Werner and Mary Braun: Some great and less than great quotes

Published 10:20 pm Thursday, June 16, 2016

I’m sure that you will recognize some of these quotes but perhaps not the authors of the quotes.

Let’s start with some of the hilarious quotes from one of life’s great philosophers, Yogi Berra.

• “It’s not over until it’s over.” One of my favorites.

• “I never said most of the things I said.” There are times when I wish I could have said this, especially when the mouth engaged before the brain.

• Here’s one you may not have heard before. “We made too many wrong mistakes.”

• The power of stating the obvious never escaped Yogi: “You wouldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.”

The Louisville Lip, Muhammad Ali, had some memorable lines. (Note: This was written two days before Ali passed.)

 • His most famous line which epitomize his style: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” No other heavyweight in history moved like Ali.

• “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” This truism has been spoken by others in different words. The fear of failing can paralyze you.

• “Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.” All I can say is amen!

• Was there ever a greater hyperbolist? “I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.”

Here’s a couple from another boxer, Mike Tyson.

• “Everyone has a plan ‘till they get punched in the mouth.” I believe this is true literally and figuratively.

• “I feel like sometimes that I was not meant for this society.” Unfortunately he went on to prove that this is true.

Lance Armstrong: “I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999.” Unfortunately the “claims” turned out to be painfully true.

Plato: “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” I would add that playing golf reveals who you really are faster than any other sport!

Confucius: “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” Speaking personally, when I was a young man I was clearly guilty but with age I’m starting to adopt the KISS principle — Keep It Simple Stupid.

Friedrich Nietzsche: I’m sure you’ve heard the first part of this famous quote (“God is dead.”) but for me the telling and most thought-provoking part comes later: “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives; who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves?”

I’ll close with two of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein:

• “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” Clearly Einstein was more than a brilliant physicist!

• “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I’ve clearly been insane a few times in my life. How about you?

Werner and Mary Braun live in Dalton. He is the retired president of the Dalton-based Carpet and Rug Institute.