• The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with watches you from the mirror every morning.
• Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
• Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.
• It doesn’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.
• Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
• Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
• The best sermons are lived, not preached.
• A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
• Words that soak into your ears are whispered…not yelled.
• Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
• You cannot unsay a cruel word.
• Every path has a few puddles.
• When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
• Most of the stuff people worry about is never going to happen, anyway.
• Don’t judge folks by their relatives.
• Keep skunks, bankers and lawyers at a distance.
• Live a good, honorable life; then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
• Don’t interfere with something that isn’t bothering you.
• Meanness don’t just happen overnight.
• If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.
• Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
• Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong.
• Always drink upstream from the herd.
• Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back in.
• If you get to thinking you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.
SUMMARY: Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly and leave the rest to God!
STORIES AND ILLUSTSRATIONS / FRED G. CHILTON
