What is the best advice your mother gave you?

She emphasized one thing: “Always do right.”  If I had difficulty deciding, imagine what she or daddy would do and do that. “Always do right” originated with Plato, though not in that particular phrase.

I’m also reminded of President Harry Truman, who famously kept a sign on his desk that said “The buck stops here,” which refers to the practice of avoiding responsibility by passing the blame (the buck) to someone else. The origin of the phrase is uncertain, but “buck” probably derives from the French bouc emissarie or scapegoat, the goat referred to in Leviticus 16: 6-10, which was symbolically burdened with sins and sent into the wilderness. 

Everyone who knows anything about Truman has heard of his “The buck stops here” sign. But few know he had another sign, which read, “Always do right. This will gratify some and astonish the rest.” It’s from Mark Twain.