Musings: Refrigerator Wisdom
- Nan Russell
- Apr 17
- 2 min read
The “wisdom” on my refrigerator has changed through the years. As a young mother, Dorothy Law Nolte’s poem “Children Learn What They Live” was there. Later, quotes like Sophia Loren’s, “Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life” found their way. And today? It’s an internet find: “There are people who would love to have your bad days.”
It’s true. I’m an incurable quote lover. Given the number of quotations tweeted, posted, pinned, and shared, some of you are, too. I started collecting snippets of wisdom shortly after my brother gave me a book filled with quotations, poems, and sentiments when he left for college. I devoured it as a teenager trying to figure out my own views. It still occupies prominent shelf space next to other books filled with inspirational and thought-provoking words.
Given my appetite for “refrigerator wisdom,” here are a few of my own from my books and musings all these years:
More is not a synonym for better.
Waiting for someone to read your mind is like waiting for the goose to lay a golden egg. It only
happens in fairy tales.
While wishing and hoping makes you a dreamer, acting and doing makes you someone who can turn dreams into reality.
How can you offer the best of who you are to the world if you’re not offering the best of who you are to yourself?
You will never be any younger than you are right now.
You can’t change how you’ve lived, only how you will. Your life is about the choices you still get to make.
No matter who signs your paycheck, you ultimately work for yourself.
It’s not about the time you have; it’s about the choices you make in how to use it.
No one gets a perfect life.
Finding what matters is what matters.
From my husband’s wisdom for handling unpleasant tasks: “Get it over first,” to my mother’s classic favorite: “Don’t cross the bridge until you come to it,” we all have life wisdom learned along the way. And you’ll never know when your wisdom-words might be just what someone else needs to tackle a fear, move forward, or be inspired to make a difference.
You can find more of my musings in the “Previous Work Archive: In the Scheme of Things ITSOTArchive (nanrussell.com); Winning at Working WWArchive (nanrussell.com)
You can scroll some of my favorite quotes here: Gallery & Musings | Nan S Russell
