What's your own personal motto

[Sigrikr]

A lot of really good ones in here.

"Be someone worth writing about."

I let that be my impetus to constantly pursue a better self, not to accept mediocrity. If I want to be part of heroic memory, then I have to act as such.

[Cat in the rack]

"Build a thousand bridges and suck one dick: you're not a bridge-builder, you're a dick-sucker."

 

Homophobia aside, I quite liked this quote. It reminds me that doing something wrong can have a larger effect than getting something right.

[Pherales]

"Quit acting like a child and get it done."  This one is said a lot, mostly under my breath to myself, or to whiny family members.

 

"Why worry about things you have absolutely no control over, and neglect the things you can absolutely change?"  Often said to everyone else.

[Trewest]

I have a few depending on the situation:

 

Com'on feet= Often said when I am tired, wornout or plain dragassing. But I know my feet will carry me forward, they're they best transportation I have.

 

It hasn't killed me yet- my response to fearful things. I get afraid, but being afraid hasn't killed me yet, and neither has doing the things that make me afraid.

 

My family motto: Let the deed shaw./ Let the deeds show. Your actions speak for you in other words.

 

Carpe coleus: seize the testicles. Because seize the day is sometimes too gentle and I have to remind myself that I am worth standing up for.

 

Last but not least, stolen and summarized from the Tough Mudder pledge: I do not whine, kids whine. I overcome all fears.

[jimmy73]

" humans learn by two methods, repetition and trauma."  I can tell you not to touch a hot stove a million times but until you burn yourself you wont learn not to

 

"sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you" Don't sweat failures

 

"you gotta work, bitch!" attributed to Britney Spears

[Cat in the rack]

"sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you"

That's a new one, I'm keeping it.

[Mark D]

People who say something can't be done are annoying to those of us who are doing it.  (Dad)

 

I didn't fail.  I learned 99 ways NOT to make a light bulb (Thomas Edison)

 

Most people don't realize how close they were to success when they quit.  (Edison again)

 

If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.  H.L. Menken

 

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.

H. L. Mencken

Personally, I’m interested in keeping other people from building Utopia, because the more you believe you can create heaven on earth the more likely you are to set up guillotines in the public square to hasten the process. - James Lileks

[---]

I didn't fail.  I learned 99 ways NOT to make a light bulb (Thomas Edison)

 

I cannot tell you how many times I've screwed up something, then told myself that what I really did was find out how not to do that thing. Seems I'm in good company. 

[Lady Aislyn]

Carpe coleus: seize the testicles. Because seize the day is sometimes too gentle and I have to remind myself that I am worth standing up for.

 

Carpe coleus is a new one for me, but I'm totally stealing it!!

[Red1263]

If carpe coleus is ever muttered to me, I'm going to immediately cover my balls in a reflex. Thanks a lot you guys

[Mark D]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. (Usually reserved for people who get hurt or killed while doing monumentally stupid things, think Darwin awards)

On a related note:

Mess with the bull, get the horns.

Stupid is as stupid does.

[Lady Aislyn]

"Dominate." It covers pretty much every scenario. That or "Own it."

[Eleanorsbee]

My new favorite as of today ..... as I struggle to get up .. or struggle to get back off the bench after my heart rate has dropped .. or struggle to get back up off the floor

 

"Don't be a little bitch"

[Rurik Harrgath]

[Wolf]

I've had a few over the years, and a few got stuck:

"You get life, and breath, a world to walk and a path through the world--and the free will to wander the world as you choose." & "Make good art", both by Neil Gaiman. "Little by little one travels far" by Tolkien. "Everything under the sky" from the movie Hero, "Victims, ain't we all" from the original The Crow movie. And vulnerability is your strength (a Forrest Yoga reminder). Not to forget the way I was raised: the only valid reason for missing an appointment or somewhere I was needed is my own funeral (all though I am now trying to unlearn this, the motto has kept me alive on dark days - surpringly enough).

This year I am reminding myself to Breathe in pain, breathe out hope - which basically is a meditation technique named Tonglen (if one switches the notion of hope with love).

[wildross]

Isaiah 54:17

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

 

I will be getting a tattoo of this reference on a shield with crossed swords on my left shoulder soon.

[NicTheRugger]

"Leave it all on the pitch."

 

“Defend the weak, protect both young and old, never desert your friends. Give justice to all, be fearless in battle and always ready to defend the right."

[phobos28km]

My exercise motto is "Just keep moving," based mostly on Finding Nemo. I kinda chant it to myself when I am hitting the wall.

 

My life motto is probably "Allow others to underestimate you" or "Expect nothing, and you will always be pleasantly surprised." 

[Floriduh]

Actually, I follow Van Halen: "It's my life, It's now or never, I ain't gonna live forever"

Except that's Bon Jovi

[TheBuschman]

"Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."

"Work smarter, not harder."

"Two is one. One is none."

"Don't dwell." - 311

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." -Benjamin Franklin

"WE RIDE!" -To be shouted with gusto and confidence OR spoken in a gravelly voice OR barely above a whisper before embarking on a journey or task. Trust me...how it's said for each occasion matters. This dictates the attitude of the entire adventure.

[Rpage1977]

"Don't give up yet...You've still got a couple of Motherfuckers to prove wrong."

[Lady Aislyn]

Except that's Bon Jovi

I weep for the state of music history if Bon Jovi references are confused with Van Halen. Kids these days! Hahaha

[Superdan042]

"Non Serviam"

 

It means I will not serve. It's supposedly the last thing Lucifer said to God before throwing down his sword and leaving Heaven. 

 

It also features prominently in the writing of James Joyce, especially in A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man and there specifically refers to a line that reads: "I will not serve that in which I no longer believe."

 

To be honest, the latter is what has always rang true for me, but the former is also pretty bad ass, so I'll take both. 

[SomeGuyFromScotland]

Mine is tattooed on me:

 

"Rise above this"

 

Taken from a Seether song, but applicable to almost every challenge you'll ever face.

[Lady Aislyn]

Mine is tattooed on me:

 

"Rise above this"

 

Taken from a Seether song, but applicable to almost every challenge you'll ever face.

 

Great song!  Another, similar one is Indestructable by Disturbed