Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now

by Gordon Livingston

Happiness is not simply the absence of despair. It is an affirmative state in which our lives have both meaning and pleasure.

We are not what we think, or what we say, or how we feel. We are what we do.

“When all is said and done, more is said than done.” We are drowning in words, many of which turn out to be lies we tell ourselves or others.

Most of the heartbreak that life contains is a result of ignoring the reality that past behavior is the most reliable predictor of future behavior.

The three components of happiness are something to do, someone to love, and something to look forward to.

We love someone when the importance of his or her needs and desires rises to the level of our own.

The point is that love is demonstrated behaviorally. Once again we define who we are and who and what we care about, not by what we promise, but by what we do.

we are entitled to receive only that which we are prepared to give. This is why there is truth to the adage that we all get the marriage partners we deserve, and why most of our dissatisfactions with others reflect limitations in ourselves.