Mary Schmich Quotes

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. The older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Good art is art that allows you to enter it from a variety of angles and to emerge with a variety of views.

One thing you might want to learn before you attend the world's largest ukulele lesson is how to say ukulele.

Don't waste your time on jealousy.

Don't waste time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind.

Like many women my age, I am 28 years old.

You can map your life through your favorite movies, and no two people's maps will be the same.

TV happens. And once it's happened, it's gone. When it's gone, you move on, no tears, no tantrums, no videotape

Every day each of us wakes up, reaches into drawers and closets, pulls out a costume for the day and proceeds to dress in a style that can only be called preposterous.

Worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

The movies we love and admire are to some extent a function of who we are when we see them.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft

Do one thing every day that scares you. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Be nice to your siblings. They are your link to the past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you'll have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either of them might run out.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.

In twenty years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

For some Chicago expats, food is the medicine that blunts the pain of separation.

Linda Tripp has shown that a true friend is an archivist, a biographer.

Unusual commencement advice: Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97: Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.

You can figure out who you were by which movies you loved when

The secret to happiness, at Thanksgiving or any time, is to find pleasure in imperfection.

Families are ecosystems. Each life grows in response to the lives around it

The Hunger Games' isn't for everybody. But neither is 'Anna Karenina.

Do not read beauty magazines. They only make you feel ugly.

When you're thinking, "Why do I have to eat Aunt Sue's casserole with potato chips crumbled on top again?" change that thought to "A couple of bites won't kill me."

Getting out of the house is the secret to staying alert through the droning hours leading up to the big meal, even if you don't go farther than 7-Eleven for another six-pack.

Alcohol, contrary to instinct, is not the secret to happiness.

Thanksgiving without tension is like a Thanksgiving without turkey. It can be done, but it is not the norm.

The secret to happiness, at Thanksgiving or any time, is to reframe obligation as opportunity. You don't have to spend Thanksgiving with your family. You get to.

The soul-sucking activity of TV-watching feels better when it is done with other souls.

Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young.

Here's a thing about the death of your mother, or anyone else you love: You can't anticipate how you'll feel afterward. People will tell you; a few may be close to right, none exactly right.

On an average day, we allow ourselves the fiction that we own a piece of our workplace. That's part of what it takes to get the job done. Deeper down, we know it's all on loan.

Replace the words "have to" with "get to" and watch how the cold rain on your life changes to sunshine.

Advice is a form of Nostalgia

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, and don't put up with people that are reckless with yours.