# Favourite Wise sayings to Live your life by! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 3, 2016, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052 "2016-01-03T11:32:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/61 "2016-01-04T22:31:25Z")
When you get hit by a train, it’s not the caboose that kills you. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/62 "2016-01-04T22:45:22Z")
Never wrestle with a pig, you’ll get dirty. And the pig likes it. I got that from my crazy beloved uncle, who also told me “Don’t argue with stupid people. They’re too dumb to know when they’ve lost.” The version of the finger/moon thing I learned was from a graphic novel of Zen Koans. **I use my finger to point at the moon, but my finger is not the moon.** ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/63 "2016-01-04T23:46:36Z")
Paraphrasing Kevin Bacon’s character in _Tremors_: Always plan ahead. That way you don’t have to do anything right now. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/64 "2016-01-05T00:28:53Z")
A few of my favorites: Ignorance killed the cat; curiosity was framed. “I do not feel obliged to believe that same God who endowed us with the sense, reason, and intellect, had intended for us to forgo their use.” – Galileo Skills are the flowers you get if you water your talent bush well enough. – Spider Robinson (as Arethusa Quigley) Cats keep their claws sharp because they know that just a purr may not be enough. To understand the wacko mind, you have to think like they do — If you sincerely believe something to be true, it is true. Science is a foreign concept not to be trusted. - Jerry Cohen “There are no mind-expanding drugs Only mind-contracting ones.” - Dr. John C. Lilly, circa 1980 (Heard personally in response to a question after a lecture I attended. Not MY question. :p) ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/65 "2016-01-05T00:53:45Z")
“If you can’t convine them, confuse them.” Harry Truman ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/66 "2016-01-05T01:15:23Z")
A couple work-related bits of wisdom: Make the system work for _you_. Document, document, document! ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/67 "2016-01-05T01:56:31Z")
“There is no problem brute force and ignorance cannot solve.” Though he didn’t write it, it was a favorite of my father, the nuclear reactor engineer. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/68 "2016-01-05T02:36:22Z")
I’m not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/69 "2016-01-05T02:47:52Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > I’m not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens. ~~Woody Allen, _Play It Again Sam_ ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/70 "2016-01-05T03:11:56Z")
Thanks, I thought it was him but couldn’t recall exactly. Another one whose origin I can’t recall: Be who you is, because if you be who you ain’t then you ain’t who you is. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/71 "2016-01-05T05:06:24Z")
don’t try to make the world a better place, just don’t be an asshole -me ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/72 "2016-01-05T17:35:40Z")
A good French one is It’s not that the well is too deep, it’s that the rope is too short and an Arabic one One day honey, one day onion (it rhymes: youm 'assal, youm basal) ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/73 "2016-01-05T18:53:33Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > “There is no problem brute force and ignorance cannot solve.” > Though he didn’t write it, it was a favorite of my father, the nuclear reactor engineer. The way I always heard it was, “There is no problem so bad that it can’t be made worse through brute force and ignorance.” ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/74 "2016-01-06T02:27:48Z")
> [@Stana\_Claus](#): > > The way I always heard it was, “There is no problem so bad that it can’t be made worse through brute force and ignorance.” When I Googled the phrase I found all kinds of variants – I went with the version my father always said. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/75 "2016-01-06T04:34:53Z")
The only advice I think I could pass on to my hypothetical children is Leave the zit alone until it’s ready to pop, and even then wait a little longer. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/76 "2016-01-06T16:01:24Z")
The early bird may get the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese. TANSTAAFL. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/77 "2016-01-06T18:03:16Z")
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. - Mark Twain ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/78 "2016-01-06T18:23:54Z")
“Make memories you can live with.” Robert Knott ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/79 "2016-01-06T19:14:18Z")
Attributed to Pete, an 87 year old man I once knew in San Antonio. He was a real Walter Brennan-type character. This one has served me well… “Don’t mess with shit unless you get it on ya.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-wise-sayings-to-live-your-life-by/742052/80 "2016-01-06T19:17:33Z")
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