WORDS OF WISDOM - "I" - Part 1

I accept all of the responsibility, but none of the blame.

I ain't got a dog in that fight.

I always advise people never to give advice.

I always ask for the best seat in a restaurant.  Someone’s going to sit in it.  It’s ok if it’s not me, but it’s not ok for me not to try to get it.

I always expected that you would see me through.

I never believed in much, but I believed in you.

I always feel it’s great when you can be by yourself.

I always think there’s a band, kid.

I always want to know the things one shouldn’t do…so as to choose.

I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.

I always wanted to sell out-I just couldn't find anyone to buy me.

I always worry about what I might have missed which is why I work so many hours and get so little sleep.

I am adamant, but not certain.

I am always doing things that I can't do-that's how I get to do them.

I am an artist and should be exempt from shit.

I am enough.

I am everyone's advisor and no one's boss -- not even my own.

I am human, and anything that is human is very much of concern to me.

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. (Eartha Kitt)

I am much better with strangers.

I am not a pliable man.

I am only one, but still I am one.  I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

I am part of all that I have met.

I am the zoom.

I apologize for what was said, even though I didn’t say that.

I believe every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.

I believe if you wear enough pretty lipstick, sparkly jewelry, and great shoes, no one will even notice the size of your ass.

I believe in doing what I can, in crying when I must, in laughing when I choose.

I believe my kids are secretly proud of me.

I believe that what doesn’t kill us makes us bitter.

I believe you don't motivate people.  What you do is hire motivated people, then make sure you don't demotivate them.

I call them “forwards”, who wants to retreat?

I can hear the voice inside my head saying you should be with me instead.

I can think of few important movements for reform in which success was won by any method other than an energetic minority presenting the indifferent majority with a fait accompli, which was then accepted.

I can’t tell my courage from my desperation.

I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be "happy."  I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate.  It is, above all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.

I care, but not that much.

I could carve a better man out of a banana.

I could have shaved the wrong way all my life and never have known it.

I could never make a sentence that means half as much to me as you.

I could never tolerate not knowing why.

I couldn’t wait for success…so I went ahead without it.

I cry inside.

I defy the tyranny of precedent.

I did not pan out.

I didn't come down with yesterday's rain.

I didn’t enjoy things that I couldn’t envision myself being the best at.

I didn’t happen by accident.

I didn’t invent sugar or flour but I bake a mean apple pie.

I didn’t think I was in the garbage business.  I’m in the money-making business.

I do everything for a reason.  Most of the time the reason is money.

I do hate myself but it has nothing to do with being Jewish.

I do not sit down to work because I am inspired; I become inspired because I sit down to work.

I do not think that you can write anything of value or understanding about the present.  You can only write about life if it is far enough in the past.  The present is too mixed up with superficial values; you can’t know which thing is important and which is not.

I do perceive here a divided duty.

I do the very best I know how-the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until

the end.  If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to

anything.  If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would

make no difference.

I don’t argue with my enemies.  I explain to their children.

I don't ask for too much.  I don't ask for anything impossible.

I don't believe in a single big project or silver bullet; you have to build on a series of wins.  It's like building blocks.

I don’t believe in democracy except as an extreme measure.

I don't believe in happiness that isn't based on effort, pain and work.

I don’t care if you screw the elephants, just don’t cover the circus.

I don’t deserve this award, but then I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either.

I don't do favors.  I accumulate debts.

I don’t do Litmus tests.

I don't even remember what her lips felt like on mine-most of the time.

I don't get problems.  I give problems.

I don’t get tired and I think it’s basically because I’m not afraid.

I don’t have a lot of time for noble failures.

I don’t have faith.  I have experience.

I don’t have time means it’s not a priority.

I don’t know a lot about medicine, but I know what I like.

I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.  (Sandburg)

I don't like hunches, but if you only use real data, your conclusions will be uninspired.

I don’t like to argue to be right. I like to argue because that’s how I get to the truth. I think dialectically.

I don’t make art.  If I want art, I’ll buy it.

I don't make the mistake of assuming that because people like cheap art (popular songs), their feelings are cheap, too.

I don't play my best 11.  I play my 11 best.

I don’t think a shark thinks too much about what it eats.  It just eats.

I don’t think of leadership as a popularity contest.

I don’t think there’s any point in being Irish if you don’t know that the world is going to break your heart eventually.

I don’t think we’re put down here to be nice.  Not exclusively.

