English: We delight in the beauty of the butterfly...

I saw this quote at Twitter, and I knew right away the butterfly would make a good meme image. I'm guessing this really is by Maya Angelou: although it does not show up at Wikiquote, this did make the London Guardian as a quote by Maya Angelou, but without a reference. If anybody has the Maya Angelou book where this comes from, let me know!

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly,

but rarely admit the changes it has gone through

to achieve that beauty.

— Maya Angelou

I made two versions, both with Automotivator; cat image comes from Cheezburger, and the butterfly close-up from Wikimedia Commons.

English: We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.

(German proverb)

The source for the proverb is David Crystal's book, As They Say in Zanzibar: Proverbial Wisdom from Around the World (Oxford University Press: 2006). Crystal does not provide the proverbs in the original, but I would guess this might be the German: Wir können den Wind nicht ändern, aber die Segel anders setzen.

The image is by paslotte at Flickr.

The poster is made with AutoMotivator.

English: When you want to build a ship...

This morning at Twitter I found a poster which attributes the quote to Saint-Exupery:

At the WikiQuote.org page, though, I found a useful discussion; as often, this is probably not Saint-Exupery himself, and the translation is also not good. Apparently this is a French adage (which may or may not have been used by Saint-Exupery at some point; apparently not)... but the adage is a good one! Here is the French:

Quand tu veux construire un bateau, ne commence pas par rassembler du bois, couper des planches et distribuer du travail, mais reveille au sein des hommes le desir de la mer grande et large.

And here is the translation proposed instead of the one that circulates on the Internet:

When you want to build a ship, do not begin by gathering wood, cutting boards, and distributing work, but awaken within the heart of man the desire for the vast and endless sea.

Because I am using the cat, for the English version I switched "of man" to "your" which fits with the second-person style that starts the adage; I left the French the same as cited. I found the image at Cheezburger but because there are too many words for a LOLCat, I used Automotivator to make the poster:

English: The same wall that keeps out disappointment keeps out happiness.

Today's meme is a poster instead of a LOLCat. I saw this quote at Twitter yesterday and I knew that I wanted to use it. These words are often attributed to Jim Rohn, but I do not know if that is correct. The image is by Mark Heard at Flickr. The poster is made with AutoMotivator.

The same wall that keeps out disappointment keeps out happiness.

English: They never said it would be easy.

They never said it would be easy.

They only said it would be worth it.

I picked the quote I liked best and made two LOLCats. The first one is a cat climbing a tree:

I like this one of the cat with a fish even better, but some people have told me the fish-eye freaks them out. You can decide which one you like best:

This quote came from a great poster that Jackie Gerstein shared at Twitter. Click here to see the full-sized version of the poster.

English: Rome wasn't built in a day.

There are lots of variations on the "Rome was not built in a day" saying; Carol Dweck even mentions it in her Mindset book:

We have lots of sayings that stress the importance of risk and the power of persistence, such as “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” and “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” or “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

I grabbed a Rome version from Sue's Cheezburger gallery (see below), and here is a Polish version about the lovely city of Cracow from my Proverb Laboratory:

Cracow wasn't built in a day.

(Polish: Nie od razu Kraków zbudowano.)

From Sue Strickland's Cheezburger gallery:

Roma aedificata est non uno die.

And here's an English version that I made with AutoMotivator with a photo by Robert Lowe:

English: I do things I do not know how to do

I have seen these words attributed to Picasso (thanks to a post from a friend at Google+), but I am not really sure if that is the case or not. No matter who said them, though, they are good words for a growth mindset!

I do things I do not know how to do to learn how to do them.

I made this image with cheezburger, and I also made this version also (also with cheezburger), but some readers have told me the original photograph freaks them out. You can decide what you think. I think it works because cats are hunters by nature, and big cats like lions would indeed hunt down a deer for their dinner.

Latin: Destitutus ventis, remos adhibe.

The image is from Pixabay, and the poster is made with Automotivator.

For you Latin students, the word rēmus, "oar," is pronounced differently than the name of Remus, brother of Romulus. Remus has a short "e" while remus has a long "e" (spelled the same in Latin, but pronounced differently).

Destitutus ventis, remos adhibe.

If the winds fail you, use the oars.

Latin: Initium rerum gestarum desiderium est.

As Magistra Susan and I were brainstorming about Latin phrases, Susan had a very nice idea of using "res gestae" in a phrase, and one of the sententiae that emerged from that was this one! Made with cheezburger.

Initium rerum gestarum desiderium est.

Desire is the start of your accomplishments.

English: Fall down seven times, get up eight.

Source: Laura Gibbs, Proverb Laboratory.

Fall down seven times, get up eight.