The Nature of Life (in No Particular Order)

“It’s always something. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” —Rosesanne Roseannadanna

When God closes a door He usually opens up a window.

“We’ll jump off that bridge when we come to it.” (Onetime Cleveland Cavaliers Coach Bill Musselman, upon being asked how his beleaguered team would prepare to play the mighty Boston Celtics.)

Into every life, a little rain must fall.

When it rains, it pours.

Everything happens for a reason.

Life’s a bitch, and then you die.

“Don’t worry about a thing. Every little thing’s gonna be alright.” —Bob Marley

“Life is shit.” —my Aunt Zodie (in her cups, at suburban cocktail parties [her father committed a murder-suicide on her mother and himself, and she discovered it])

“Life is life.” —Opus

“The cure for the pain is the pain.” —Gretchen Peters

“What will you do with your one wild and precious life?” —Mary Oliver, poet

“I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don’t want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment.” —Woody Allen

“You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?” —Steven Wright

“It all works out in the great cosmic wash.” —my mother (usually refereeing a sibling dispute over whose turn it was to unload the dishwasher)

“If you communicate as if life is essentially a war and a power struggle, then your life will be a war and a power struggle. If you communicate on more peaceful terms and with more gentle words—you have a chance for a peaceful and happy existence, surrounded by people who love you, and people you love.” —me, writing in An Effort to Understand

“God is in the details.” —Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

“The devil is in the details.” —Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” —John Lennon

“Nobody told me there’d be days like these.” —John Lennon

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

Hard times, come again no more.