Book detail: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year is presented as a focused source page for quotations connected with this book, collection, transcript, or source record.
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“Laughing in the face of danger doesn't negate the fear, it simply enables you to smile at it.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“There is no other company in the world I've found more pleasurable than my own. For no one else has ever been as accepting of me or as thoroughly entertained by my quirkiness. It is a sweet thing to like yourself.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“There are many roads in this world that will guide you to pleasurable, fun, and exciting destinations that do not end in any form of lasting happiness. So before you step on an enticing path, figure out where it leads.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“All I ever wanted from you was to know that I was wanted by you. That would have changed everything.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“No matter how many lies you use to disguise it or how many excuses you bury it beneath, the truth will never cease to be true.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Truly, there is magic in fairy tales.
For it takes but a simply-uttered 'Once upon a time...' to allure and spellbind an audience.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“I claim the right to be who I want to be. Regardless of my choice, I will find those who agree and those who don't. I will gain support, and I will confront opposition, but I will stand firmly as me.
It is my choice.
It is the only real choice I have to make.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“The glory of fame isn't in having so many people know you, but in having so many people know you care. Otherwise, it's like being drawn to a fire to find no warmth.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“You may be the only person left who believes in you, but it's enough. It takes just one star to pierce a universe of darkness. Never give up.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Our greatest duty to our children is to love them first. Secondly, it is to teach them. Not to frighten, force, or intimidate our children into submission, but to effectively teach them so that they have the knowledge and tools to govern themselves.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Just pick a goal and stick to it―no big complicated secret.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“I don't so much mind looking back on having lost the election, or having been denied a role in the play, or having had my novel repeatedly rejected, or having been turned down for a date, or recalling laughter at my expense when I attempted some silly challenge. Those things simply prove that I lived life. What I do mind, however, is looking back on the lost opportunities where imagined concerns kept me from even trying—lose or win. I've learned that there is no regret in a brave attempt, only in cowering to fear.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“There are far too many silent sufferers. Not because they don't yearn to reach out, but because they've tried and found no one who cares.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Moisture falls from the sky, cleansing the world and sustaining precious life. But it's the gloom—the cold, dark air—that receives notice. We fail to see the miracle of raindrops through our own tears.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“As ofttimes as it rains on my little spot of earth, you'd think I'd grow accustomed to the gloom.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“A Wish on the Sun"
"I see the world beyond a tiny window that allows a glimpse of Heaven into my life. Those who dwell in that enviable light cannot hear me through the glass that muffles my cries. They do not appear to see my face pressed against this barrier.
I watch them live, carefree and smiling. Even when our eyes lock—mine wide and weary—theirs squint beyond notice of me. They can't peer past the glass, the sunlight glaring off its surface. They don't see me. They won't see me.
I make a wish on the sun, staring into its fiery brightness, imagining it blinding me to the beauty beyond my reach. Would my hell feel so awful then? The sun, this nearest star, absorbs my deepest wish for the thousandth time. 'Save me! Hold my hand! Pretend to care!'
The light is blocked by a figure stepping past my window, and I feel the universe turn its cold shoulder on me. Despair smothers the hope that made my lips move in utterance of a desperate wish. It ebbs and weakens, but it does not die. The flicker of an ember remains, enough to ignite hope again—another time.
All storms eventually cease, do they not?
Once more, I press my face against the glass to view a glimpse of Heaven lived by the undeserving. I savor the sunlight, the only thing powerful enough to penetrate the window that bars me in hell. The warm rays touch me. I imagine God's fingers caressing my face—and the dying ember of hope suddenly inflames.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“There is a point when the anguished soul finally despairs. A moment in life when the heart, the will, even the spirit crumbles. Some say that after much grief and drowning in tears, it is possible to pick up the pieces and carefully repair what was shattered.
I say nay.
For the chains of despair have no key, and the soul destroyed by that monster can never hope to be unaffected. There are things done that cannot be undone.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“I settle into my imagination so that I might be someone when the real world tells me I'm no one.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Perhaps, if you weren't so busy regarding my shortcomings, you'd find that I do possess redeeming qualities, discreet as they may be. I notice when the sky is blue. I smile down at children. I laugh at any innocent attempt at humor. I quietly carry the burdens of others as though they were my own. And I say 'I'm sorry' when you don't. I am not without fault, but I am not without goodness either.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Choose to be good and kind and tolerant regardless of the situation or who's involved, because life is more a matter of developing character than of dishing out just rewards.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Evil exists in this world because it has its place. For had you never sat blindly through the darkness of night, your eyes wouldn't turn toward the sunrise to appreciate its warmth and illumination.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“I see the good in the world because I choose to. I don't imagine that it's there; it's there waiting to be noticed.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Be nice. Be good. Be happy.
