Inspirational quotes to overcome confinement and coronavirus crisis

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5 keys to take care of your mental health during the pandemic 2:56

Editor's Note: This essay is part of a column called The Wisdom Project written by David Allan, editorial director for CNN Features. The special tries to apply to daily life the wisdom and philosophy found everywhere, from ancient texts to pop culture. You can follow David at @davidgallan. Don't miss the Wisdom Project columns.

(CNN) - " Keep calm and carry on ". "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." "Do not worry Be Happy".

These are the kinds of inspirational quotes and quotes that, historically speaking, have the power to keep us going through tough times. War. Depression. The 1980s.

Call them mantras, maxims, or even memes - they are repeated and recited over the years, sometimes for millennia, because they contain powerful maxims of truth, vision, and perspective that are easily accessible.

"The aphorisms live because they contain human truth," wrote Adam Gopnick in The New Yorker magazine last semester, "and they cross barriers of class and time."

• OPINION: Ten spiritual tips for dealing with the coronavirus crisis

I have been collecting such fun and autonomous wisdom for decades. I started a list of these quotes that I found on loose sheets in high school, a notebook that now has more than 160 pages. I have used the phrases in my writings and personally consulted them in difficult times of heartbreak, work stress and the death of others.

And I addressed them this week, at a time when we all face new struggles, seeking wisdom from the past to help the present.

Below are quotes that I think speak of this era of coronavirus confinements and economic and health fears.

Like a raven searching for bright fragments of lighting, I have indiscriminately snatched quotes from anywhere - books, songs, movies, speeches, articles, plays, poems, religious dogmas, stickers, graffiti, t-shirts, friends, family and strangers. .

But I must warn that some appointments have their own journey; sometimes its origin becomes historically cloudy and the origin doubtful. But I think it's fine. It is more important that your condensed vision keep us firm.

' Keep calm '

Before the attacks on its cities during World War II, the British government issued and displayed three posters with written messages to boost morale and mentally prepare its civilians. One of them, “Keep calm and Carry on” , has grown in popularity over the years because its message is applicable beyond its original intention. It is also moving now that the coronavirus is invoking comparisons with World War II.

Similarly, a line from President Franklin Roosevelt's 1933 inauguration speech to a nation paralyzed by economic fear of the Great Depression has endured its original meaning because the phrase " The only thing we must fear is fear itself " speaks of the psychology of all panic.

" A life lived in fear is a half-lived life ," declares a character in the 1992 Australian film "Strictly Ballroom," in a line attributed to the film's director and co-writer, Baz Luhrmann.

In Steven Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies" (2015), a film written by Matt Charman and the Coen brothers, he repeats the variations of this wise exchange between characters: "Aren't you worried?" Says one. "Would that help?" Answers the other .

What is our fear for now? " Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but it never gets you anywhere ," wrote humorist Erma Bombeck.

Now is the time for a more scientific and analytical approach, as physicist Marie Curie said: “ There is nothing to fear in life, you just have to understand it. Now is the time to understand more, so that we can fear less . "

Be happy, or at least Zen

For anyone alive in 1988, Bobby McFerrin's phrase "Don't worry, be happy" has been in his head ever since. There have been many songs of happiness before and after (Pharrell, the Partridge family), but McFerrin's Grammy-winning song has had the greatest staying power, because it is simple and direct.

Personally, I prefer Bob Marley's phrase " Don't worry 'bout a thing, cause every little thing's gonna be alright " (Don't worry about anything, because everything will be fine). It is also direct and it is also a call to appreciate small things, such as sunrises and birdsong.

" Things can always be better, but things could always be worse, " is a phrase attributed to actress Marla Gibbs, famous for her role as a daring but insightful housekeeper in the 1970s and 1980s series, "The Jeffersons. "

In the movie "I Heart Huckabees", which was co-written and directed by David O. Russell, it contains this western koan zen: " Nothing is right. Then it's okay . "

It reminds me of a level of acceptance that I wrote just after I heard comedian Eddie Izzard say it live on stage last year: “ I like to think of life as an adventure, like a roller coaster. It helps with its ups and downs . "

I also like this framing by Fred Rogers: " Often, when you think you are at the end of something, you are at the beginning of something else ." This speaks of this moment as the beginning of a new era, without any negative connotation.

Dance under the rain

So what do we do now?

" It's better to be busy than to be busy worrying, " said actress Angela Lansbury. Because, author Vivian Greene explained: “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain . ” Or as Sting sings: " When the world is running out, you make the most of what's still there ."

We need to make the most of what we have now, especially if the supermarket shelves are empty. " You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you get what you need, " the Rolling Stones sang.

And what you need are the basic needs. “ Look for the most vital, no more, what is need, no more, and forget about worry. Only the very essential to live without battling and nature gives it to you ", promises Balú, the bear from Disney's" The Jungle Book ".

Two hundred years before the coronavirus, the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had some poignant metaphorical advice to do his part in this pandemic, when he wrote: "Let everyone sweep in front of their own door, and everyone will be clean."

Accepting these phrases this time could have a positive impact on you. " What does not kill us makes us stronger," said the famous aphoristic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. And spiritual master Eckhart Tolle added that " life will give you the experience that is most useful for the evolution of your consciousness ."

That evolution will likely lead you to seek others at this critical time. “ I'm going to go through here but once; any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being; let me do it now, ”wrote Quaker missionary Etienne de Grellet.

And whatever happens, we just have to hold on. " If you are going through hell, continue, " said British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Because as the days accumulate, or the situation escalates, more things can fall apart and draw even more on our resolution of power. In other words, " you just have to live, LIVE, " said Matthew McConaughey in the movie "Dazed and Confused" (1993).

Which brings me to my favorite quote from one of my favorite novels, "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. Ma Joad gives the family this home talk when the car breaks down on the road to California: “ This machine went off. We didn't know what was going to happen, so we didn't worry. It is now damaged and we will fix it. And for Christ that way we will do with everything else . "

The sun will come out

" This will also pass," is an old Persian saying that may have originated with the poet Rumi. Abraham Lincoln, somewhat of an aphorist, was a fan of this line because it is "true and appropriate at all times and situations," said Lincoln. How much he expresses! What a comforter in the depths of affliction! ”

Impermanence and strife were the favorite themes of the Buddha's recorded sayings, which include: " Praise and guilt, gain and loss, pleasure and grief come and go like the wind ."

That should give us hope, perhaps even help us see " dawn comes after dark, " as author Lisa Wingate put it.

That's the perspective articulated at the end of Robert Zemeckis' hope-filled movie "Cast Away." After four years trapped on an island and not knowing what to do once he returns home, Tom Hanks character Chuck Noland says: “ I know what I have to do now, I have to keep breathing because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide might bring? "

And in the end, I am going to give the wise singer John Lennon the last word. If you only remember one of these aphorisms, this is the one that most succinctly captures resistance, perspective and hope: “ Everything will be fine in the end. If it's not right, it's not the end . "