Inspirational Quotes 106: Instructions

A boy scout should be acceptable at a dinner dance and invaluable in a shipwreck. (Robert Baden-Powell)

A journey may take you backwards, downhill, or round and round in circles. (The Dalai Lama) 

Any decisions you make will follow you like a shadow. (@TheRoyalButler)

Asking someone how you can help them could change their life. (Chloe Bellerby)

At some point stuff's going to happen to you whether you like it or not and sometimes sitting tight is the preferred solution. (LW)

Basic problem-solving on work and relationship issues may make a difference. (The Guardian)

Be firmer than you were the first time. (Dear Prudie, slate.com)

Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, surrounded by assholes. (via Wicca Teachings)

Cut out the polite hints and be politely clear. (Danny Lavery)

Decide on an action plan for the New Year, not just a two-week resolution but an outcome with small achievable steps to get you there. 

Do the change you want to see in the world.

Do financially struggling people just lack a positive attitude? Are their kids hungry because they don't have a "can-do" spirit? Would a bit of optimism create local jobs? (Femi Oluwole)

Do the sums – if it's not worth it, don’t start. (@secularbloke) 

Don't make permanent or long-term decisions based on temporary emotions. Think it through. (Suzanne Fernandes) 

Don’t walk away without giving it the “old college try”. (Uncle Ezra, Cornell University’s agony uncle who sadly ceased advising in 2012)

Eat chocolate and keep smiling. (Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother)

Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie, and never miss an opportunity to go to the lavatory. (Queen Elizabeth I)

Even if you're on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. (Will Rogers) 

Everybody thinks they are above average. We can’t all be. (Magician Derren Brown) 

Everybody thinks they belong in the group ten years below them. (Katharine Whitehorn, paraphrase)

Focus on doing rather than caring. (Penelope Trunk)

Good things come to those who wait. But better things come to those who work for it. (@ShulemStern)

I don’t have to stand here and listen to this! (Pigpen from Peanuts)

I don’t want to accept the things I can’t change – I want to change the things I can’t accept. (Angela Davis) 

I found using a higher, softer voice got me more tips as a barista. (@vibills)

I haven’t changed at all, except in appearance. (Dita von Teese)

I want what I want when I want it. (Marilyn Monroe)

I was trapped, but I had no idea I was trapped. (Prince Harry)

I've been rich, and I’ve been poor, and believe me – rich is better. (Mae West/Texas Guinan/Bessie Smith)

Ideals are replaced by conventional goals at a certain age. (Jenny Holzer)

If you can't believe it's happening, pretend it's a movie. (Andy Warhol)

If you trust in yourself and believe in your dreams and follow your star you’ll still get beaten by people who spent their time working and learning things. (Terry Pratchett)

Instead of waiting for life to get better, do something about it. (Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II)

It doesn’t matter how hard you work if you’re working on the wrong things. (Dan Rockwell)

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

It took me years and years to understand how people promote themselves, not just in this business, but in life. (Actress Gina McKee) 

It’s better to move somewhere new than will yourself to be more creative. (Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi)

Life was much easier as George. (George Osborne, who changed his name from “Gideon”)

Maybe today you look at all of the things you are doing and you ask which of those things aren't working. Which things are you not enjoying, and not even doing particularly well? Maybe shut that department down. (TO)

Maybe you’re not depressed – maybe you had a horrible life. (Jordan Peterson, paraphrase)

Most of us feel deep relief when we are told where to go, where to sit and whose instructions to listen to. (D. Mortimer)

Moving on is not necessarily moving up. (Agony aunt Mariella Frostrup) 

Much of what governs our behaviour is the situation in which we find ourselves. (Financial Times)

Never let a man live off you.

Never retreat, never explain, never apologize – get the thing done and let them howl.  (Nellie McClung)

Never stay at an event just because you paid for it. (Mark Hogan)

No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp. (Stella Young)

Nobody ever wanted to BE that woman – the strong feminist with a career who didn’t need anybody because she was so politically pure. (Caitlin Moran) 

Only one thing stands between you and your dreams. Feasibility. (India Borden-Wuornos) 

Pray as if everything depended on God, act as if everything depended on us. (The Bishop of Salisbury)

Self-help gurus never make money by advising people to be realistic. (David Aaronovitch)

Sometimes you have to push the reset button and start over. (@6london)

Stand up for what you believe, even if it’s unpopular. (Anna Vital)

Stand up, not by. (Politician Jeremy Corbyn)

Take a job – any job. Structure, regular contact with regular people, and contributing to a larger group all help. (Penelope Trunk)

The Bohemian life was not for me. (Journalist P.J. O’Rourke)

The Charge of the Light Brigade is the ultimate critique of relying on positive thinking. (David Aaronovitch, Times, 2019)

The longer your commute, the lonelier you will be. (New Yorker)

The secret is preparation. (Broadcaster Bill Turnbull) 

The transition from shy to assertive needs to be treated like you are playing a part. (jezebel.com)

There is no problem so big or so terrifying that it can’t be run away from. (Charlie Brown)

Try changing a flat tyre by the power of prayer. (@toolegs)

Tweet people how you wish to be tweeted. (@imajsaclaimant)

Useful advice is better than inspiring stories of people riding up Everest on a unicycle. (@MarkOneinFour)

We need others to think well of us. (Time magazine) 

What if your as-yet-unfulfilled life plans didn’t need more will, just skills? (Oliver Burkeman) 

When all else fails, kick over the table and run. (Raymond Chandler)

When arguing with a man, throw in a little modesty and confusion. (Jane Gaskell)

Wildness can be over-rated in an artist. It’s better to be reliable and nice to get on with. (Grayson Perry)

Words of comfort and advice are rarely sufficient; it is the practical help that is so often desperately needed. (Rabbi Jackie Tabick)

You sometimes need to begin all over again: with no history, in a new place and with new colleagues. (Agony uncle Jeremy Bullmore)

You would be surprised how seldom it occurs to people that their problems are not their fault. (Tom Waters)‏

Your greatest weapon may be a display of indifference. (Agony aunt Mariella Frostrup)

All the world's a stage, and some of us are stagehands. (John Mortimer)

Life is not Hollywood, life is Cricklewood. (Alan Coren)

@sarahradz_ Most of the trick to having friends as an adult is accepting all invitations and then subsequently showing up.

@sivori Advice I gave an introvert I work with: “If you try to over-communicate, you will communicate the right amount.”

@SNeurotypicals If you are a visually imposing person and you want to be more disarming in public then you need a silly hat. Get you something in a colourful knit with a tassel. Tension diffused.

More here, and links to the rest.