My mother: "Stop slouching." "Stop moping." "Don't be a melamed." (A melamed is a pedant.)
My father: "If you lose your man, go directly to the front of the rim." "Keep your hand on the man you're guarding. Keep your eye on the ball." "Never be embarrassed to accept a favor from a friend. Never omit an opportunity to do a favor for a friend." "Don't forget to wash behind your ears." "Anyone can make money if they make it the sole business of their life to do so." "When the stock market is going up, everyone's a genius."
L Y Kaplan: "Give her a chance."
Harry Wedeck, a teacher at Erasmus Hall: "Read biographies."
Clara Gerstner (librarian, dying of cancer): "Get the most out of life."
David Novarr (revered teacher at Cornell): "You have to outwork the competition."
B. J. Whiting (at my doctor's oral examination, after a discussion of the French sources of Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale): "What's a Flemish one?
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