Quote

When in doubt, respond to what you witness, not what you hear secondhand.

Carolyn Hax

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Carolyn Hax
Age: 58
Born: 1966
Born: December 5
Columnist
Journalist
Writer
Bridgeport
Connecticut
Carolyn Hanley Hax
Secondhand
Respond
Witness
Hear
Doubt

More quotes by Carolyn Hax

Image
A lot of support gets withheld out of fear of awkwardness and misspeaking.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Sometimes the pain outweighs the good things.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Your parents' views are, by current standards, out there. Getting in their faces about it would be needlessly disrespectful, but there's no reason for you to tiptoe through their delusional little terrarium as if you can't bend even one blade of grass.
Carolyn Hax
Image
I believe in innocence until there's proof of guilt and all that.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Your job is to be you, which includes being the chief beneficiary of all things you do right, the chief victim of all you do wrong, and the one person on Earth who has to live with every choice you make. As gatekeeper to your life, you’re it.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Waiting for someone to propose to you only passes the Really, it's tradition! sniff test when both of you think it's the man's job to propose and both of you think that's awesome.
Carolyn Hax
Image
People who make babies surrender their right to behave like them.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Instead of talking at each other about the non-business-related contact, talk to each other about your concerns about marriage. Listen a lot, too.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Live in the moment, this moment, your moment. That is by far and without meaningful rival The Best Position to put yourself in to discover and delight in who your children turn out to be, whoever they turn out to be.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Once given, a gift is yours to use, store or dispose of as you see fit.
Carolyn Hax
Image
There's nothing wrong with being happy somewhere, even if it's the little pond you grew up in, as long as you are in fact comfortable vs. bored.
Carolyn Hax
Image
You need to make plans for your future, so plan your own future.
Carolyn Hax
Image
For me, the greatest source of frustration was trying to work with a willful child when there was something else I wanted - say, to get the child to go to bed so I could have my own time. Just the promise of the time, and feeling that promise slip away, was enough to introduce a whole other element of stress into the encounter.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Apparently you have ample proof from experience that you're not going to stop world evil by debating your in-laws into submission, so it's okay to choose not to try.
Carolyn Hax
Image
You don't want to be with someone who is already not getting from you what he needs emotionally.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Bodies and minds need breaks or the work suffers, this has been proven and reproven to the point where we don't even need to post links to support it.
Carolyn Hax
Image
If you take the time to listen to an upset child's story with empathy, and guide the child toward figuring out the root of the problem, then the result is often that the child not only calms down, but also in the future is less likely to get so upset.
Carolyn Hax
Image
It's probably good for your body and brain to get moving occasionally.
Carolyn Hax
Image
Moving is hard. Staying is easy. Logistically speaking, at least. And this is true whether you're doing or undoing something.
Carolyn Hax
Image
The sudden death of a partner while expecting a child is so universally understood as awful that I don't think anyone with any other weight to carry is going to get to same kind of sympathy - except perhaps people who lose a child.
Carolyn Hax