I'm a cranky old crumudgeon, a retired military officer, diagnosed as clinically depressed with PTSD and anger management issues...so I'll apologize in advance.

Some life lessons that I've found useful over the last 57 years.

Be kind and polite to everyone you meet...but always make sure you know all the exits and have a plan to kill everyone in the room if you need to.

If the road ahead is smooth, it is probably mined.
If the road is rocky, it is probably covered by fire.
If the road ahead looks easy, you are probably walking into an ambush.

"You can die a hero, or you can live long enough to become the villain."

"Any sufficiently advanced Technology will look like Magic." - Arthur C. Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced Magic will look like technology" - Rick Cook

Samuel L. Clemens (aka Mark Twain) was a philosopher with a darned good outlook on life - here are some of my favorite quotes:

“It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.”

“Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”

“When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old.”

Approve of yourself.

“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.”

Your limitations may just be in your mind.

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

Lighten up and have some fun.

“Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.”

“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”

Let go of anger.

“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”

If you’re taking a different path, prepare for reactions.

“A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.”

Keep your focus steadily on what you want.

“Drag your thoughts away from your troubles… by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.”

Don’t focus so much on making yourself feel good.

“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.”

Do what you want to do.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”