If people everywhere were to keep to this simple creed, there'd be few problems left in the world to fret about.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Some decisions in life naturally lead to an unhappy ending, leaving you sinking by degrees in a lake of quicksand. And, unless someone reaches to pull you out, chances are you will drown in the consequences.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“The key to success is having no qualms about failure.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Had she any respect for him at all, his words would've affected her. But no value accompanies comments spewed from the mouth of a brute.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“When you devalue ethics and morals by proclaiming that our attitude toward them should be casual or lenient, you can't be surprised by a rising generation who then behaves disrespectfully, treating life, people, and choices as if they possess little value or worth. For whether or not that was the intention, society has taught them to believe thusly.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Disappointment is really just a term for our refusal to look on the bright side.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Laugh as if it's funny, embrace as if it's love, and smile anyway.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Optimism: That effervescent, blindingly- bright, perky, chipper, twittering quality you want to squash out of annoying people.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Statistics, likelihoods, and probabilities mean everything to men, nothing to God.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Two powerful, little words I've learned to use when facing challenges, fears, and doubts—so what?”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Rain is a lullaby heard through a thick, isolating blanket of clouds. It is the tinkling harp of water droplets; a moist breath whistling through willow reeds; a pattering beat background to the mourner's melody. Rain is a soft song of compassion for the brokenhearted.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“No misery compares to staring at a clear night's sky with arms stretched toward a coveted star, wishing on what is forever out of reach.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Every sunrise is an invitation for us to arise and brighten someone's day.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Act like you care. Pray like you care. Speak, smile, reach out, and live like you care. The point is to make sure those in your life know beyond doubt that you do care.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“I could really use someone else's smile today.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Be nice. And if you can't do that, just don't be mean.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Live your day and live it well. It's yours whether you want it or not.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“One smile has the power to...
Calm fears.
Soften stone walls.
Warm a cold heart.
Invite a new friend.
Mimic a loving hug.
Beautify the bearer.
Lighten heavy loads.
Promote good deeds.
Brighten a gloomy day.
Comfort a grieving spirit.
Offer hope to the forlorn.
Send a message of caring.
Lift the downtrodden soul.
Patch up invisible wounds.
Weaken the hold of misery.
Act as medicine for suffering.
Attract the companionship of angels.
Fulfill the human need for recognition.
Who knew changing the world would prove so simple?”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Gratitude paints little smiley faces on everything it touches.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Love is not complicated—just smile, hug, kiss, be kind, and repeat.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Life is too hard to maintain a constantly serious outlook. You have to laugh at yourself and the world now and then―see humor in undesirable circumstances, even harsh situations―or you will either rot from the inside or go stark-raving mad. Humor is power against the worst oppression. It lightens heavy burdens; it allows one to smile while in agony; it eases excruciating pains. In short, humor makes the intolerable tolerable.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Don't be afraid to try, because you never look back on life and smile at what you could have attempted. Joy only brightens your countenance over those things you did attempt.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“If the world appears abundant in smiles or overwhelmed by scowls, you might ask yourself if you're not to blame.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“Kisses are a means to plant on another's lips a smile glossed with happiness.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“The power of a smile is such that even drawing a happy face on a piece of paper makes your lips turn up.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“I've a habit of placing a happy-face or a frowny-face on my calendar, depending on what kind of day I've had. Often I slap a droopy circle in the box, discouraged by the things I failed to accomplish and the unpleasant encounters endured. But then, invariably, a wise muse stops to ask me these three questions:
Did your children let you hug them today? Yes.
Did you do a kind deed for someone? Anyone? Yes.
Did God forsake you today? No.
Then, my dear, despite your challenges, it was a good day after all.
Standing corrected, I twist that frowny-face upside down and smile.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“There's enchantment in a smile, did you know?
Shall I prove in a wink that it is so?
Watch my mouth grin wide and see,
How quick your lips smile back at me!”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year
“There are people who are never content, never appeased, forever dissatisfied—who continually look to what escapes them, convincing themselves that if only they could attain that one desire outside of reach they would be happy. It seems almost pointless to give to these people because their eyes immediately shift from the gift to stare miserably at the portion held back. Their wants, demands, expectations, appetites are never satiated, thus they refuse to be happy. And you cannot make them so.”
Source: Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year