Words of Varying Degrees of Wisdom

I have been collecting and formulating words of varying degrees of wisdom over the years.  Some have been scattered over a number of my postings and one entry, my Maxims, has been presented to stand on its own.  Today I present a list of aphorisms (most of which have been gathered from others) of greater or lesser value that may bring a smile, a thought or a maybe even a resolution to you.

·        No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.

·        Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

·        Experience comes before understanding.

·        Don’t look for someone else to blame. 

·        The time to think of the end is at the beginning.

·        What you do speaks so loud that I can’t hear what you say.

·        You make your own sunshine.

·        Attitude is everything.

·        The music may change, but the beat goes on.

·        No pain, no gain.

·        I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.

·        By the time I finish whatever it is I’m trying to do, I finally know enough to start doing it.

·        Together is a beautiful word:

Coming together is the beginning.

Staying together is progress.

Thinking together is unity.

Working together is success.

·        You can eat an elephant if you do it one bite at a time.

·        Never say ‘can’t.’  Success comes in ‘cans.’

·        Education is cheap.  Ignorance is expensive.

·        Well done is better than well said.

·        You only have one chance at a first impression.

·        You are judged by the company you keep.

·        No job is too hard if you have the right tools.

·        A good preparation is 90% of the job.

·        Do what you have to do first, so that you can then do what you want to do.

·        Don’t put yourself down; there’s always someone else to do it for you.

·        When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

·        No man dies before his time.

·        When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. 

·        There is no such thing as a free lunch.

·        Little can happen today that wasn’t planned for by someone yesterday.

·        Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt. 

·        Only a fool argues with one. 

·        Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

·        Only in the dictionary does success come before work.

·        He who screams the loudest usually has the most to hide.

·        You never stop a war by taking part in one.

·        A goal is a dream with a date attached.

·        He who knows, and knows that he knows—

He is a wise man; follow him.

            He who knows, and knows not that he knows—

                        He is asleep; awaken him.

            He who knows not and knows he knows not—

                        He is a child; teach him

            He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not—

                        He is a fool; shun him.  

·        One problem with thinking you are self-made is that you can’t (won’t) go anywhere for help. 

·        If you only have one thing going for you, don’t worry.  One thing usually leads to another. 

·        If you use a pencil, you can be wrong and still write.

·        A song isn’t a song until you sing it.

      A bell isn’t a bell until you ring it.

      The love that is in you wasn’t put there to stay.

      Love isn’t love until you give it away.

·        The best mirror is often a good friend.

·        An excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.

·        Happiness is not having the things you want;  it’s wanting the things you have.

·        Inch by inch, life’s a cinch; yard by yard it’s really hard.

·        FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real

·        To shine is better than to reflect.

·        The will to win is worthless without the will to prepare.

·        A school is four walls with tomorrow inside.

·        If you’re not fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm.

·        Competency is the concept, not the content.

·        Character is how you behave when nobody is looking.

·        Peace is not gained by talking in defense.

·        If you have tried to do something and failed, you are better off than if you tried to do nothing and succeeded.

·        If you don’t have time to do it right the first time, how will you find time to do it again?

·        A show-off is usually shown up in a show down.

·        If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.

·        You’ll never be loved if you don’t risk be rejected.

·        When you’re good, no one seems to remember.  When you’re bad, no one seems to forget.

·        If the road you follow has no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.

·        We are what we repeatedly do.  Striving for excellence should be a habit, not just an occasional act.

·        Plan ahead.  It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.

·        The time is always right to do what is right.

·        Love is a cure, both for the one who gives and the one who receives.

·        You can only go half way into your sadness before you start coming out.

·        Normally we do not so much look at things as overlook them.

·        He who is not busy being born is busy dying.

·        A child who cannot learn is like a person who, upon throwing a stone to the ground, misses.

·        Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

·        Words are the most potent drug that mankind uses.

·        The cigarette does the smoking and you’re the sucker.

     The fire’s at one end; the fool’s at the other.

·        The difference between a champ and a chump is ‘U.’

·        No one ever drowned in sweat.

·        Temperamental is 98% temper and 2 % mental.

·        When we feel without thinking, life is painful.

     When we act without thinking, life is chaos.

     When we think, but don’t act, life stands still.

·        If at first you don’t succeed, you’re doing about average.