Mistakes are th…

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
JAMES JOYCE

I would like to say I made a mistake once, but I was mistaken.

Just joking. I’ve made loads of mistakes. No doubt I’ll make many more.

I wish I could say I’ve never made the same mistake twice, but I have. Sometimes I’m a slow learner. At some point I seem to discover that I’m getting is the same result over and over, but I wouldn’t call that a great discovery.

Oh well. I’m happy to benefit from other people’s discoveries which have come about because of mistakes. Chocolate Chip Cookies were actually invented by mistake, by Ruth Wakefield when she ran out of baker’s chocolate.

I don’t know if that was the kind of discovery James Joyce meant, but it works for me.

 

“Happiness isn’…

“Happiness isn’t something you experience, it’s something you remember.”

Oscar Levant (1906 – 1972), a pianist, composer and actor said this, but I disagree.

Feeling happy is wonderful and happens at the most unexpected times. I like remembering times when I have felt happy, I enjoy looking forward to times when I expect to feel happy, but best of all are moments of actually experiencing happiness.

He who laughs l…

He who laughs last thinks slowest.

I saw this on a sign and laughed (and I’m not saying if I laughed right away or a little while after I read it).

“Chains of habi…

“Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”

Warren Buffett made this quote about habits, which was used in Janet Lowe’s book, ‘Warren Buffett Speaks’.

Buffett’s quote resonated with me, as even though I’m not really a New’s Year’s resolution type of person (been there, failed at that), I’m working on developing better habits after reading a fantastic book on the subject last year called ‘The Power of Habit’.

In a nutshell, the book’s author, Charles Duhigg says we are the sum of our habits. The message I took was that we all have the power to create a better future for ourselves, by regularly making good choices which go on to become habits and which eventually shape who we become.

 

“a made in heav…

“a made in heaven pair like cherries and chocolate”

This quote comes from Therese Anne Fowler’s book, ‘Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald,’ where the narrator, Zelda Fitzgerald, describes her husband and their new neighbour, Ring Ellis as “fast friends right from the start, a made in heaven pair like cherries and chocolate.”

I agree completely with Fowler’s description of cherries and chocolate. Cherry Ripes, chocolate cherry biscuits and the chocolate covered cherry liqueurs my mother always gives me at Christmas are a hard combination to beat.

Funnily enough, no one else in my household like the combination of cherries and chocolate, which means that I don’t have to share my favourites.