Noob trying to improve on these grep / expressions

[Dj]

 Hello,  I'm trying to extract every sentence that ends with a question from some text files. I'm using the old text wrangler -> process lines ->  copy to new document, but I'm still getting a lot of sentences that don't end in question marks in that new text.

I've come up with these two expressions,

   (?:^|\.|\!|\?) ?\K.+?\?

Then the next I tried:     [^.!?]+\?

Can someone see how these can be improved on? 

[Christopher Stone]

On 12/29/2018, at 11:53, Dj <future...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello,  I'm trying to extract every sentence that ends with a question from some text files. I'm using the old text wrangler -> process lines ->  copy to new document, but I'm still getting a lot of sentences that don't end in question marks in that new text.

---

Hey Dj,

Please use BBEdit 12 if you have macOS 10.12 or later.

Even when it reverted to lite mode after the 30 day trial it's way more powerful than TextWrangler.

Please provide an example of the text you're working with – making sure to include text that results in a failure with your patterns.

--

Best Regards,

Chris

[Dj]

Hello Chris,

An example would with the wall of text below, I run this grep expression on it, process lines:   (?:^|\.|\!|\?) ?\K.+?\?     to try to extract only sentences with question marks (to new lines and delete every other sentence) and it's not processing right. I only want to see in each line sentences that have question marks. Would it work out better if I segmented the text first so that each sentence gets placed on its own line and do you have an idea of how to do that expression and improve on my original? Thanks for your time and help, I will install BBEdit tonight!

Processed text with the original text unprocessed below it.

"oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart. —Eskimo proverb What can be added to the happiness of man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience? —Adam Smith Do you prefer that you be right, or that you be happy? —A Course In Miracles To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing
then the journey is over and it is too late. —Robert R. Updegraff Happiness is a way station between too little and too much. —Channing Pollock Don't Examine Happiness ... Just Enjoy It Enjoy your happiness while you have it, and while you have it do not too closely scrutinize its foundation. —Joseph Farrall My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate. —Thornton Wilder Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition. —Arthur Rubinstein Suspicion of happiness is in our blood. —E.V. Lucas Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you will cease to be so. —John Stuart Mill Best to live lightly, unthinkingly. —Sophocles The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. —George Bernard Shaw My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right? —Charles M. Schulz To describe happiness is to diminish it. —Stendhal Don't Postpone Happiness People who postpone happiness are like children who try chasing rainbows in an effort to find the pot of gold at the rainbow's end.... Your life will never be fulfilled until you are happy here and now. —Ken Keyes, Jr. Happiness consists of living each day as if it were the first day of your honeymoon and the last day of your vacation. —Anon. Every minute your mouth is turned down you lose sixty seconds of happiness. —Tom Walsh Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation? —Jane Austen Enjoy yourself. These are the "good old days" you're going to miss in the years ahead. —Anon. Unhappiness Is anyone in all the world safe from unhappiness? —Sophocles Unhappiness is the ultimate form of self-indulgence. —Tom Robbins Sadness is a state of sin. —Andre Gide Unhappiness indicates wrong thinking, just as ill health indicates a bad regimen. —Paul Bourge Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations. —Dr. Edward De Bono 28
is itself poisoned if the measure of suffering has not been fulfilled. —Carl Jung Life begins on the other side of despair. —Jean-Paul Sartre Sadness and gladness succeed each other. —Anon. The Happiness of Not Needing Happiness The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness. —William Saroyan Happiness comes fleetingly now and then to those who have learned to do without it, and to them only. —Don Marquis Unquestionably, it is possible to do without happiness; it is done involuntarily by nineteen-twentieths of mankind. —John Stuart Mill Perfect happiness is the absence of striving for happiness. —Chuang-Tse We're Happier than We Think There are men who are happy without knowing it. —Vauvenargues Why is it that so many people are afraid to admit that they are happy? —William Lyon Phelps Man's real life is happy, chiefly because he is ever expecting that it soon will be so. —Edgar Allan Poe Those who are the most happy appear to know it the least; happiness is something that for the most part seems to mainly consist in not knowing it. —Dr. Joyce Brothers We are all happy, if we only knew it. —Fyodor Dostoyevsky What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner. —Colette Eden is that old-fashioned house we dwell in every day Without suspecting our abode until we drive away. —Emily Dickinson Happiness is a Swedish sunset; it is there for all, but most of us look the other way and lose it. —Mark Twain Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is. —Maxim Gorky Happiness and Contentment Contentment is not happiness. An oyster may be contented. Happiness is compounded of richer elements. —Christian Bovee The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment. —Doug Larson If all were gentle and contented as sheep, all would be as feeble and helpless. —John Lancaster Spalding General Quotations about Happiness The world of those who are happy is different from the world of those who are not. —Ludwig Wittgenstein If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care, then 30
the happiest individual... would be, I think, an American cow. —William Lyon Phelps When unhappy, one doubts everything; when happy, one doubts nothing. —Joseph Roux There is a courage of happiness as well as a courage of sorrow. —Maurice Maeterlinck Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, And in their pleasure takes joy, even as though t'were his own. —Johann von Goethe Only man clogs his happiness with care, destroying what is, with thoughts of what may be. —John Dryden We never enjoy perfect happiness; our most fortunate successes are mingled with sadness; some anxieties always perplex the reality of our satisfaction. —Pierre Corneille Happiness is not the end of life; character is. —Henry Ward Beecher Human life is basically a comedy. Even its tragedies often seem comic to the spectator, and not infrequently they actually have comic touches to the victim. Happiness probably consists largely in the capacity to detect and relish them. —H.L. Mencken We may fail of our happiness, strive we ever so bravely; but we are less likely to fail if we measure with judgement our chances and our capabilities. —Agnes Repplier We always have enough to be happy if we are enjoying what we do have—and not worrying about what we don't have. —Ken Keyes, Jr. That sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself. —Jane Austen No man is happy unless he believes he is. —Publilius Syrus A great obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness. —Bernard de Fontenelle If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased. —Katharine Hepburn If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun. —Katharine Hepburn Suffering is not a prerequisite for happiness. —Judy Tatelbaum He is happy that knoweth not himself to be otherwise. —Thomas Fuller That man is happiest who lives from day to day and asks no more, garnering the simple goodness of a life. —Euripides Change is an easy panacea. It takes character to stay in one place and be happy there. —Elizabeth Clarke Dunn Such is the state of life that none are happy but by the anticipation of change. The change itself is nothing; when we have made it the next wish is to change again. —Samuel Johnson 31
We do not write as we want, but as we can. —W. Somerset Maugham The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them. —Bernard M. Baruch A body shouldn't heed what might be. He's got to do with what is. —Louis L'Amour The greatest evil which fortune can inflict on men is to endow them with small talents and great ambitions. —Vauvenargues We may fail of our happiness, strive we ever so bravely; but we are less likely to fail if we measure with judgment our chances and our capabilities. —Agnes Repplier One of the signs of maturity is a healthy respect for reality—a respect that manifests itself in the level of one's aspirations and in the accuracy of one's assessment of the difficulties which separate the facts of today from the bright hopes of tomorrow. —Robert H. Da vies Is life so wretched? Isn't it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddled? You are the one who must grow up. —Dag Hammarskjold Nothing you write, if you hope to be any good, will ever come out as you first hoped. —Lillian Hellman The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds. —Will Durant There is a mortal breed most full of futility. In contempt of what is at hand, they strain into the future, hunting impossibilities on the wings of ineffectual hopes. —Pindar Anxiety is that range of distress which attends willing what cannot be willed. —Leslie H. Farber A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose man enjoyment is winning. —Chuck Noll No traveler e'er reached that blest abode who found not thorns and briers in his road. —William Cowper Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. —Margaret Mitchell It is a common observation that those who dwell continually upon their expectations are apt to become oblivious to the requirements of their actual situation. —Charles Sanders Peirce Buddha's doctrine: Man suffers because of his craving to possess and keep forever things which are essentially impermanent... this frustration of the desire to possess is the immediate cause of suffering. —Alan Watts It Is Wise to Seek Out the Best Things in Whatever We Must Accept The point... is to dwell upon the brightest parts in every prospect, to call off the thoughts when turning upon disagreeable objects, and strive to be pleased with the present circumstances. —Abraham Tucker 39
The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good. —Catherine Ponder Judge not, that ye be not judged. —Mt. 7:1 It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. —Saint Francis of Assisi Forgiving those who hurt us is the key to personal peace. —G. Weatherly Forgive all who have offended you, not for them, but for yourself. —Harriet Uts Nelson To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness. —Robert Muller Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom. —Hannah Arendt Forgiveness is the way to true health and happiness. —Gerald Jampolsky Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another. —Jean Paul Richter Those who can't forget are worse off than those who can't remember. —Anon. Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again. —Saint Augustine We Must Forgive Ourselves, Too I can pardon everybody's mistakes except my own. —Marcus Cato the Elder If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others? —Dolores Huerta The moment an individual can accept and forgive himself, even a little, is the moment in which he becomes to some degree lovable. —Eugene Kennedy They may not deserve forgiveness, but I do. —Anon. I forgive myself for having believed for so long that... I was never good enough to have, get, be what I wanted. —Ceanne DeRohan How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself. —Publilius Syrus Every man treats himself as society treats the criminal. —Harvey Fergusson To understand is to forgive, even oneself. —Alexander Chase Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. —Mt. 6:11-12 He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven. —Thomas Fuller 50
Forgiveness Doesn't Always Please Those We Forgive Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much. —Oscar Wilde Forgiveness is the noblest vengeance. —H.G. Bohn There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness. —Josh Billings Many promising reconciliations have broken down because while both parties came prepared to forgive, neither party came prepared to be forgiven. —Charles William General Quotations about Forgiveness Forgiveness is man's deepest need and highest achievement. —Horace Bushnell Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans! —Robert E. Lee Her breasts and arms ached with the beauty of her own forgiveness. —Meridel Le Sueur Dream of your brother's kindnesses instead of dwelling in your dreams on his mistakes. Select his thought- fulness to dream about instead of counting up the hurts he gave. —A Course In Miracles Life is an adventure in forgiveness. —Norman Cousins Forgiveness is the highest and most difficult of all moral lessons. —Joseph Jacobs The cut worm forgives the plow. —William Blake The fragrance of the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. —Mark Twain How shall I love the sin, yet keep the sense, And love the offender, yet detest the offence? —Alexander Pope Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life. —George Macdonald Who would care to question the ground of forgiveness or compassion? —Joseph Conrad O friends, I pray tonight, Keep not your kisses for my dead cold brow. The way is lonely; let me feel them now. Think gently of me; I am travel- worn, My faltering feet are pierced with many a thorn. Forgive! O hearts estranged, forgive, I plead! When ceaseless bliss is mine I shall not need The tenderness for which I long tonight. —Belle Eugenia Smith Let us forget and forgive injuries. —Miguel de Cervantes Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. —Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend. —Madame Dorothee Deluzy 51
If you would but exchange places with the other fellow, how much more you could appreciate your own position. —Victor E. Gardner We should learn, by reflection on the misfortunes of others, that there is nothing singular in those which befall ourselves. —Thomas Fitzosborne Double—no, triple—our troubles and we'd still be better off than any other people on earth. —Ronald Reagan I wept because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet. —Ancient Persian saying When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate. —Ann Landers If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart. —Socrates Who Is Really Poor? Not he who has little, but he who wishes more, is poor. —Marcus Annaeus Seneca The covetous man is always poor. —Claudian He is not poor that hath not much, but he that craves much. —Thomas Fuller He is poor who does not feel content. —Japanese proverb Who Is Really Rich? He who curbs his desires will always be rich enough. —French proverb That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest. —Henry David Thoreau True affluence is not needing anything. —Gary Snyder To be satisfied with what one has; that is wealth. As long as one sorely needs a certain additional amount, that man isn't rich. —Mark Twain I have the greatest of all riches: that of not desiring them. —Eleonora Duse A man is rich in proportion to the things he can afford to let alone. —Henry David Thoreau He is rich that is satisfied. —Thomas Fuller He is well paid that is well satisfied. —William Shakespeare He who is content in his poverty is wonderfully rich. —Anon. He who is contented is rich. —Lao-tzu All fortune belongs to him who has a contented mind. —The Panchatantra Poor and content is rich, and rich enough. —William Shakespeare The greatest wealth is contentment with a little. —Anon. He is not rich that possesses much, 66
Surfeits of happiness are fatal. —Baltasar Gracian If thou wouldst be happy ... have an indifference for more than what is sufficient. —William Penn You will live wisely if you are happy in your lot. —Horace We always have enough to be happy if we are enjoying what we do have—and not worrying about what we don't have. —Ken Keyes, Jr. Talk happiness. The world is sad enough without your woe. No path is wholly rough. —Ella Wheeler Wilcox Count Today's Blessings, Rather Than Longing for Yesterday's Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. —Charles Dickens No longer forward nor behind I look in hope or fear; But, grateful, take the good I find, The best of now and here. —John Greenleaf Whittier We're Better Off, and Happier, Than We Realize or Admit What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner. —Colette Was it always my nature to take a bad time and block out the good times, until any success became an accident and failure seemed the only truth? —Lillian Hellman Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. —Aldous Huxley There are men who are happy without knowing it. —Vauvenargues We are all of us richer than we think we are. —Michel de Montaigne What a miserable thing life is: you're living in clover, only the clover isn't good enough. —Bertolt Brecht I am convinced, the longer I live, that life and its blessings are not so entirely unjustly distributed as when we are suffering greatly we are inclined to suppose. —Mary Todd Lincoln General Quotations about Our Blessings Life is hard. Next to what? —Anon. Over a period of time it's been driven home to me that I'm not going to be the most popular writer in the world, so I'm always happy when anything in any way is accepted. —Stephen Sondheim In the country of the blind, the one- eyed man is king. —Michael Apostolius We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way. —Sacred ritual chant A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. Having been alive, it won't be so hard in the end to lie down and rest. —Pearl Bailey 69

