Self-confidence conveyed,
Opportunity parlayed,
Risk delayed,
Self-esteem displayed,
And self-denial repaid.
This quotation by Dr. Marlene Caroselli was judged the winner of the "Maturity Quotations Contest" organised by Dr. Mardy Grothe, about whom I have written before in The Reading Room.
Dr. Caroselli, who lives in New York, is an educator, speaker, trainer, and the author of over 60 books, including The Critical Thinking Tool Kit and Principled Persuasion. She will receive an autographed and personally inscribed copy of Dr. Grothe's 2011 book: Neverisms: A Quotation Lover's Guide to Things You Should Never Do, Never Say, or Never Forget.
The Silver Medal in the competition went to Jura Zymantas of Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain, who wrote:
Maturity is recognising your limitations
but not allowing them to limit your aspirations.
And the Bronze Medal went to Charles Rose of New Paltz, New York, who wrote:
Maturity is understanding that most of the hours in your life
are spent alone and you're not lonely.
The following quotations all received an "Honourable Mention" in the competition (there is an entry from India, too):
Maturity is ripening without rotting.
Mary E. Armstrong (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
Maturity is recognizing not that one can BE wrong
but that one IS wrong.
Will Aston-Reese (Staten Island, New York)
Maturity is when you don't lose your cool on having to suffer a fool.
Dr. Nandini Bahri (Jamnagar, Gujarat, India)
Maturity is when you parent your parent successfully.
Heather Chandler (Douglassville, Pennsylvania)
Maturity is recalling the outrageous things
your former spouse did to upset you,
then turning over and going to sleep.
Eileen Dight (Harrisonburg, Virginia)
Maturity is teaching our big, grown-up, know-it-all adult self
how to nurture the child within.
Robert Dixon (Emerald Hills, California)
Maturity is when your perspective changes
from being the sun around which everything revolves
to being a small planet in an infinite universe.
Linda Donaldson (Hatfield, Pennsylvania)
A small part of maturity
is learning the difference between wants and needs.
A large part of maturity is acting on that knowledge.
Bill Emmons (Houston, Texas)
Maturity is aging . . . while paying attention.
Carl Henning (Phoenix, Arizona)
Maturity is when you handle the tasks of life without being ordered to,
and without whining.
Dee Dee Longenecker (Austin, Texas)
Maturity is looking in the mirror and seeing the pilot of your destiny.
Jean Lutz (Ponchatoula, Louisiana)
Maturity:
Doing what needs to be done
When it needs to be done
Whether you want to do it or not.
Matt Murray (Charlottesville, Virginia)
Maturity is that quality without which we know everything —
including what maturity is."
Alan Mynall (Oxford, England)
Maturity rises out of the smoke and ashes of an internal rebellion.
Sharon Nakagawa (no location determined)
Maturity is doing what you have to do, when it ought to be done,
without complaint.
Mike O'Rourke (Port Allen, Louisiana)
Maturity is when you can say no to yourself and yes to another.
Hart Pomerantz (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Maturity is the belief in experience
coupled with the experience of belief.
Jonathan Rose (Miami Beach, Florida)
Maturity is when you realise how essential the injustices you bore
were to who you became.
Ron Simoncini (Ridgewood, New Jersey)
You know you've reached maturity when you finally realise it's best to
go ahead and buy that 12-pack of toilet paper instead of a roll or two.
Mark Towns (Los Angeles, California)
Maturity is being on a stage whose immature curtains
are constantly limiting its performance.
Lloyd Williams (Travelers Rest, South Carolina)
- This post is adapted from the weekly newsletter sent out by Dr. Mardy Grothe.
