The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride Quotes

“One of the things I’ve learned is this: We all get older, every single day. We lose people we love along the way. No matter how much we want to hold onto a moment, it always slips on by. Things change. Life goes on, for those of us still here. Moment by moment by moment. But you know what the surprising thing is? That’s exactly what makes life precious, that’s what. —From the Journal of Murray McBride”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“The problem is that it’s happening every single second of every day of our entire lives. When we get old enough to realize things are ever-changing, so much has already changed. We’ve already lost so much. So we start to hold onto moments as much as we can. To appreciate them. But it doesn’t fix anything. Time still goes by, second by unstoppable second. Sometimes I feel like a dog chasing its tail. I’ll recognize a moment I want to hang onto. I’ll try really hard to appreciate it. But”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“Gratitude and empathy,” she says. “Instead of fear and guilt. It’s sounds good.” After several more steps, she says, “Does it ever get less hard?”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“After all, one thing I’ve learned over a hundred years is that no one likes when other people judge them.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“It’s about creating joy for someone you hold dear. That is all. Nothing more. And that’s enough. That, in itself, is so very worthwhile.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“We control the way we live our lives. The things we think about and work toward on a daily basis. The amount of joy we spread among other people just as lost and struggling and sometimes as hopeless as we are.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“Throwing myself into doing something for someone I’ve come to care about turns out to be the best medicine for the emptiness I have inside me. Or”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“There is a place for anger, and a time, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes anger is required to make a change. But it can’t be your normal. It will eat you up from inside. One day, after many, many angry days, I knew I had to find another way.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“There’s comfort in familiarity,” he says. “Familiarity of language—can you imagine suddenly not being able to understand what people are saying around you? I remember very strongly how that felt. And familiarity of culture—it would be hard to live with different holidays and customs than you’ve grown up with. And yes, familiarity of looks. It might be a human weakness, but it’s no coincidence that most people feel most comfortable around people that look like them.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“Sometimes we should all see things through other people’s eyes.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“Really? Why? If chocolate is your favorite, why don’t you get that?” Alexandra squishes her lips together in thought. “If I got it all the time, it wouldn’t be special. So I get vanilla, because that’s good, too. But when it’s a really, really, super-special day, then I get chocolate, and it makes it even better. Chocolate ice cream is only for the most amazing day ever.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“Really? Why? If chocolate is your favorite, why don’t you get that?” Alexandra squishes her lips together in thought. “If I got it all the time, it wouldn’t be special. So I get vanilla, because that’s good, too. But when it’s a really, really, super-special day, then I get chocolate,”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“only we could stop time. Call a time-out. Hey! I’ve got an important moment here! Let’s stop things so I can really appreciate it!”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“The thing about change that bothers me so much is that it doesn’t just happen once in a while. I could handle a little bit of change. The problem is that it’s happening every single second of every day of our entire lives. When we get old enough to realize things are ever-changing, so much has already changed. We’ve already lost so much.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“Why would you wish for something impossible when you know it can’t come true. It’s a waste of a wish, don’t you think?”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“Living by myself since Jenny died, I became old and crabby. I stopped seeing the brightness in people’s eyes, and stopped feeling any kind of connection at all. With anyone. And without connection, without people, we don’t have a darn thing—no matter what else we might have. I”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“Mom always says 'intentions matter.' Like when I drop a plate and it breaks, but I was just trying to help clean up after supper.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“So much of life is about where we decide to go, and who we meet when we’re there.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“The only thing I’m going to say today is that young folk don’t understand how much emptiness hurts. They think if you have pain, there must be a cause. Something real and substantial and. . . what’s the word I’m looking for? Tangible, that’s it. But they don’t understand that what hurts more than anything else in the world is nothing at all. Pure emptiness.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“And without connection, without people, we don’t have a darn thing—no matter what else we might have.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“I think you’re talking about another important, powerful, and beneficial human emotion. And like gratitude, it’s one most people don’t have enough of.” “And what’s that one?” “Empathy,” I say.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“When we love someone, what we can and can’t do becomes irrelevant. We no longer think in those terms. Would we stop trying to find water in the desert if a loved one was dying of thirst? No. When we love someone, we no longer have a choice. Can or can’t doesn’t even play into it.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“of the things I’ve learned is this: We all get older,”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“Over the last hundred years, I’ve learned a thing or two. Maybe not as much as I should have, but at least a thing or two. One of the things I’ve learned is this: We all get older, every single day. We lose people we love along the way. No matter how much we want to hold onto a moment, it always slips on by. Things change. Life goes on, for those of us still here. Moment by moment by moment. But you know what the surprising thing is? That’s exactly what makes life precious, that’s what.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride

“So much of life is about where we decide to go, and who we meet when we’re there. Those two things: where and who. They end up making all the difference.”
― Joe Siple, The Final Wish of Mr. Murray McBride