Commonplace Book

A Commonplace Book. “Commonplace”, from the Latin 'locus communis', meaning “a theme or argument of general application.”  For me, it is a collection of thoughts, ideas, anecdotes, poems, observations, and quotes that stood out and caught my attention, some with comment, some without. Essentially a scrapbook, a repository of thoughts too good to just pass over and let go.

“Wisdom is free, yet it is also the most expensive thing there is, for we tend acquire it through failure or disappointment or grief. That is why we try to share our wisdom, so that others will not have to pay the price for it that we paid.”

(Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Things Judaism has Taught Me about Life, 25 January 2019) 

“So, let us not be blind to our differences - but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which these differences can be resolved.”

(John F Kennedy, Commencement Address at the American University, Washington DC, June 10, 1963) 

“We can keep the commandments and still have bad things happen. So why bother?
“Because we’ll never know what we are being protected from through our obedience. Because it helps free us from a life of self-inflicted wounds.”

(Lori Fuller Sosa, The Gospel: An Eternal Life Hack, Ensign, January 2019) 

“God’s plan includes directions for us, referred to in the scriptures as commandments. These commandments are neither a whimsical set nor an arbitrary collection of imposed rules meant only to train us to be obedient. They are linked to our developing the attributes of godliness”

(Dale G Renlund, Choose You This Day, October Conference 2018) 

“There's no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone.”

(Author unknown) 

“The Lord watches over you. You need not suppose for a moment the Lord's eye is not upon you, the angels round about you, and they will take care of you and you may be peaceful and contented.”

(Brigham Young, Sermon at the Funeral of Mary Fielding Smith, September 23, 1852) 

“I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns.”

(Spencer W Kimball, “What I Hope You Will Teach My Grandchildren …, ” address to LDS seminary and institute personnel, July 11, 1966.) 

“The word of the gospel as it is preached and learned is, for each of us, the beginning. “Knowing” alone is not always sufficient to bring the promised light. We have to live by every word.”

(Barbara B Smith, General Relief Society Pres, Application of Welfare Principles in the Home: A Key to Many Family Problems, October Conference 1982) 

“In this day and age, with all the information that is out there, you have to seek the good stuff, it doesn't find you. You have to find it.”

(Comment made during Sunday School discussion, 6 January 2019)

“He's not waiting for us to be perfect. Perfect people don't need a Savior. He came to save his people in their imperfections. He is the Lord of the living, and the living make mistakes. He's not embarrassed by us, angry at us, or shocked. He wants us in our brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and our grief."

(Chieko N. Okazaki, Lighten Up, Deseret Book, 2002)

 “[There are] three things that people need — mastery, belonging, and autonomy — I'd add a fourth, after basic necessities have been met. It’s the attitude or the worldview that you bring to life. ... I would call [it] a more abundance-oriented approach, that there's room for everybody to grow.”

(Raj Raghunathan, professor of marketing at The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, in his recent book, If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy?, quoted from an interview with Joe Pinsker published in The Atlantic April 26, 2016 titled, “Why So Many Smart People Aren’t Happy”) 

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
(Hunter S. Thompson, The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967, quoted in Fearless (the biography of Navy SEAL Adam Brown, by Eric Blehm, 2018, 190) 

“All right, Heavenly Father, if I've got to be more patient, let's get it over with right now “

(Bruce C Hafen, describing Neal A Maxwell in his college years in A Disciple's Life, the Autobiography of Neal A Maxwell, Deseret Book 2002, 169) 

“My life cannot implement in action the demands of all the people to whom my heart responds.”

(Anne Morrow Lindbergh - 1906-2001, American author, aviator, and wife of Charles Lindbergh)