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I often did not fully enjoy because I was comparing them with other moments of the future. —Andre Gide To make a man happy, fill his hands with work, his heart with affection, his mind with purpose, his memory with useful knowledge, his future with hope, and his stomach with food. —Frederick E. Crane For me, happiness came from prayer to a kindly God, faith in a kindly God, love for my fellow man, and doing the very best I could every day of my life. I had looked for happiness in fast living, but it was not there. I tried to find it in money, but it was not there, either. But when I placed myself in tune with what I believe to be fundamental truths of life, when I began to develop my limited ability, to rid my mind of all kinds of tangled thoughts and fill it with zeal and courage and love, when I gave myself a chance by treating myself decently and sensibly, I began to feel the stimulating, warm glow of happiness. —Edward Young There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning and yearning. —Christopher Morley Work and love—these are the basics. Without them there is neurosis. —Theodor Reik If thou workest at that which is before thee ... expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to Nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this. —Marcus Aurelius Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation and freedom in all just pursuits. —Thomas Jefferson I believe the recipe for happiness to be just enough money to pay the monthly bills you acquire, a little surplus to give you confidence, a little too much work each day, enthusiasm for your work, a substantial share of good health, a couple of real friends and a wife and children to share life's beauty with you. —J. Kenfield Morley If we could learn how to balance rest against effort, calmness against strain, quiet against turmoil, we would assure ourselves of joy in living and psychological health for life. —Josephine Rathbone Five great enemies to peace inhabit us: avarice, ambition, envy, anger and pride. If those enemies were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace. —Ralph Waldo Emerson True happiness ... arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions. —Joseph Addison May you have warmth in your igloo, 10

oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart. —Eskimo proverb What can be added to the happiness of man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience? —Adam Smith Do you prefer that you be right, or that you be happy? —A Course In Miracles To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing

The older you get, the more you realize that kindness is synonymous with happiness. —Lionel Barrymore There is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. —Henry Drummond Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come. —Chinese proverb True happiness consists in making others happy. —Hindu proverb Happiness Is Meant to Be Shared All who would win joy, must share it; happiness was born a twin. —Lord Byron Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. —Norman MacEwan Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste. —Brone Unshared joy is an unlighted candle. —Spanish proverb A joy that's shared is a joy made double. —English proverb Happiness is the cheapest thing in the world ... when we buy it for someone else. —Paul Flemming To get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with. —Mark Twain We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it. —George Bernard Shaw When someone does something good, applaud! You will make two people happy. —Samuel Goldwyn Happiness is not perfected until it is shared. —Jane Porter Happiness ... is achieved only by making others happy. —Stuart Cloete Our Thoughts Determine Our Happiness The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. —Marcus Aurelius I am happy and content because I think I am. —Alain-Rene Lesage All happiness is in the mind. —Anon. Happiness is not a matter of events; it depends upon the tides of the mind. —Alice Meynell A happy life consists in tranquility of mind. —Cicero A man's as miserable as he thinks he is. —Marcus Annaeus Seneca The happiest person is the person who thinks the most interesting thoughts. —William Lyon Phelps Unhappiness indicates wrong thinking, just as ill health indicates a bad regimen. —Paul Bourge He is happy that knoweth not himself to be otherwise. —Thomas Fuller 21

