Category Archives: Quotations

Happy National Pancake Day!

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

pancakes1While it’s easier to add water to a mix that promises and delivers extra-fluffy results, I prefer to make my pancakes from scratch. Here’s a family favorite recipe from my mother’s kitchen.

Enjoy!


Ingredients

1 egg
2 cups milk
3 tbsp white sugar
1½ cups sifted flour
3 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 tsp softened margarine
¼ tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Preheat electric griddle.
3. Beat egg very well.
4. Add milk and sugar and continue beating.
5. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
6. Combine both mixtures.
7. Stir in margarine and vanilla.
8. Pour pancake batter onto the hot griddle. Pools of batter should be 2 inches away from each other.
9. Cook until golden brown on each side.
10. Place finished pancakes on a heat-proof plate in the oven.
11. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Makes 12 pancakes

Happy Birthday Dalai Lama!

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Today, the Dalai Lama celebrates his 82nd birthday. The recipient of numerous awards, among them the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, he continues to inspire us with messages of non-violence and universal compassion.

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Here are ten of my favorite quotes from His Holiness…

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.

Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.

Someone else’s action should not determine your response.

Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.

Anger or hatred is like a fisherman’s hook. It is very important for us to ensure that we are not caught by it.

I always say that people should not rush to change religions. There is real value in finding the spiritual resources you need in your home religion.


Happy Summer!

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

summer-solstice-clipartLonger days and shorter nights…Today marks the start of the summer solstice.

The term “solstice” is derived from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). The sky at noon does not appear to change much during the solstice and its surrounding days. The rest of the year, the Earth’s tilt on its axis—roughly 23.5 degrees—causes the sun’s path in the sky to rise and fall from one day to the next.

Here are ten of my favorite “summer” quotations:

Summer’s lease hath all too short a date. ~ William Shakespeare

Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.
~ Jenny Han

And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

It’s a smile, it’s a kiss, it’s a sip of wine … it’s summertime! ~ Kenny Chesney

Summer is the annual permission slip to be lazy. To do nothing and have it count for something. To lie in the grass and count the stars. To sit on a branch and study the clouds. ~ Regina Brett

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. ~ Sam Keen

Summertime is always the best of what might be. ~ Charles Bowden

I love how summer just wraps its arms around you like a warm blanket.
~ Kellie Elmore

There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart. ~ Celia Thaxter

The summer night is like a perfection of thought. ~ Wallace Stevens

summerday


Happy National Find a Rainbow Day

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Today is National Find a Rainbow Day, a time to reflect upon the beauty and magnificence of those multicolored arcs that remind us of the hope and possibilities that exist in Nature and in our own lives.

Here are my 10 favorite “rainbow” quotes:

Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud. Maya Angelou

There comes a point in your life when you realize your hardest times are your best times, too—you will see the rainbow of your life. Roy Bennett

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow. G.K. Chesterton

If you want to see a rainbow you have to learn to see the rain. Paulo Coelho

When you reduce life to black and white, you never see rainbows. Rachel Houston

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
Dolly Parton

One can enjoy a rainbow without necessarily forgetting the forces that made it. Mark Twain

Rainbows apologize for angry skies. Sylvia Voirol

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky…
William Wordsworth

Don’t miss all the beautiful colors of the rainbow looking for that pot of gold. Author Unknown

Do you have a favorite “rainbow” quote?

Honoring Mary Tyler Moore

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

marytylermoore1Visionary. Groundbreaking Actress. Producer. TV Legend. Passionate advocate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. So many accolades come to mind whenever Mary Tyler Moore’s name is mentioned.

Yesterday, Mary died at the age of eighty.

While I have only vague recollections of the Dick Van Dyke show, I was addicted to the Mary Tyler Moore show and looked forward to each week’s episode. Impressed and inspired by Mary Richards, television’s first single career woman, I would often ask myself–What would Mary do?–whenever I encountered a workplace challenge. I was saddened when the series ended in 1977, but I continued to watch the reruns for several years afterward.

Short Clips from MTM Show…

Mary Richards: I’m an experienced woman. I’ve been around… Well, all right, I might not have been around, but I’ve been… nearby.

___________________________________________________________

Lou Grant: You know, Mary, you’ve got spunk.
Mary Richards: Why, thank you, Mr. Grant.
Lou Grant: I hate spunk.

___________________________________________________________

Mary Richards: Oh Rhoda, chocolate doesn’t solve anything.
Rhoda Morgenstern: No Mare, cottage cheese solves nothing; chocolate can do it all!

___________________________________________________________

Mary Richards: Well, what’s the cut-off point Mr. Grant? I mean, is… is there some number? You know, I’d really like to know. How many men is a woman allowed to have before she becomes *that* sort of woman?
Lou Grant: Six.

