Saturday, July 28, 2007

Things I've Learned (from digging through old files)

On most Saturday mornings, I get up and start working through my "honey-do" list but it was raining this morning so I did something I've been needing to do for a long, long time. I went through some of my old files in my desk. I threw away a bunch of stuff that I no longer needed and discovered some things from the past that I had forgotten about. One of those things was a letter from H. Jackson Brown that he wrote in response to some quotes I sent him for an upcoming book. Brown wrote "Life's Little Instruction Book," "P.S. I Love You," "Live and Learn and Pass It On," and other little gift books. If those titles don't ring a bell, trust me, you've seen them in the bookstores over the years.

Anyhoo....I don't know if he ever used my quotes. I signed an agreement with him giving him permission to use them back in 1992. They were supposed to start with "I've learned that..." (That's how his "Live and Learn and Pass It On" quote books started). I thought I'd share them here since they've just been sitting in my files for years. (Unless Brown published them.)

I've Learned that...

I could survive on peanut butter.
evenings are more pleasant when the TV is off.
nothing beats a good book and a soft chair.
nothing melts a daddy's heart like a smile from his little girl.
nothing is more relaxing than walking barefoot on the beach.
compared to most homes in the world, my home (modest by American standards) is a mansion.
selfishness is the foundation for most wrongdoing.
distance doesn't separate good friends.
you can never read enough. But there never seems to be enough time to read.
the "conveniences" of life have made people busier.
everyone has funny looking toes.
it's good to watch cartoons every once in a while.
a good used bookstore is full of gems.
air conditioning has turned neighbors into strangers.

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