The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not our circumstances. —Martha Washington Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them. —Leo Tolstoy Happiness will never be any greater than the idea we have of it. —Maurice Maeterlinck We are never so happy or so unhappy as we think. —Francois de La Rochefoucauld Misery is almost always the result of thinking. —Joseph Joubert A great obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness. —Bernard de Fontenelle It isn't our position, but our disposition, that makes us happy. —Anon. A man's happiness or unhappiness depends as much on his temperament as on his destiny. —Francois de La Rochefoucauld Work Is Essential to Most People's Happiness The high prize of life, the crowning fortune of man, is to be born with a bias to some pursuit which finds him in employment and happiness. —Ralph Waldo Emerson The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it put your whole soul into it—every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have. —John D. Rockefeller III They are happy men whose natures sort with their vocations. —Francis Bacon The happy people are those who are producing something. —William Ralph Inge Congenial labor is the secret of happiness. —Arthur Christopher Benson To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness. —John Dewey If I were to suggest a general rule for happiness, I would say "Work a little harder; Work a little longer; Work!" —Frederick H. Ecker To make a man happy, fill his hands with work. —Frederick E. Crane Work is the true elixir of life. The busiest man is the happiest man. —Sir Theodore Martin Happiness ... loves to see men work. She loves sweat, weariness, self-sacrifice. She will not be found in the palaces, but lurking in cornfields and factories, and hovering over littered desks. —David Grayson Every job has drudgery.... The first secret of happiness is the recognition of this fundamental fact. —M.C. Mcintosh There is work that is work and there is play that is play; there is play that 22

is work and work that is play. And in only one of these lie happiness. —Gelett Burgess Employment... is so essential to human happiness that indolence is justly considered the mother of misery. —Burton Happiness comes only when we push our brains and hearts to the farthest reaches of which we are capable. —Leo C. Rosten A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best. —Ralph Waldo Emerson All happiness depends on courage and work. —Honore de Balzac Man is happy only as he finds a work worth doing—and does it well. —E. Merrill Root Life without absorbing occupation is hell. —Elbert Hubbard There is certainly no greater happiness than to be able to look back on a life usefully and virtuously employed, to trace our own progress in existence by such tokens as excite neither shame nor sorrow. —Samuel Johnson Continuity of purpose is one of the most essential ingredients of happiness in the long run, and for most men this comes chiefly through their work. —Bertrand Russell Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness. He has a work, a life-purpose.... Get your happiness out of your work or you will never know what real happiness is.... Even in the meanest sorts of labor, the whole soul of a man is composed into a kind of real harmony the instant he sets himself to work. —Thomas Carlyle Few persons realize how much of their happiness, such as it is, is dependent upon their work. —John Burroughs Joy is the will which labours, which overcomes obstacles, which knows triumph. —William Butler Yeats Get happiness out of your work or you may never know what happiness is. —Elbert Hubbard When men are rightly occupied, their amusement grows out of their work, as the color-petals out of a fruitful flower. —John Ruskin Home and Family Life Can Be a Prime Source of Happiness He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home. —Johann von Goethe Family life is the source of the greatest human happiness. —Robert J. Havighurst If this world affords true happiness, it is to be found in a home where love and confidence increase with the years, where the necessities of life come without severe strain, where luxuries enter only after their cost has been carefully considered. —A. Edward Newton 23

Happiness grows at our own firesides, and is not to be picked in strangers' gardens. —Douglas Jerrold If solid happiness we prize, within our breast this jewel lies, And they are fools who roam; the world has nothing to bestow, From our own selves our bliss must flow, And that dear hut—our home. —Nathaniel Cotton He who would be happy should stay at home. —Greek proverb He who leaves his house in search of happiness pursues a shadow. —Anon. Happiness and Health In the Orient people believed that the basis of all disease was unhappi- ness. Thus to make a patient happy again was to restore him to health. —Donald Law The simple truth is that happy people generally don't get sick. —Bernie S. Siegel, M.D. Happiness is good health and a bad memory. —Ingrid Bergman Laughter is the best medicine. —Anon. Happiness is not being pained in body nor troubled in mind. —Thomas Jefferson Being asked one day what was the surest way of remaining happy in this world, the Emperor Sigismund of Germany replied: "Only do in health what you have promised to do when you were sick." —Anon. Happiness and Money and Success I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace, beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have awaited my call, nor does any earthly blessing seem to have been wanting.... I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness that have fallen to my lot; they amount to fourteen. —Abd-Al-Rahman It's pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed. —Kin Hubbard It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness. —Thomas Jefferson Joy has nothing to do with material things, or with a man's outward circumstance ... a man living in the lap of luxury can be wretched, and a man in the depths of poverty can overflow with joy. —William Barclay Money, or even power, can never yield happiness unless it be accompanied by the goodwill of others. —B.C. Forbes The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring. —F.H. Bradley Success can also cause misery. The trick is not to be surprised when you discover it doesn't bring you all the happiness and answers you thought it would. —Prince 24

No social system will bring us happiness, health and prosperity unless it is inspired by something greater than materialism. —Clement R. Attlee Happiness seems to require a modicum of external prosperity. —Aristotle The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things. —Epictetus Happiness depends, as Nature shows, less on exterior things than most suppose. —William Cowper There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. —Logan Pearsall Smith In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. —Oscar Wilde A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose main enjoyment is winning. —Chuck Noll Money is human happiness in the abstract; he, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes himself utterly to money. —Arthur Schopenhauer Those who have easy, cheerful attitudes tend to be happier than those with less pleasant temperaments regardless of money, "making it" or success. —Dr. Joyce Brothers Money, or even power, can never yield happiness unless it be accompanied by the goodwill of others. —B.C. Forbes Few rich men own their own property. Their property owns them. —Robert G. Ingersoll Happiness and Wisdom Our happiness depends on wisdom all the way. —Sophocles Wisdom is the most important part of happiness. —Sophocles Better be happy than wise. —Anon. Be happy. It's one way of being wise. —Colette With happiness comes intelligence to the heart. —Chinese proverb Best trust the happy moments.... The days that make us happy make us wise. —John Masefield Other Sources of Happiness It is an aspect of all happiness to suppose that we deserve it. —Joseph Joubert A reasonable man needs only to practice moderation to find happiness. —Johann von Goethe To forget oneself is to be happy. —Robert Louis Stevenson Happiness is a resultant of the relative strengths of positive and negative feelings rather than an absolute amount of one or the other. —Norman Bradburn 25

The first recipe for happiness is: Avoid too lengthy meditations on the past. —Andre Maurois Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change. —Bertrand Russell Happy is the man who can do only one thing; in doing it, he fulfills his destiny. —Joseph Joubert And may I live the remainder of my life ... for myself; may there be plenty of books and many years' store of the fruits of the earth! —Horace Behold, we count them happy which endure. —Jas. 5:11 The will of man is his happiness. —J.C.F. von Schiller Happiness to a dog is what lies on the other side of the door. —Charlton Ogburn, Jr. The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved. —Victor Hugo The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence, but in the mastery, of his passions. —Alfred, Lord Tennyson It is comparison that makes men happy or miserable. —Anon. Let him that would be happy for a day, go to the barber; for a week, marry a wife; for a month, buy him a new horse; for a year, build him a new house; for all his lifetime, be an honest man. —Anon. Who will present pleasure refrain, shall in time to come the more pleasure obtain. —Anon. No man can be merry unless he is serious. —G.K. Chesterton A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live. —Bertrand Russell To live we must conquer incessantly, we must have the courage to be happy. —Frederic Amiel Happiness has many roots, but none more important than security. —E.R. Stettinius, Jr. It is in virtue that happiness consists, for virtue is the state of mind which tends to make the whole of life harmonious. —Zeno Happy [is] the man who has learned the cause of things and has put under his feet all fear, inexorable fate, and the noisy strife of the hell of greed. —Virgil The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship. —Ralph Waldo Emerson It takes great wit and interest and energy to be happy. The pursuit of happiness is a great activity. One must be open and alive. It is the greatest feat man has to accomplish. —Robert Henri Talk happiness. The world is sad enough without your woe. No path is wholly rough. —Ella Wheeler Wilcox 26

