So, in honor of Wisdom and Wit and 55, here is collection of 55 “words of wisdom” gathered mainly from children’s literature, picture books and the like. Follow these bits of sage advice, and you’ll likely stay well.

1. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. … ~Dory, Finding Nemo.

2. “Do the little things.” ~St. David.

3. Encourage one another. ~Donna

4. Being careful isn’t nice; being friends is better. ~A Bargain for Frances by Russell Hoban.

5. “If the person you are talking to doesn’t appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
~A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

6. “Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” ~The King, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

7. “You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”
“One runs the risk of crying a bit if one allows oneself to be tamed.”
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince.

8. “Housekeeping ain’t no joke.” ~Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

9. “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” ~Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who.

10. “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
~Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

11. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
~Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

12. “No fighting, no biting!’ ~Else Holmelund Minarik.

13. “People in masks cannot be trusted.” Fezzik, The Princess Bride.

14. “Never get involved in a land war in Asia; never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line!” Vizzini, The Princess Bride.

15. “Winter may be beautiful, but bed is much better.” Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel.

16, “Let us eat one very last cookie and then we will stop.” Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel.

17. “When you say what you think, be sure to think what you say.”
~Carol Kendall, The Gammage Cup.

18. “If you don’t look for Trouble, how can you know it’s there?”
~Carol Kendall, The Gammage Cup

19. “The best thing to do with a bad smell is to get rid of it.”
~Carol Kendall, The Gammage Cup

20. “In some cases we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”
~Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three

21. “Sometimes standing against evil is more important than defeating it. The greatest heroes stand because it is right to do so, not because they believe they will walk away with their lives.”
~N.D. Wilson, Dandelion Fire

22. “Always sprinkle pepper in your hair!” ~Shel Silverstein.

23. “It is helpful to know the proper way to behave, so one can decide whether or not to be proper.” ~Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.

24. “Get a pocket.” ~Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne.

25. “Crying is all right in its own way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do.” ~The Horse and His Boy by C S Lewis.

26. “Perhaps there some things that we are not meant to understand. Without a few mysteries and a few giants, life would be a very small thing, after all.” ~The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton.

27. “Life is a mess and a miracle. So pick up a broom and dance.” ~The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton.

28. “If this island is all there is, and we are trapped here with a sleeping giant, we have little hope. But . . . what if there are things under our feet and things beyond the sea that we have never dreamed of?” ~The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton.

29. “Where there’s life there’s hope, and need of vittles.” ~The Fellowship of the Ring by J R R Tolkien.

30. “Books we must have though we lack bread.” ~Alice Brotherton.

31. “You can pick up more information when you are listening than when you are talking.” ~The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White.

32. “You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” ~Winnie The Pooh by A.A. Milne.

33. “Any time you want to spend a nickel, you stop and think how much work it takes to earn a dollar.” ~Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

34. “All get what they want: they do not always like it.” ~The Magician’s Nephew by C S Lewis.

35. “Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed.” ~The Magician’s Nephew by C S Lewis.

36. “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ~The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.

37. “Don’t be afraid to be afraid.” ~A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

38. “Read in order to live.” ~Gustave Flaubert.

39. “There is hardly any grief that an hour’s reading will not dissipate.”
~ Montesquieu

40. “Reading is one form of escape. Running for your life is another.” ~Lemony Snicket.

41. “Never explain anything.” ~Mary Poppins.

42. “Vote for Pedro and all your wildest dreams will come true.” ~Napoleon Dynamite.

43. “Just fly the plane, Maddie!” ~Code Name: Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

44. “Eat chocolate cake. Listen to happy music.” ~Ruby Lu, Star of the Show by Lenore Look.

45. “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” ~William Morris.

46. “When you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worthwhile.”
~L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables.

47. “Do not be so open-minded that your brains fall out.” ~G.K. Chesterton.

48. “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” ~G.K. Chesterton.

49. “Never hurry and never worry!” ~E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

50. “Be obscure clearly. Be wild of tongue in a way we can understand.” ~E.B. White

50. “You need two when the road is rough.” ~One Is Good But Two Are Better by Louis Slobodkin.

51. “Put it all back where it belongs.” Bored–Nothing To Do by Peter Spier.

52. “The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” ~Robert Louis Stevenson

53. “There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid.” The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

54. “If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained.” ~Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

55. “I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia.” ~C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair