Motorcycles are Instruments of Death (and Other Lessons from a Six-Year-Old)
I recently stumbled upon an article comprising 30 life lessons bolstered by quotes from Marcus Aurelius, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Theodore Roosevelt, and other long-dead notables.
After reading it, I did a quick search on Medium and found dozens of posts featuring quotes from well-known figures throughout history:
21 Quotes That (if Applied) Change You Into a Better Person
18 Quotes That (if Applied) Will Make You More Successful
10 Incredible Quotes to Guide Your Life
10 Powerful Quotes That Will Inspire You to Take Action
10 Quotes From Richard Branson That Shook My Mind
People LOVE this stuff. There are tens of thousands of claps for these articles, and some of the authors have hundreds of thousands of followers.
So, I thought I’d share a little list of my own. I have some quotes that I’ve been collecting for the past few years that I think could teach us all a lesson or two about life.
Though I should mention they’re from the mind of a six-year-old boy.
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
We all have our opinions about children. To some, they’re adorable, precious gifts from the heavens. To others, they’re nothing but germ-infested, restaurant-ruining whiners.
Regardless of what camp you’re in, you have to admit: kids can be pretty damn funny.
They have no filter. They provide no context. They say what they mean, and they mean what they say, even if no one over the age of eight has any idea what they’re talking about.
“I love kids, especially little kids. Little kids are assholes, but they’re their own assholes.”
For the past few years I’ve jotted down a number of my young son’s observations, primarily because they’re often spot-on. Hurtful and offensive at times, but still…I often think, “the kid’s got a point.”
So, I hereby add to the plethora of articles featuring critical life lessons by way of quotes.
From my six-year-old, a few things we can learn…
About Productivity
“Eenie-meeny-miny-moe always gets the job done.”
About Understanding One’s Limitations
“I don’t really draw noses on pictures. It’s not my thing.”
Photo by Porapak Apichodilok from Pexels
About Literature
“Poetry is a story that is long and rhymes and doesn’t make sense.”
“Never leave a book behind.”
About Life
“Without toy stores, the world just isn’t a good place.”
“Vacations are like, move, move, move, there.”
“Milk: It’s crazy.”
“Life is not booger monsters.”
“Hugs taste like love, and love tastes like happiness and joy and laughter.”
“What is the problem, dude? All I did was burp. It’s not like I set you on fire.”
About Marriage & Parenting
“Mommy, why did you marry someone who does big stinky farts?”
“Daddy, you need to tell me a short story or you’re fired.”
“I have a challenge for you. The challenge is, you can’t tell me what to do. I know what I’m doing.”
Photo by Jason Rosewell on Unsplash
At some point, my son will learn to filter his thoughts. He will bite his tongue, become more politically correct, and lose that magical ability to be obnoxiously sweet.
I hope it takes him a while to get to that point, though, because I think I can learn a lot more from his creative, six-year-old brain than I can learn from any of those notable dead guys.