Inga's All-Time Favorite Quotes

[“Let Inga Tell You,” La Jolla Light, published March 28, 2018] ©2018

Over the years, I’ve been collecting favorite quotes – way too many to list here.  But this week I’d like to share a few, some of which seem truly prescient for their time – especially the first three: 

"In America, anybody can be president. That's one of the risks you take."  - Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965)

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)  (Climate change?)

“We are entitled to our opinions.  We are not entitled to our facts.” - Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1927-2003), and others

Other favorite bits of wisdom:

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” - Thomas Edison

“Most editors are failed writers.  So are most writers.”  –T.S. Eliot

“My body isn’t me.  I just live here.”  (Magnet on Inga’s refrigerator)

“Things always get worse before they get a lot worse” - Lily Tomlin

 “The road of indecision of is paved with flat squirrels who couldn’t decide.”  (Unknown)

“Not having to worry about your hair anymore may be the secret upside of death.”  - Nora Ephron

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” – Hanlon’s Razor

"God gave men both a penis and a brain, but only enough blood supply to run one at a time." - Late actor Robin Williams, commenting on the Clinton/Lewinsky affair

 “She buffers herself against parental input.” - Neighbors, referring to their teenage daughter

"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." -Journalist A.J. Liebling

A scientist friend who was invited to present at a professional meeting in Jakarta observed to the organizer that the schedule, as set, was not being even remotely followed.  The reply:  "You should think of the schedule more as a first draft,” he opined, “of a play that will be given improvisationally.”

“A closed mouth gathers no feet.”  - Inga’s personal motto, poorly followed.

“What you accept, you teach.”  - Inga’s parents’ motto, well followed.

“The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”  – George Bernard Shaw

"I've had a wonderful time, but this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx (1895-1977)

“A lot of people ask me if I were shipwrecked and could only have one book, what would it be?  I always say, ‘How to Build a Boat.’” – Actor Stephen Wright

"I have never killed anyone, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction." - Clarence Darrow (1857-1938)

“After a failure, there’s always someone who wished there was an opportunity they’d missed.” - Lily Tomlin

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."  - Thomas Watson (1874-1956), Chairman of IBM, 1943

 "I am not young enough to know everything."  - Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

"We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time."  - Vince Lombardi

"There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher." - Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964)

“Life begins not at conception, but when the child begins sleeping through the night.”  (Inga, and the sentiment of most new parents.)

“If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.” - Milton Berle

“The wages of sin are death, but after taxes are taken out, it’s just kind of a tired feeling.” – Paula Poundstone.

"Nothing is wrong with California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure." - Mystery writer Ross MacDonald (1915-1983)

“The chief cause of problems is solutions.” – Journalist Eric Sevareid (1912-1992)  

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." - Mario Andretti

"Happiness is good health and a bad memory." - Ingrid Bergman (1917-1982)