QuoteProject
My father, my mother, and then my father was always on top of me - 'Keep your nose clean. Do you love what you're doing?' 'Yes.' 'Then be aware, or you're going to lose it.'
Paul Anka
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the importance of staying focused and dedicated to one's passions to avoid losing them.

In this quote, Paul Anka reflects on the guidance he received from his parents, highlighting the significance of maintaining integrity and passion in one's pursuits. The advice to 'keep your nose clean' symbolizes the need for ethical behavior, while the encouragement to evaluate whether you love what you're doing serves as a reminder to actively engage with and appreciate your endeavors, lest you take them for granted and risk losing them.

Themes

DedicationPassionIntegrityFocusAdvice

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech to students on the importance of following their passions, this quote by Paul Anka could serve as a guiding principle.

More from Paul Anka

I've lived a life that's full, I traveled each and ev'ry highway, And more, much more than this, I did it my way.
Paul AnkaRead
Regrets, I've had a few but then again too few to mention. And more, much more than this, I did it my way.
Paul AnkaRead

Similar quotes

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live. To live a fulfilled life, we need to keep creating the "what is next", of our lives. Without dreams and goals there is no living, only merely existing, and that is not why we are here.
Mark TwainRead
Always have a vivid imagination, for you never know when you might need it.
J. K. RowlingRead
There's an awful lot of inactive kindness which is nothing but laziness, not wanting any trouble, confusion, or effort.
John SteinbeckRead
The trick to my writing, it turned out, was doing so exclusively in bed. The minute I even dared to discipline myself and write at the desk, I produced mounds of nonsense. Yet, sitting in bed, I wrote easily, effortlessly, fluidly. I became the master of perfect indiscipline.
Siddhartha MukherjeeRead
All your restlessness is out of your desire for stillness Just desire restlessly, then, love will fill and still you. All your unhealthiness is out of your desire for health, Just abandon health, then, even poison will heal you.
RumiRead
Ask yourself not if this or that is expedient, but if it is right.
Alan PatonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.