Marilyn vos Savant
Teens think listening to music helps them concentrate. It doesn't. It relieves them of the boredom that concentration on homework induces.Collection: Teen
A good idea will keep you awake during the morning, but a great idea will keep you awake during the night.Collection: Morning
The chess player who develops the ability to play two dozen boards at a time will benefit from learning to compress his or her analysis into less time.Collection: Learning
Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.Collection: Success
Be able to live alone, even if you don't want to and think you will never find it necessary.Collection: Alone
Know how to garnish food so that it is more appealing to the eye and even more flavorful than before.Collection: Food
To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.Collection: Knowledge
Skill is successfully walking a tightrope between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. Intelligence is not trying.Collection: Intelligence
Be able to back up a car for a considerable distance in a straight line and back out of a driveway.Collection: Car
Know the names of past and current artists who are most famous for playing their instruments.Collection: Famous
Have enough sense to know, ahead of time, when your skills will not extend to wallpapering.Collection: Funny
Know how to travel from your town to a nearby town without a car, either by bus or by rail.Collection: Travel
The length of your education is less important than its breadth, and the length of your life is less important than its depth.Collection: Education
Email, instant messaging, and cell phones give us fabulous communication ability, but because we live and work in our own little worlds, that communication is totally disorganized.Collection: Communication
Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.
Avoid using cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs as alternatives to being an interesting person.
Evolution has long been the target of illogical arguments that use presumption.
Be in the habit of getting up bright and early on the weekends. Why waste such precious time in bed?
Know how to treat frostbite until you can get indoors.
If your head tells you one thing, and your heart tells you another, before you do anything, you should first decide whether you have a better head or a better heart.
Be able to analyze statistics, which can be used to support or undercut almost any argument.
Make a habit of canceling every subscription to anything you don't have time to read.
Know how to drive safely when it's raining or when it's snowing. The two conditions are different.
Know where to find the sunrise and sunset times and note how the sky looks at those times, at least once.
Know the difference between principles based on right or wrong vs. principles based on personal gain, and consider the basis of your own principles.
Capital punishment is the source of many an argument, both good and bad.
At first, I only laughed at myself. Then I noticed that life itself is amusing. I've been in a generally good mood ever since.
Attention-deficit disorders seem to abound in modern society, and we don't know the cause.
Understand why casinos and racetracks stay in business - the gambler always loses over the long term.
I suspect that some apparently homosexual people are really heterosexuals who deeply phobic about the opposite sex or have other emotional problems.
Know how your representatives stand on major national or state issues.
Know how to effectively voice a complaint or make a claim at a retail store.
I think change is possible, but only for individuals who were never truly gay in the first place and who have a strong personal motivation to recover their heterosexuality.
Spending waiting moments doing crossword puzzles or reading a book you brought yourself.
Be able to recognize when you're reading or hearing material biased to your own side.
Although spoken English doesn't obey the rules of written language, a person who doesn't know the rules thoroughly is at a great disadvantage.
The freedom to be an individual is the essence of America.
Be able to defend your arguments in a rational way. Otherwise, all you have is an opinion.
Know what to do if you feel faint or dizzy, especially if you might fall and hit your head.
People who work crossword puzzles know that if they stop making progress, they should put the puzzle down for a while.
When our spelling is perfect, it's invisible. But when it's flawed, it prompts strong negative associations.
Scientists and creationists are always at odds, of course.
Experts say you can't concentrate on more than one task at a time.
Be able to draw an illustration as least well enough to get your point across to another person.
Multi-tasking arises out of distraction itself.
What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom 'to' and freedom 'from.'
Know how weather, especially humidity, can affect the movement of doors and windows.
Be able to meet any deadline, even if your work is done less well than it would be if you had all the time you would have preferred.
Be able to cite three good qualities of every relative or acquaintance that you dislike.
Be able to recognize the dangerous snakes, spiders, insects, and plants that live in your area of the country.