• None are so empty as those who are full of themselves.

• Earliest known recipe was for beer.

• Conclusion of a five-year study of 7,000 people: You should eat, drink and be merry! People who are a little overweight and are regular drinkers live longer, in fact, than people who are not. The mortality rate for non-drinkers was no better than for those who had three or four a day. Feel better?

• A pessimist makes difficulties of opportunities. An optimist makes opportunities of difficulties.

• “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

• Tests of courage are inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody’s looking, like enduring pain when the room is empty, like standing alone when you’re misunderstood.

• An ode to success against great odds: Oh there was a little chigger and he wasn’t any bigger than the point of a very small pin. But the bump that he raises just itches like the blazes, and that’s where the rub comes in.

• Never trust someone who has to change his tone to ask something of the Lord.

• Don’t use the conduct of fools as precedent.

• Committee: A group of the unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.

• It is not enough to be busy — so are the ants. The question is what are you busy about.

• “The penalty for not participating in politics is to be ruled by your inferiors.” — Plato (c.350 B.C.)

• Irish Proverb 41D: “Better one good thing that is than two good things that were.”

• The test of how deeply one enjoys something is the depth with which one dreads its end.

• Description of forgiveness: “Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet which still clings to the heel that crushed it.” — attributed to George Roemisch

• Gem of the Day: Luck invariably favors the prepared.

Clara McArthur, Federal Way