Sharing pearls of wisdom

[razz]

Different pieces of wisdom cross my path that I would love to share so thought that a thread on pearls of wisdom with their source might be interesting.

My mother - "give flowers to the living rather than the dead" translated from German. I have done that a number of times now and was so glad that I did.


https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/august-26-2021
A Hindu proverb on the many ways to win:
"There are hundreds of paths up the mountain, all leading in the same direction, so it doesn't matter which path you take. The only one wasting time is the one who runs around and around the mountain, telling everyone that his or her path is wrong."

[catherine]

Just saw this one today and loved it:

"Do not be haunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it."
--The Talmud.

[iris lilies]

I will always accept flowers, they are always nice. Once we had a patio party and somebody brought flowers from her garden. She looked around my garden and said oh! You have exactly the same flowers I guess I didn’t need to bring these. But she was wrong because I liked her flowers and it saved me cutting my own so I could enjoy her flowers in my house and my flowers in my garden.

[catherine]

Here's another one my mother taught me when I was very young and complained that everyone thought one particular classmate was pretty, but I didn't. She said, "The more you get to know a person, the prettier or uglier they become." I've found that to be very true.

[happystuff]

"The tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter until the lion speaks." African Proverb

"If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone." Maxwell Maltz

[bae]

[happystuff]

LOL. Nice song.

[pinkytoe]

The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.

[GeorgeParker]

"Never trust anyone whose suit is nicer than yours." Ferengi Rules of Acquisition (#47)

And everybody knows what Thumper's father told him, including me and my mother. Once, when I was kindergarten age, I said something unflattering, and my mother said "George..." I looked up at her expecting "If you can't say...." but instead she said "If you can't say something nice....you need to learn how to lie with a straight face." That was really very clever of her, because up until then "If you can't say something nice" had always been just one of those things that grownups always say to children and children quickly forget. By making me laugh, she implanted that moment permanently in my brain, and I never forgot "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all," even though I don't always follow that rule.

And when I was 12 my mama said something else I never forgot (but I have to explain the situation first) There was a girl named Cathy in our neighborhood and she had a crush on me, but I was totally unaware of it because she wasn't pushy and (to be blunt about it) I had a huge crush on a different girl (Susan). Anyhow, one day my mother casually said, "Cathy has a crush on you. [dramatic pause] Did you know that?" I said no, and my mother said "Well, do you like her having a crush on you?" I thought about it and said "I like Cathy ok. She's nice. And she's smart. And we've been friends for a long time. But she's not much to look at." My mother looked straight at me and said very gently, "George, Cathy is a good girl, and one of these days you're going to figure out that all cats look alike in the dark." Then she smiled and perkily said "Go empty the trash." I was 12 and it was 1962 so I was still naive enough that I took what she said at face value (IOW don't ignore a wonderful girl just because she's not pretty.) It wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I suddenly realized "All cats look alike in the dark" was a double entendre that she probably shouldn't have said to a 12 year old son.

Now about my crush on Susan: I had a huge crush on her for three whole years, but I very carefully kept my crush totally secret from everyone, including her, because she was a step-first cousin and therefore technically off limits (ethically, though not legally).

When I was in my mid 40s my mother and I were looking at family photos and I said, "When I was 11, I had a tremendous crush on cousin Susan for three whole years, and it was wonderful because I was in love, but it was also terrible because I had to be so careful about never letting anyone suspect that I might have a crush on her." And my mother laughed and said, "George, I knew right from the very beginning you had crush on her." I was shocked because I had never mentioned having a crush on cousin Susan to anyone. I said "You did?" And she said, "George... It was obvious to me that you had a crush on her. If you hadn't had a crush on Susan you wouldn't have been a normal boy. And I was always very proud of the way you kept your feelings secret and treated her like she was just a cousin you happened to like a lot. I'm sure no one else ever knew you had a crush on her, including her." I said "If you knew I had a crush on her, why didn't you tell me?" And she said "I knew you were a good boy, and it was obvious you were doing the right thing in the right way, so I trusted you to keep on doing the right thing. If I had told you that I knew you had a crush on Susan, it would have been awkward for both of us, and you would have been embarrassed, and there really wasn't any advice or consolation I could have given you at that age, other than reminding you there really were other interesting girls and some of them might have a crush on you."

An appropriate song: "Circle Of Blue" (I love you, and you love him, and he loves somebody else)

[LDAHL]

Never trust idealists. You never know when they might try to help you.

It’s not always about the money; but the probability is high enough that you can proceed as if it is.

Life has a beginning and an end, but that doesn’t make it a journey.

Politics is a poor substitute for morality.

If someone can’t bear to be disagreed with, don’t eat lunch with them.

Unless you fail frequently you aren’t living a very interesting life.

Anyone who devotes a lot of energy to letting you know how tough or smart or accomplished they are probably isn’t.