“You can observe a lot just by watching.” Yogi Berra
“Though the road’s been rocky it sure feels good to me.” Bob Marley
Introduction: Since my diagnosis with Parkinson’s, I seem to have become a collector of quotes and sayings. Some make me smile, like the one above from Yogi Berra. Some make me take the balance of life and the road we are following, like the one above from Bob Marley.
Whatever moves you through this life should matter the most to you. How do I use such quotes? When I am feeling off, or overly tired, having that troubling thought about my Parkinson’s progression, or want to relax and have my brain soak up the meaning of these words, I will read some quotes.
Like staring out at the horizon at sunrise, there is depth in the content of these words. Like putting on the winter parka as the morning cool air hits you, there is warmth and comfort in these words. As we confront the world and times we live in now, these hopeful words may offer some solace and wisdom.
Aging:
“As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning.” Criss Jami
“It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.” Andy Rooney
“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” Sophia Loren
“Embrace aging.” Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie
“Wisdom comes with winters.” Oscar Wilde
“I’ve enjoyed every age I’ve been, and each has had its own individual merit. Every laugh line, every scar, is a badge I wear to show I’ve been present, the inner rings of my personal tree trunk that I display proudly for all to see. Nowadays, I don’t want a “perfect” face and body; I want to wear the life I’ve lived.” Pat Benatar
“Age has no reality except in the physical world. The essence of a human being is resistant to the passage of time. Our inner lives are eternal, which is to say that our spirits remain as youthful and vigorous as when we were in full bloom. Think of love as a state of grace, not the means to anything, but the alpha and omega. An end in itself.” Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
“People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live. What I mean is we never cease to stand like curious children before the great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein in a letter to Otto Julius Birger, September 29, 1942.
Hope and Happiness:
“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” Guillaume Apollinaire
“Sometimes life knocks you on your ass… get up, get up, get up!!! Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.” Steve Maraboli
“I’ve learned that men and women who are living wholehearted lives really allow themselves to soften into joy and happiness. They allow themselves to experience it.” Brene Brown
“So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?” Hunter S. Thompson
“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.” Sylvia Plath
“I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.” Paul Simon
“The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it’s all that matters.” Audrey Hepburn
“You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.” Jonathan Safran Foer
“No medicine cures what happiness cannot.” Gabriel García Márquez
“Happiness is part of who we are. Joy is the feeling” Tony Deliso
“Never lose faith in yourself, and never lose hope; remember, even when this world throws its worst and then turns its back, there is still always hope.” Pittacus Lore
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” Marcus Aurelius
Science, Medicine, and Albert Einstein:
“It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.” Albert Einstein
“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.” Will Duran
“Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding…” Brian Greene
“From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other – above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.” Albert Einstein
“James Parkinson. George Huntington. Robert Graves. John Down. Now this Lou Gehrig fellow of mine. How did men come to monopolize disease names too?” Khaled Hosseini
“We are slowed down sound and light waves, a walking bundle of frequencies tuned into the cosmos. We are souls dressed up in sacred biochemical garments and our bodies are the instruments through which our souls play their music.” Albert Einstein
“Thinking is hard work; that’s why so few do it.” Albert Einstein
“Don’t wait for miracles, your whole life is a miracle.” Albert Einstein
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.” Albert Einstein
“Those who do not know the torment of the unknown cannot have the joy of discovery.” Claude Bernard
“Only by understanding the wisdom of natural foods and their effects on the body, shall we attain mastery of disease and pain, which shall enable us to relieve the burden of mankind.” William Harvey
“Look to the nervous system as the key to maximum health.” Galen
“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.” Hippocrates
Living an Authentic Life:
“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.” Paulo Coelho
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” Lao Tzu
“Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live.” Natalie Babbitt
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Eleanor Roosevelt
“The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect.” Brené Brown
“People are always judging you based on where you’re from, where you went to school, how you look, how you talk. But at the end of the day, you’re going to have to look into the mirror and accept who you are. It’s all about being authentic.” Andre Carson
“The authentic self is the soul made visible.” Sarah Ban Breathnach
“It is my intention to live an authentic life of compassion and integrity and action.” Zachary Quint
“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” Brené Brown
“Everyday courage has few witnesses. But yours is no less noble because no drum beats for you and no crowds shout your name. ” Robert Louis Stevenson
Cover Photo Image by S.E. Elwell
Journey with Parkinson's 