Life Happens, Don't Look For A Scapegoat

It happens - Sometimes.
- the movie Forrest Gump

Life, by its very nature, can never be certain or "safe."
What each of us *can* choose is whether to be a kind person or to be a selfish person.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
                  
The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
- Napoleon

When they are disappointed, most people react by assigning blame,
and finding someone to criticize.
What if we accepted that our disappointments
are seldom the result of malice on the part of anyone,
and worked together to make life better for all.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
- John Lennon

Laws of nature do not make exceptions for nice people.
- Harold S. Kushner

When we are disappointed, we look for someone to blame.
Declaring someone to be at fault is the nature of anger.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The man who can smile when things go wrong
has thought of someone else he can blame it on.
- Robert Bloch

It is a natural human instinct to assign blame to some person for everything that goes wrong in our lives.
Sometimes this is an attempt to deflect blame from our own behavior.
Often this is just an unwillingness to accept that tragic events can occur without any human being at fault.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading:  Don't Take Life as Personal Affront

Think Twice Whenever "Fault" Is Mentioned 

Blame is a Cop Out 

Criticism and Complaint 
        

Criticism and Complaint

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain,
and most fools do.
- Benjamin Franklin

Expectation is the root of all heartache.
- William Shakespeare

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Never ascribe to malice that which is
adequately explained by incompetence.
- Napoleon

We have to let go of all blame, all attacking, all judging,
to free our inner selves to attract what we say we want.
- Joe Vitale

When they are disappointed, most people react by assigning blame,
and finding someone to criticize.
What if we accepted that our disappointments
are seldom the result of malice on the part of anyone,
and worked together to make life better for all.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Times of Trial and Suffering

Why Me?

Why I forgive everyone, especially myself

Don't shoot the messenger

The #1 Secret of Great Relationships

It's Not About You

Don't Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you.
- don Miguel Ruiz

You can't get mad at weather because weather's not about you.
Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life.
- Doug Coupland

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
- Napoleon

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; ...
Forgive them anyway.
- Kent Keith
(often attributed to Mother Teresa, who kept a copy on the wall of her orphanage)

What you think of me is none of my business.
- Terry Cole-Whittaker

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words
and their actions are truly about themselves.
Don't take it personally when they rant,
even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.
Their negativity is basically selfishness,
and their selfishness is about them, not about you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Don't Take Rejection Personally

How to be Positive Around Negative People

How to Not Care What People Think about You

When You Have Been Wronged

When to Avoid Battles

Disappointment and Criticism

Expectation is the root of all heartache.
- William Shakespeare

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain,
and most fools do.
- Benjamin Franklin

We have to let go of all blame, all attacking, all judging,
to free our inner selves to attract what we say we want.
- Joe Vitale

Never ascribe to malice that which is
adequately explained by incompetence.
- Napoleon

When they are disappointed, most people react by assigning blame,
and finding someone to criticize.
What if we accepted that our disappointments
are seldom the result of malice on the part of anyone,
and worked together to make life better for all.

Further reading:  The Serenity Prayer

Times of Trial and Suffering

Why I forgive everyone, especially myself

Why Me?

The #1 Secret of Great Relationships

Don't shoot the messenger

Expectations

Blame

Quiet Time

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy
is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet,
alone with the heavens, nature and God.
Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.
- Anne Frank

The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.
- Napoleon Bonaparte

God's voice is still and quiet and easily buried under an avalanche of clamor.
- Charles Stanley

A quiet mind cures all.
- Robert Burton

Further reading: Quiet Quotes

Quotes about Solitude

Don't Take It Personally

Choose Inner Peace and a Less Stressful Life

Let me bring peace

Meditation Quotes

Inner Peace Quotes

Peace Pilgrim Quotes

Acceptance Quotes

Blame

A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure
until he begins to blame somebody else.
- John Burroughs

We have to let go of all blame, all attacking, all judging,
to free our inner selves to attract what we say we want.
- Joe Vitale

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
- Napoleon

Live and let live.
- Yiddish Proverb

I forgive everyone, especially myself,
for all actions and all inactions throughout my entire life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Someone to Blame

I forgive everyone, especially myself

An Inspired Life for Teens

Why I Choose to Believe that Others are Never the Cause of My Unhappiness

Forgive and Forget? Can You Really Lift Your Burden of Resentments?

Quotes about Blame

Quotes about Anger

Quotes about Forgiveness

Quotes about Regret

Quotes about Resentment

Quotes about Hate

Malice

Never ascribe to malice that which is
adequately explained by incompetence.
- Napoleon

How much pain they have cost us,
the evils which have never happened.
- Thomas Jefferson

Do not anticipate trouble,
or worry about what may never happen.
Keep in the sunlight.
- Benjamin Franklin

The world is not out to get you. It is very seldom that anyone intends to harm you. When the mail-order company sends you the wrong product, or your friend doesn't return your phone call, it is very unlikely to be malice. People are usually just doing the best they can - in their own fallible human way.

Further reading: How to Stop Worrying

Never Let Anyone Get Your Goat

Vengeance

Acceptance Makes a Great Relationship Even Better

The #1 Secret of Great Relationships

Napoleon quote: Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
- Napoleon

Don't take anything personally.
- don Miguel Ruiz (this is the second of his Four Agreements)

When that driver swerves into your lane and cuts you off, it may be stupidity, disregard, even anger, but it isn't personal and it is unlikely to be malice.

Relax, breathe, smile, and don't let it ruin your day.

Further reading: De-Stress Your Life

How To Stop Worrying By Using the Qigong Release Exercise