“Life is no straight and easy corridor along which we travel free and unhampered, but a maze of passages, through which we must seek our way, lost and confused, now and again checked in a blind alley. But always, if we have faith, a door will open for us, not perhaps one that we ourselves would ever have thought of, but one that will ultimately prove good for us.” A.J. Cronin

A.J. Cronin was born today, July 19th, in 1896. He was a Scottish physician and novelist who continued to write into his eighties and included among his friends Laurence Olivier, Charlie Chaplin and Audrey Hepburn. I read his wonderful book, “The Citadel,” when I was in high school after my friend Corinne raved about it. I fell in love with the idealistic doctor Cronin created!

Some of Cronin’s words of wisdom to light our way:

“The virtue of achievement is victory over oneself. Those who know this can never know defeat.”

“Gratitude is something of which none of us can give too much. For on the smiles, the thanks we give, our little gestures of appreciation, our neighbors build their philosophy of life.”

“We cannot measure Divine Providence by the yardstick of human mentality.”

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, but only saps today of its strength.”

“…happiness (is) an inner state, wholly spiritual, independent… of worldly possession.”

“I always stumble awkwardly with my clumsy tongue.”

“Hell is the place where one has ceased to hope.”

“You and I are birds that don’t fly together.”

“That is life… to begin again when everything is lost!”

What a wonder! After all these years, I can still see myself lying on my bed in my little bedroom in our apartment in Washington Heights reading “The Citadel” and swooning! Write on!

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