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about. —Charles Kingsley What we call happiness is what we do not know. —Anatole France For the happiest life, days should be rigorously planned, nights left open to chance. —Mignon McLaughlin If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. —The Dalai Lama It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness. —Thomas Jefferson The best way for a person to have happy thoughts is to count his blessings and not his cash. —Anon. Happy people plan actions, they don't plan results. —Dennis Wholey All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast. —John Gunther Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery: He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul, but his life. —G.K. Chesterton To be happy means to be free, not from pain or fear, but from care or anxiety. —W.H. Auden The Sources of Our Happiness Change The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mode of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up. —Charles L. Morgan When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. —Helen Keller Just as a cautious businessman avoids investing all his capital in one concern, so wisdom would probably admonish us also not to anticipate all our happiness from one quarter alone. —Sigmund Freud We live in an ascending scale when we live happily, one thing leading to another in an endless series. —Robert Louis Stevenson Happiness Is a Journey Happiness is not a station to arrive at, but a manner of traveling. —Margaret Lee Runbeck Everyone only goes around the track once in life, and if you don't enjoy that trip, it's pretty pathetic. —Gary Rogers The really happy man is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour. —Anon. Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, for 27

then the journey is over and it is too late. —Robert R. Updegraff Happiness is a way station between too little and too much. —Channing Pollock Don't Examine Happiness ... Just Enjoy It Enjoy your happiness while you have it, and while you have it do not too closely scrutinize its foundation. —Joseph Farrall My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate. —Thornton Wilder Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition. —Arthur Rubinstein Suspicion of happiness is in our blood. —E.V. Lucas Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you will cease to be so. —John Stuart Mill Best to live lightly, unthinkingly. —Sophocles The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. —George Bernard Shaw My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right? —Charles M. Schulz To describe happiness is to diminish it. —Stendhal Don't Postpone Happiness People who postpone happiness are like children who try chasing rainbows in an effort to find the pot of gold at the rainbow's end.... Your life will never be fulfilled until you are happy here and now. —Ken Keyes, Jr. Happiness consists of living each day as if it were the first day of your honeymoon and the last day of your vacation. —Anon. Every minute your mouth is turned down you lose sixty seconds of happiness. —Tom Walsh Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation? —Jane Austen Enjoy yourself. These are the "good old days" you're going to miss in the years ahead. —Anon. Unhappiness Is anyone in all the world safe from unhappiness? —Sophocles Unhappiness is the ultimate form of self-indulgence. —Tom Robbins Sadness is a state of sin. —Andre Gide Unhappiness indicates wrong thinking, just as ill health indicates a bad regimen. —Paul Bourge Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations. —Dr. Edward De Bono 28

By becoming more unhappy, we sometimes learn how to be less so. —Madame Swetchine Men are the only animals that devote themselves, day in and day out, to making one another unhappy. —H.L. Mencken The worst sin—perhaps the only sin—passion can commit is to be joyless. —Dorothy Sayers O Lord! Unhappy is the man whom man can make unhappy. —Ralph Waldo Emerson Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention. —Simone Weil Irresolution on the schemes of life which offer themselves to our choice, and inconstancy in pursuing them, are the greatest causes of all unhap- piness. —Joseph Addison Unhappiness is not knowing what we want and killing ourselves to get it. —Don Herold All mankind's unhappiness derives from one thing: his inability to know how to remain in repose in one room. —Blaise Pascal None think the great unhappy but the great. —Edward Young The primary cause of unhappiness in the world today is ... lack of faith. —Carl Jung Fate often puts all the material for happiness and prosperity into a man's hands just to see how miserable he can make himself with them. —Don Marquis Whenever one finds oneself inclined to bitterness, it is a sign of emotional failure. —Bertrand Russell Cheerfulness I'm not happy, I'm cheerful. There's a difference. A happy woman has no cares at all. A cheerful woman has cares but has learned how to deal with them. —Beverly Sills Cheerfulness is as natural to the heart of man in strong health as color to his cheek; and wherever there is habitual gloom there must be either bad air, unwholesome food, improperly severe labor or erring habits of life. —John Ruskin The clearest sign of wisdom is continued cheerfulness. —Michel de Montaigne A man of gladness seldom falls into madness. —Anon. Gaiety alone, as it were, is the hard cash of happiness; everything else is just a promissory note. —Arthur Schopenhauer Happiness Can Come From Unhappiness No pleasure without pain. —Anon. Pleasure is not pleasant unless it cost dear. —Anon. So they speak soothingly about progress and the greatest possible happiness, forgetting that happiness 29

is itself poisoned if the measure of suffering has not been fulfilled. —Carl Jung Life begins on the other side of despair. —Jean-Paul Sartre Sadness and gladness succeed each other. —Anon. The Happiness of Not Needing Happiness The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness. —William Saroyan Happiness comes fleetingly now and then to those who have learned to do without it, and to them only. —Don Marquis Unquestionably, it is possible to do without happiness; it is done involuntarily by nineteen-twentieths of mankind. —John Stuart Mill Perfect happiness is the absence of striving for happiness. —Chuang-Tse We're Happier than We Think There are men who are happy without knowing it. —Vauvenargues Why is it that so many people are afraid to admit that they are happy? —William Lyon Phelps Man's real life is happy, chiefly because he is ever expecting that it soon will be so. —Edgar Allan Poe Those who are the most happy appear to know it the least; happiness is something that for the most part seems to mainly consist in not knowing it. —Dr. Joyce Brothers We are all happy, if we only knew it. —Fyodor Dostoyevsky What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner. —Colette Eden is that old-fashioned house we dwell in every day Without suspecting our abode until we drive away. —Emily Dickinson Happiness is a Swedish sunset; it is there for all, but most of us look the other way and lose it. —Mark Twain Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is. —Maxim Gorky Happiness and Contentment Contentment is not happiness. An oyster may be contented. Happiness is compounded of richer elements. —Christian Bovee The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment. —Doug Larson If all were gentle and contented as sheep, all would be as feeble and helpless. —John Lancaster Spalding General Quotations about Happiness The world of those who are happy is different from the world of those who are not. —Ludwig Wittgenstein If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care, then 30

the happiest individual... would be, I think, an American cow. —William Lyon Phelps When unhappy, one doubts everything; when happy, one doubts nothing. —Joseph Roux There is a courage of happiness as well as a courage of sorrow. —Maurice Maeterlinck Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, And in their pleasure takes joy, even as though t'were his own. —Johann von Goethe Only man clogs his happiness with care, destroying what is, with thoughts of what may be. —John Dryden We never enjoy perfect happiness; our most fortunate successes are mingled with sadness; some anxieties always perplex the reality of our satisfaction. —Pierre Corneille Happiness is not the end of life; character is. —Henry Ward Beecher Human life is basically a comedy. Even its tragedies often seem comic to the spectator, and not infrequently they actually have comic touches to the victim. Happiness probably consists largely in the capacity to detect and relish them. —H.L. Mencken We may fail of our happiness, strive we ever so bravely; but we are less likely to fail if we measure with judgement our chances and our capabilities. —Agnes Repplier We always have enough to be happy if we are enjoying what we do have—and not worrying about what we don't have. —Ken Keyes, Jr. That sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself. —Jane Austen No man is happy unless he believes he is. —Publilius Syrus A great obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness. —Bernard de Fontenelle If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased. —Katharine Hepburn If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun. —Katharine Hepburn Suffering is not a prerequisite for happiness. —Judy Tatelbaum He is happy that knoweth not himself to be otherwise. —Thomas Fuller That man is happiest who lives from day to day and asks no more, garnering the simple goodness of a life. —Euripides Change is an easy panacea. It takes character to stay in one place and be happy there. —Elizabeth Clarke Dunn Such is the state of life that none are happy but by the anticipation of change. The change itself is nothing; when we have made it the next wish is to change again. —Samuel Johnson 31

Life delights in life. —William Blake I look at what I have not and think myself unhappy; others look at what I have and think me happy. —Joseph Roux Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory. —Norman Vincent Peale 32

To expect life to be tailored to our specifications is to invite frustration. —Anon. A hero is a man who does what he can. —Romain Rolland The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of suffering. —Ram Dass and Paul Gorman The chief pang of most trials is not so much the actual suffering itself as our own spirit of resistance to it. —Jean Nicholas Grou Each of us does, in effect, strike a series of "deals" or compromises between the wants and longings of the inner self, and an outer environment that offers certain possibilities and sets certain limitations. —Maggie Scarf Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they might have been. —William Hazlitt Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression. The chasm is never completely bridged. We all have the conviction, perhaps illusory, that we have much more to say than appears on the paper. —Isaac Bashevis Singer The greatest and most important problems in life are all in a certain sense insoluble. They can never be solved, but only outgrown. —Carl Jung Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations. —Dr. Edward De Bono 38

We do not write as we want, but as we can. —W. Somerset Maugham The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them. —Bernard M. Baruch A body shouldn't heed what might be. He's got to do with what is. —Louis L'Amour The greatest evil which fortune can inflict on men is to endow them with small talents and great ambitions. —Vauvenargues We may fail of our happiness, strive we ever so bravely; but we are less likely to fail if we measure with judgment our chances and our capabilities. —Agnes Repplier One of the signs of maturity is a healthy respect for reality—a respect that manifests itself in the level of one's aspirations and in the accuracy of one's assessment of the difficulties which separate the facts of today from the bright hopes of tomorrow. —Robert H. Da vies Is life so wretched? Isn't it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddled? You are the one who must grow up. —Dag Hammarskjold Nothing you write, if you hope to be any good, will ever come out as you first hoped. —Lillian Hellman The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds. —Will Durant There is a mortal breed most full of futility. In contempt of what is at hand, they strain into the future, hunting impossibilities on the wings of ineffectual hopes. —Pindar Anxiety is that range of distress which attends willing what cannot be willed. —Leslie H. Farber A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose man enjoyment is winning. —Chuck Noll No traveler e'er reached that blest abode who found not thorns and briers in his road. —William Cowper Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. —Margaret Mitchell It is a common observation that those who dwell continually upon their expectations are apt to become oblivious to the requirements of their actual situation. —Charles Sanders Peirce Buddha's doctrine: Man suffers because of his craving to possess and keep forever things which are essentially impermanent... this frustration of the desire to possess is the immediate cause of suffering. —Alan Watts It Is Wise to Seek Out the Best Things in Whatever We Must Accept The point... is to dwell upon the brightest parts in every prospect, to call off the thoughts when turning upon disagreeable objects, and strive to be pleased with the present circumstances. —Abraham Tucker 39

