Timeless Truths, Page 1 of 2
Timeless Truths

My mom always had practical advice to share with us, especially when we were growing up. Even as adults, we frequently asked for her input and advice. The following advice came from her heart and years of experience. She also included some quotes from her relatives and other people whose advice she feels are both pertinent and practical. Our hope is to share the wisdom of her statements, and show how her advice really is "timeless." The title of this page should really be: "What your mother would have said..."

At first, she was going to explain the following. But then she thought, "No, the reader will simply scan the words and not own the understanding." So, she simply listed some important advice. It is up to you to figure out what it means and how it applies to your life. We hope you enjoy it!

CHARACTER    GOVERNMENT   
CHILDREN GOD'S PRESENCE   
COMMUNICATION    LOVE
DATING    MARRIAGE   
EDUCATION    RELATIONSHIPS   
FINANCES    SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE


CHARACTER TOP OF PAGE
 

A liar has to have a good memory.

 

Never lie to the one person who will do anything for you, be it your mother, father, husband, or wife. Once trust is broken, it may never be there again.

 

No one can walk on you, unless you lie down first.

 

Not making a decision is making a decision.

 

If you don't stand up for what you believe in, you stand for nothing.

 

It is better to regret something you have done, than to regret something you haven't done.

 

A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything.

 

Life is change.

 

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be. (Abraham Lincoln)

 

Enough is as good as a feast.

 

Never let yesterday's disappointments overshadow tomorrow's dreams.

 

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. (Albert Einstein)

 

In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on. (Robert Frost)

 

If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning. (Catherine Aird)

 

Those who complain about the way the ball bounces are usually the ones who dropped it.

 

It is useless to put your best foot forward - and then drag the other.

 

Worry doesn't help tomorrow's troubles, but it does ruin today's happiness.

 

Worry is the darkroom in which "negatives" are developed.

 

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

 

People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes. (Abigail Van Buren)

 

A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it. (Anonymous)

 

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. (Will Rogers)

 

Everyone is kneaded out of the same dough, but not baked in the same oven. (Yiddish Proverb)

 

Overnight success usually takes about 15 years.

 

Winners do what losers are not willing to do.

 

Doing right is never wrong.

 

Don't go through life; grow through life.

 

If you fall, pick something up while you're down there. (New England proverb)

 

You will miss 100 percent of shots not taken. (Wayne Gretzky)

 

You are never a failure until you quit.

 

The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.

 

A man's character and his garden both reflect the amount of weeding that was done during the growing season.

 

He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg. (Chinese proverb)

 

Don't wait for your ship to come in. Swim out after it.

 

You should not be ashamed if you are low in intelligence. You should not be proud if you are high in intelligence. Intelligence is given at birth. You had nothing to do with it. What you should be proud of is what you do with what you have.

 

You make your memories. You choose what kind to keep.

 

I'm not denying that women are foolish. God Almighty made them to match the men. (George Eliot)

 

There are four things a woman should know. She should know how to look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, and work like a dog.

 

He who loses money, loses much. He who loses a friend, loses much more. He who loses faith, loses all.

 

It is more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help. (Ann Landers)

 

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.

 

You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old. (George Burns)

 

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

 

I have more respect for a woman who goes down an alley with a man she loves, than a woman who marries for money. (Rall M. Ayers)

 

I would rather be cussed and discussed, than ignored. (Rall M. Ayers)

 

Happiness is a habit -- cultivate it.

 

Doing what you want is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

 

When nobody around you seems to measure up, it's time to check your yardstick.

 

The only thing that ever sat its way to success was a hen.

 

If you keep waiting for the right time, you may never begin.

 

Opportunities are never lost. Someone will take the ones you missed.

 

Once you run, you will always keep running.

 

Worry is interest paid on trouble before it is due.

 

No one can go back and make a brand new start. Anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.

 

Not trying is the greater failure.

 

Learn the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsible for all your actions.

 

Most of today's worries are like puddles. By tomorrow, they will have evaporated.

 

If the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, you can bet the water bill is higher, too.

 

Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

 

If you don't know where you're going, you may miss it when you get there.

 

Don't worry about what people think; they don't do it very often.

 

Age is strictly a case of mind over matter; if you don't mind, it doesn't matter. (Jack Benny)

 

There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.

 

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

 

Most of the stuff people worry about never happens.

 

You're only cooking up trouble when you stew about tomorrow.

 

Think about how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what chances you have of changing others.

 

Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

 

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

 

Life is not made by the dreams you dream, but by the choices you choose.

 

Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have.

 

Some people are born leaders, and others just hate standing in line.

 

It's an historical fact that the guy who rocks the boat is never the one at the oars.

 

Character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking. (Patty Weesner)

 

Your life will be what you make of it. (Patty Weesner)

 

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. (Edmund Burke)

 

The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude. (William James)

 

As you grow older, the only things you regret are the things you didn't do. (Patty Weesner)

 

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. (Patty Weesner)

 

Can't never tried. (Patty Weesner)

 

We cannnot change the wind, but we can adjust the sails. (Patty Weesner)

 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. (Albert Einstein)

 

Never sign anything you haven't read.

 

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

 

Old people are really young people in old bodies.

 

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves. They shall never cease to be amused. (Helen Macura)

 

Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does. (Helen Macura)

 

Today's might oak is just yesterday's nut that held its own ground. (Helen Macura)

 

The probability that someone is watching you is proportional to the stupidity of your action. (Helen Macura)

 

Always remember you are unique, just like everyone else.

 

Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

 

Some days you're the bug; some days you're the windshield.

