I just found my massive amount of saved fortune cookie fortunes.  I have a good pile of them because when I worked at a chinese food place my boss (D) and I talked about writing a book of short stories based on fortunes, to be called My Life As A Fortune Cookie.  I still want to do it, so I’ve saved lots of fortunes for inspiration.  I used to carry them around on me all the time, countless fortunes have been lost to the washing machine.  I still keep one around as much as I can, it says “you are a lover of words someday you will write a book”.  Here are some of the better bits of wisdom offered on these tiny slips of paper.

• An ounce of care is worth a pound of cure.
• Tell me, I will forget.  Involve me, I will understand.
• Q. What is K.M.S.? A. Keep Mouth Shut, the golden rule.
• Ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice.
• Poverty is no disgrace.
• A rolling stone gathers no moss…but it obtains a certain polish!
• Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
• Joys are often the shadows, cast by sorrows.
• Faith is knowing there is an ocean when you can only see the stream.
• Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy.
• You can’t go far in a rowboat without oars.
• Whistle while you work.
• Be careful! Straight trees often have crooked roots.
• If you bite the hand that feeds you, it won’t taste as good as the food you were fed.
• There’s no point to being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes.
• You discover treasures where others see nothing unusual.
• As the purse is emptied, the heart is filled.
• Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.
• In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.
• A kiss can beautify souls, hearts, and thoughts.
• Your meaning of love is special.  Why not share it.
• Writing is thinking on paper.
• A calm sea does not make a skilled sailor.
• Do not fear failure.
• Forbidden fruit creates many jams.
• A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something.
• An optimist is the human personification of spring.
• A lifestyle is what you pay for; a life is what pays you.
• A human being is a deciding being.
• All thing as a cause.  Look into your pass for answer
• Emotion is energy in motion.
• A woman’s thinking is quicker than her action.
• Human Rights: Know Them, Demand Them, Defend Them
• Fear and desire – two sides of the same coin.
• There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; its what we do with them that’s important.
• All that we are is a result of what we have thought.
• A dose of adversity is often as needful as a dose of medicine.
• Good bakers make plenty of dough.
• Be mischievous and you will not be lonesome.
• Commitment is what turns a promise into reality.
• Education is the ability to meet life’s situations.
• Never fear shadows.  They simply mean there’s a light shining somewhere nearby.
• Enjoy Life.  This is not a dress rehearsal.
• To measure up to all that is demanded of him, a man must overestimate his capacities.
• Lotus blossoms smell better when you stop.
• There is only one happiness in life: to love and be loved.
• Your emotions are right on the surface, but that’s okay.
• Commitment is the stuff character is made of the power to change the face of things.
• The whole world is a narrow bridge; the important thing is not to be afraid.
• Turn your scars into stars.
• It’s tough to be fascinating.
• To love what you do and feel that it matters–how could anything be more fun?
• We live at the edge of the miraculous.
• To remember is to understand.
• Ideas not coupled with action never become bigger than the brain cells they occupied.
• You need to recharge.  Spend time alone in nature.
• Do not desire what you do not need.
• Happiness isn’t an outside job, it’s an inside job.
• A good way to keep healthy is to eat more Chinese food.