Neither a borrower or a lender be,and other true sayings

[Sunflowerdays]

One of my granny's favourite quotes. I
was always taught this, and stick by it, much to the disgust of my inlaws,who have all sorts of complicated etiquette and expectations over lending and borrowing, which are so incomprehensible to me, that I just refuse to participate. I'm going to cause offence anyway.

Recent threads I've read on here make me feel justified in my choice. It's a minefield. Everyone has different ideas of what constitutes a gift vs a loan, and whether there's a time limit to the loan. I don't have the time or energy to navigate the various expectations, and I think I'd rather just buy my own baby clothes stuff before reselling or giving to charity,that way there's no confusion.

What other quotes, proverbs and sayings are old fashioned but 100% correct? As I get older I start to think there's something in "early to bed, early to rise" too

Love thy neighbour as thyself

The person who said there's no such thing as a burnt onion has clearly never sampled my mum's cooking.

Thing's don't always go forward

Don't cut your nose off to spite your face

Storm in a teacup

It'll all come out in the wash (I always find that one comforting!)

Never burn your bridges!!

Be nice to the people you pass on the way up because you'll meet them again on the way down.

A change is as good as a rest.

One for all the MN "why won't he propose" wailers - he won't buy the cow if he's getting the milk free.

“If you haven’t got anything nice to say then don’t say anything” (and I would extend this to meetings as - “if you don’t have anything new to say for god sake shut up and end early”)

“What other people think of you if none of your business.” All this identity politics is would matter much less if people weren’t trying to control what others think of them

What other people think of you if none of your business

It is your business though if they think that you can't do the job because you're black, LGBT, female etc...

*is none

That’s not what that saying is about, it’s about driving yourself crazy worrying about what others think. It’s a warning again dwelling on stuff that doesn’t matter and you can’t influence. People think that others have a clear opinion on them, but they don’t. If you cracked their head open you won’t see a well thought out opinion on you, you’d see a few random thoughts, several contradictory and little particularly thought out or of substance.

Many a true word is said in jest (not sure if that’s a Westcountry one, I worked somewhere people said that constantly!)

If you pay peanuts, you’ll get monkeys.

One I heard recently from a guest on the Happy mum Happy baby podcast was, 'Never look up to people, never look down on people, simply look straight ahead'
Good advice rather than a saying I suppose

Smiling at my face whilst pissing in my pocket.

Never miss a golden opportunity to shut up.
(This works for me as it stops me gossiping and more importantly lessens the opportunities for massively embarrassing moments that will make me go hot and cold for years afterwards).

Not an aphorism, but good advice from my 90 year old grandfather 20 years ago which always sticks with me: "I had a visit from XXX [childhood friend of his] today. Another bloody old fool banging on about how the world is getting worse. It isn't, you know. It's getting better every day. Do you know how many children I played with died when we were young? And don't let anyone tell you their mothers got over it because it was common then. It may have been common but their mothers never got over it. Modern medicine, clean water in your homes, decent hospitals, so many clever people researching. The world is getting better every day. Remember that."

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid day sun
wrote from my very cold tiled lounge floor

Love thy neighbour as thyself

When I was depressed (much better now) I tried to remind myself of this one. It assumes you love and care for yourself. There were plenty of times my neighbour would definitely not have been happy if I followed it.

I love your grandfather @RubaiyatOfAnyone. I had a very elderly great uncle who died 4 days before his 101st birthday. When he was 100 (about 1990) he planted a tree in his village and made a speech. He was asked what were the biggest changes he’d seen over his life. He didn’t say war, or medicine, but said “motor cars, no one had motorcades when I was a child and now everyone has one. I’m not sure that’s a good thing”.

RubaiyatOfAnyone. What an interesting post!

My mum always says "you can't take it with you" (a version of "no pockets in a shroud") and I find that very liberating.

The things we dislike most in others are the characteristics we like least in ourselves.

I have found this to be an interesting thought process when I have to apply it to myself, and it usually has truth in it.

My favourite toast is “Here’s to those who wish us well; those who don’t can go to hell!”

@OccasionalNachos you forgot the rest of that one...
Here’s to those who wish us well, and those who don’t can go to hell. Here’s to this who wish us luck and those who don’t can go to f**k. 😆

My Grandad: if you survive childhood, you'll reach old age.
His own catchphrase whilst in the garden: If I had a gun... Said whilst looking in frustration at the pigeons.

My great grandfather used to say: Before you're married, keep both eyes open. After you're married, shut one eye!

He outlived two wives and married a third, so he should know!

‘You can put a pig in a party frock but you can’t stop it grunting’ was one of my dads favourites. I think of it whenever I see Donald Trump.