___________________________________________________________

Mary Richards: A woman doesn’t have to have a baby if she doesn’t want to.
Lou Grant: Well, I say a man’s entitled to have a baby if he wants to.
Mary Richards: [Chuckles] Well, Mr. Grant, on behalf of women everywhere let me say we’d sure like to be there when he has it.
Ted Baxter: She got you there, Lou.

___________________________________________________________

Mary Richards: Mr. Grant? Could I say what I wanted to say now? Please?
Lou Grant: Okay, Mary.
Mary Richards: Well I just wanted to let you know that sometimes I get concerned about being a career woman. I get to thinking that my job is too important to me. And I tell myself that the people I work with are just the people I work with. But last night I thought what is family anyway? It’s the people who make you feel less alone and really loved.
[she sobs]
Mary Richards: And that’s what you’ve done for me. Thank you for being MY family.

___________________________________________________________


Favorite Quotes from Mary Tyler Moore…

You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.

Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.

I’m not just a survivor…I’m a flourisher.

Having a dream is what keeps you alive. Overcoming the challenges makes life worth living.

Chronic disease like a troublesome relative is something you can learn to manage but never quite escape.

I live in a kind of controlled awareness. I wouldn’t call it fear, but it’s an awareness. I know I have a responsibility to behave in a certain way. I’m able to do that.

There are certain things about me that I will never tell to anyone because I am a very private person. But basically, what you see is who I am. I’m independent, I do like to be liked, I do look for the good side of life and people. I’m positive, I’m disciplined, I like my life in order, and I’m neat as a pin.

I’ve had the fame and the joy of getting laughter – those are gifts.


Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

martinlutherking

Today is Martin Luther King Day, an American federal holiday that marks the birthday of an inspirational clergyman, activist, and leader who is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights in the United States.

My favorite quotations from Dr. Martin Luther King…

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.

The time is always right to do what is right.


10 Inspiring Quotations for the New Year

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Setting New Year’s resolutions can be daunting. If you struggle with this task why not draw on the collective wisdom of these poets, authors, and leaders.

inspiration

1. Take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous New Year by believing. Believe in yourself. And believe that there is a loving Source – a Sower of Dreams – just waiting to be asked to help you make your dreams come true. Sarah Ban Breathnach

2. The New Year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.” Melody Beattie

3. Each year’s regrets are envelopes in which messages of hope are found for the New Year. John R. Dallas Jr.

4. For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice. T.S. Eliot

5. Maybe this year…We ought to walk through the rooms of our lives not looking for flaws, but for potential. Ellen Goodman

6. Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar, you present a new place for new ideas and progress. Charles Kettering

7. We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. Edith Lovejoy Pierce

8. And now we welcome the New Year. Full of things that have never been. Rainer Maria Rilke

9. Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier.’ Alfred Lord Tennyson

10. Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right. Oprah Winfrey


Happy National Food Day!

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

The main objective of National Food Day is to help people “Eat Real” by “cutting back on sugar drinks, packaged foods, and factory-farmed meats in favor of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and sustainably raised protein.”

realfood2

Here are 10 quotes to inspire positive changes in eating habits…

To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear. Buddha

You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces—just good food from fresh ingredients. Julia Child

Fill your plate with the colors of the rainbow. What pleases the eye pleases the body as a whole. Deepak Chopra

Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have. Winston Churchill

The first wealth is health. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. Hippocrates

Ignore the food police. Be a laughing Buddha with happiness in your belly. And indulge your appetite for the pleasures of food shared with good company or eaten alone, in peaceful contemplation of the fruits of the earth. Christiane Northrup

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Michael Pollan

Our bodies are our gardens—our wills are our gardeners. William Shakespeare

Get people back into the kitchen and combat the trend toward processed food and fast food. Dr. Andrew Weil


Honoring Mahatma Gandhi

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Born this day in 1868, Mahatma Gandhi began a life that would change the history of India and the world. His non-violent activism and teachings continue to inspire us today.

mahatmagandhi1

I’m honoring his birthday by sharing 10 favorite quotes:

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

Be the change that you want to see in the world.

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.

Without action, you aren’t going anywhere.

A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ uttered merely to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.


Happy National Day of Encouragement

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

The first proclamation for the Day of Encouragement was made by Mayor Belinda LaForce of Searcy, Arkansas on August 22, 2007. In September, Governor Mike Beebe of Arkansas signed a proclamation making September 12, 2007 the “State Day of Encouragement” for Arkansas. Later, President George W. Bush also signed a message making September 12 the official “National Day of Encouragement.”

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Here are ten of my favorite quotes about encouragement…

“When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” Alexander Graham Bell

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” Harriet Beecher Stowe

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C.S. Lewis

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” William James

Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment. Stephen Covey

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Maria Robinson

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Theodore Roosevelt

“If you dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.” Walt Disney

“Everything will be okay in the end.
If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.”
Ed Sheeran