August 13, 2007

Charlie & Lucy

Peanuts was a syndicated daily comic strip written and drawn by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950 to the day after Schulz's death on February 13, 2000. The strip was one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium.


Charlie Brown, the principal character of Peanuts, wins our heart with his losing ways. It always rains on his parade, his baseball game, and his life. He's an inveterate worrier who frets over trifles (but who's to say they're trifles?). He can be spotted a mile away in his sweater with the zig-zag trim, head down, hands in pocket, headed for Lucy's psychiatric booth. He is considerate, friendly and polite and we love him knowing that he'll never win a baseball game or the heart of the little red-haired girl, kick the football Lucy is holding or fly a kite successfully. His friends call him "wishy-washy," but his spirit will never give up in his quest to triumph over adversity.

Here are my all-time favorite Charlie Brown quotes:

In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back.

I've developed a new philosophy... I only dread one day at a time.

Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter like unrequited love!


My anxieties have anxieties.

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."

I got a "C" in everything. I'm a straight "blah" student!

Years are like candy bars. We're paying more, but they're getting shorter.

There must be millions of people all over the world who never get any love letters . . . I could be their leader.

Sometimes you lie in bed at night, and you don't have a single thing to worry about...That always worries me!

It always looks darkest just before it gets totally black.


I'm not a poor loser, I'm a good loser. I'm so good at it I lose all the time!

That's the secret to life... replace one worry with another.

How can we lose when we're so sincere?

Happiness is anyone and anything that's loved by you.

Life is like an ice cream cone...you have to learn to lick it.


Good grief, indeed!




Making her debut in 1952, just two short years after the Peanuts comic strip first ran, Lucy Van Pelt burst into the popular daily, becoming the high-voltage catalyst to ignite the comedic fire under the lovable members of the original Peanuts gang. Lucy's take-charge attitude and annoying self-confidence immediately cast her as one of the favorite characters of the strip as well as an unlikely, but powerful, role model for men and women alike. To ardent fans of the strip, she is best loved for being bossy and for her charmingly crabby disposition that is solely her own.

Of all the Peanuts characters, I admit to identifying with Lucy the most. Here are some of the most memorable words the famous fussbudget has boldly uttered
:

This is a hard world to get along in. I feel sorry for all the new little babies.

It's hard for a critical person to go to sleep if she isn't allowed a brief word of criticism!

By the time I've grown up, we'll probably have a woman president. You know what that means, don't you? It means I won't get to be the first one. BOY, THAT MAKES ME MAD!!

I never made a mistake in my life. I thought I did once, but I was wrong.

I'm worried about a little boy who sits in front of me at school. He cries every day. This afternoon I tried to help him. I whacked him one on the arm... There's nothing like a little physical pain to take your mind off emotional problems.

Can I help it if I have crabby genes?

I think you should work hard to improve your character, Charlie Brown. Once a child gets to be five years old, his character is pretty well established.


It's a scientific fact that girls are smarter than boys! And do you know who discovered it? WOMEN SCIENTISTS!

Each generation must be able to blame the previous generation for its problems. It doesn't solve anything, but it makes us all feel better.

Try not to have a good time . . . This is supposed to be educational.

I'm intrigued by this view you have on the purpose of life, Charlie Brown. You say we're put on this earth to make others happy? ... What are the others put here for?

I'm frustrated and inhibited, and no one understands me.

You can't drift along forever... you have to direct your thinking. For instance you have to decide whether you're going to be a liberal or a conservative. You have to take some sort of stand. You have to associate with some sort of cause.

Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life.

Have you ever seen an X-ray of a hiccup?

You think being average is enough, don't you? Well it isn't! What shape would the world be in today if everyone settled for being average?


People who prefer sunsets are dreamers! They always give up! They always look back instead of forward! I just might have known you weren't a sunrise person! Sunrisers are go-getters! They have ambition and drive! Give me a person who likes a sunrise every time! Yes, sir! I'm sorry Charlie Brown. If you prefer sunsets to sunrises, I can't take your case. You're hopeless!

We critical people are always being criticized!

I hate playing with a poor loser, but I can't stand playing with a good loser!

No one wants to turn my jump rope for me. They all say I'm too crabby. They say I complain too much. They say I complain when they turn it too fast and they say I complain when they turn it too slow. No one understands us crabby people!


Life is too short to waste it listening to some person who doesn't know when to shut up! Time is too valuable!

Gee. Do they still make wooden Christmas Trees?

What do you mean nobody's fault! It has to be somebody's fault! Somebody's got to take the blame! Find a scapegoat!

No matter how hard you try, you can't build a rainman.

Just remember, I can take anything that life throws at me! (A ball lands on her head.) That was a hit, not a throw!

You DO think I'm beautiful, don't you, Charlie Brown? [pause] You didn't answer me right away. You had to think about it first, didn't you? If you really had thought I was beautiful, you would've spoken right up. I know when I've been insulted. I KNOW WHEN I'VE BEEN INSULTED.

Happiness is a warm puppy.

Being crabby all day makes you hungry.

All you really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.

August 05, 2007

Relax and Let Go


"You can either relax and let go of your life, in which case you will know peace. Or you can try to control your life, in which case you will know war. Try to make simple enjoyment of your life your goal. For example, if you want to be a good parent, just make the goal to enjoy your children, and you'll do everything right. The simpler you can keep your goal, the more successful you're going to be. There's nothing complicated about all this. Just relax, be happy, and treat the people around you gently. It really is that simple. The struggle is in getting to a place where you sincerely want to do that."

-Hugh Prather