Amy Dickinson
We are not our best intentions. We are what we do.Collection: Intention
People don't change when they don't acknowledge their actions.Collection: Women
You cannot beat the clock. My advice is to grab your moments of grace and enjoy them while they last.Collection: Women
Attraction happens when you feel important, valued, appreciated and wanted.Collection: Women
Do not make your current partner pay for the crimes and misdemeanors of your previous partners.Collection: Women
If people thought more, we'd all have less to amuse us.Collection: Women
All promises are empty - until they are fulfilled.Collection: Women
When you are criticizing someone, you should speak only to your own experience - not others'.Collection: Women
One downside of being an optimist is that optimistic people tend to forget yesterday's trauma in the belief that everything will turn out well. This can keep people in bad relationships because they genuinely believe that things will always improve.Collection: Women
Your job in life is to look after yourself and to find ways to get what you need - emotionally and otherwise - so that you live your best possible life, without being mired in anger and hurt over the past.Collection: Hurt
In the name of friendship you should make sure your door is always open to listen. Don't feel you need to provide unsolicited possible solutions, answers or even ideas. Listening without judgment and offering assistance when asked should be enough. That's friendship's high calling.Collection: Women
Sometimes the way through someone's tough outer shell is to do something obvious, thoughtful and sweet.Collection: Sweet
This is a tough situation. But it is what it is, and time has an amazing way of knitting together solutions as long as everybody stays calm and resolves to be as gentle and patient as possible.Collection: Women
Boredom has an important function, because pushing through it can unleash creativity.Collection: Women
When someone repeatedly insists that something isn't true, it increases the likelihood that it is.Collection: Women
Unsolicited advice is always self-serving.Collection: Women
Bullies often act out by marshaling aggression to cover up for insecurity.Collection: Women
Bullies never want to acknowledge their own actions. They want to move through life without reflection or apology.Collection: Women
"Don't be stupid!" is excellent advice.Collection: Women
There is nothing more painful than being rejected simply for being who you are.Collection: Women
Being alone is almost always preferable to being with the wrong person.Collection: Women
Sometimes toxic people are so resistant to change that therapy does not really help them - but they send everybody else into therapy to find ways to cope.Collection: Women
There is true freedom in letting go.Collection: Letting Go
Perspective is the enemy of long-lost love.Collection: Lost Love
You need to start behaving like the person you want to attract.Collection: Women
If you've got a good book with you, you're never bored (or alone).Collection: Women
When you are wondering whether to say something negative about someone - even if it is true - the best rule to follow is, "I'll think about doing this tomorrow."Collection: Women
People who are combative in one relationship tend to be combative in other relationships.Collection: Women
You should do what you want, but I think you should also consider wanting something different.Collection: Women
Healthy boundaries are important, but you may be building a brick wall when a picket fence would do.Collection: Wall
Weddings and funerals are when you figure out who your real friends are.Collection: Real
The ability to break a loved one's heart is the essential contradiction in human relationships.Collection: Women
Friendships can survive after massive disappointment, but only if both parties are honest with one another.Collection: Disappointment
If you feel guilty about not "playing nice," then you could easily alleviate your guilt by playing nice.Collection: Nice
Love is an irrational force, making humans do all sorts of strange and wonderful things like write poetry and take up the ukulele.Collection: Women
Friends tell each other the truth, and then friends stick around for the aftermath.Collection: Women
Friends tell the truth to one another. Friends don't slam the door to correction or reflection when it is offered with affection.Collection: Friends
Marriage is an intimate relationship between two people. It is a bad idea to involve a third party.Collection: Women
Individuals who are uncomfortable with themselves sometimes emit vibes that make others uncomfortable.Collection: Women
"Nags" nag because they feel they aren't being heard.Collection: Women
We human beings are definitely capable of loving more than one person, but it seems to go more smoothly if we don't love more than one person at a time.Collection: Women
You should not be hovering in the background, inflating the drama. Simply envelop him in love and affection and let him know that you will support his efforts, whatever they are.Collection: Women
Life is weird. And guess what makes it weird? People.Collection: Women
Climb aboard life's elevator, hit the "up" button, and see where it takes you.Collection: Women
As an advice columnist, I spend a lot of time reading through psychology journals to ensure that I give the most up-to-date advice.Collection: Reading
[from a reader] I hope she learns to look for the joy in life instead of picking out negatives - it will change her life for the better.Collection: Women
Life is easier when you are comfortable in your own skin.Collection: Women
Life is both short and complicated. People sometimes make baffling choices.Collection: Women
I think that, on some level, everybody lives vicariously through couples who are getting married.Collection: Couple
I believe that everyone deserves love, and sometimes looking outside your own culture is a good way to find it.Collection: Women