Collecting good words, as well as fun and meaningful phrases, is a typical activity of a writer. Many of these go out to particular friends who will recognize themselves and their situations. When these are read, then re-read, slowly and individually, may they encourage readers and give them pause to think about the messages. Head nods and smiles are encouraged.

• Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

• Adult women who wear leggings — shouldn’t. Things that tell the truth: Small children and leggings.

• You never know when it might be your last hug

• Don’t be afraid to say you don’t know. You can’t know everything.

• Be who you needed when you were younger.

• “Paris is always a good idea,” Audrey Hepburn.

• If you know you can do better… do better.

• Pay off your debts, smallest to largest; it’s all about momentum, not math.

• Decide what kind of life you want… then say no to anything that isn’t that.

• Do something for yourself today.

• Come sit on the porch with me. The drinks are cold and the friendship’s free.

• Someone said, “I don’t know how you do it.” I replied, “I wasn’t given a choice.”

• The hardest part of healing after you’ve lost someone is to recover the “you” that went away with them.

• Hospitality: Treating someone like they belong, before they belong, until they belong.

• Don’t measure your progress using someone else’s ruler.

• You can start over each morning.

• Opportunity is missed by many people because it is dressed in coveralls and looks like work.

• You are enough.

• “A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation,” James Freeman Clarke

• If you really want to do something, you will find a way. If you don’t, you will find an excuse.

• It takes a long time to grow friends.

• It’s better to get laugh wrinkles than worry warts.

• Success is measured not by what we start but by what we finish.

• A good laugh is sunshine in a house.

• Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

• Everyone smiles in the same language.

• Leadership is action, not position.

• “Don’t you have to watch what you say? No, I just watch what I think,” Brother Dave.

• Courtesy is contagious! Start an epidemic.

• It’s nice to be important, but more important to be nice.

• There’s no right way to do the wrong thing.

• The smallest good deed is better than the largest good intention.

• Patience! In time, grass becomes milk.

• “Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. Marines don’t have that problem,” Ronald Reagan.

• Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.

• The first five days after the weekend are the hardest. ❖