I don't want people who want to dance.  I want people who have to dance.

I don't want to be saved.  I want to be spent.

I don’t want to meet someone who shares my interests.  I hate my interests.

I don’t want your apology. I want you to be sorry.

I dread success.  I like a state of constant becoming, with a goal in front and not behind.

I eat myself.

I feared you too much to become your enemy, so I became your friend.

I feel like a mosquito at a nudist colony.  I don’t know where to begin.

I feel so bad since you’re gone.  It’s almost like having you here.

I find “speaking one’s mind” pretty overrated, in that it usually turns out to be a way of aggrandizing the speaker at the expense of the helpless listener.

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction are we moving:  To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.  (Holmes)

I forgive you for whatever you did yesterday.

I get enough exercise just pushing my luck.

I got over the idea that it wasn’t my idea. (Sal Khan)

I guess a collector starts to grow up when he finally learns to appreciate paintings he can't own.

I guess my anger pulled me through.

I had always loved her very much, but not always very well.

I had reservations about making art a business, but I got over it.

I hate quotation. Tell me what you know. (Emerson)

I have a rendezvous with death/ at some disputed barricade... and I to my pledged word am true/ I shall not fail that rendezvous.  (Alan Seeger)

I have already paid for all future sins.

I have always had a dread of becoming a passenger in life.

I have an exit strategy like everyone else – some day I’ll die.

I have everything she wants but nothing that she needs.

I have exactly the same personality as my cat.. I am cold, furtive, callous, snobbish, selfish, and playful, but with a streak of cruelty.

I have felt the wind of the wing of madness.

I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use.  Right up front, tell people what you’re trying to accomplish and what you’re willing to sacrifice to accomplish it.

I have never accepted a bad check from anyone I did not trust.

I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

I have of late-but wherefore I know not-lost all my mirth.

I have reached an age where my main purpose is not to receive messages.

I have to deal with the “now”, now.

I have tried to be a trusting person.  Now it’s me that I don’t trust.

I have tried to write as if I was composing my sentences to be read posthumously.

I have trouble with the word “fun” and I never liked the word “enjoy”.

I haven't been rich long enough to be casual about it.

I hear and I forget.  I see and I remember.  I do and I understand.

I hear words, I hear voices, I guess I was born with too many choices.

I hope in life that there’s a certain amount of magic. Unfortunately, there’s not enough.  (Woody Allen)

I hope that IBM can become the company that it really is. (Rand)

I just can’t crack your code.

I knew a Phoenix in my youth, so let them have their day.

I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early.

I know exactly what to do, but I’m not sure I know how to make it interesting.  (Liz Taylor’s 7^th husband)

I know something you don’t know.

I know who you are and it does me no good at all.

I learned color theory from zip-lock bags.  You know, yellow and blue make green.

I learned early on if I didn’t take care of things myself, they wouldn’t happen.

I like a certain kind of terseness into which the occasional image will shine brightly.

I like myths with a little promise in them.

I like songs that should only be sung at night – when your heart is breaking.

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. (Jefferson)

I like the early days, when love is given freely.

I like to feel dumb. That’s how I know there’s more in the world than me.

I like you.  You remind me of when I was young and stupid.

I like young girls.  Their stories are shorter.

I like your ass.  Could I wear it as a hat?

I lived by luck and fate.

I love deadlines.  I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

I love how nothing in my life is complete until I share it with you.

I love two things-you and the rose.  The rose for one moment, you forever.

I love you more today than yesterday.  Yesterday you really got on my nerves.

I love you not because of who you are but because of who I am when I am with you.

I made a lot of people reach beyond what they thought their capacities would be, to find themselves, to do more.

I made all my money by selling too soon.

I may be conquered, but I will never capitulate.

I may be getting older, but I refuse to grow up.

I may not always be right, but I'm never wrong.

I may not always play my best…but I always play my hardest.

I may not be innocent, but I’m not guilty.

I meant to bring it with me that their faces might sustain me in my darker moments.

I miss the circus; I don’t miss the clowns.

I need him like the ax needs a turkey.

I need this like a fish needs a bicycle.

I never ask a man to work harder than I work.

I never blame failure-there are too many complicated situations in life-but I am absolutely merciless toward lack of effort.

I never get the same exhilaration from success as I do depression from failure.

I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.

I never hold grudges.  I share them with as many people as possible.

I never let my schooling interfere with my education.

I never said I was a victim of circumstance.

