AIBU to think inspirational quotes are just annoying and don’t inspire anyone?

[Brevityisthesoulofwit]

I think inspirational quotes are mostly bullshit but a cousin of mine posted this one on Facebook earlier:

“When in doubt, choose the kids. There will be plenty of time later to choose work.”

Arrrgh. Nice ideal, but many are already feeling guilty about having to wfh while teaching children and actually no, if we don’t work now there may not be work later

Inspiration quotes are more than annoying, especially on walls

I find some very cringey when they’ve been overdone to death.
Things like ‘be yourself because everyone else is taken ’ or ‘life is like a box of chocolates...’ etc
I just tend to feel sorry for the person who is posting it because they must be going through hardships if they feel the need to share them!

I know some people find them helpful and uplifting but I just find them trite. I am in a group with colleagues and they post dozens of them that I have to keep scrolling through in case I miss the one or two important pieces of information related to work.

I hate the ones that really translate to "look how awesome I am as a parent and as a person, but I'll never say it outright".

Currently in the email signature of my most useless colleague:

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. - Confucius

A more honest version would read:

To succeed, you can either be lucky and have a lot of talent and then work your arse off - or you do what I did and marry a client CEO's sister, at which point you can be as useless as humanly possible and everyone will put up with it. - Me

@BrexpatInSwitzerland that’s fab 😂 I can’t beli anyone would put a quote in their emails though

I've got one from a friend's wife "Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." (It's the first thing to come up if you Google inspirational quotes so at least she didn't spend too long on this).
What you do does make a difference. Most of what she's done over the last few years has contributed to making my life that little bit shitter.

Actually I agree with you. However I also get that people are frightened and with over 1000 deaths in the UK and the news reporting that if the final death toll is 20,000 we will have got off lightly, who wouldn't be. So if these comments make anyone feel even a little bit better then it is no hardship for me to just scroll on by.

It depends. I was reading quotes from Haruki Marukami this morning and I thought this is the mindset I want from a good story teller. Robbing my mtoher's book shelf as soon as I'm allowed to visit.

Also, if seneca and socrates and marcus aurelius and the like can say nothing to make you stop and pause for thought, you're very wise.

@MissingLinker good point, it can indeed be people with zero self-awareness inviting us to look inwards etc ha ha

I have one of these too.

I know some people on FB who post a lot of quotes which they clearly think are revealing amazing, deep thoughts but actually make them look really really conceited because they don't apply at all.

No, Kelly, you're not a wild, untamed woman with hidden strength, stoicism and the mind of a secret genius.... you're a 29 year old who lives in town and works as a construction admin. (And you failed your A levels, I remember)

'No body messes with my family, I would destroy them' says Sandra who wouldn't say boo to a goose.

This is the essence of their quotes, not the actual quotes ^

They're mostly trite bollocks and I usually quickly scroll past.

However the one I've seen doing the rounds that I really genuinely like at the moment is...

"In the rush to return to normal... use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to".

They are bollocks

Though I do love (from John Lennon so Beautiful Boy)

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans

It’s honest and too negative for many 😁

John Lennon song ...

Live, laugh and love guys

Missed a comma there

Totally agree. A manager at work is posting one a day to a whole staff email. I’m like ‘Piss off, Roy, no-one gives a shit’.

HCP here. A colleague at another organisation told me they were all getting through Covid by posting inspirational quotes on their What's App. I shuddered.

Hell will freeze over before that happens where I work. Thank god.

A manager at work is posting one a day to a whole staff email.

Oh, god! That's arguably a valid reason to tender one's resignation!

I've recently seen a meme.... hands up if you think all shops should be shut on a Sunday to give supermarket staff a well deserved break...

Well yes, well thought out you who are at home and can shop in the week. For some Sunday is the only day yet can shop

While children require food, clothes and shelter, I will continue to choose work without having any doubts about it whatsoever.

They’re wanky beyond belief

I pretty much hate all inspirational quotes, but I happened to come across one that resonated for me, both because of what was said and who said it, so I have it on my phone lock screen.

I still mostly hate inspirational quotes though :)

For other haters like me, there is Inspirobot, an AI that generates meaningful sounding bollocks printed on sentimental but irrelevant backgrounds.

inspirobot.me/

Please excuse our messy house, we are busy making memories.

Groan.