This folk wisdom has been circulating on the Internet for years. I was reminded about it via e-mail the other day, and enjoyed re-reading it: so I thought some of my readers might feel likewise.
Advice from An Old Hillbilly:
- Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
- Keep skunks, bankers, and politicians at a distance.
- Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
- A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
- Words that soak into your ears are whispered, not yelled.
- The best sermons are lived, not preached.
- Forgive your enemies; its what GOD says to do.
- If you don't take the time to do it right, you'll find the time to do it twice.
- Don't corner something that is meaner than you.
- Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.
- It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.
- You cannot unsay a cruel word.
- Every path has a few puddles.
- When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
- Don't be banging your shin on a stool that's not in the way.
- Borrowing trouble from the future doesn't deplete the supply.
- Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.
- Don’t judge folks by their relatives.
- Silence is sometimes the best answer.
- Don‘t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t botherin' you none.
- Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
- If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.
- Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
- The biggest troublemaker you’ll ever have to deal with watches you from the mirror every mornin’.
- Always drink upstream from the herd.
- Good judgment comes from experience, and most of that comes from bad judgment.
- Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.
- If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.
- Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
- Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
- Most times, it just gets down to common sense.
Advice for the ages, and most of it good, IMHO.
Peter
Try to always tell the truth. It will amaze your friends and confound your enemies.
ReplyDeleteAll still true!
ReplyDeleteIf an idea makes you giggle for more than three seconds, DO NOT do it.
DeleteThat third one reminds me of my grandfather talking about plowing behind a one horse plow in Tennessee and having roots snap back against his shin.
ReplyDeleteMy politicians are in Washington. Look where that got me. Good thing I don't live on Maui.
ReplyDeleteMakes me miss Ole Remus...
ReplyDelete"Never argue with an idiot, lest passersby be unable to tell which of you is which." Got that one from my grandma on my mom's side, she had a million of 'em. Other good expressions too, such "He'd rather climb a tree and tell a lie than stand in front of you and tell the truth." "Grinning like a mule eating briars" is another of my all-time favorite Grandma-isms, she used that one quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteThen there was the time I was on a loading dock waiting--and waiting, and waiting--to be unloaded, when this other driver, a small, skinny guy in a cowboy hat, declared that he was gonna go find the dockmaster (an older black fella who was about three or four times this driver's size) and give him hell over the ridiculous wait. Another driver hollered out, "Roy, he's a lot bigger'n you, he'll whup your skinny ass!" To which Roy respond, "I don't give a damn. Ain't you ever seen a yeller jacket run a mule?"
Too, too funny.