Ann Landers

When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate.

Friends with benefits? More than friends? Don't sample the goodies unless you're willing to risk addiction and withdrawal.

I have leveled with the girls - from Anchorage to Amarillo.I tell them that all marriages are happyIt's the living together afterward that's tough.I tell them that a good marriage is not a gift,It's an achievement.that marriage is not for kids It takes guts and maturity.It separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls.I tell them that marriage is tested dily by the ability to compromise.Its survival can depend on being smart enough to know what's worth fighting about.Or making an issue of or even mentioning.Marriage is giving - and more important, it's forgiving.And it is almost always the wife who must do these things.Then, as if that were not enough, she must be willing to forget what she forgave.Often that is the hardest part.Oh, I have leveled all right.If they don't get my message, Buster,It's because they don't want to get it.Rose-colored glasses are never made in bifocalsBecause nobody wants to red the small print in dreams.

There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who walk into a room and say __ere I am_ and those who walk into a room and say, __here you are.

Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high, look it quarely in the eye and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.

Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.

The poor wish to be rich, the rich wish to be happy, the single wish to be married, and the married wish to be dead.

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies.

Maturity: Be able to stick with a job until it is finished. Be able to bear an injustice without having to get even. Be able to carry money without spending it. Do your duty without being supervised.

Sensual pleasures have the fleeting brilliance of a comet a happy marriage has the tranquillity of a lovely sunset.

People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim.

If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things that are missing. If you don't have love in your life, no matter what else there is, it's not enough.

Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and repeat to yourself, the most comforting words of all; this, too, shall pass.

Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize them.

All married couples should learn the art of battle as they should learn the art of making love. Good battle is objective and honest - never vicious or cruel. Good battle is healthy and constructive, and brings to a marriage the principles of equal partnership.

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.

There could be no honor in a sure success, but much might be wrested from a sure defeat.