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content. —Helen Keller Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it, as it is, is the only way of being happy. —Jennie Jerome Churchill The English know how to make the best of things. Their so-called muddling through is simply skill at dealing with the inevitable. —Sir Winston Churchill I make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes. —Sara Teasdale It's Best to Accept Things Enthusiastically If one has to submit, it is wasteful not to do so with the best grace possible. —Sir Winston Churchill We cannot conquer fate and necessity, yet we can yield to them in such a manner as to be greater than if we could. —Walter Savage Landor Here is a rule to remember when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, "This is a misfortune," but "To bear this worthily is good fortune." —Marcus Aurelius There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat. —James Russell Lowell Trouble will come soon enough, and when he does come receive him as pleasantly as possible ... the more amiably you greet him, the sooner he will go away. —Artemus Ward Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live. —Marcus Aurelius When we accept tough jobs as a challenge to our ability and wade into them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen. —Arland Gilbert Love only what befalls you and is spun for you by fate. —Marcus Aurelius What you can't get out of, get into wholeheartedly. —Mignon McLaughlin Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands. —Marcus Annaeus Seneca When a dog runs at you, whistle for him. —Henry David Thoreau Ride the horse in the direction that it's going. —Werner Erhard Since God has been pleased to give us the Papacy, let us enjoy it. —Pope Leo X It is no use to grumble and complain; It's just as cheap and easy to rejoice; When God sorts out the weather and sends rain — Why, rain's my choice. —James Whitcomb Riley 40

Nature Shows That It's Better to Bend Than to Break An oak and a reed were arguing about their strength. When a strong wind came up, the reed avoided being uprooted by bending and leaning with the gusts of wind. But the oak stood firm and was torn up by the roots. —Aesop He who attempts to resist the wave is swept away, but he who bends before it abides. —Leviticus The grass must bend when the wind blows across it. —Confucius Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative. —H.G. Wells One does not have to stand again the gale. One yields and becomes part of the wind. —Emmanuel I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do. —Willa Cather Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character. —Ralph Waldo Emerson Better bend than break. —Scottish proverb Acceptance and Happiness The secret of success is to be in harmony with existence, to be always calm ... to let each wave of life wash us a little farther up the shore. —Cyril Connolly There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will. —Epictetus Happiness comes from within a man, from some curious adjustment to life. —Hugh Walpole Happy he who learns to bear what he cannot change! —J.C.F. von Schiller Happiness ... can exist only in acceptance. —Denis De Rougemont Contentment, and indeed usefulness, comes as the infallible result of great acceptances, great humilities—of not trying to conform to some dramatized version of ourselves. —David Grayson My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate. —Thornton Wilder It is not necessarily those lands which are the most fertile or most favored in climate that seem to me the happiest, but those in which a long struggle of adaptation between man and his environment has brought out the best qualities of both. —T.S. Eliot Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it, as it is, is the only way of being happy. —Jennie Jerome Churchill Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content. —Helen Keller 41

I accept life unconditionally ... Most people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can only be felt if you don't set any condition. —Arthur Rubenstein Happiness is a function of accepting what is. —Werner Erhard Acceptance and Wisdom One's first step in wisdom is to question everything; one's last is to come to terms with everything. —Georg Christoph Lichtenberg If you are wise, live as you can; if you cannot, live as you would. —Baltasar Gracian Wisdom never kicks at the iron walls it can't bring down. —Olive Schreiner For this is wisdom: to live, to take what fate, or the Gods, may give. —Laurence Hope Acceptance and Work If you have a job without aggravations, you don't have a job. —Malcolm Forbes When I decided to go into politics I weighed the costs. I would get criticism. But I went ahead. So when virulent criticism came I wasn't surprised. I was better able to handle it. —Herbert Hoover Every job has drudgery....

Harry Emerson Fosdick If the will remains in protest, it stays dependent on that which it is protesting against. —Rollo May If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. —Herman Hesse Whom they have injured, they also hate. —Marcus Annaeus Seneca Anger Anger is a short madness. —Horace The angry people are those people who are most afraid. —Dr. Robert Anthony Anger as soon as fed is dead, 'tis starving makes it fat. —Emily Dickinson Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools. —Albert Einstein Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. —Buddha Anger is a killing thing: it kills the man who angers, for each rage leaves him less than he had been before—it takes something from him. —Louis L'Amour 48

Revenge Revenge could steal a man's life until there was nothing left but emptiness. —Louis L'Amour The human heart in its perversity finds it hard to escape hatred and revenge. —Moses Luzzatto A man can lose sight of everything else when he's bent on revenge, and it ain't worth it. —Louis L'Amour Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge. —Isaac Friedmann Forgiveness and Love One forgives to the degree that one loves. —Francois de La Rochefoucauld One is as one is, and the love that can't encompass both is a poor sort of love. —Marya Mannes Forgiveness is the final form of love. —Reinhold Niebuhr Forgiveness is the most tender part of love. —John Sheffield Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit. —Peter Ustinov Today I forgive all those who have ever offended me. I give my love to all thirsty hearts, both to those who love me and to those who do not love me. —Paramahansa Yogananda Forgiveness and God We never ask God to forgive anybody except when we haven't. —Elbert Hubbard Forgiveness is God's command. —Martin Luther God will forgive me, that is His business. —Heinrich Heine God will forgive me the foolish remarks I have made about Him just as I will forgive my opponents the foolish things they have written about me, even though they are spiritually as inferior to me as I to thee, 0 God! —Heinrich Heine Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. —Eph. 4:31-32 1 have looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. God recognizes I will do this and forgives me. —Jimmy Carter How Forgiveness Helps Us Forgiveness is the answer to the child's dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is again made clean. —Dag Hammarskjold Forgiveness is all-powerful. Forgiveness heals all ills. —Catherine Ponder Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace. —Buddha I can have peace of mind only when I forgive rather than judge. —Gerald Jampolsky 49

The forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good. —Catherine Ponder Judge not, that ye be not judged. —Mt. 7:1 It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. —Saint Francis of Assisi Forgiving those who hurt us is the key to personal peace. —G. Weatherly Forgive all who have offended you, not for them, but for yourself. —Harriet Uts Nelson To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness. —Robert Muller Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom. —Hannah Arendt Forgiveness is the way to true health and happiness. —Gerald Jampolsky Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another. —Jean Paul Richter Those who can't forget are worse off than those who can't remember. —Anon. Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again. —Saint Augustine We Must Forgive Ourselves, Too I can pardon everybody's mistakes except my own. —Marcus Cato the Elder If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others? —Dolores Huerta The moment an individual can accept and forgive himself, even a little, is the moment in which he becomes to some degree lovable. —Eugene Kennedy They may not deserve forgiveness, but I do. —Anon. I forgive myself for having believed for so long that... I was never good enough to have, get, be what I wanted. —Ceanne DeRohan How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself. —Publilius Syrus Every man treats himself as society treats the criminal. —Harvey Fergusson To understand is to forgive, even oneself. —Alexander Chase Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. —Mt. 6:11-12 He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven. —Thomas Fuller 50

Forgiveness Doesn't Always Please Those We Forgive Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much. —Oscar Wilde Forgiveness is the noblest vengeance. —H.G. Bohn There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness. —Josh Billings Many promising reconciliations have broken down because while both parties came prepared to forgive, neither party came prepared to be forgiven. —Charles William General Quotations about Forgiveness Forgiveness is man's deepest need and highest achievement. —Horace Bushnell Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans! —Robert E. Lee Her breasts and arms ached with the beauty of her own forgiveness. —Meridel Le Sueur Dream of your brother's kindnesses instead of dwelling in your dreams on his mistakes. Select his thought- fulness to dream about instead of counting up the hurts he gave. —A Course In Miracles Life is an adventure in forgiveness. —Norman Cousins Forgiveness is the highest and most difficult of all moral lessons. —Joseph Jacobs The cut worm forgives the plow. —William Blake The fragrance of the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. —Mark Twain How shall I love the sin, yet keep the sense, And love the offender, yet detest the offence? —Alexander Pope Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life. —George Macdonald Who would care to question the ground of forgiveness or compassion? —Joseph Conrad O friends, I pray tonight, Keep not your kisses for my dead cold brow. The way is lonely; let me feel them now. Think gently of me; I am travel- worn, My faltering feet are pierced with many a thorn. Forgive! O hearts estranged, forgive, I plead! When ceaseless bliss is mine I shall not need The tenderness for which I long tonight. —Belle Eugenia Smith Let us forget and forgive injuries. —Miguel de Cervantes Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. —Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach It is easier to forgive an enemy than a friend. —Madame Dorothee Deluzy 51

