ME:
Ladies and Gentlemen – the honour of facilitating this magnificent forum is mine and I am truly humbled in the presence of such greatness. I welcome you all and wondered if as a theme we might look at life - it is a topic that allows for very robust discussion…Mr Frost, would you like to start please.?
ROBERT FROST:
“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”
JOHN LENNON:
“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”
MARK TWAIN:“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
JUNG:
“I have frequently seen people become neurotic when they content themselves with inadequate or wrong answers to the questions of life.. Their life has not sufficient content, sufficient meaning.
FREUD:“Life, as we find it, is too hard for us; it brings us too many pains, disappointments and impossible tasks.
JOHN WAYNE:
“Life's hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.”
MAE WEST:
“I'm a woman of very few words, but lots of action - you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
EINSTEIN:
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
GROUCHO MARX:
“Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while - I intend to live forever, or die trying.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW:
“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
AUDREY HEPBURN:
“The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it's all that matters.”
EMILY DICKINSON:
“That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.”
ME:
Hmmmm….an amazing but credible conflict of incredible views…
JOHN LENNON:
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
ME:
What a great response John *smiles* - bet that shut them up!
GROUCHO MARX:
“The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.”
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
“It is not the length of life, but the depth.”
MAE WEST:
“It's not the men in your life that matters, it's the life in your men.”
ME:
(giggles) Miss West! You are truly incorrigible!
COCO CHANEL:
“You live but once; you might as well be amusing.”
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT:
“Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life - 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.”
HENRY DAVID THOREAU:
“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”
ME:
I find that incredibly sad Mr Thoreau.
LAO TZU:
“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.”
MARILYN MONROE:
“This life is what you make it. Not matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up - so keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.”
LANGSTON HUGHES:
“Life is for the living, death is for the dead. Let life be like music - and death a note unsaid.”
ME:
..and that sums it up perfectly Mr Hughes – thank you. Thank you all so very much!. You know I could go an and on forever soaking up all this magic but what I’d like to suggest is we meet again soon and either continue with this topic or maybe someone might want to suggest another one....anyone?
ARISTOTLE:
Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
SOCRATES:
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
ME:
Ooooooo…so are we saying Philosophy??
ARISTOTLE:
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
SOCRATES:
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
ME:
How exciting! I can’t WAIT until we meet again. I wonder what wonderful things I will learn from that.
SOCRATES
“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”
ME:
I doubt I’ll ever be in the same sphere of wisdom as this illustrious group but I’m grateful for any crumbs from your illustrious table.
MAHATMA GHANDI:
“It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
ME:
On that profound truth I’d like to close our meeting. Thank you all so very much.
