Mary Schmich Quotes

• Don't waste your time on jealousy.

  Mary Schmich

  Waste, Sunscreen, Don't Waste Your Time

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.32, Agate Digital

  49 Copy quote

• Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

  Mary Schmich

  Years, People, Interesting

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.59, Agate Digital

  38 Copy quote

• Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere.

  Mary Schmich

  Book, Reading, Tickets

  "Now Boarding At Any Newspaper, Magazine Or Book". articles.chicagotribune.com. October 28, 1998.

  25 Copy quote

• Opening day. All you have to do is say the words and you feel the shutters thrown wide, the room air out, the light pour in. In baseball, no other day is so pure with possibility. No scores yet, no losses, no blame or disappointment. No hangover, at least until the game's over.

  Mary Schmich

  Baseball, Disappointment, Hangover

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.220, Agate Digital

  23 Copy quote

• Good art is art that allows you to enter it from a variety of angles and to emerge with a variety of views.

  Mary Schmich

  Art, Views, Angle

  75 Copy quote

• Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

  Mary Schmich

  Inspirational, Dance, Ballet Class

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.33, Agate Digital

  16 Copy quote

• The secret to happiness, at Thanksgiving or any time, is to find pleasure in imperfection.

  Mary Schmich

  Imperfection, Secret, Pleasure

  "Thanksgiving Helper Hotline addresses pressing holiday issues" by Mary Schmich, articles.chicagotribune.com. November 21, 2012.

  7 Copy quote

• The movies we love and admire are to some extent a function of who we are when we see them.

  Mary Schmich

  Movie, Gambling, Actors

  13 Copy quote

• Do one thing every day that scares you.
  The race is long and, in the end,
  it's only with yourself.

  Mary Schmich

  Race, Long, Scare

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.32, Agate Digital

  9 Copy quote

• Like many women my age, I am 28 years old.

  Mary Schmich

  Funny, Birthday, Knowledge

  21 Copy quote

• Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

  Mary Schmich

  Real, Worry, Tuesday

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.31, Agate Digital

  18 Copy quote

• Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

  Mary Schmich

  Missing, Gone, Knees

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.32, Agate Digital

  9 Copy quote

• Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. The older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

  Mary Schmich

  Friendship, People, Friends Come And Go

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.33, Agate Digital

  86 Copy quote

• Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

  Mary Schmich

  Children, Divorce, Wedding Anniversary

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.59, Agate Digital

  8 Copy quote

• Families are ecosystems. Each life grows in response to the lives around it

  Mary Schmich

  Ecosystems, Grows, Response

  7 Copy quote

• Chicago is constantly auditioning for the world, determined that one day, on the streets of Barcelona, in Berlin's cabarets, in the coffee shops of Istanbul, people will know and love us in our multidimensional glory, dream of us the way they dream of San Francisco and New York.

  Mary Schmich

  Dream, New York, Coffee

  8 Copy quote

• Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself. Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

  Mary Schmich

  Race, Compliments You, Long

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.32, Agate Digital

  8 Copy quote

• You can figure out who you were by which movies you loved when

  Mary Schmich

  Figures

  7 Copy quote

• For some Chicago expats, food is the medicine that blunts the pain of separation.

  Mary Schmich

  Pain, Medicine, Chicago

  7 Copy quote

• Replace the words "have to" with "get to" and watch how the cold rain on your life changes to sunshine.

  Mary Schmich

  Life Changing, Rain, Sunshine

  "Thanksgiving Helper Hotline addresses pressing holiday issues" by Mary Schmich, articles.chicagotribune.com. November 21, 2012.

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• Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

  Mary Schmich

  Children, Noble, Politician

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.33, Agate Digital

  8 Copy quote

• You can map your life through your favorite movies, and no two people's maps will be the same.

  Mary Schmich

  Movie, Gambling, Two

  19 Copy quote

• Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you'll have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either of them might run out.

  Mary Schmich

  Trust, Running, Support You

  8 Copy quote

• Do not read beauty magazines. They only make you feel ugly.

  Mary Schmich

  Magazines, Ugly, Feels

  4 Copy quote

• Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

  Mary Schmich

  Letters, Old Love, Sunscreen

  Mary Schmich (2012). “The Best of Mary Schmich: Selected Writings by the Chicago Tribune's Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary”, p.32, Agate Digital

  8 Copy quote

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