Have was never large enough to cover. —Ralph Waldo Emerson How many things there are which I do not want. —Socrates Moderate desires constitute a character fitted to acquire all the good which the world can yield. He who has this character is prepared, in whatever situation he is, therewith to be content and has learned the science of being happy. —Timothy Dwight Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire. —Epictetus Were a man to order his life by the rules of true reason, a frugal substance joined to a contented mind is for him great riches. —Lucretius One is never fortunate or as unfortunate as one imagines. —Francois de La Rochefoucauld Man needs so little ... yet he begins wanting so much. —Louis L'Amour Man never has what he wants, because what he wants is everything. —C.F. Ramuz If your desires be endless, your cares and fears will be so, too. —Thomas Fuller We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier. —Walter Savage Landor He is not rich that possesses much, but he that covets no more; and he is not poor that enjoys little, but he that wants too much. —Beaumont Independence may be found in comparative as well as in absolute abundance; I mean where a person contracts his desires within the limits of his fortune. —William Shenstone There Are Always Others Worse Off Than Us One never hugs one's good luck so affectionately as when listening to the relation of some horrible misfortunes which has overtaken others. —Alexander Smith 65

If you would but exchange places with the other fellow, how much more you could appreciate your own position. —Victor E. Gardner We should learn, by reflection on the misfortunes of others, that there is nothing singular in those which befall ourselves. —Thomas Fitzosborne Double—no, triple—our troubles and we'd still be better off than any other people on earth. —Ronald Reagan I wept because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet. —Ancient Persian saying When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate. —Ann Landers If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart. —Socrates Who Is Really Poor? Not he who has little, but he who wishes more, is poor. —Marcus Annaeus Seneca The covetous man is always poor. —Claudian He is not poor that hath not much, but he that craves much. —Thomas Fuller He is poor who does not feel content. —Japanese proverb Who Is Really Rich? He who curbs his desires will always be rich enough. —French proverb That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest. —Henry David Thoreau True affluence is not needing anything. —Gary Snyder To be satisfied with what one has; that is wealth. As long as one sorely needs a certain additional amount, that man isn't rich. —Mark Twain I have the greatest of all riches: that of not desiring them. —Eleonora Duse A man is rich in proportion to the things he can afford to let alone. —Henry David Thoreau He is rich that is satisfied. —Thomas Fuller He is well paid that is well satisfied. —William Shakespeare He who is content in his poverty is wonderfully rich. —Anon. He who is contented is rich. —Lao-tzu All fortune belongs to him who has a contented mind. —The Panchatantra Poor and content is rich, and rich enough. —William Shakespeare The greatest wealth is contentment with a little. —Anon. He is not rich that possesses much, 66

but he that is content with what he has. —Anon. Being Thankful for Our Abilities and Talents One well-cultivated talent, deepened and enlarged, is worth one hundred shallow faculties. —William Matthews If only every man would make proper use of his strength and do his utmost, he need never regret his limited ability. —Cicero I knew I had no lyrical quality, a small vocabulary, little gift of metaphor. The original and striking simile never occurred to me. Poetic flights ... were beyond my powers. On the other hand, I had an acute power of observation, and it seemed to me that I could see a great many things that other people missed. I could put down in clear terms what I saw.... I knew that I should never write as well as I could wish, but I thought, with pains, that I could arrive at writing as well as my natural defects allowed. —W. Somerset Maugham Anyone is to be pitied who has just sense enough to perceive his deficiencies. —William Hazlitt What strange perversity is it that induces a man to set his heart on doing those things which he has not succeeded in, and makes him slight those in which his achievement has been respectable. —Gamaliel Bradford I may not amount to much, but at least I am unique. —Jean-Jacques Rousseau Happy is the man who can do only one thing: in doing it, he fulfills his destiny. —Joseph Joubert The real tragedy of life is not being limited to one talent, but in failing to use that one talent. —Edgar Watson Howe Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are. —Malcolm Forbes Contentment Nothing will content him who is not content with a little. —Greek proverb Contentment is worth more than riches. —German proverb I figure if I have my health, can pay the rent and I have my friends, I call it "content." —Lauren Bacall Be content with what thou hast received, and smooth thy frowning forehead. —Hafez He is poor who does not feel content. —Japanese proverb If thou covetest riches, ask not but for contentment, which is an immense treasure. —Sa'Di Who is content with nothing possesses all things. —Nicolas Boileau My crown is called content, a crown that seldom kings enjoy. —William Shakespeare It is right to be contented with what we have, never with what we are. —Mackintosh 67

Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything. —Aesop Content may dwell in all stations. To be low, but above contempt, may be high enough to be happy. —Sir Thomas Browne True contentment... is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous, and it is rare. —G.K. Chesterton Poor and content is rich, and rich enough. —William Shakespeare The greatest wealth is contentment with a little. —Anon. And be content with such things as ye have. —Heb. 13:5 Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content. —Helen Keller Try to live the life of the good man who is more than content with what is allocated to him. —Marcus Aurelius He is not rich that possesses much, but he that is content with what he has. —Anon. The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment. —Doug Larson We are never content with our lot. —Jean de La Fontaine Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have. —Doris Mortman True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander. —Charles Caleb Colton To be content with little is difficult; to be content with much, impossible. —Anon. Happiness To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. —Bertrand Russell Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it. —Fyodor Dostoyevsky Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude. —Joseph Wood Krutch I am happy and content because I think I am. —Alain-Rene Lesage Unhappy is the man, though he rule the world, who doesn't consider himself supremely blessed. —Marcus Annaeus Seneca The happiness which is lacking makes one think even the happiness one has unbearable. —Joseph Roux Happiness is a result of the relative strengths of positive and negative feelings, rather than an absolute amount of one or the other. —Norman Bradburn The best way for a person to have happy thoughts is to count his blessings and not his cash. —Anon. 68

Surfeits of happiness are fatal. —Baltasar Gracian If thou wouldst be happy ... have an indifference for more than what is sufficient. —William Penn You will live wisely if you are happy in your lot. —Horace We always have enough to be happy if we are enjoying what we do have—and not worrying about what we don't have. —Ken Keyes, Jr. Talk happiness. The world is sad enough without your woe. No path is wholly rough. —Ella Wheeler Wilcox Count Today's Blessings, Rather Than Longing for Yesterday's Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. —Charles Dickens No longer forward nor behind I look in hope or fear; But, grateful, take the good I find, The best of now and here. —John Greenleaf Whittier We're Better Off, and Happier, Than We Realize or Admit What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner. —Colette Was it always my nature to take a bad time and block out the good times, until any success became an accident and failure seemed the only truth? —Lillian Hellman Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. —Aldous Huxley There are men who are happy without knowing it. —Vauvenargues We are all of us richer than we think we are. —Michel de Montaigne What a miserable thing life is: you're living in clover, only the clover isn't good enough. —Bertolt Brecht I am convinced, the longer I live, that life and its blessings are not so entirely unjustly distributed as when we are suffering greatly we are inclined to suppose. —Mary Todd Lincoln General Quotations about Our Blessings Life is hard. Next to what? —Anon. Over a period of time it's been driven home to me that I'm not going to be the most popular writer in the world, so I'm always happy when anything in any way is accepted. —Stephen Sondheim In the country of the blind, the one- eyed man is king. —Michael Apostolius We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way. —Sacred ritual chant A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. Having been alive, it won't be so hard in the end to lie down and rest. —Pearl Bailey 69

[ThePorgie]

I ran this expression on your text:

([^\.]+?\?)

with the replace:

\1\n

extracted to:

 —Eskimo proverb What can be added to the happiness of man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?

 —Adam Smith Do you prefer that you be right, or that you be happy?

 What am I doing right?

 —Tom Walsh Why not seize the pleasure at once?

 How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation?

 Unhappiness Is anyone in all the world safe from unhappiness?

 —Vauvenargues Why is it that so many people are afraid to admit that they are happy?

 —Maurice Maeterlinck Who is the happiest of men?

 Da vies Is life so wretched?

 Isn't it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddled?

 —Marcus Cato the Elder If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others?

 —Mark Twain How shall I love the sin, yet keep the sense, And love the offender, yet detest the offence?

