The only thing worse than people who CAN’T dream is people who can ONLY dream.
I thought of one today, from my boss at my first job as a software developer. “It’s impossible to make something idiot-proof. The best you can do is try to make it idiot-resistant.”
In real life:
“Don’t stick it in the crazy.”
“Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed.”
“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
Movies and TV:
“If you’re stupid, surround yourself with smart people. And if you’re smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you.”
“What have you done today to make your life better?”
From my Dad during driving instructions, “The car coming from the right - he’s not going to stop”. Note there was a stop sign for the other car.
Mine to pass on, “Never fry bacon while you’re nude”.
“No one gets remembered for the things they didn’t do.”
From a song. Also tattooed on my back.
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I had this totally psycho boss in my first job out of college. But he was known to say one sensible thing, and it was this:
We need this in a hurry, so don’t rush.
I second this, but heard it this way:
“Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.”
I learned a life-changing bit over 30 yrs ago, and I’m still working it, and it is still changing my life for the better. It is:
We’re always determining however we feel; it’s not our circumstances, or what others say or do (or don’t say or don’t do) that causes how we feel. It’s how we think ABOUT circumstances or what others do, that causes how we feel. And, it’s how we think ABOUT ourselves that causes us to feel however we do about ourselves.
This is BIG because, how you feel shapes everything in your experience, and even what you CAN experience.
“Your thoughts of the past made your present and your present thoughts make your future. With our thoughts we make our world.” The Buddha
“Your thoughts can imprison you, or set you free.” Susan Smith Jones, PhD
Fear is the mind killer.
Any man who retreats into a cave which has only one opening deserves to die.
It is impossible to live in the past, difficult to live in the present and a waste to live in the future.
He who controls the spice controls the universe.
Have you seen The Iron Lady? In it she says something similar about thoughts.
That’s probably where this “Buddha” guy got it from. 
When we fall in love we are actually falling in love with the way we feel about ourselves when we are with that other person. ( heard this on a radio talk show and have applied it to all kinds of relationships in all areas of my life)
“When you Shoot for the King, Don’t Miss.” -Grandfather’s motto
“Well, you can complain about it or we can work together to fix it. Your call.” -My motto
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
An uncle gave me the more explicit version. Unfortunately he never provided any pointers/field kit for sussing out mental stability…:smack:
From my ex-husband: Some things are too important to take seriously. And, If they can’t take a joke—fuck it.
Sounds like you went through some cognitive-behavioral therapy back then; that’s essentially the core proposition of that sort of mental health therapy.
My mother had a similar conversation with someone once, and I can tell it struck her because she cites it all the time. It’s a good point.
When I first got my driver’s licence my Dad told me to “leave off buying a car until you absolutely have to, because after that you’ll be dependent on it”.
I’m 39 and still don’t own a car.
I cycle over 20km a day to/from work.
"Look it up." I read a lot and when I found a word I did not know, I would ask my father what it meant. Instead of the instant gratification of telling me the definition, he would tell me to go look it up. Needless to say, this did not go over well with me but I would eventually shuffle off to find the dictionary. Looking words up made me remember them and increased my vocabulary.
"Save your money." Dad was born during the Great Depression and his parents told him about the many hardships they endured. This made him quite thrifty and he recognized the value of saving and investing, a trait that he passed on to my brothers and I. We all had passbook savings accounts and any money we got was quickly deposited. When we went off to university, each of us would get $2500 to open an investment account and start picking stocks. Needless to say, Miss DrumBum has become a world-class money-grubber and when she went off to university, she opened an E-Trade account with seed money from us and it is doing well.
**“Learn another language” **Mom grew up in a small New England town and after marrying my dad, she saw the world courtesy of the US Army. As we moved around, she made sure we learned as much of the local language and customs as possible. An addendum to this was to try the local cuisine. All she asked was to just take a bite. She was not going to let us off just because something looked or smelled funny.
It’s an Autumn afternoon. My son is walking through an orchard with my father. Dad stops and looks into the distance for a few moments, then, in a voice that sounds as if he’s placed a hand on my son’t shoulder, says:
“I’ve lived a long life. And there’s one thing that I’m sure of. Farts will always be funny.”