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WHICH IS THE BEST QUOTATION
in list -2 that deals with various aspects of life? “It is difficult to say” can be the immediate response from anybody. It is true also, since different quotations express different views or conclusions from a variety of personalities, including writers, leaders, scientists, artists etc. Almost all authors in list-2 could have lived their lives with wide spectra of experiences. They might have coined their quotations in their forties, fifties or seventies. Some were globally famous and some only nationally or regionally. Still all the different quotations express some profound sense or idea of high importance making it difficult to pick up any one as the best.

I can say honestly that I noted down many of the quotations in my diaries only because I myself had understood and practised the truths or values in them. A casual survey of these over-seventy quotations would show that some are applicable to interaction-transaction circles in daily life, some to professional competitions, some to family life and some to full life from infancy to old age. All of them bring out something important, valuable, useful or wonderful about life and living.

 
Let me write down a few things which formed in my mind while reading them all together in one file. Take the first quotation in list-2 by Samuel Butler. (Samuel Butler, 1835-1902, was a famous English novelist and writer). This is, perhaps, the best of all, if life as a whole is considered. This compares living to, ‘playing and learning violin in public’ and indirectly says, ‘live and learn’, ‘experience and learn’, ‘try and see’, ‘don’t worry about mistakes’, ‘let others think anything’ etc. Third quotation by Al Hirschfeld also says almost the same thing that life is not deterministic or ordered to be symbolized and simplified in a scientific formula. All live their own lives with individual goals, likes, crazes etc. Martha Stewart (no.21) agrees with Al Hirschfeld and points out that life is very complex and confusion, problems, set backs etc. are bound to come. What are the solutions when one faces confusion or problems? Quotations 20, 26, 30, 34, 52, 54, 57, 58, 60, 63 and 71 provide good answers.

Fosdick’s(no. 54) quotation is superb in comparing life’s drives to confined steam or gas. This brings out the need for proper plans to achieve one’s goals with self-discipline and values. J.A. Paulos(no.59) points to a fundamental aspect of living, i.e., uncertainty or risk. This has special significance for urbanites. If a person has acquired the knowledge or ability to identify the various risks involved in daily life, that person has solved more than half of the daily problems. Both quotations together say, ‘without risk analysis and self-discipline there is no growing big’.

Now what are the best pieces of advice for living an ordinary life of a commoner? “An apology is the super glue of life. It can repair just about anything”(no.38). This does not require certification or authentication by anybody. (Quotation no.6 is very similar). Both are fully correct, especially in the light of what Bob Goddard says(no.55). Quotation no. 50 points out the need for a person to know, ‘what is just enough’ in different situations. For this, one needs background information on ‘what is right and wrong’, ‘what is relevant and irrelevant’, ‘what is good and bad’ etc. The 43rd quotation by S.A. Kallis Jr. emphasizes the need for relevancy in daily life. One should
not talk out freely all the secrets or fine details to anybody, at least to start with. A person should express only relevantly. In certain situations, ‘what is relevant’ is to be decided first to find out ‘what is right’. When relevancy is lost it becomes fuzzy. Quotation no. 22 points up to the primary need to be honest in thinking also. Bob Greene(no.25) emphasizes the need to have goals in life for purposeful activities. If you are not busy with purposeful or productive actions, you tend to become fuzzy and cluttered, losing sight of your goals. (See quotation no. 62 also.)

Quotations 31,65,66 and 67 say something vital about child care and husband-wife relationships. If one thinks deep into them, taking examples from one’s own life, it is not difficult to understand the depth and width of ‘insights’ contained in them. Read other quotations (nos. 7, 30, 38, 47, and 48) in this context. All together say a lot about successful family life. ‘Love your spouse as you love yourself ’, seem to be the best buzzword for all now – times of easy divorces, family breakdowns and corruption.




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