Quotes

In no particular order, the following are quotes I’ve used to encourage myself to leave Hong Kong for London, which I did, on Nov. 3, 2008.

They are now here, when things are difficult, as reminders of why I came here in the first place.

No doubt, I will add to this list as I come across more. Feel free to comment and let me know of anything else that might be good to add.

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I too have paused many times at a particularly tricky move, hesitated as I tried to bolster my courage, and then stepped up or reached a tiny handhold at full stretch and breathed a sigh of relief. It is the essence of climbing. For an endless moment everything is concentrated on the outcome of one shift in body weight, one calculated decision to move, upon which the outcome of the entire climb – if not your life – is dependent. For an instant you are intensely alive. Good memories of climbs are as much about these brilliantly intense experiences, milliseconds of movement, confrontations with infinity, breath held until you have won through. I glanced up at the face thinking of Adi’s fateful step. Sometimes we lose.

- Joe Simpson (The Beckoning Silence)

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The world has a life of its own. Nothing we do affects it. It goes on and on, never looking back, unaware of a past, oblivious to the future, never hesitating on its inexorable progress through time. If life were not to have death at its end and had death not been preceded by life, neither would have any meaning. We need to die or our lives are meaningless.

- Joe Simpson (The Beckoning Silence)

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Eventually, I sickened of people, myself included, who didn’t think enough of themselves to make something of themselves – people who did only what they had to and never what they could have done. I learned from them the infected loneliness that comes at the end of every misspent day. I knew I could do better.

-Mark Twight

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I was soaked through, cold and deeply, deeply gloomy. At the far end of town, there was a little restaurant called Myfannwy’s and by a miracle it was open. I hastened into its beckoning warmth, where I peeled off my sodden jacket and sweater and went with a headful of suddenly enlivened hair to a table by the radiator. I was the only customer. I ordered a coffee and a little something to eat and savoured the warmth and dryness. Somewhere in the background Nat King Cole sang a perky tune. I watched the train beat down on the road outside and told myself that one day this would be twenty years ago.
-Bill Bryson (Notes from a Small Island)

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Did you say it? I love you. I don’t ever want to live without you. You changed my life. Did you say it? Make a plan. Set a goal. Work toward it. But every now and then, look around, drink it in. Coz this is it. It might all be gone tomorrow.
-Meredith Grey (Grey’s Anatomy Season 5 Episode 24)

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We spend our whole lives worrying about the future, planning for the future, trying to predict the future, as if figuring it out will somehow cushion the blow. But the future is always changing. The future is the home of our deepest fears and our wildest hopes. But one thing is certain, when it finally reveals itself, the future is never the way we imagined it.

Doctors spend a lot of time focused on the future, planning it, working toward it, but at some point, you start to realise, your life is happening now. Not after med school, not after residency, right now, this is it. It’s here. Blink, and you’ll miss it.
-Meredith Grey (Grey’s Anatomy Season 5 Episode 24)

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I know some of us are going to walk off this stage today with no idea about what comes next – embrace it, find something that makes you happy, and follow it wherever it leads.
- PostSecret

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4. You’re never [going] to live your dream unless you start living it. And you’ll never start your own business unless you start your own business.

13. There is no wrong or right course in life. It’s all about you. Don’t let anyone tell you the path you’ve taken or are taking is wrong if you’re happy.

22. There are always battles in life no matter what your position. It’s all about your outlook.

27. Your life is your work of art. How will your story read?

- Live Uncomfortably: 27 Things I’ve Learned While Travelling

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…adventures happens to the adventurous…

- Tony Robinson-Smith

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Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

(Note: Despite of using sailing to describe the beauty of freedom, and in spite of how much I love this quote, the last time I went sailing, “beauty” and “freedom” was the last thing on my mind.)

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Dance like nobody’s watching; love like you’ve never been hurt. Sing like nobody’s listening; live like it’s heaven on earth.
- Mark Twain

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Keep asking yourself what will matter a 1000 years from now.
- Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Living

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Don’t compromise for the sake of security-it’s an illusion anyway. Follow what’s most important to you, or what you have the most passion for.
- Beth

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And what comes up for me is a question I asked a friend, when she called me on her cell phone, on the way home after being fired from her job: “Are your best days behind you or ahead of you?” Her reply: “Ahead of me.” Several years later, she’s in a job that truly fits her strengths. She recently received an industry award, recognizing her outstanding work.

While your entire body may be immersed in fear, your gut knows best. Take this as an opportunity to trust your gut. [...]

A quote by Goethe says it all:

“…the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”

Begin, now, dear Dora.
- Carol Ross

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Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the places and moments that take our breaths away…
- Random postcard I picked up in a pub

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Don’t try and add more days to your life, try and add more life to your days.
- Nasty, who undoubtedly got it from somewhere else.

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I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
- Henry David Thoreau

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If you’re going to do something, go start. Life’s simpler than we sometimes think.
- Robert De Niro

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This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.
- Tyler Durden

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You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re not your fucking khakis.
- Tyler Durden

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It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.
- Tyler Durden

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Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever acheive greatly.
- Robert F. Kennedy

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Some may laugh. So what. Many will follow.
- Youtube video

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Run towards your fears. Embrace them. On the other side of your greatest fears lies your greatest life.
- Robin Sharma

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You are the only one who can make yourself a failure.

- Penny C. Sansevieri

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When every day seems the same,
it is because we have stopped noticing
the good things that appear in our lives.
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

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Everything tells me
that I am about to make a wrong decision
but making mistakes is just part of life.
What does the world want of me?
Does it want me to take no risks,
to go back where I came from
because I didn’t have the courage
to say ‘yes’ to life?
- Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho

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“…my life is as exciting as I make it!”
- Doreen

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“If you don’t try anything, you can’t fail.”
- Revolutionary Road