Abigail Van Buren Quotes

If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.

The less you talk, the more you're listened to.

Psychotherapy, unlike castor oil, which will work no matter how you get it down, is useless when forced on an uncooperative patient.

A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.

True, a little learning is a dangerous thing, but it still beats total ignorance.

Fear less, hope more. Eat less, chew more. Talk less, say more. Hate less, love more.

Never give a golfer an ultimatum unless you're prepared to lose.

Never advise anyone to go to war or to get married.

It is true that I was born in Iowa, but I can't speak for my twin sister.

There is no end to the undeserved misery and mischief it could create.

It is totally unconscionable to subject defenseless animals to mutilation and death, just so a company can be the first to market a new shade of nail polish or a new, improved laundry detergent. It's cruel, it's brutal, it's inhumane, and most people don't want it.

Fighting fire with fire only gets you ashes!

Kids grow up awfully fast these days,"she said. "You should try to have a good relationship with your kids, no matter what they do.

I can't think of a more potent combination than God and a good lawyer.

You could move.' ---"Dear Abby" responds to a reader who complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to improve the quality of the neighborhood.

If you are looking for a kindly, well-to-do older gentleman who is no longer interested in sex, take out an ad in The Wall Street Journal.

You are what you are when nobody is looking.

Kissing power is stronger than will power.

Loneliness is the ultimate poverty.

The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.

Religion, like water, may be free, but when they pipe it to you, you've got to help pay for the piping. And the piper.

In Biblical times, a man could have as many wives as he could afford. Just like today.

People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes.

For many of us we are always wanting more - we would be happier if we had such and such. Maybe we should pause for a moment and hear what some people in the third world countries would like to make them happier. 1. Having enough to eat so when you go to sleep at night your stomach doesn't ach. 2. Having shoes on your feet and any kind of clothing to keep the cold out. 3. Having a roof over your head. 4. Having the hope that you'll be lucky enough to get some kind of an education. 5. Believing that the dream of freedom, brotherhood, and peace for all mankind will someday come true.

Maturity is the ability to do a job whether you're supervised or not; finish a job once it's started; carry money without spending it; and the ability to bear an injustice without wanting to get even.

Women who miscalculate are called mothers.

If you want a place in the sun, you have got to put up with a few blisters.

The purpose of life is to amount to something and have it make some difference that you lived at all.

It's true, some wine improves with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place.

So yesterday you fell off the wagon? Or maybe you blew your diet? Or lost your temper and shot off your mouth? Well, that was yesterday. Today is a brand-new day with a clean slate, so forget yesterday!

Kissing power is stronger than will power: Girls need to "prove their love" like a moose needs a hat rack.

Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place.

The lack of faith is not doubt. It is certainty.

SO the richest are often the poorest as this saying goes, "Loneliness is the ultimate poverty"

While forbidden fruit is said to taste sweeter, it usually spoils faster.

A bad habit never disappears miraculously, it's an undo-it-yourself project.

Cruel words erode the self-esteem like the ocean eats away the shore.

If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we'd all be millionaires.

How should they answer?

Believing that the dream of freedom, brotherhood, and peace for all mankind will someday come true.

It is a sad commentary of our times when our young must seek advice and counsel from 'Dear Abby' instead of going to Mom and Dad.

If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money.