Quotidian the Llama, Volume 1: The Excellent Thoughts of Others

"Add another quote and make it a gallon."

Quotidian the Llama, Volume 1: The Excellent Thoughts of Others is an often amusing collection of wise things other people and I have said, supported by 60-some wildly entertaining original stories and anecdotes. As Benjamin Disraeli said, "Nurture your mind with great thoughts." Some things are so well-said they can't be improved, and ought to be remembered and applied in some way to what we do.

The simple truth is I like the excellent thoughts of others. When I was in high school, I often carried a book of familiar quotations to read for fun, and the habit continued for 40-some years. I have lots of quotations stored away, scribbled in notebooks during meetings, taken as notes while reading, or researched as part of some project.

I suggest you do the same. Keep a little notebook with you, or use your smartphone or tablet, and when you see or hear or think up words of wisdom, write them down. Remember, "Even the palest ink is better than the most retentive memory."

Words are more than just words. Words are good, essential, powerful. Words are promises. What we choose to do about the words, right now, matters. It's true that some things are so well-said they can't be improved, but we can be improved. We can always be improved, each of us, in all areas of our lives. Between every stimulus and every response, we make a choice.

Why not establish regular and frequent times to ponder and evaluate, to think and to rethink, to be sure our words and our actions are in line. Why not get some new thoughts going? That's what books like this are for. That, and a good laugh or two.

The title quote is from Groucho Marx. And always remember what my mom says: "Buy my son's books."