What are the "words of wisdom" that your parents passed on to you?

As a motivational speaker, I find myself referencing words from my father when I talk to people about life's lessons. He is now 83 and had a massive stroke in August, so he can't speak. But his words live through me, and I encourage everyone to keep your parents' wise words alive in you. Let me share some of the cool sayings that my father would tell me:

When facing life's challenges: "It's a tight fight with a short stick..got to stay in close!!"

His favorite song-"Farther along we'll know all about it, farther along we'll understand why, cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine, we'll understand it all by and by!"

When I was 14 years old, he took me to a grape farm and made me pick grapes all day. Hard, back breaking work and I hated it. He looked at me after I finished picking a whole crate (worth 50 cents!), he just told me: "If you don't want to do this for a living, GET AN EDUCATION!" That worked! I went to school, as did all of my 7 siblings..6 of us have Master's degrees, and 1 has her PhD!!

Share the wisdom of your parents...and have a wonderful New Year!!!

0 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Fran Taylor on December 30, 2010 at 11:52am

Way to go Barbara. My grandmother raised me and taught me, Keep taking care of others and sooner or later they will take care of you in what ever you do. Also, if you are going to give don't expect any thing back. Best of luck.

Permalink Reply by David Marod on February 14, 2011 at 8:03pm

You can marry as much money in 20 minutes as you can make in a life time.......I didn't listen.....

Permalink Reply by Mark Dubis on February 14, 2011 at 8:29pm

The advice my Dad gave me that sticks with me and that I shared with my daughter and associates over the years was:

"If you buy a Chevy, people will call you a cheapskate. If you buy a Cadillac they will call you a showoff. No matter what you do in life, someone will always have something to say about it; so do what makes you happy!"

I invite you to share this with your friends and family and work a bit harder on making yourself happy.

Permalink Reply by Michael Baker on February 15, 2011 at 12:37am

Mark Dubis said:

The advice my Dad gave me that sticks with me and that I shared with my daughter and associates over the years was:

"If you buy a Chevy, people will call you a cheapskate. If you buy a Cadillac they will call you a showoff. No matter what you do in life, someone will always have something to say about it; so do what makes you happy!"

I invite you to share this with your friends and family and work a bit harder on making yourself happy.

Permalink Reply by Ben Misra on February 15, 2011 at 3:26am

Don't go into the car business....that was over 30 years ago.

Permalink Reply by Bobby Compton on February 15, 2011 at 12:14pm

I love it Barbara!

My mothers words always stand out to me - Follow your heart!

Permalink Reply by Alex Schoeneberger on February 15, 2011 at 12:50pm

These aren't direct quotes, but more along the lines of life lessons. I know there are more and I need to start writing them down so I can keep track of them all. :-)

1. It's OK and sometimes a great thing to be generous, but never loan money to friends and family with the expectation that you'll get it back. If you can't live with it possibly turning into a gift, don't give it.

2. Prepare for your future like nobody else will be there for you to fall back on - not friends, not family, and not the government.

3. When it comes to something important that could catastrophically fail, no matter how big or how small, don't cheap out, because sometimes you get what you pay for. [in reference to home repairs, but also applies to business in many ways]