Question of the Week: What words of wisdom have been passed down in your family?

Question

Have any words of wisdom been passed down in your family? 

Please tell us about them with an answer below. You could also answer on Facebook or use the question image to share your answer with friends and family on any social media.

Comments

Share the , spread the word!

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/WikiTreers/status/1731755309020967313
• Mastodon: https://genealysis.social/@wikitree/111523761907175730
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0cVSDMLLxl/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHZCvCNjLc0
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wikitreers/video/7308822010770115882

Answer 1

My maternal grandmother, who lived to be 102, would say:  "If you live long enough, you're gonna get old"  and  "Getting old isn't for sissies."

Answer 2

From my father's side of the family: "Eat it or wear it."

Answer 3

From my grandfather--"Life, just one damn thing after another."

Answer 4

My father liked to say, "Worse things happened in the war." Another family expression was, "Why am I not surprised?" which became abbreviated to WAINS.

Answer 5

Refuse nothing but blows.

Answer 6

My grandpa... "Somebody had to do it; it might just as well be me." and (always true) "It'll be in the last place you look."

My Dad... "'Can't' never did anything." "You can do anything you set your mind to."

My maternal grandmother... "Nothing is ever so bad it couldn't be worse."

Mom... "Is it worth ruining your relationship over it?"

Both parents.. "Leave the world a better place for being in it."

And daily from Dad to dawdling kids... "Mach schnell!" (Hurry up)

Answer 7

Per my Father, Robert Earl Nance II:

LIFE"S NOT FAIR!

To remember this as I live my life makes me a better person by requiring me to face the bumps and grinds realistically.

Answer 8

After gatherings, we used to say "Don't call when you get home then I know you are fine."

Answer 9

My Mother: "Don't do anything that you wouldn't want printed on the front page of the newspaper"

And all my family have had a good work ethic. "If your going to do a job - do the best that you can. Do it as if you owned the company."

Answer 10

My maternal grandmother, Lena Waddle Evans said “be particular” in place of “goodbye “

Answer 11

Don't crap in your neighbors back yard. lol I had no idea what that meant until it was explained. It means don't do anything to your neighbor that can be traced back to you. (Shrug)

Answer 12

When as children we would try to avoid going outside to perform some necessary task while it was raining, my mother would tell us "you're not made out of chicken poop; you won't melt."

Since none of us ever managed to come up with a way to refute this point, we would soon find ourselves outside dealing with the necessary task.

Answer 13

The first thing that comes to mind came from my maternal grandparents, who owned and operated a dairy farm in St. Lawrence County, New York.  They were Methodists, although my grandmother grew up in Canada as a Presbyterian. 

The quote was:  "God helps those who help themselves."

I have taken these words in stride all my life, but also do what I can to help others (and am grateful to the many people who have helped me along the way).

Comments

Bill, thank you for your comment. My mother often said that to me, and it was good to remember her saying it.

---

You're welcome, Alexis.  Glad it brought back good memories!

Answer 14

"Our conduct should be our coat of arms."

This is attributed to my g-g-g-grand-aunt Sarah Carroll Whinnery (Carroll-5650). There's a family tradition saying that our ancestors were ancient Irish nobility and worthy of both a crest and a coat of arms, but such things were vain for a devout family of Quakers.

Answer 15

If you can't make ends meet, make one of them potato

Answer 16

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

I grew up hearing this call to frugality from my maternal grandmother and from my mother. Imagine my surprise, when I discovered it was a WWI slogan for the home front! 

Answer 17

Every cloud has a silver lining (in Dutch: achter de wolken schijnt de zon - behind the clouds the sun is shining)

Answer 18

Although this quote was not "passed down in my family," it comes from a famous orator whose mother's family was connected to my mom's family through marriage (and possibly related back in Ireland).  It's one of my favorites and I wish to share it with the WikiTree community:

"The time to be happy is now.

The place to be happy is here.

The way to be happy is to make others so."

-- Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) 

Ingersoll-820 at WikiTree

Answer 19

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

You can adjust to anything (from my Aunt Irene when she was moving to another nursing home since her other nursing home was closing at the age of 98!)

Answer 20

- Von nichts kommt nichts... - lit. "from nothing comes nothing" - a very versatile saying applied in a wide variety of contexts such as: 'no pain, no gain', 'if you play with fire, you'll get hurt', 'little sins God punishes at once...' etc.

- Wer den Pfennig nicht ehrt ist des Talers nicht wert - i.e. look after the pennies and they'll look after the pound.

- Was du ererbt von deinen Vätern, erwerb es um es zu besitzen. - what you have inherited from your ancestors (both biologically and materially), work at it, so that you can own it.

German has 1000's of sayings...