. Leave everything a little better than you found it. Live your life as an exclamation, not an explanation. Loosen up. Relax. Except for rare life and death matters, nothing is as important as it first seems. Never cut what can be untied. Never overestimate your power to change others. Never underestimate your power to change yourself. Remember that overnight success usually takes about fifteen years. Remember that winners do what losers don't want to do. Seek opportunity, not security. A boat in harbor is safe, but in time its bottom will rot out. Spend less time worrying who's right, more time deciding what's right. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life. Success is getting what you want. Happiness is liking what you get. The importance of winning is not what we get from it, but what we become because of it. When facing a difficult task, act as though it's impossible to fail.
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Jackson H. Brown Jr.
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How To Tell If Somebody Loves You:
Somebody loves you if they pick an eyelash off of your face or wet a napkin and apply it to your dirty skin. You didnβt ask for these things, but this person went ahead and did it anyway. They donβt want to see you looking like a fool with eyelashes and crumbs on your face. They notice these things. They really look at you and are the first to notice if something is amiss with your beautiful visage!
Somebody loves you if they assume the role of caretaker when youβre sick. Unsure if someone really gives a shit about you? Fake a case of food poisoning and text them being like, βOh, my God, so sick. Need water.β Depending on their response, youβll know whether or not they REALLY love you. βThatβs terrible. Feel better!β earns you a stay in friendship jail; βDo you need anything? I can come over and bring you get well remedies!β gets you a cozy friendship suite. Itβs easy to care about someone when they donβt need you. Itβs easy to love them when theyβre healthy and donβt ask you for anything beyond change for the parking meter. Being sick is different. Being sick means asking someone to hold your hair back when you vomit. Either love me with vomit in my hair or donβt love me at all.
Somebody loves you if they call you out on your bullshit. Theyβre not passive, they donβt just let you get away with murder. They know you well enough and care about you enough to ask you to chill out, to bust your balls, to tell you to stop. They arenβt passive observers in your life, they are in the trenches. They have an opinion about your decisions and the things you say and do. They want to be a part of it; they want to be a part of you.
Somebody loves you if they donβt mind the quiet. They donβt mind running errands with you or cleaning your apartment while blasting some annoying music. Thereβs no pressure, no need to fill the silences. You know how with some of your friends there needs to be some sort of activity for you to hang out? You donβt feel comfortable just shooting the shit and watching bad reality TV with them. You need something that will keep the both of you busy to ensure there wonβt be a void. Thatβs not love. Thatβs βHey, babe! I like you okay. Do you wanna grab lunch? I think we have enough to talk about to fill two hours!" Itβs a damn dream when you find someone you can do nothing with. Whether youβre skydiving together or sitting at home and doing different things, itβs always comfortable. That is fucking love.
Somebody loves you if they want you to be happy, even if that involves something that doesnβt benefit them. They realize the things you need to do in order to be content and come to terms with the fact that it might not include them. Never underestimate the gift of understanding. When there are so many people who are selfish and equate relationships as something that only must make them happy, having someone around who can take their needs out of any given situation if they need to.
Somebody loves you if they can order you food without having to be told what you want. Somebody loves you if they rub your back at any given moment. Somebody loves you if they give you oral sex without expecting anything back. Somebody loves you if they donβt care about your job or how much money you make. Itβs a relationship where no one is selling something to the other. No one is the prostitute. Somebody loves you if theyβll watch a movie starring Kate Hudson because you really really want to see it. Somebody loves you if theyβre able to create their own separate world with you, away from the internet and your job and family and friends. Just you and them.
Somebody will always love you. If you donβt think this is true, then youβre not paying close enough attention.
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Ryan O'Connell