66. "Many people caring for an aged parent wish that their parent would die."

Many people caring for an aged parent wish, at some point along the way, that their parent would die. It may be a fleeting thought or a constant presence. Either way, it can be very disturbing.

If you are hoping that your father will die soon because he is terminally ill and his existence is pretty miserable, then you shouldn't have any guilt about such thoughts. They are normal and, in most cases, merciful.

The trouble comes when you are wishing that your parent would die because he is overbearing, because he is a burden, because you want an inheritance, or because you are simply tired of waiting and wondering. In other words, you want him to die not for his sake, but for yours. This is a common and natural reaction, but it is jolting when the thought first comes into your mind, and it can produce a great deal of guilt and shame.

Caring for a frail parent, even if you are not providing hands-on care, is draining on many levels. Since there is really no other possible outcome, it is natural to want the struggle to end, for everybody's sake. You are not a bad person for feeling this way. You are only human."

From "How to Care for Aging Parents" written by Virginia Morris and published by Workman Publishing Company, Inc.

65. "Don't blame the other person for how you feel."

We encourage you to epress yourself -- and to take responsibility for your feelings; don't blame the other person for how you feel. Note the difference in the ... example between "I'm upset" and "You're an S.O.B." It is not necessary to put the other person down ... in order to express your feelings.... Use "I-messages" to express your own feelings, rather than passing responsibility for how you feel to someone else. Your feelings are yours."

From "Your Perfect Right" by Robert Alberti, Ph.D., and Michael Emmons, Ph.D., published by Impact Publishers.

64. "Swim on by and enjoy your day."

"Pass by the hooks. Find ways to ignore those little comments or looks that make you so hopping mad. Pretend you are a fish swimming along a mountain stream on a beautiful day and that you spot a fat, scrumptious worm. It lures you, but you are no dummy. You know that there's a big, sharp hook behind it. You have two choices: Bite at the hook and get hurt, or swim on by and enjoy your day.

Next time your parent says something that makes your blood pressure rise, say to yourself, "Aha, that is a hook, and as much as I am drawn to it, I have no intention of biting." Swim on by. Count how many hooks you pass by (one is awfully good) and then try to do better the next time. It will be your own inner victory. With each hook you pass, unfazed and unaffected, you win."

From "How to Care for Aging Parents" by Virginia Morris, Workman Publishing, Ner York

63. "Winning usually follows losing."

"In my own life, I've noticed that winning usually follows losing. Before I finally learned to ride a bike, I first fell down many times. I've never met a golfer who has never lost a golf ball. I've never met people who have fallen in love who have never had their heart broken. And I've never met someone rich who has never lost money."

From "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter C.P.A., Warner Books

62. "At the beginning of the fifteenth century, China was far more technologically advanced than the West."

"At the beginning of the fifteenth century, China was far more technologically advanced than the West. China had a superior knowledge of science, farming, engineering, even veterinary medicine. The Chinese were casting iron in 200 B.C., some fifteen hundred years before the Europeans. Yet the Industrial Revolution took place in Europe while Chinese civilization languished. Why? One historical interpretation posits that the Chinese elites valued stability more than progress. As a result, leaders blocked the kinds of wrenching societal changes that made the Industrial Revolution possible. In the fifteenth century, for example, China's rulers banned long-sea-voyage trade ventures, choking off trade as well as the economic development, discovery, and social change that come with them."

From "Naked Economics" by Charles Wheelan, W. W. Norton & Company

61. "Your brain creates your reality."

"Your brain creates your reality. It is not what happens to you in life that determines how you feel; it is how your brain perceives reality that makes it so. Most people are unaware that they are controlled not by events or people but by the perceptions their brain makes of them. I once heard the following story: at the turn of the last century, a shoe company sent a representative to Africa. He wired back, "I'm coming home. No one wears shoes here." Another company sent its representative, and he sold thousands of shoes. He wired back to his company, "Business is fantastic. No one has ever heard of shoes here." Their brains perceived the same situation from different perspectives, and they obtained opposite results."

From "Making a Good Brain Great" by Daniel G. Amen, M.D., Three Rivers Press, New York

60. "The cost of living better in the present is living less well in the future."

"The cost of living better in the present is living less well in the future. Conversely, the payoff for living frugally in the present is living better in the future... Save early, save often, and pay off the credit cards."

From "Naked Economics" by Charles Wheelan, W. W. Norton & Company

59. "There is no one human society where men are primary caretakers for kids."

"Even though our goals are the same--continuity of the species--women are more oriented toward raising children. There is no one human society where men are primary caretakers for kids. Our brains are different."

From "Making a Good Brain Great" by Daniel G. Amen, M.D., Three Rivers Press, New York

58. "There is a striking lack of correlation between natural resorces and standard of living."

"There is a striking lack of correlation between natural resorces and standard of living. Countries like Japan and Switzerland are among the richest in the world despite having relatively poor endowments of natural resources. Countries like Nigeria are just the opposite; enormous oil wealth has done relatively litte for the nation's standard of living. In some cases, the mineral wealth of Africa has financed bloody civil wars that would have otherwise died out. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has most of the oil while Israel, with no natural resources to speak of, has the highest per capita income."

From "Naked Economics" by Charles Wheelan, W.W. Norton & Company

57. "The notion that smaller government is always better government is simply wrong."

"Government has the potential to enhance the productive capacity of the economy and make us much better off as a result. Government creates and sustains the legal framework that makes markets possible; it raises our utility by providing public goods that we are unable to purchase for ourselves; it fixes the rough edges of capitalism by correcting externalities, particularly in the environmental realm. Thus the notion that smaller government is always better government is simply wrong."

From "Naked Economics" by Charles Wheelan, W.W. Norton & Company