Our parent's sayings

"Sheep like to eat the grass that has grown overnight"!

(okay, more a farming tip than a saying, though my father said it quite often, and as is fairly obvious "woolly backs" seem to prefer eating very short grass, and may become too fat or even become ill if the pasture is too rich)
 
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I often heard " We don't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out."
When his kids learned that their father was an English Lord, my grandpa told them "We are eating beans and we're gonna keep eating beans".
 
"The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world"

(a poem by William Ross Wallace, 1865, and referred to by Eleanor Roosevelt when speaking in London in August 1947)
 
grahamg said:
"The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world"

(a poem by William Ross Wallace, 1865, and referred to by Eleanor Roosevelt when speaking in London in August 1947)
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THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE IS
THE HAND THAT RULES THE WORLD.

BLESSINGS on the hand of women!
Angels guard its strength and grace.
In the palace, cottage, hovel,
Oh, no matter where the place;
Would that never storms assailed it,
Rainbows ever gently curled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Infancy's the tender fountain,
Power may with beauty flow,
Mothers first to guide the streamlets,
From them souls unresting grow—
Grow on for the good or evil,
Sunshine streamed or evil hurled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Woman, how divine your mission,
Here upon our natal sod;
Keep—oh, keep the young heart open
Always to the breath of God!
All true trophies of the ages
Are from mother-love impearled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.

Blessings on the hand of women!
Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
With the worship in the sky—
Mingles where no tempest darkens,
Rainbows evermore are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
 
Tish said:
Stop looking for the fly $hit in the pepper. ( whenever my sister and I would push our food around the plate)
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"Tough your folks when necessary, but funny too"!

My then mother in law used to go on about the need for "loving discipline" when raising kids, and I was never sure whether I agreed with her or understood her meaning, but if she meant the way your parents treated your good self and your sister I'm heartily in agreement with her! :)
 
Tish said:
Do you know how many poor starving children around the world?
Whenever I didn't like the meal. ( I should have asked her how many lol )
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I remember an old guy being interviewed on the tv, and commenting about mothers he witnessed in supermarkets asking their children "What do you want for your lunch/dinner/tea"?
His point was that when he was a child this question wasn't raised so often by his mother, who served her children what she had in the house for a meal, and you understood your mother wouldn't be giving it to you if it wasn't good for you!
The preoccupation with offering everyone a choice all the time is a fairly modern phenomenon therefore, and not entirely positive, though I admit my brother was a fussy eater, being reluctant to eat green vegetables other than peas, and my dad had been the same before him. My brother went on to marry someone whose father grew cauliflowers and other vegetables for a living, and he worked for his father in law for a short time too, and eventually did improve his diet away from just beans and peas, so far as vegetables goes.
 
"Yer not reet in yer head"

(one for the "child's best interests brigade", said by Sarah, the farmers wife across the road, all four foot ten of her, to her youngest son, who went on to farm, bring up four children on his own after his wife died of cancer, and those children have all done well in life too, but these days this mother would no doubt be subjected to interference/retraining by professional busy bodies usurping her role)
 
One of my mothers favourites:

"Pot calling the kettle black"?

(this saying, makes a point about hypocrisy, and means “to criticize someone for a fault you also possess.” and the phrase dates back to the early 1600s, when most pots and kettles were fashioned from cast iron, a material that acquires streaks of black smoke when heated)

pot-calling-kettle-black-9416841.jpg
 
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"You cant keep a good man down" ;) !



Cant keep a good man down lyrics:

"It's easily said with your gun to my head,
No-one wants to fight a fighter.
If this is a dream then I'll stay out of bed,
It's always dark before it gets lighter.
I'm not being used again,
No I won't be used again,
I said I won't be used again,
You can't keep a good man down.

Who can you squeeze when you're down on your knees,
No-one wants to be a soldier.
Don't stay by my side I'm not easy to please,
And in the end you'll find I get colder.
I'm not being used again,
No I won't be used again,
I said I won't be used again,
You can't keep a good man down.
Ooh-ooh now I've got my feet on the ground,
Ooh-ooh you can't keep a good man down.
Ooh-ooh now I've got my feet on the ground,
Ooh-ooh you can't keep a good man down.

Ooh-ooh now I've got my feet on the ground,
Ooh-ooh you can't keep a good man down.
I said Ooh-ooh now I've got my feet on the ground,
Ooh-ooh you can't keep a good man down .."
 
The last in a triptych of philosophers to ponder, this one John Paul Sartre:

His basic philosophy, quote:
"Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does."


Sartre on love:
 
I mentioned this elsewhere but think it belongs here as well. My dad's favorite expression said with a brushing of his hands was,
"Handle it. Handle it. Handle it." (n)
Not unlike the W. C. Fields infamous, "Go away kid. You bother me."
 

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