Lunch Box Quotes

A little over 20 years ago, I was running across the windswept desert to take a seat in a dusty helicopter for what would be the first leg in my journey home for the birth of Number 1. It seems like a lifetime ago, and in truth, in my world, it was actually four lifetimes ago.

Number 2 played in his first college lacrosse showcase this weekend. He was invited by one of the six colleges that attended. I thought he played okay, but he thought he could have played a lot better. Does the fact that he hurt his wrist badly enough on Wednesday of last week to require an X-ray and eventual immobilization from a sprain until the day before give him an excuse for his performance? Maybe, but excuses don’t dull the sting of disappointment. It’s time to get to work.

While I was at the showcase, ~~Number 3~~ (Edit: Number 4) called me crying because she listened to and read the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, Dance in the Rain, by Charles Wesley Godwin. Preteen girls.

After rereading this prior to posting, I think Number 3 needs a shout-out just for being awesomely consistent. Never too high, never too low, just steady in her excellence. (And I really struggled to find a good quote for her today. Guess I can’t win every day.)

For you newbies, a couple of weeks ago, while sending 2 and 3 out the door, Number 2 asked why I haven’t been writing notes to put in their lunches this year. Last year, on the days I’m not traveling for work, I got up early, made the kids their lunches, and put a note in each one’s lunch box. Their mom started it. She would write something sweet…mom-type stuff. That is not really my thing, so I would look for cool quotes that seemed to fit the day or something they were going through. For 2, 3, and 4, it’s a note on a napkin. For Number 1, it’s a text.

Quotes:

1. “If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,…

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!” – If by Rudyard Kipling

2. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett

3. “There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

4. “Bend but do not break, don’t miss the habits that you shake. Dance in the rain.” – Charles Wesley Godwin

Sources:

If – Rudyard Kipling (Probably my favorite poem)

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”

— Samuel Beckett pic.twitter.com/V4yeajlTBF

— Athenaeum Book Club (@athenaeumbc) October 26, 2025

“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”

— J.R.R. Tolkien pic.twitter.com/soXrUQAvgT

— Athenaeum Book Club (@athenaeumbc) October 25, 2025

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