Woody’s award-winning novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.
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On New Year’s Eve an old Irish tradition calls for opening your front door at midnight to let out the Old Year. Perhaps two nights past, it strikes me belatedly, we should also have opened the back door, side door and garage door, plus all the windows and even the chimney chute, because 2025 seemed to overstay its welcome like a rude party guest.
As we move forward in 2026, some wise words of inspiration might be welcomed, so here are some favorite quotes I have saved over the years for just such an occasion.
“This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.” – Maya Angelou
“Write in on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.” – Kurt Vonnegut
“Love is the bridge between you and everything.” – Rumi
“That best portion of a good man’s life: His little, nameless acts of kindness and love.” – William Wordsworth
“The hands of a clock can measure a long life, but it is our hands that can make it a good life.” – my son Greg Woodburn
“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you’ll look back and realize they were big things.” – Kurt Vonnegut
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you don’t make an effort to help others less fortunate than you, then you’re just wasting your time on Earth.” – Wayne Bryan, my mentor and a role model of his words
“Great people are those who make others feel that they, too, can become great.” – Mark Twain
“If you can give nothing else, give encouragement.” – Wayne Bryan again
“All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.” – Magic Johnson
“A torn jacket is soon mended, but hard words bruise the heart of a child.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.” – H. Jackson Brown
“If there’s someone whose friendship you treasure, be sure to tell them now, don’t wait for a memorial service to say it.” Chuck Thomas, my dear predecessor in this space
“If you are planning for a year, sow rice; for a decade, plant trees; for a lifetime, educate people.” – Chinese proverb
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” – Audrey Hepburn
“Don’t tell me about your dreams of a castle, show me the stones you laid today.” – Wayne Bryan once more
“You ask me about the past, you ask me about the future, the only way to be happy is to be living right now.” – Yvon Chouinard
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” – C.S. Lewis
“Remember this, the choices you make in life, make you.” – John Wooden
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
“Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.” – John Lennon
“It’s okay to sometimes have cookies for breakfast.” – Woody Woodburn
“Wishing you a masterpiece New Year!” – me again
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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn
Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.
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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.