 —George Macdonald Who would care to question the ground of forgiveness or compassion?

 —Socrates Who Is Really Poor?

 —Japanese proverb Who Is Really Rich?

 —Colette Was it always my nature to take a bad time and block out the good times, until any success became an accident and failure seemed the only truth?

 Next to what?

...

[Mike Pasini]

Dj, Process Lines processes lines not sentences. So any paragraph that has a sentence with a question mark in it would match searches for strings with question marks.

Identifying a sentence is not a simple task. But there's a Perl module to help with that. Using that in a Text Filter would be my approach.

[Dj]

 Hi,  can I ask where you ran that expression in BBedit? Just menu ---> search ----> find.

Find menu:

Find:  ([^\.]+?\?) 

Replace: \1\n

Grep checked and then click replace all? It looks like the output is getting me closer to what I want, but running it on a huge block of text I'm still getting some lines ending with a period. Appreciate your time checking that!

...

[Dj]

 Mike, that makes a lot more sense now. I looked at page for the Module and it seems it's run from terminal and OSX has perl pre-installed? Or is it a "module" than can be run somehow from within BBedit? Thanks for the patience, I'm not really a programmer, just want to look at questions posed from my journal entries over time. 

[Christopher Stone]

On 12/31/2018, at 13:49, Dj <future...@gmail.com> wrote:

can I ask where you ran that expression in BBedit? Just menu ---> search ----> find. 

---

Hey Dj,

Beginning around v11.0 BBEdit has had an “Extract” button in the Find dialog.

Find:

\b\w[^.!]+?\?

Replace:

Nothing

Using your test text I get this:

Eskimo proverb What can be added to the happiness of man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?

Adam Smith Do you prefer that you be right, or that you be happy?

What am I doing right?

Tom Walsh Why not seize the pleasure at once?

How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation?

Unhappiness Is anyone in all the world safe from unhappiness?

Vauvenargues Why is it that so many people are afraid to admit that they are happy?

Maurice Maeterlinck Who is the happiest of men?

Da vies Is life so wretched?

Isn't it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddled?

Marcus Cato the Elder If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others?

Mark Twain How shall I love the sin, yet keep the sense, And love the offender, yet detest the offence?

George Macdonald Who would care to question the ground of forgiveness or compassion?

Socrates Who Is Really Poor?

Japanese proverb Who Is Really Rich?

Colette Was it always my nature to take a bad time and block out the good times, until any success became an accident and failure seemed the only truth?

Next to what?

--

Best Regards,

Chris

[Christopher Stone]

On 12/31/2018, at 13:54, Dj <future...@gmail.com> wrote:

Mike, that makes a lot more sense now. I looked at page for the Module and it seems it's run from terminal and OSX has perl pre-installed?

---

Hey Dj,

BBEdit can run shell scripts as Text-Filters, and they do not need to be run from the Terminal.

BBEdit text-filters operate on the selection if there is one, otherwise they operate on the whole front document.

Text filters are installed here:

~/Library/Application Support/BBEdit/Text Filters/

Text filters are run from:

BBEdit Menu Bar > Text > Apply Text Filter > <your_filter>

And of course you can give them keyboard shortcuts in BBEdit's Menus & Shortcuts preferences.

http://www.bbeditextras.org/wiki/index.php?title=Text_Filters

See the User Manual for more details.

Or is it a "module" than can be run somehow from within BBEdit?

Perl comes pre-installed on macOS, although it's usually a fairly old version.

The module Mike recommends is something you the user have to install, and that's probably more complication than you want to mess with.

For that matter it doesn't really do the job in and of itself.  It requires additional coding.

A Perl script using the Lingua module that'll run as a BBEdit Text Filter would looks something like this:

---

#!/usr/bin/env perl -0777 -sw

use v5.12;

use utf8;

use Lingua::EN::Sentence qw( get_sentences add_acronyms );

my $text = <>;

add_acronyms('lt','gen');                 ## adding support for 'Lt. Gen.'

my $sentences = get_sentences($text);     ## Get the sentences.

foreach my $sentence (@$sentences) {

   if ( $sentence =~ /(\b\w[^.!]+?\?)/ ) {

      say $1;

   }

}

---

It produces this:

—Eskimo proverb What can be added to the happiness of man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?

—Adam Smith Do you prefer that you be right, or that you be happy?

What am I doing right?

—Tom Walsh Why not seize the pleasure at once?

How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation?

Unhappiness Is anyone in all the world safe from unhappiness?

—Vauvenargues Why is it that so many people are afraid to admit that they are happy?

—Maurice Maeterlinck Who is the happiest of men?

Da vies Is life so wretched?

Isn't it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddled?

—Marcus Cato the Elder If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others?

—Mark Twain How shall I love the sin, yet keep the sense, And love the offender, yet detest the offence?

—George Macdonald Who would care to question the ground of forgiveness or compassion?

—Socrates Who Is Really Poor?

—Japanese proverb Who Is Really Rich?

—Colette Was it always my nature to take a bad time and block out the good times, until any success became an accident and failure seemed the only truth?

Next to what?

---

Which is nearly the same result as my plain regular expression.

I can accomplish the same result as the script using the Lingua module without using it:

---

#!/usr/bin/env perl -0777 -sw

use v5.12;

use utf8;

my $text = <>;

my @array = $text =~ /(\b\w[^.!]+?\?)/gms;

$, = "\n";

say @array;

---

Perl is a wonderful tool for parsing text, but learning it requires a pretty sizable investment.

--

Best Regards,

Chris

[Mike Pasini]

Yes, Perl is installed on OS X and you can extend its functionality with modules like the one I mentioned. But you do have to write code to create a BBEdit Text Filter (although not much more than what the module's example shows). You can find the Apple Text Filter option under the Text menu item in BBEdit and you can even edit those examples. But I understand that's a big leap to make.

[Dj]

 From what I see with your results, I think this is getting me to the place of "good enough" for this problem. Also, really helping me understanding programming concepts better which is good because I have an idea I want to attempt to program (long road I see). So the embarrasing part, I've tried to take your text and make a shell script to place in the script folder. I followed directions from a tutorial that had me run a command from terminal to make the text into a script:

chmod +x ~/somecrazyfolder/script1  I ran that (with appropriate path and file names) and I get the error in terminal "No such file or directory"

tutorial from here: https://www.howtogeek.com/67469/the-beginners-guide-to-shell-scripting-the-basics/

I then tried it in the apple script editor, plugged your text below into there and then saved it as a .scpt. Then I placed that filed in the BBedit directory. I can now go to menu-text-apply text filter and see it, but when I run it I get the error message in BBedit "This Apple Event was unknown to the recipient and could not be processed (macOS error code: -1708)."  

 Do scripts need to be made from terminal, or will Apple script work with this? Again, thanks for your time, I'm sure the daunting initial hurdles will start to make more sense.

This whole text was the correct format to make a script from without Perl right?

#!/usr/bin/env perl -0777 -sw

use v5.12;

use utf8;

my $text = <>;

my @array = $text =~ /(\b\w[^.!]+?\?)/gms;

$, = "\n";

say @array;

[Christopher Stone]

On 01/01/2019, at 13:47, Dj <future...@gmail.com> wrote:

From what I see with your results, I think this is getting me to the place of "good enough" for this problem.

---

Hey Dj,

Very good.

So the embarrasing part, I've tried to take your text and make a shell script to place in the script folder. I followed directions from a tutorial that had me run a command from terminal to make the text into a script: 

I believe I gave you instructions on how to use a BBEdit Text Filter.

You do not need to make the script executable.

I then tried it in the apple script editor, plugged your text below into there and then saved it as a .scpt.

This can never work, because the Applescript Editor is for AppleScript.

The Perl script is a shell script.

I'm sure the daunting initial hurdles will start to make more sense.

Yes.  Everyone who starts this journey feels lost at sea for a while.

This whole text was the correct format to make a script from without Perl right?

Right.

---

#!/usr/bin/env perl -0777 -sw

use v5.12;

use utf8;

my $text = <>;

my @array = $text =~ /(\b\w[^.!]+?\?)/gms;

$, = "\n";

say @array;

---

Paste the above into a BBEdit text document.

Save it in this directory:

~/Library/Application Support/BBEdit/Text Filters/

(If the directory doesn't exist then create it.)

Give the script a descriptive name like:

MyPerlScript.pl

Run it on the front document (or selection in the front document) from the:

Text > Apply Text Filter > YourScriptName

Menu.

---

AppleScript is very useful, but it's a whole different animal.

Paste this into the Applescript Editor:

tell application "BBEdit"

    activate

    make new text document with properties {text:"My First AppleScript!"}

end tell

And click the run button or type Cmd-R.

