If you don't like how things are, change it! You're not a tree.
Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you.
We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.
Better understated than overstated. Let people be surprised that it was more than you promised and easier than you said.
Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming.
The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.