Inspirational Mantras 4

By Michael Erhardsson

These three things are hardest to bear:
To try to sleep, and sleep not;
To wait for one coming, who cometh not;
To try to please, but please not.
(“Old Arabian Proverb”)

I don’t have to stand here and listen to this. (Pigpen from Peanuts)
There is no problem so big or so terrifying that it can’t be run away from. (Pigpen)

Beauty opens locked doors.
Beauty is eloquent even when silent.
A pretty face is half a fortune.
Make the most of what you've got.

Too much hope deceives.
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.
Hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper.
Know when to give up.

Everybody lays a load on the willing horse.
Even a worm will turn.
Patience under old injuries invites new ones.

Treat a charwoman like a duchess and a duchess like a charwoman.
Wear a cloth coat as if it was mink and and a mink coat as if it was cloth.

"I have forgotten thy name" is better than "I know thee not." (West African proverb).

A job begun is a job half-done.
A man is known by his friends.
A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country.
A rich man’s joke is always funny.

Clothes make the man.
Defence is the name, attack is the game.
Do wrong once and you’ll never hear the end of it.
Don’t swim against the stream, go with the flow.
Don’t try to run before you can walk.
Doubt everything, at least once. (Lichtenberg)

Expect the unexpected.
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. (Robert Herrick)
Get up early to trick a trickster.

He that is warm thinks all so.
He who makes himself a dove is eaten by hawks. (Italian).

If in doubt, mumble. (Bek Hobbes ‏@Greebobek)
If it looks too good to be true, it is.
Invite widows to dinner.

Know when to lead and when to follow.
Learn by doing.
Learn from others’ mistakes.
Love and a camel cannot be hid.

Mud sticks.
Never stay at an event just because you paid for it. (Mark Hogan ‏@markasaurus)
Nothing succeeds like success.
One must howl with the wolves. (When in Rome…)

Past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour.
Pay it forward.

Seeing is believing. (Or “Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see.”)
Smile, stand tall, maintain eye contact. (But if you can only manage a nervous leer, frowning might work better for you.)

The fool says, "My friend is meant, not I." (Arabian proverb)
The golden age was never the present age.
The invisible people must be seen, and the silent people must be heard. (Sally Magnusson, January 28 2014)

The more talk, the less do.
The song should be for her whose wedding it is. (Indian proverb). (Meaning don’t try and steal the limelight, or shove the star out of the spotlight. It’s not all about you.)

The times change and we change with them./The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The weak must be wily.
Things are not always what they seem.

Though the wound be healed, a scar remains.
Trust in God, but tie your camel first.
Try a hairstyle you’ve never tried before. (@chictopia)

Wishes can never fill a sack.
You can walk out of anything. (And you can walk into any hotel and use their loo.)
You can’t believe everything you hear.

More here, and links to the rest.