."I complained that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet." -- Persian proverb

Thinking about this, my eyes fill up with tears. It bothers me to think that there are so many people in this world who are so ungreatful for the things they have. So many people have nothing or close to nothing. I'm someone who can't stand to throw away the slightest bit of food, knowing that there are so many familes in the world who could feed off of a fraction of what's left. America is so wealthy compared to the majority of the world and its sad that most of us don't realize how bad others are suffering. The quote resembles this situation to the tee. We complain about what come down to being petty issues when it could always be worse. When giving advice of any kind, I always state, " It could always be worse." It changes all aspects of the way I feel, think, and live.

You can't win unless you know how to lose." -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Learning how to fail time and time again, standing up after each fall, and being persist will lead you to success. If you don't know how to lose, the circumstances that lead to failure, you do not understand the game well enough to win. I am a good player who has fallen enough times to learn to get back up and start all over. Understanding all of the circumstances which causes failure, learning how to avoid or overcome failure, and ultimately win are the keys. You may have a plan or strategy that sounds good theoretically, but you do not know whether it will really be good in practice until you have tested it, and looked for its weaknesses. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.

“Nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first understood." -- Leonardo da Vinci

So true, not only was Leonardo and phenomenal artist and inventor, but he was just an all around great man in general. He never let his mind take a break. Nothing can be loved unless first understood which is incredibly true. If you dislike something for no reason or without first trying to place yourself in that persons shoes then you yourself will end up looking like a jerk that’s brainless and clueless to the world no matter how much you actually know. Get to an individuals core before you decide to be so judgmental.

" I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book." -- Groucho Marx

Television is terrible today. The most I watch is the to make me laugh an even that isn’t often. I prefer to walk or draw or create something. Imagining something and creating something is far more important than sitting and doing nothing. However there are the days where you just don’t want to get anything done. Those are fine and dandy, but finding yourself in front of a television all the time just because you have nothing else to do shows you have nothing in life to look forward to except the new episode. You tend to lose fun in the little things. Why should something you loved to do as a child be given up just because you’re older now. Responsibility? You can be responsible for your actions by not turning on the television; teaching your kid what art is, what a book is, what nature is about, always being unique, what friends are like, or what it’s like to get hurt.

"A rich child often sits in a poor mother's lap." -- Spanish proverb

It’s often that the poorest kid will end up being the richest in the long end. Whether, it’s rich in morals and happiness, or rich in money. They tend to look at all the stuff they were given and look forward to the stuff they can achieve. They started from nothing and now they work their way up the ladder and look around what’s in their path, because what’s in their path has always been there. They have it easier with looking around that object in the path than someone who hasn’t had to ever. The poor child also tends to work harder in effort than effortlessly work like a rich kid would.

“A happy heart is better than a full purse." -- Italian proverb

I agree completely. However, there is a point that being too empty in the purse will eventually make someone unhappy. It’s about having enough to get you by and buy what you need to keep you happy. I'm big on large houses and cars and lots of luxury. I prefer to have money to pay for rent and food and enough to cover extra expenses like if a car breaks down. When I have extra money, I tend to spend it on others than myself. I prefer to try and make the world around me happy versus myself because it’s then I get happy knowing I make others smile when they see me.

"Talk does not cook rice." -- Chinese proverb

Wow! Even the Chinese knew all talk meant no show! Everyone finds themselves a victim of this at least once where they talk a big talk to someone to get their hopes up then fail to show. It’s a bit of a struggle we as humans fight. You want to make yourself look and feel better about yourself, so you say a small fib to yourself. Well, as you know it always comes back to bite you in the butt and it is either “put up or shut up.” Whether you fail or succeed it’s best to try and see what happens. Why let the moment pass you by?

"You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist." -- Indira Gandhi

But you can play rock paper scissors with a clenched fist! Which means if you’re rock you’re chances of survival are one and three odds or thirty-three point three repeating. That’s about as close to fighting I’ve ever get. I’m a lover not a fighter. Arguing is something I like to do or rather debate, and discuss the issue. I’ll sometimes get angry with the situation and stomp off or raise my voice a little but lift a hand, never. I try really hard to never reach that state of raising my voice to begin with. When I do though people know to listen up but I tend to do it to people whom I barely know because I seldom have issues with people who I have relationships with.

"So you see! There's no end to the things you might know, depending how far beyond Zebra you go." -- Dr. Seuss, On Beyond Zebra

Let me just start off saying Dr. Seuss used to be my favorite. He gave me the inspiration to a lot of my thought patterns. He gave light to the places that were dark when I was a child. His books were all I read as a kid. I even did a huge project on him. There’s isn’t anything you cannot learn. Not a phrase misunderstood. You can be all knowing in the areas of black and white, but you’re no genius until you open your mind to the gray area beyond the zebra prints in the way. It’s so clever yet amazingly true. The man was a rhyming genius as well as showing you the morals in life. He’s the guidelines to my life and how I live it.

