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My mom had a maxim that she always said - in fact it's the only one I remember her ever saying but she said it all the time - and honestly, it never made a lick of sense to me. I mean, I understood what it meant but I always wanted to yell back at her, "OK SO WHAT'S YOUR APPLICATION?"
"Nothing dries faster than a tear."
OK. And?
But my dad had tons of them, and here are a few of the best ones - and I still live by them and have passed them on to my kids and grandkids as well:
"Never go backward when you can go forward."
"Don't pick a fight with someone who's prepared to be more ruthless than you are."
"I didn't realize till I was 70 that most of the things I'd laid in bed worrying about all my life never happened."
"It was on fire when I laid down on it." OK, he never said that but I have always liked that phrase!
I was very angry with my family's handling of funeral arrangements for my father when he died. I complained to one of my friend's fathers, who has known me my whole life. He cut me off, looked me in the eye in a way that demanded attention, and said, "Carla, everyone grieves in their own way. What others are doing about your father's death is none of your business." I apply that principle all time now.
More advice on the occasion of my father's death. More complaining by me, except this time it was to my therapist. The funeral was the next day. He said, "Carla, tomorrow there is a gem and there is a setting. Settings, like a gold band to hold a diamond, are a dime a dozen. It's all about the gem. Right now, all this stuff that you are upset about is the setting. Forget about it. It does not matter. The gem is you and your dad. You have to say goodbye to him. That is all you need to pay any attention to."
My Ma worked for a guy for about a decade, may he rest in peace. He was a solid, kind, ethical man who had pithy little sayings. Two which have stuck with me were, “do good”, and “dumb rules are bound to be broken”. Of course, as I get older, I find more and more wisdom in these. I think I will for decades to come.
When I was around 17 or so I received some advice that even 33 years later I often think about it and think it was probably a good bit of wisdom. I think more importantly it was something that stuck with me. That probably is more the focus of this thread. What advice did you receive if any that has stuck with you for a long time or something you can remember as being pivotal to some degree.
For me it was something that while not all that full of wisdom was something that for some reason I've always remembered and it was indeed something that was sorta pivotal for me at that stage of my life. It was back in high school. It was senior year and there were a couple of days where various colleges, universities, trade schools, even the military came to the school and spoke with kids and passed out fliers all of that stuff that I think people know what I'm talking about.
I remember sitting there and having several people speak to the kids and pitch how great their school was and all of that stuff and after a hearing several speakers I sorta started to get bored and tune it out after a while. I remember this guy got up and was talking about his school, it happened to be a trade school that offered several programs that were primarily job training related. He for one didn't give the hard pitch, was just sorta laying out what they had to offer and all of that. When he was wrapping up he said something that has stuck with me. He said to all of us he said, look, of course I want you to come to our school and enroll in a program but he said that no matter what you do, even if you don't come to our school, do something. Do something to prepare for your futures. It was the honest way he said it, it was like this older guy was legitimately trying to help young people out and guide them in their lives. It was that bit of advice, to just do something, to prepare for the future that I have always remembered and it resonated with me. I think in part because he had a no BS approach and it felt honest and really sorta heartfelt.
Does anyone have something like that, some kind of advice or words of wisdom that sticks out in their minds, something that resonated and stayed with you for a long time??
"Your dad is a loser. Do you want to be like him when you grow up?? ".
about 50 years ago, a few WWII vets at work were telling war stories. One who I knew pretty well was mostly silent, and then said to me:
Remember, those who talk the most, did the least.
As it turns out, this is true in almost any situation, particularly for men. And we see it on here a lot. All sorts of keyboard kommandos and investment wizards....
Thanks Harold, wherever you are.
I so agree with you.
And this saying actions speak louder than words really sticks in my mind and helps me to observe people who are arrogant and talk too much at work. I also notice that arrogant/showing-off people are insecure. If they were so good at some thing or so rich, they would not need to tell people about that. They are very pretentious. People just know without their telling.
"The type you pick is the type you are." That was in response to people blaming their friends for getting them into bad situations.
"It's better to give than receive."
From a movie, "Back to School" with Rodney Dangerfield, there was a line about the person who followed all the rules and did everything he was told ending up as a locker room attendant, or something like that. I took the point - just following rules will get you to middle management in your career, at best. In order to be really successful, you have to be willing to push up against rules, challenge them and sometimes break them. The key is knowing how to do that constructively and judiciously.
Did your mom say that to you? As awful as it sounds, did it help?
From my wife to kid
THere are many others though.
Dad : God is Great.
Mom : God is Great, but you must pray.
Wife : God is Great, Effort is equally great.
Another good advice was one I got on this forum. I usually babble about debt ceiling, usury etc. But one poster asked why are you so agitated while you arent even able to manage your own debt?? Quite a blow and it helped me pay down things fast. From 10,000 to 1000 within 6 months.
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