I never saw anyone hit with his face.

I never thought I’d have to pay so dearly for what was already mine.

I never worry about the future – it comes soon enough.

I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the wisdom of complacency.

I prefer revolutions to war; at least in a revolution only those go who want to.

I prefer to live without hope to protect myself from disappointment.

I prefer young doctors, but old politicians.

I present myself to you in a form suitable to the relationship I wish to achieve with you.

I pretended to be someone that I wanted to be and I finally became that person – or he became me.

I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn’t fall down.

I rate enthusiasm even above professional skill.

I read and walked for miles at night along the beach, searching endlessly for someone wonderful who would step out of the darkness and change my life.  It never crossed my mind that person could be me.

I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness.

I see through him like cellophane

I smell you on my clothes.

I start slow, but I finish strong and I always finish what I started.

I started out with nothing.  I still have most of it.

I stick my neck out for nobody.

I sucked until I sucked the air right out of my life.

I suppose, from force of habit, that the level of intensity with which you approach any competitive activity carries over, if you're lucky, right into what you do to earn a living.

I suppose it’s nice to be worried about. It’s almost like being cared about.

I swear by this song/and by all that I have done wrong/I will make it all up to thee

I talk about myself behind my back.

I tell the players there are only two times when I'm going to stop criticizing them-when they become perfect or when I've given up on them.

I think it is very critical that you don’t answer a tuba with a piccolo.  If he’s hit, and he will be, he needs to stand up and fight.

I think of religions as franchise operations.

I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.

I tried very hard to die, but I seemed to bear an enchanted life.

I try to be a peacemaker.  But sometimes you have to kick the shit out of people to be an effective peacemaker.

I try to imagine someone smarter than I am, and then do what he would do.

I try to tell the truth whenever I can.

I try to use unconditional love in small amounts so people really appreciate it. The rest of the time I just try not to yell.

I understand how you feel.

I've felt that way, too.

I've found that the best way to deal with this is...

I used to be disgusted; now I try to be amused.

I used to rob banks and the trick is – it’s not important that everybody in the car likes each other.  It’s just important that we all know how to do our jobs.

I used to think that art was about not compromising, but I finally realized that compromising is an art in itself.

I usually give people more chances than they deserve, but once I’m done, I’m done.

I usually work in a direction until I know how to do it, then I stop.  At the time that I am bored or understand, another appetite has formed.

I’ve never fired a manager too soon.

I want Coke to be within arm’s length of desire.

I want everyone to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself.

I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know what you ache for.

I want to live like a pilot who survives because he neglects no detail, takes nothing for granted, and expects even then that something may go wrong.

I want to make my own mistakes, not yours.

I want to see how big we can get before we get bad.

I want to thank everybody who made this day necessary.

I want to thank my parents for raising me to have confidence that is disproportionate to my looks and abilities.

I want what I have.

I wanted to protect him from that which no one can protect any of us.

I warn you against shedding blood, indulging in it and making a habit of it, for blood never sleeps. (Saladin)

I was a free man in Paris.

I felt unfettered and alive.

There was nobody calling me up for favors

And no one’s future to decide. 

                        ---  Joni for Geffen

I was a teenaged gefilte fish.

I was born at night, but it definitely wasn't last night.

I was born too soon and I started too late.

I was extremely popular among people who didn’t want to be bothered.

I was misled by the quality of your writing.

I was not the lion but it fell to me to give the lion’s roar.

I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one.

I was Snow White, but I drifted.

I wasn’t indexing myself against the people around me.

I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.

I will go down with this ship. (Dido)

I will not let my absence of direct experience reduce the intensity of my opinion.

I will not trade underwear.

I will out-prepare all others.

"I will tell you the beginning, and if it pleases your ladyships, you shall see the end, for the best is yet to do."

I wonder what it would be like with you around.

I wonder what you mean.  I wonder if you wonder.

I work. “Happy” is like a value judgment. Good, bad, happy. I wouldn’t know how to evaluate.

I would be sitting my head in a moose.

I would die for the safety of the people I love.

I would rather be able to love things I cannot have than have things I cannot love.

I would sum up those values as:  excellence, unstinting effort, craft, courage, loyalty and love.

I wouldn’t have a career if I’d taken a lot of advice.

I wouldn’t know a Calvin Klein from a load of coal. (Halston)

I wouldn’t piss on him if he were on fire.

I wouldn’t want to be me.