"And now I want to tell you about my late Uncle Alex. He was my father’s kid brother, a childless graduate of Harvard who was an honest life insurance salesman in Indianapolis. He was well-read and wise. And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy. So when we were drinking lemonade under an apple tree in the summer, say, and talking lazily about this and that, almost buzzing like honeybees, Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, 'If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.'
So I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.'
That’s one favor I’ve asked of you.
Now I’ve got another one, a show of hands. How many of you have had a teacher at any point in your entire education who made you happier to be alive, prouder to be alive than you had previously believed possible? Now please say the name of that teacher out loud to someone sitting or standing near you.
OK? All done? 'If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.'" Address at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, September 22, 2003
"How nice--to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive." "Breakfast of Champions"
"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies— 'G-d damn it, you've got to be kind'." "G-d Bless you, Mr. Rosewater"
"Still and all, why bother? Here's my answer. Many people need desperately to receive this message: I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone."
"You guarantee that you are telling the truth by saying 'I give my word of honor that such and such is true'. I have never knowingly lied, having said first I give my word of honor. So I now give you my word of honor that it is a courageous and honorable and beautiful thing you have done to become college graduates.
I give you my word of honor that we love you and need you. We love you simply because you are of our species. You have been born. That is enough." Commencement Address, Southampton College, c. May 1981
"I apologize. I said I would apologize; I apologize now. I apologize because of the terrible mess the planet is in. But it has always been a mess. There have never been any ''Good Old Days,'' there have just been days. And as I say to my grandchildren, ''Don’t look at me. I just got here myself." Syracuse University
He's just beautiful and reminds me of my gram.
"And so it goes."
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