Wise counsel

It is gratifying to read in Zdenka Fantlová’s Terezín memoir, The Tin Ring, that when she started the grammar school back in Rokycany her father inscribed in the new leather-bound notebook he gave her these words of wisdom:
             Never envy, never slander, never despair;
             wish well to all, work hard and hope.
I like the wise counsel; I tried to live my life s best as I could following these ideas.

At other times, he told the daughter when she complained something is too hard to learn: “Never say something’s too hard to learn. If a circus elephant can learn to walk on bottles, you can train yourself to do anything. If you really want to, that is.”

On yet another occasion, he said: “Never try to have too much of anything in life! Just see that you have what you need and a little more. That’s good enough. When you die all you will take with you is what you’ve given to other people.”

So true, so true.