There is a class of people - and I sometimes fall within it - who will never have enough money to feel secure enough to spend very much of what they’ve saved.
I guess I take it to mean that temporary material shortfalls aren’t anywhere near as difficult as attitude issues, and it’s important to keep perspective.
A long time ago I was offered the chance to go for a particular goal. Achieving this particular goal was very unlikely, but the rewards would have been significant. I vacillated about whether to go for it. The odds were massively against me, and it would chew up a lot of time to even try. My mother told me I should go for it all the same. I asked why. She said, ‘Because otherwise, for the rest of your life, you’ll wonder what would have happened’.
I tried, didn’t get it. But the advice was good and has stayed with me ever since. You don’t want to spend the rest of your life wondering what would have happened.
Someone else already mentioned, ‘No-one on their deathbed ever said gee, I wish I’d spend more time at the office’. I first came across this in the book on family therapy co-authored by John Cleese. This truly changed my life and led me to quit my job and do my own thing.
From my stepmother:
“Your heart is thumping, your mind is racing, you’re breaking out in a sweat and your stomach is in knots… that describes fear *or *excitement. You choose which one.”
And with that, I finally grokked the difference between feelings and emotions. I can choose to interpret my physiological reactions (feelings) as fear or as excitement (emotions). Awesome.
My parents often attributed this one as being said often by the grandfather I never knew:
“If you shoot for the King, Don’t Miss.”
Here’s one I just remembered that a Doper gave me in a thread where I weighed the pros and cons of joining different branches of the military (ie: Enlisted Air Force, Army, or Navy, or try to finish college first and hope for a commission):
Whatever choice you make, whatever the outcome, don’t be bitter, just look forward to your next opportunities.
At one time I was in thereapy and learning a lot about my responses to my narcisistic mother. I was (over)sharing with coworkers about who knows exactly what now and one of them said** “Don’t go to the hardware store looking for apples.”** It applies in a lot of situations.
Before my wedding my aunt and I were working on a house project together talking about all sorts of things, and in the middle of it she said** “Just because you love someone doesn’t mean you have to be happy with everything he does.”**
I was working for a couple. She was a saver of things. He wanted to toss a box without opening it arguing that if they hadn’t opened it since moving it two years earlier they most assuredly did not need its contents. there was some back and forth. He said, "Don’t waste sentiment on things that can’t return it. Save it for people who can."
Early in my retail career I’d become undone by a blowhard customer who’d been (in my eyes) unjustly mean to me, and genreally grumpy. My grandmother told me not to take it in so much and also, "He was in your life for ten minutes. He has to live with himself all the time."
*Don’t get your hopes up and you won’t ever be disappointed. *
I can’t remember who told me that when I was younger but it’s sort of stuck with me my whole life. Or scarred me. Depends how you take it.
“Kill with kindness.” I think I heard it from some old person. I can’t remember. It was about being super nice to the people who treated you badly so that they looked like idiots and you always came out the better person.
My Father told me, “Never pass up a chance to take a piss. You never know when you’ll have another.”
Just thought of one more, from a fellow stranded passenger in a messy airport, “What do you mean the flight left early?!?!?!” situation: ** “Never take no for an answer from someone without the authority to say yes.”**
Makes plenty of sense - meaning that people attach overmuch importance to sex without considering the quality; you should pursue good sex, not just sex per se.
Another one - from my late husband:
“90% of the people in this world don’t care about your problems. And the other 10% are damn glad you have them!”
“Most problems can be solved if you throw enough money at them.”
Sounds like out present govt. :})