--

Best Regards,

Chris

[Dj]

Oh man, I was really overthinking it trying to turn it into an executable. Got it working and this is very cool. Appreciate you spelling it out so well and getting me on track! Couple more quick things: would it be hard to do one that only extracts text that is within quotation marks? I tried one off a github cheatsheet and in the past hours couldn't modify it easy, but am making progress. Also, if you or anyone on here can suggest a book on getting better at expressions and BBedit? Maybe just piecing it together off stackoverflow and google etc is best though? Thanks again

[Christopher Stone]

On 01/03/2019, at 17:53, Dj <future...@gmail.com> wrote:

Couple more quick things: would it be hard to do one that only extracts text that is within quotation marks?

---

Hey Dj,

Straight-Quotes

"[^"]+?"

Smart-Quotes

“[^”]+?”

I tried one off a github cheatsheet and in the past hours couldn't modify it easy, but am making progress. Also, if you or anyone on here can suggest a book on getting better at expressions and BBedit?

See appended document.  I haven't updated it in a while, but it's still relevant.

Maybe just piecing it together off stackoverflow and google etc is best though? Thanks again

Not just no but HELL no!  😎

You can definitely get help with things via this method, but you'll waste a lot of time when working for general education.

You need:

A good basic book.

A good intermediate book.

A RegEx recipe book.

Tools like BBEdit, Patterns and/or RegExRX.

An online RegEx analyzer like RegEx101.com

Mentoring.

Lots of practice.

Very basic regular expressions are pretty easy to learn, but advanced usage requires a fair amount of dedicated time and effort.

--

Best Regards,

Chris

---

Regular Expressions References and Resources

by Christopher C. Stone

2015/03/20

---------------------------------

AppleScript-Objective-C Libraries

---------------------------------

With the advent of Mavericks and AppleScript-Objective-C Libraries it is possible to add regex support to AppleScript via a library.

------------------------------------------------

Some Information on Learning Regular Expressions

------------------------------------------------

Learning basic regular expressions is relatively easy.  Becoming really good with them takes dedication, a lot of practice, and some tutelage.

The BBEdit & TextWrangler Manuals devote a whole chapter to regular expressions: Searching with Grep (currently chapter 8).  It's a reference rather than a tutorial, but it does explain at least briefly many of the fundamentals.

My cheat-sheet for BBEdit/TextWrangler is up on Gist:

https://gist.github.com/ccstone/5385334

BBEdit/TextWrangler uses PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular Expressions), so it's a pretty decent if not complete reference.

-----------

Regex Books

-----------

Regex neophytes are better off starting with a book specifically written for beginners.

I have these books (in addition to a couple of tomes on Perl):

"Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions in 10 Minutes" by Ben Forta

"Beginning Regular Expressions" by Andrew Watt

"Regular Expressions Cookbook"  by Jan Goyvaerts and Steven Levithan

"Mastering Regular Expressions" by Jeffrey Friedl (Advanced)

---------------

Regex Analyzers

---------------

Here's a very good on-line regex analyzer with an example:

https://regex101.com/r/oA9mZ4/1

There's a decent little utility available on the App-Store called Patterns that live-updates as you create your pattern. ($2.99)

Another one I like is:

RegExRX

Mark Alldritt the author of Script Debugger has posted a free one for the iPad:

RegEx Knife

I've found it very handy to have live feedback when building a complex pattern and wish I'd had something like that when I started learning regex more than 20 years ago.

------------------------------------

Online Regex Tutorials & Information

------------------------------------

Extracting a good working knowledge of regular expressions from the Internet is a serious chore.  There are many flavors of regex out there, such as Perl/PCRE, Java, Javascript, Ruby, Python, TCL...

They are all similar, but the differences can be confusing and frustrating.  Nevertheless there are many useful online resources.  Here are a few:

http://www.regular-expressions.info/tutorial.html

http://www.agillo.net/regex-primer-part-1/

http://www.agillo.net/regex-primer-part-2/

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/regextutorial.aspx

[F. Alfredo Rego]

Hey Chris,

RegExRX seems to have gone dormant five years ago. 

Do you have any news/updates regarding newer/better approaches, if any?

Thanks.

Alfredo

[Christopher Stone]

On 01/04/2019, at 13:44, F. Alfredo Rego <F.Alfr...@gmail.com> wrote:

RegExRX seems to have gone dormant five years ago. 

Do you have any news/updates regarding newer/better approaches, if any?

---

Hey Alfredo,

Crud.  I didn't realize it was a 32-bit app.

You can find it here:

http://www.mactechnologies.com/index.php?page=downloads#regexrx

And you can drop the developer a note requesting an update.  (I just did.)

I usually start building a regular expression with BBEdit.

If I'm having trouble I usually go to Patterns.

But there are times when RegExRx is better, so I hope the dev gets on his keyboard and drums out some new code.

--

Best Regards,

Chris

[F. Alfredo Rego]

Thanks, Chris.

I really appreciate (and enjoy) every one of your wise contributions.

Alfredo

[Dj]

Ah! It was your cheatsheet that I have been studying, somehow I didn't connect the name here and there. Thankful I asked in the right place, I wasn't expecting a masterclass 🙏 . I've put what you suggested in notes and will use them as a good jumping off point along with your book.

The last couple things I'm curious about before doing a deeper dive... To remove all text between paranthesis (and also the parenthesis), what would that expression be?

How about only extracting the last sentence of each paragraph?   No biggie, if that's asking too much, appreciate the time you've given here.

[DavidWeinberger]

> suggest a book on getting better at expressions and BBedit?

I think you're asking specifically about regex, but if you're looking for a book about how to get the most out of BBedit overall, I recommend Glenn Fleishman's "Take Control of BBedit." It's several revs behind (it assumes BBedit v. 10) but it is still useful. https://www.takecontrolbooks.com/bbedit

-- David W.

[Christopher Stone]

On 01/04/2019, at 13:44, F. Alfredo Rego <F.Alfr...@gmail.com> wrote:

RegExRX seems to have gone dormant five years ago. 

Do you have any news/updates regarding newer/better approaches, if any?

---

Hey Alfredo,

Good news – I heard back from Kem Tekinay the developer of RegExRX (see appended).

--

Best Regards,

Chris

---

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kem Tekinay

Subject: Re: [MTC WEBSITE] Software Support

Date: Jan 04, 2019 at 22:36:46 CST

To: Christopher Stone

Me too! :-)

Yes, I rely on it too, so I’ll be doing that before it actually makes a difference.

Thanks.

On Jan 4, 2019, at 2:53 PM, Christopher Stone wrote:

RegExRX is a 32-bit app.

Are you going to update it to 64-bit.

I for one would sure appreciate it.

[F. Alfredo Rego]

Hey Chris,

Great news for all of us.

I got RegExRX from the App Store.

Thanks.

Alfredo

[Christopher Stone]

On 01/04/2019, at 20:59, Dj <future...@gmail.com> wrote:

The last couple things I'm curious about before doing a deeper dive... To remove all text between paranthesis (and also the parenthesis), what would that expression be? 

---

Hey Dj,

Something like this:

\([^)]+\)

1. Literal open Paren.

2. Any character not close Paren, 1 or more

3. Literal close Paren

How about only extracting the last sentence of each paragraph?   No biggie, if that's asking too much, appreciate the time you've given here.

Something like this:

(?<=\A|[.?!]|\v)[^.?!\v]+[.?!](?=\v|\z)

(?<=\A|[.?!]|\v)  ==  Positive Lookbehind for Start of Text, End Punctuation, or Vertical Whitespace.

[^.?!\v]+         ==  Any character NOT end punctuation or vertical whitespace, 1 or more.

[.?!]             ==  End punctuation.

(?=\v|\z)         ==  Positive Lookahead for vertical whitespace or End of Text.

This is unsophisticated, because there is no provision for possible quoting.

But it'll do for now.  :)

--

Best Regards,

Chris

[Rails Smith]

What fun thread!

I find Rubular <https://rubular.com/> to be helpful for iterating on regex development. 

It is similar to the app mentioned in the App store. 

[Christopher Stone]

On 01/05/2019, at 14:30, Rails Smith <rails...@mediaweb.com> wrote:

I find Rubular <https://rubular.com/> to be helpful for iterating on regex development.

---

That site is in my pro-tools bookmarks, but I prefer https://regex101.com.

It has more regex flavors than Ruby, the UI is better, and then there's the comprehensive analysis.

--

Best Regards,

Chris

[Dj]

Hi Chris,  

 Learning about something new I find it's often the entry point that's most problematic, then it's just easier to go to whatever the next logical step is. Months ago, I was coming at this from the angle that I'd have to learn R or Python to do what I wanted for a big idea. Ha. Your help with extracting questions from my journal made me realize that I can apply this to a bigger vision project I have that will hopefully help some people out and let me pay it forward. Can't thank you enough! I keep getting too many ideas for long-standing issues I've had with edting text though. :)