Wise Words
&
Witty Expressions
By Reneé Gatz
Wise Words & Witty Expressions
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Reneé Gatz. All rights reserved.
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The information, ideas, and suggestions in this book are not intended to render professional advice. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible as a consequence of a reader’s use or application of any information or suggestions in this book.
Wise Words & Witty Expressions also may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:
Renee' Gatz
PO Box 291
Woodbridge, NJ 07009-0179
Cover design: Hit Designs, www.hitdesigns.com
Author photos: Irina Smirnova, www.sigenphotography.com
Photo on p. iii: Gene Lucas Photography, Holmdel, NJ
Dedication
For my parents, Pat and Jack Gatz, who have provided me with the benefit of their example, experience, and unconditional love. I am one lucky girl!
Pat and Jack Gatz
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Some of My Favorites
Chapter 3: Life’s Little Challenges
Chapter 4: Especially for Moms
Chapter 5: Surviving Life’s Ups and Downs
Chapter 6: Wisdom in Life Experience
Chapter 7: Oh, the Joys and Pains of Love
Chapter 8: Buzz Off, You’re Bothering Me
Reneé and her mom Pat
While growing up as one of three sisters in a traditional Irish-Catholic family, it seemed that for every life experience—big or small—my parents had an expression that could teach me a lesson, remind me what was important, or provide insight into a situation or person. Naturally, as a child I was not yet wise enough to appreciate the value of what was being said to me. I would roll my eyes at my parents and promise myself that I would never repeat these pearls of wisdom.
Well, the joke was on me. I paid far more attention than I realized and, in spite of myself, began using these expressions. Initially, when one would slip out, I would be horrified that I was actually saying something my parents had said to me all too often. I tried to fight it, but it was useless. Apparently, these sayings had affected me more than I knew. Finally, I simply accepted them as part of my vocabulary and began to notice their ability to provide me with clarity when life got confusing—or too big or too small or too hard. There was comfort in knowing I heard these sayings all my life and my parents had heard them throughout their lives, and yet through all these years, they continued to be meaningful, inspiring, funny, and helpful.
I have often been surprised when I would drop one of the expressions captured in this book into conversation that whomever I was speaking with would begin laughing or would give me that now-I-get-it look or would say “that really helped.”
My purpose in writing this book was to share with others the wealth of good common sense that my parent’s expressions provided me with. I hope you enjoy reading this collection of expressions and find as much wisdom, value, and humor in them as I have.
Reneé Gatz
August, 2009
Special note to my readers: I’ve heard these expressions all my life and don’t take credit for originating any of them. I believe that they were just handed down generation to generation. If you know other sayings that you’d like to share with me, please visit my blog at www.ReneeGatz.com to post yours or to contact me. Likewise, if you know the source of any of these sayings, I’d like to hear from you as well so I can give credit to whom it is due in my next book and ongoing online collection.
Let’s begin with a few of my favorite expressions so you can get a sense of what you can look forward to as you read Wise Words & Witty Expressions. These favorites appear again within their respective chapter, where you will find an explanation or description of each of them.
A good reputation is a very easy thing to lose and a very hard thing to get back.
If only wishing it made it so.
Give me a hit off that pipe you are smoking.
Would you jump in my grave that fast?
The Irish have a way of telling you to go to hell so that you look forward to the trip.
Looks fade, stupid is forever.
Offer it up for the poor souls in purgatory.
Who cares what they think? Are they putting food on your table or paying your bills?
“American” ends in I CAN.
Put your troubles in a bag and drop them over the bridge on your way over here.
Small minds with little to do.
Actions speak louder than words.
People who bring a bone take a bone.
We earned our own, and I would not want to deprive you of the privilege of earning your own.
You can’t live with the dead.
Everything happens for a reason.
You can’t put an old head on young shoulders.
Don’t bring shame to your father’s name.
The dead can’t hurt you. It’s the living you have to worry about.
When you are at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.
There is a little bit of good in the worst of us and a little bit of bad in the best of us.
Loose lips sink ships.
Who do you think you are?
Give me my roses now, not when I am dead.
You don’t know a mother’s love until she is buried beneath the sod.
Only give your tears to someone who deserves them.
Write it on the ice.
Just because there’s snow on the roof does not mean there’s no fire within.
Your best days are ahead of you.
You can shut your door on a thief, but there is nothing you can do about a liar.
Anything worth doing at all is worth doing well.
If brains were dynamite, you wouldn’t have enough to blow your nose.
Act your age and not your mentality.
Those are the breaks of naval aviation.
We seem to be living in a time when self-responsibility is not a highly sought after ambition. That is most unfortunate because the only person anyone has any control over is themselves. If each person strived to consider how their behavior, or lack thereof, impacted others, society at large, or even themselves, then we could certainly begin to move toward living in a more harmonious world or, at the very least, become happier, more self-fulfilled people. This chapter contains a collection of expressions that may help motivate and remind you of the importance of self-responsibility and where that line begins and where it ends.
It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.
A gentle reminder to mind our manners and be kind.
Get over yourself.
Said to someone who thinks they are a legend in their own mind.
Don’t wallow in self-pity.
Pull yourself together and do something positive.
If you are going to dislike someone, you better do it because of something they did to you or someone you love—not because someone else does not like them.
I heard this often growing up. It reminded me to think for myself. And if I was going to use energy to dislike someone, it should be for a good reason.
Do unto others as you would have them do onto you.
If only everyone would follow this golden rule.
Nobody likes a smart aleck, a know-it-all, or a wisenheimer.
Should be obvious.
Self-praise stinks.
Don’t be a show-off.
Nobody makes you do anything.
You are responsible for your actions.
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.
It is hard work being a liar. You have to remember all those lies in order not to get caught in them.
Pride cometh before the fall.
There’s always somebody bigger and better than you who can put you in your place.
J-E-A-L-O-U-S
Jealousy, jealousy—Didst thou ever offend me? No, not once didst thou knock at my door that I was not ready to attend to thee.
My mother would say this to me in a sing-song voice whenever I would be jealous of my sisters or felt someone was getting more attention than me. It reminded me how ridiculous I was being and that there was no need for jealousy.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
Unless someone wants to do something, you can’t make them.
You burnt your ass, you sit on the blisters.
In other words, if you screw up, you have to own the consequences of your behavior and not expect someone else to take the blame or the burden.
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
A reminder that just because you have it a little better than someone else, you should not judge them because you don’t understand their experience.
If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.
Keep your mouth shut.
Be a lady (gentleman).
A little decorum is always recommended.
If you knew your prayers as well as you knew that garbage, you’d be a lot better off.
A reminder said to me often as a child when I paid more attention to things that were virtually meaningless rather than to important things like saying my prayers.
If everyone was jumping off the bridge, would you do it too?
A reminder to be a leader. Think about what you want to do and make an intelligent choice.
You can’t control other people’s behavior—you are only responsible for yours.
Don’t fret about how other people act; there is nothing you can do about it. You can, however, control your response to the behavior of others.