Dont Forget To Sing In The Lifeboats

372 Pages·2.044 MB·English

by  Kathryn Petras

UNCOMMON WISDOM for UNCOMMON TIMES
“Don’t Forget to Sing in the
Lifeboats.”
by Kathryn & Ross Petras
with Illustrations by R. O. Blechman
WORKMAN PUBLISHING • NEW YORK
Contents
Introduction
Quotes
About the Authors
Copyright
Introduction
Worried about your 401(k)? Your mortgage? Your job? Join the club! Thinking the future looks a little uncertain? Come on in!
Feeling as if the pressure cooker of life is getting ready to cook your goose? Here, we’ll make room for you . . .
That’s the point: Whatever issues we’re staring down, we are not alone. Indeed, throughout history people have lived in what
felt like (and often were) uncommon times. What you hold in your hand is a collection of the insight and wit that helped many of
those who came before us—as well as a few of our living poets and scholars, singers and statesmen—make it to the other side of
difficulty.
This uncommon wisdom includes quotes from people who have been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale. People who
have graduated from the school of hard knocks, yet kept a sense of perspective—and often a sense of humor. People who, like all
of us, struggled to keep on keeping on . . . and usually did.
As the writer Sherry Hochman once said, “Every day is a gift—even if it sucks.” Or, as our title suggests, courtesy of Voltaire,
“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”
Kathryn and Ross Petras
New York City
Acceptance
Life is a crisis—so what!
—MALCOLM BRADBURY
Writer
The Fine Art of Being Happy
The point of living, and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to
believe the best is yet to come.
—VICTOR HUGO
Writer
Never Give Up
Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve.
Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the
sun shines.
—LEROY “SATCHEL” PAIGE
Baseball player
Money
October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in
stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May,
March, June, December, August, and February.
—MARK TWAIN
Writer
True Grit
He who loses wealth loses much. He who loses a friend loses more. But he
that loses his courage
loses all.
—MIGUEL DE CERVANTES
Writer
Perseverance
It even helps stupid people to try hard.
—LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA
Philosopher