"Talent is like electricity, we do not understand electricity. We use it." -- Maya Angelou

This is so true. I have some amazing talents that I have discovered. I just get a creative spark and just do it. I have no reason behind it, I just do. However, I hate have a short attention span so I stay with a subject for a period of time then I find something else that catches my fancy. I do end up going back to it eventually though. I just love experiencing everything life has to give me. I like to observe and jump in. Once I see something done I can mimic it after a few tries. I can bounce around to new things like you wouldn’t believe and there is truly no explanation to how or why.

"You can't unscramble eggs." -- John Pierpont Morgan

What's done is done, there is not a thing you can do. Once something is messed up it pretty much stays that way is what I guess the quote is saying. Better yet, once you’ve fried your brain it never comes back. Once you’ve thrown a stick into a grinder you can’t get it back. The list goes on and on. This is seen in society everyday. For example: Crimes happen all the time. & A lot of the time those individuals who shot and killed and innocent person regret that at some point later in their life. They regret the mistakes they made, you can't bring someone back. There are numerous occasions that this quote fits. So, I guess all you can do with a scrambled egg is cover up the mess to make it less obvious. This reminds me of a song by Cher, "If I Could Turn Back Time."

"An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes." -- Cato the Elder

This is exactly what I was getting at in a previous quote I had talked about. "Like a ten-speed bike, most of us have gears we do not use." You can’t talk to an angry person they’ll close their minds as they disagree with everything you’ve said. This quote has a second meaning as well. In an argument people will say things they don’t mean to say because they’re no longer speaking with their mind open and feeling how another person feels. They’ll have their eyes closed to those emotions and end up saying things out of anger and possibly false hatred over something they never had an issue with. I myself have had a situation where someone has said things they never meant to say because they were so angry at what had just happened. They ended up taking their rage out on me ending a good friendship; when I was only trying to help.

"When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion." -- Ethiopian proverb

A large group of spider webs tying up a lion. That is if they get the chance. The hidden portion of this statement is how hard those spiders have to work to get there. It’s not like the first time they’ll succeed and if they do other lions will hear about this and fight back. Lions don’t travel alone they have a pack like wolves. In aspects of war however, kill the leader and you’ll win the hearts of his followers. So go ahead try an tie up a lion with a group of spiders just know it’s much easier said than done.

"Like a ten-speed bike, most of us have gears we do not use." -- Charles Schulz

This quote made me chuckle. Working at an ice cream shop and getting to see a wide range of people I definitely understand this quote. I know one gear a lot of people never shift into is the “Open-Minded Gear.” Its tiresome trying to explain things to people that just won’t listen even if you’re correct. I especially despise the ones that argue with you on something they haven’t the slightest clue about. But that’s life what can you do about it but understand listen and move on to the next person who’s willing to listen.

."If you were another person, would you like to be a friend of yours?" -- Unknown

This is a good question to help individuals evaluate themselves. Think, do you truly posses the qualities that other people would look for in making friends. I find the need not such much to explain the concept, but reflect my opinion. Most people don’t admit to the fact that they know others wouldn’t want to be friends with them. But in all actuality, I can honestly say that I am someone that I would like to be a friend of. It’s been a struggle for me to find other people out there like me. I don’t settle for anything less than what I want. No individual who expresses qualities less than my standards are going to be on my bus. That may sound a little harsh, but think sincerely about it. I have been raised in harsh circumstances and that has made me who I am today. If there is anyone out there like me, I would love to talk to them for a day and establish a friendship of a lifetime.

"Make friends before you need them." -- Unknown

Recently, I have found this to be true. As in incoming high school student, I had all the friends in the world to fall back on. But as we all went our separate ways, I steered away from the majority of them whose interest were in things most normal high school students do. I didn't want to be just like everyone else and JUST fit in. Now, as an outgoing high school student, I have found it necessary to comb through and find those "friends" who are always going to be at my side. Although I may not have followed this golden rule, in my opinion, I encourage all those out there to seriously consider this. Think about all the tragedies or even petty occurrences that happen in everyone's life. It could happen to you and where are you going to run? Create valuable relationships; you may need them later on.

"Everyone must row with the oars he has." -- English proverb

Not everyone was created with the same talents as others. We are all very different from each other and in order to be successful, we need to discover our personal talents. People envy others and their ability for other things. But that’s not the way you get through life, by jealousy. Each individual has to live accordingly to their specific skills and talents and make the best of them. It’s all about how hard you work at expressing your talents. Everyone must play with the cards they've been dealt. Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study.