 

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

 

What other people think of you is none of your business.

 

Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disneyland and you certainly don't want the Fast Pass.

 

Everything in life has only the importance you attach to it.

 

Your past does not equal your future.

 

You are a success, if you can accomplish just one thing each day.

 

Our character is measured by what we do when no one is looking.

 

You can't win a race, if you don't cross the starting line.

 

Do what you hate first. You will get done faster.

 

Nothing worth having comes easy.

 

Growing old is inevitable; growing up is optional.

 

It's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years. (Abraham Lincoln)

 

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

 

Do or do not! There is no try. (Yoda in Star Wars)

 

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

 

Getting gratifies, but sharing satisfies.

 

People have to want to change.

 

There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.

CHILDRENTOP OF PAGE
 

There is never a good time to have a baby.

 

Try caring for a dog before you decide to have children.

 

Usually parents who are lucky in the kind of children they have, have children who are lucky in the kind of parents they have.

 

By the time people realize that maybe their parents were right, they usually have children who think they're wrong.

 

Ideas are a lot like children. Our own are wonderful!

 

The most important thing to a child is knowing that he is loved.

 

You cannot train a horse with shouts and expect it to obey a whisper.

 

Children who know they are loved act up at home. Children who don't know they are loved act up at school.

 

Leave home when you still have a home to come back to.

 

Children want limits. Limits make them feel safe. (Anonymous)

 

Each adolescent thinks he is not part of the "in" group. Don't allow your self-esteem to be determined by another. I have seen the "in crowd" of junior high school become the "out crowd" in high school.

 

There are some people who should never have children, and they owe no one an explanation.

 

For adult education, nothing beats children.

 

Give your children roots and wings. Roots to know where home is, and wings to fly away.

 

Never get excited.

 

Nobody will care a hundred years from now how you looked, what kind of car you drove, or how much money you had, but they will know if you made a difference in the life of a child.

 

The one thing children wear out faster than shoes is parents.

 

You do what is best for your kid, not what is easiest for you. (Dorothy in Golden Girls)

 

When your children are teenagers, it's important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you. (Nora Ephron)

COMMUNICATIONTOP OF PAGE
 

People forgive. They may remember without anger. But, they never forget.

 

Listen more than you talk. (Pastor Norm Abbott)

 

Wisdom has two parts: 1) Having a lot to say. 2) Not saying it.

 

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. (Abraham Lincoln)

 

Remember, what you say cannot be taken back.

 

Patience is the act of hiding impatience.

 

Patience often gets the credit that belongs to fatigue.

 

When you are wrong, admit it. When you are right, shut up. (Pastor Norm Abbott)

 

You lose stature as an adult when you sulk and pout instead of having an adult discussion.

 

Discussing does not mean strengthening your voice when you cannot strengthen your side of the disagreement.

 

Conflict occurs when you expect other people to meet needs that only God can meet. (Pastor Norm Abbott)

 

I have learned that it is best to give advice in only two circumstances: when it is requested and when it is a life-threatening situation. (Andy Rooney)

 

Advice would always be more acceptable, if it didn't conflict with our plans. (New England proverb)

 

I have learned that when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting the person continue to hurt you. (Andy Rooney)

 

If you don't know if you should say something, don't.

 

Anger is only one letter short of danger.

 

Anger is a condition where the tongue works faster than the mind.

 

The smallest deed done is greater than the best of intentions.

 

Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.

 

A closed mouth gathers no foot. (Ann Landers)

 

Don't complain about having another birthday. It is better than not having one.

 

To disagree one doesn't have to be disagreeable.

 

Learn to pick your battles. Will this really matter one week, month, or year from now? Is this the hill you want to die on? (Concept of Dr. Laura's)

 

Tact is changing the subject without changing your mind.

 

An angry person is seldom reasonable. A reasonable person is seldom angry.

 

The tongue weighs practically nothing, but very few people can hold it.

 

When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask: "Why do you want to know?"

 

Talk slowly, but think quickly.

 

Being right half the time beats being half right all the time.

 

Some people are like the bottom half of a double boiler. They let off a lot of steam without even knowing what's cooking.

 

To disagree, one doesn't have to be disagreeable.

 

A dumb question beats a dumb mistake any time.

 

If you can't bite, don't growl.

 

A critic is a man who knows the way, but can't drive the car. -- Kenneth Tynan, English drama critic (1927-80)

 

When an old man dies, a library burns down. -- African proverb

 

The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said. (Patty Weesner)

 

Talk is cheap, because supply exceeds demand. (Helen Macura)

 

No matter how busy people are, they are never too busy to stop and talk about how busy they are.

 

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. (Helen Macura)

 

Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand. (Helen Macura)

 

You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

DATINGTOP OF PAGE
 

In high school, the person you want to date may be the one all the others think is cute. When you are an adult, you will realize your opinion is what matters.

 

Never continue to date anyone who is rude to the waiter or doesn't like cats and dogs.

 

If he says you are too good for him, believe him.

 

Never date a man you can't marry. (Patty Weesner)

 

You should summer and winter with a man before you decide to marry him. (Patty Weesner)

EDUCATIONTOP OF PAGE
 

Get job training before you have children. I am not talking about divorce. Illness and death happen.

 

Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself. (Chinese Proverb)

 

Think of how smart we'd all be if we retained as much of what we read as of what we eat.

 

He who opens a school door, closes a prison. (Patty Weesner)

 

It is never too late to learn something new. (Patty Weesner)


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Created:  1 May 2001
Modified:  17 July 2014
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