HUAMROT R
RULES, LAWS AND
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
By Aaron R. Fodiman
In the course of my lifetime, I have
e eloped ut but
ly lities,y,reminded
developed concepts and ideas
about how the world works, but
I only considered them likely
possibilities, never absolutes.
Recently, I have been reminded
of Mr. Murphy’s warning,
“Anything that can go wrong,
will go wrong,” and other
sayings that have more
truth in them than
most of us would want
to admit. Each of these
thoughts is born from a
combination of reality and observations
that at least appear to be true. This
prompted me to think about some of
those revelations that may or may not
be totally accurate, but clearly have some
basis in truth.
Immediately, I thought of Mrs. Murphy’s
response to her husband’s rule, that if
anything can go wrong, it will go wrong
when Mr. Murphy is away. Then I began
to think of simpler
concepts such as “to err
is human,” but to really make mistakes, you
need a computer. Here is a collection of some
of my favorite thoughts
about the world today.
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more
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t.these
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t
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accurat
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w
Murphy
rea
Her
1. Never play cards with a man named Doc and never ride a horse named Killer.
2. There is nothing so complicated that you cannot look at it from another angle and find it to be even more
JULY/AUGUST 2020 | TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 109
complicated.
3. Anything that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.
4. Your chances of meeting an attractive member of the opposite sex increase dramatically if you are with your
spouse.
5. Always live within your means, even if you must borrow to do so.
6. Don’t trust a politician, since anyone who is willing to spend the time, energy and money to run for public
office should not be trusted with the position.
7. People will think better of what you say if you tell them a famous person said it first.
8. Nothing is often the best thing to do and is always the best thing to say.
9. When predicting the future, give either a number or a date, but never both.
10. A verbal contract is not worth the paper on which it is written.
11. If it is good, they will stop making it.
12. He who smiles when things go wrong knows who he is going to blame.
13. No good deed ever goes unpunished.
14. Like an iceberg, most of everything cannot be seen.
15. If two wrongs don’t make a right, try three.
16. The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but that is the way to bet.
17. Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.
18. Nothing is impossible if you don’t have to do it yourself.
19. Nobody notices when things go right.
20. There are two types of people, those who think everything can be divided into two types of people and those
who don’t.
I am sure you have your own rules, laws and observations on life that should have been included in my list
above. If you send me yours, I will try to include them in a future article where I can attribute them to you. Please
send your favorite thoughts on life and living to me at Tampa Bay Magazine, 2531 Landmark Drive, Suite 101,
Clearwater, Florida, 33761. 9