2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14 If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living , or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?”

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

41. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices?

Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

P.S. – Why doesn’t ‘Buick’ rhyme with ‘quick?’

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

1.     The bandage was wound around the wound.

2.     The farm was used to produce produce.

3.     The dump was so full that it had to refuse morerefuse.

4.     We must polish the Polish furniture.

5.     He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6.     The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7.     Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present .

8.     A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9.     When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes

10.    I did not object to the object.

11.   The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12.    There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row

13.    They were too close to the door to close it.

14.     The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15.      A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16.      To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17.      The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18.       Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19.         I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20.        How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Etapa a doua – « totul e bullshit.» E ca si cand te trezesti din betie. La etapa asta realizezi ca afara-i vopsit gardu’, inauntru-i leopardul. Mancarea, care mai sus o adorai, acum n-are nici un gust, vinetele, oricat de mult te-ai chinui sa le prepari, n-au gust desi sunt umflate cu pompa, rosiile au gust de cauciuc, porumbul fiert e prea dulce, chiar scarbos de dulce, painea e elastica, soselele care erau largi mai sus, se ingusteaza pentru ca acum ai ochi sa observi si traficul infernal. Aerul nu mai e atat de pur ca tocmai ai supravietuit unor cinci zile consecutive de smog si te declari fericit ca n-ai probleme cardiace. Vecinii care zambeau sunt niste inculti cu care nu poti schimba doua cuvinte. Parcurile nu le mai vezi atat de verzi pentru ca-s pline de disperati de viata care fac jogging dimineata si seara, de parca n-au nici o alta grija cotidiana. Iar prietenii din tara te intreaba ce-i avut in cap cand ai emigrat. La ei sunt 28C la umbra cand la tine sunt 4C iar vantul te doboara…, Costel e in fiecare weekend la Sinaia iar Angela tocmai si-a luat bilet trei saptamani la Neptun… Statistic vorbind, citeam pe undeva ca 60% din emigranti in momentele acestei etape se intorc acasa.

Etapa a treia – « viata e frumoasa si aici! » Dupa dusurile reci primite la etapa de mai sus, te trezesti si incepi sa vezi lumea cu alti ochi. Se instaleaza o rutina placuta. E etapa in care te ancorezi la lumea inconjuratoare. Citesti cu asiduitate presa lor, urmaresti stirile, programele de divertisment. Esti la curent cu toate evenimentele culturale. Mergi destins la cinematograf. Pastrezi inca legatura cu cei lasati dincolo, dar remarcile lor nu te mai ranesc. Angela continua sa mearga an de an la Neptun pe o plaja plina de manelisti si de scoici in care-ti tai talpile. Costel viziteaza si el aceeasi Sinaie mereu…insa tu mergi si descoperi locuri noi in fiecare zi, azi, maine si poimaine si tot asa. Ti-ai luat bilete sa serbezi Anul Nou pe plaja la Punta Cana…De fapt vecinii sunt foarte sociabili, la un BBQ se leaga atatea prietenii.Totul e sa vrei! Este etapa care de fapt iti aduce cele mai multe impliniri, daca ai fost destul de stoic sa rezisti pana aici.

Etapa patru – « aici e casa mea! » Asta e etapa implinirii depline pe meleagurile altadata straine si atat de ostile. Acum totul iti este familiar. Cunosti orasul ca pe propriul buzunar, adopti stilul de viata actual, dar ce-i mai important, nu mai faci comparatii. Nu mai ai regrete. Privesti spre viitor cu lumina si pace-n suflet.
De-acum esti de-al casei!