Helpful hints to enjoy a life full of success

When a lesson can be summed up in a few well-chosen words, the message often stays with the student. A little tool to jog the memory, a clever saying to remind you what is truly important — that's why "Mackay's Moral" appears at the end of each of my columns. All of my books also have aphorisms to sum up chapters, as I find it a great way to teach.

I file away helpful sayings and use them to drive home the point when the occasion presents itself. I know this method is effective, because my readers often cite these witticisms in their letters and e-mails to me.

For today's column, I am pleased to offer up some of my favorite aphorisms not used in my columns or books.

• Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

• Goals are like stars; they may not be reached, but they can always be guides.

• A mistake proves that someone at least tried.

• If we are facing the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.

• When life gives you 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1,000 to smile.

• A word and a stone once thrown away cannot be returned.

• It isn't hard to make a mountain out of a molehill; just add a little dirt.

• Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.

• Friendship is like a bank account. You can't continue to draw on it without making deposits.

• The key to keeping your balance is knowing when you've lost it.

• Remember: It's not what you have, it's what you do with what you have that makes all the difference.

• Life is a continuous process of getting used to things we haven't expected.

•There's only one endeavor in which you can start at the top, and that's digging a hole.

• You have to take it as it happens, but you should try to make it happen the way you want to take it.

• The trouble with self-made people is that they worship their creator.

• If you always give, you will always have.

• You can't get ahead when you're trying to get even.

• The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.

• No matter how much dirt you throw at someone else, you'll always be dirtier.

• The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

• Too many people stop to think and forget to start again.

• If you're not sure where you're going, you'll probably end up somewhere else.

• Ten out of nine people don't realize they're weak in math.

• Try not to become a person of success, but rather a person of value.

• Hire for character; train for skill.

• You know you need a change when all you exercise is caution.

• The person who makes no mistakes usually doesn't make anything.

• Life is a bumpy road, and laughter is your best shock absorber.

• Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.

Mackay's Moral: In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take, the relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.