One of the most innovative holiday greetings I received last year came from friends who sent a holiday card labeled “Quips and Quotes to help you toast the New Year.” Since I am an aphorism junkie and always on the lookout for creative and interesting ways to stay in touch with my friends and readers, I especially welcomed their effort. In fact, I liked it so much I decided to create my own version. Here is some of my best advice to guide you through 2010 and beyond. — They don’t pay off on effort … they pay off on results. — No one ever choked swallowing his or her pride. — Don’t just mark time; use time to make your mark. — People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. — Technology should improve your life, not become your life. — The best way to be somebody is just to be yourself. — The best vitamin for making friends is B1. — It is not a question as to who is right but what is right. — The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing it exactly right. — Many people hear … but few people listen. — There is no free tuition in the school of experience. — The person who has no goal does not fear failure. — The best way to get even is to forget. — It is better to forgive and forget than to resent and remember. — Make decisions with your heart and you’ll wind up with heart disease. — People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be — not what you nag them to be. — You can win more friends with your ears than with your mouth. — When you kill a little time, you may be murdering opportunity. — Education is an investment and never an expense. — Ideas won’t work unless I do. — It’s never right to do wrong, and it’s never wrong to do right. — Your smile is more important than anything else you wear. — Gratitude shouldn’t be an occasional incident but a continuous attitude. — Helping someone up won’t pull you down. — Those who have the most to say usually say it with fewest words. — If you don’t learn from your mistakes, there’s no sense in making them. — People wrapped up in themselves make pretty small packages. — When is the last time you did something for the first time? I also wanted to share these gems from unknown authors whose wisdom is timeless. — Smart is believing half of what you hear; brilliant is knowing which half to believe. — One thing I can give and still keep is my word. — Those who beef too much often land in the stew. — Compromise is always wrong when it means sacrificing principle. — Most people say they are willing to meet each other halfway; trouble is most people are pretty poor judges of distance. — If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. — Most people aim to do right; they just fail to pull the trigger. — Most people fail in life because the wishbone is where the backbone should be. — Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the mastery of it. — Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief. — Happiness can be thought, taught and caught — but not bought. — Burying your talents is a grave mistake. — Praise, like sunlight, helps all things to grow. — Life just gives you time and space — it’s up to you to fill it. — The heaviest thing I can carry is a grudge. — A stumble may prevent a fall. — Failure is no more fatal than success is permanent. Mackay’s Moral: Not just words to live by, words to live better. Happy 2010!
