# What is your MANTRA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 9, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964 "2003-12-09T17:46:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/1 "2003-12-09T17:46:30Z")
I’m just sitting here eating my lunch, trying to write out my objectives for the coming semester and I am teaching Psych Personality 204 next semester. We go over all the big guns and their theories: Freud, Jung, Fromm, Gestalt, Piaget etc…etc… and we also go over some eastern philosophies so the students can get a more global feel for what constitutes human personalities. And we go over the different formulas for personal success, Mantras if you will. My Mantra ( one of them ;)) is: Do not **Proselytize** before you first **Philosophize**. This carries many meaning for me. Essentially, at one time in our lives or another we speak before we think. It happens to the best of us. If you follow my mantra, many adverse things simply do not happen. You listen to the person with whom you are speaking, you speak when you know what to say and exactly how to say it. I’ll raise my hand as being the first person to say, I do not do this all the time, and 9 times out of 10 it gets me in trouble. So I try and adhere to my mantra, and it keeps me out of trouble, especially with my witty wife 🙂 So whats your mantra? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/2 "2003-12-09T17:59:50Z")
“ **Be Bold with Bananas**.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/3 "2003-12-09T18:07:28Z")
“Would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy?” “If you must smoke, smoke salmon.” ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/4 "2003-12-09T18:11:25Z")
Sealy Posturepedic ---
**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/5 "2003-12-09T18:16:40Z")
“why spell it right when you can spell it my way?” ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/6 "2003-12-09T21:20:35Z")
Honesty is always the best policy. (I hate lying.) ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/7 "2003-12-09T21:33:33Z")
“I hate everybody” and “If people are going to let me walk all over them, they deserve it.” ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/8 "2003-12-09T22:22:47Z")
The journey is the joy. Life is too short for bad music… or skipping dessert. If they stare, wave like you know them. Bite me. Act like you know what you’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![Ex\_Machina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/9 "2003-12-09T23:35:21Z")
“Don’t say anything **about** a person that you would not say **to** that person.” I repeat this to myself when the gossip-mongers start. “Everyone has to die Mr. Big-Shot, who are you to worry about it?” I say this to myself when mortality gets me down. I also repeat this almost constantly “Someone’s watching me.” But I’m not sure if it is a mantra or just paranoia. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/10 "2003-12-09T23:54:21Z")
I don’t HAVE to do what the voices tell me, I don’t HAVE to do what the voices tell me… ---
**Author:** ![crawf54](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@crawf54](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crawf54)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/11 "2003-12-10T03:06:00Z")
“it’s just a ride”. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/12 "2003-12-10T03:12:06Z")
It just doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t matter. a la Bill Murray in _Meatballs_. This is gotten me through many an absurd work situation. ---
**Author:** ![Secret\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@Secret\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Secret_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/13 "2003-12-10T03:19:09Z")
I’d rather be lucky than good or I don’t discriminate; I hate everyone equally. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/14 "2003-12-10T04:05:41Z")
“No, Don’t Kill Them, They’re Not Worth the Prison Sentence.” ---
**Author:** ![luluBahrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e5b9ba/32.png) [@luluBahrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luluBahrain)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/15 "2003-12-10T04:09:04Z")
mine is: Let it go. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/16 "2003-12-10T04:14:31Z")
My Mantra is: [I did it first!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=178833&highlight=mantra) ---
**Author:** ![karomon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@karomon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/karomon)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/17 "2003-12-10T04:15:08Z")
“Serenity now” ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/18 "2003-12-10T04:52:40Z")
What? Me Worry? - Alfred E. Newman. [http://www.quotemeonit.com/newmana.html](http://www.quotemeonit.com/newmana.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/19 "2003-12-10T04:58:28Z")
I will to do thy will. My prayer beads are very worn with everything that goes on in my life. 😉 And The goddess doesn’t give us more than we can handle. (but I really think she over estimated with me) ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964/20 "2003-12-10T04:59:12Z")
“No matter how many tools you carry or supplies you order, you can’t do jack shit if you can’t mentally picture it.” Tripler Because a fickle imagination is the deadliest tool on the planet. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-mantra/217964.md?page=2)