PM
That materialistic things will not make you happy.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 January 2023 source ↗
The question
What lesson has mattered most in your life?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two fully readable publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
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Charlie Munger
Vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, 1978–2023
Every mischance in life was an opportunity to learn something and your duty was not to be submerged in self-pity, but to utilize the terrible blow in a constructive fashion.
Jane Asher
English actress and author
Not to take anything for granted.
Life is never fair.
Worry about the things you can control and don’t worry about the things you can’t.
More from Paul Merson
View profile →Going back to addiction.
On holiday in Orlando with my wife, Kate, and kids just before lockdown. I wasn’t drinking or gambling. I was so happy, so at peace with myself – I’d been searching for that for many a year.
Thirty-odd years ago I bought a black pinstripe suit which I thought was £900. But when I went to pay that was just the jacket – the trousers and waistcoat were extra. I didn’t have the balls to put anything back. I dread to think how much it cost me in the end.
Walsall fans. I wanted to be a good manager but I was really bad with drink and gambling at the time. I should have done better.
Nothing, because it’s up to me how I feel. I’ve been a millionaire three times and I still wanted to kill myself.
For me, love is working through things when it’s not going well.
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