Suitable for Framing:

The Pithy and Pissy Sayings of Donald R Barbera

On Youth

The fountain of youth is a mental state. As long as we believe we are young, so we are. Youth is mistakenly identified as a physical state when our bodies are hard and our minds are soft. Yet, there are multitudes of young minds that react in ways belying their years and verifying that youth is wasted on the young.

On Wisdom

Those who assume an unarmed enemy make for interesting history.

Never show up at a gunfight with a knife.

Knowledge begets understanding and understanding is the father of wisdom.

Many young know-it-alls are still dead.

Because one’s hand is out of sight doesn’t mean it didn’t throw a stone, nor does it inform one of who is standing to the rear.

It is a wise man who holds his peace when not knowing who is present.

A wise man always knows that getting there first is not necessarily good especially when disaster is the prize.

Those who speak without knowing are not only in danger of being wrong, but dead wrong.

On Sex

There are four things men will lie about: Sex, Money, Possessions and Religion. Depending upon age, the order may change, but the subjects remain the same.

Sex is overrated only to those who have never experienced it, have no possibility of experiencing it or are too old to care or remember.

Discipline is desire’s compass.

Only after the climax is sex is overrated.

Sex requires no commitment.

To the enlightened, the primary difference between love and sex is level of commitment.

Of love and sex, only sex can be bought.

On Education

It is a wise man who learns from his mistakes, but it is genius when he learns from the mistakes of others.

Ignorance is exposed by education.

Education is enlightenment.

Education is to knowledge, as teaching is to understanding.

With education comes awareness of ignorance.

Training is to behavior, as application is to results.

Thinking is to philosophy, as judgment is to wisdom.

Training is of behavior, as application is of results.

Education is about knowledge, as teaching is to understanding, whereas wisdom is of judgment.

On Laughter

Laughter is medicine for the soul.

Laughter is music for the soul.

We are musicians all and laughter is our instrument.

On Adversity

Difficulty by its nature drives man to improvise and invent.

On Character

Character is having the desire to say yes but the courage to say no

The unearned advantage is an advantage that is without value and is easily squandered.

Goals easily achieved build only build egos, not character.

On Success

Success is achieving the goal set by one’s self.

On Communication

Words are our paint, conversation our canvass.

On Men

Men mature to death.

On Understanding

Understanding requires knowledge and willingness to override preconceived notions.

On Stupidity

A fool’s score is a short tally.

On Judging

Judge an individual not by his words, but his acts of nature and even then don’t trust your own eyes for vision is of the heart not of the head.

The moral high ground is steep and without guardrails.

On Love

Love and mercury have similar attributes, if taken internally they are fatal.

On Hatred

The line between self-improvement and self-hatred is often thin.

The difference between self-improvement and self-hatred is self-opinion.

On Common Sense

Hindsight only appears twenty-twenty.

Destiny is often what we make it.

On War

War is the offspring of failure.

War is a victory of ignorance.

War is ignorance’s triumph.

Destruction is a goal easily achieved and maintained.

Creation is fraught with difficulty and ceaseless support. Still, it is better to build and live, for to destroy is to die.

Overwhelming force often makes up for shortcomings.

Errors, shortcomings, mistakes, etc. more times than not are often overcome by superior talent, conditioning, intelligence or overwhelming force.

On Failure

Failure is often the father of success.

On Fighting

Never shoot off your mouth without a full clip.

Fights are not the result of hot words being spoken, but, rather, the result of cool words left unsaid.

Placing the blame increases the problem. It rubs salts in the wound and does nothing to solve the problem. It creates ill will and encourages the dodging of responsibility.