My Favorite Sayings

“My favorite sayings”

Writing 121-12

10/17/06

I have found in my life that I draw inspiration from many places and in many different ways. Among them are my friends and family, and the experiences that I have had with them, but also from what I have read and watched. These inspirations have come into my life at many different times and most certainly many places. But what I would like to share with you are some of the things that I have found inspiring. Among them are many sources some well known and some less clearly identified. If I have failed to properly credit a phrase or quote then it is not because I intended to plagiarize it is only because as humans we tend to collect information we believe to be important and all too often I have heard something said and ether dint remember its source or wasn’t told. I want to assure you that I have done all that I can to track down the original source of this material.

The one that comes to mind first for me was a Cherokee legend that my father kept hanging on the fridge called two wolves. It goes like this; An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. ” A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, and compassion. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed." To me this story has always been a reminder that we as individuals must be responsible for who we become, and the way we live. It reminds me that I alone choose to indulge the negative and destructive parts of myself.

Another powerful example of a saying that inspires me is from Friedrich Nietzsche “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.” This I find inspiring because it reminds me that there is a fine line between genius and madness, and also that because genius is misunderstood that doesn’t make it madness. It also reminds me that being crazy is part of the human condition; it’s a part of what gives