When nothing goes right / turn left.
Yogi Berra
Sometimes I am in dire need of a quick laugh. This morning I skimmed aimlessly through my notebook - and found this quote of Lawrence Peter 'Yogi' Berra. Born 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri, he was a famous baseball player, nowadays mostly known for his sayings, which seem often a bit strange, but include more wisdom than one guess at the first glance.
In career guidance I especially love:
"If you come to a fork on a road, take it."
(No, I'm not mocking my clients - but sometime there must be an end of pondering and procrastinating, and one should act at last).
"If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else", is another favourite of mine.
And we all know the deep wisdom of this one:
"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."
Sometimes I wish I had his nerves:
"I never blame myself when I am not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?"
Well, I can.
And of course he is right with this corker:
"It ain't over till it's over."
23 comments:
Hello Britta:
Each one of these quotations is so very apt and each contains, as you say, a great deal of truth. We have always held to the belief that any decision taken, good or bad, is better than none at all. No decision always, in our view, results in confusion and further procrastination.
Dear Jane and Lance,
a lot of people seem to be almost paralysed to make a decision - they forget that (most) of those decisions can be altered. They fear to be responsible if the result is not good - but overlook that doing nothing leads also to results (but then they believe wrongly that someone else is the culprit)
I've read each of those quotes at one time or another, but never knew that they were from Yogi Berra. I can't bear to spend more than a moment in a suspended state - would rather have a decision (mine!)and work with the results, than move aimlessly, dependent on someone else's inability to act decisively.
Dear Pondside,
that's the spirit I share! This was Yogi said might also be true: "I never said most of the things I said." :-)
'(No, I'm not mocking my clients - but sometime there must be an end of pondering and procrastinating, and one should act at last).'
AMEN!
Dear Suze,
I hope it is a sign of consent? :-)
As a serial procrastinator, (I blame being a Libran!), I am constantly working on making decisions instead of putting things off. I do believe I am improving after all this time. x
Dear Plaits and Paisley,
improving is such a good feeling - and ticking off the To-Do-List is great too!
His quotes are all so wacky AND true! And sometimes doing nothing is doing something. ( I always wish there was an italics feature for commenting!)
Dear Crayon,
I would like an italic feature too! And doing something by doing nothing: that's the art of wu wei - very difficult for the Western mind.
I have been struggling with many things as of late, and just reading IT AIN'T OVER TIL IT'S OVER was such a great encouragement!
Dear Maggie,
I'm happy to see you're back! Great!
Love Yogi Berra, such a great way to turn a phrase.
I like the theory and practice quote! I'd never heard of Barra before...
Dear Janet,
yes,I think some of his sayings are deeper than it appears at first glance.
Dear IG,
I love that one very much, too - because: that's how it is, in real life!
Oh, B, these Yogiisms made me smile! Funny, funny. My father used to quote him ALL the time. Especially, "If you come to a fork on a road, take it."
You made my day. :)
Dear Jayne,
I'm happy for that!
Isn't it interesting what a knack he had for coming up with pithy sayings? (And love your garden photo with its own left turn!)
Hello Britta,
Those lines of wisdom were mind opening ones. Yogi Berra is his name, right? I never thought that a sportsperson one day would begin to think like a philosopher.
By the way, your new profile picture is good one..
Tomz
Dear Sue,
thank you for your photo-praise: it is on the Peacock Island in Berlin - really beautiful!
Dear Tomz,
thank you that you like the photo!
Yes - philosophy and sports don't exclude each other (husband, who loves sport, says, that nowadays sportsmen have to be highly intelligent). And we all know about the sound mind in a healthy body :-)
Found the quote on your blog when I needed it most (+ the laugh).
Late but - Thanks, Britta!
I like your sense of humour.
From now on I'll be here more often, I guess.
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