Things I’m pretty sure are true

Many are the authors who have assembled lists of various undeniable truths and irrefutable laws. I’m less sure about these ones, but here’s my list of things — some discovered through ample trial and much error — that I’m pretty certain are true:

If your Christianity doesn’t leave a mark, you’re doing it wrong.

Even the Body of Christ has an armpit or two.

If you don’t discipline yourself, others will.

If you don’t learn from history, you’re like most people.

To affirm one thing is to negate many others.

To speak at all is to speak falsely.

To do at all is to do wrongly.

Doubting someone’s sincerity doesn’t make them insincere.

Ill will toward others hurts you more than them — but it hurts them too.

Life is more than money, and lots of people who say really want your money.

The truth of something is not proved by its apparent success.

There is a difference between right and wise.

There’s nothing like the scarcity of fame to make people grasping and ungrateful.

Throwing a fit involves the same risk as throwing a party: What if no one comes?

Nobody is damned until they are.

Sloppy writing indicates sloppy thinking — or at least liquor.

Events cannot be undone, but most of them can be redeemed.

There’s no such thing as an exact comparison, especially among people and events. So don’t fool yourself.

Data can make you both confident and foolish.

A person can go pretty far in life with funny stories. But usually not far enough.

Every talent has its time.

People are complicated, especially yourself.

Texans make better country musicians than presidents.

This last one is perhaps more arguable than the others, but I submit two items of evidence: Guy Clark and LBJ.

This is a running list. As I think of new ones, I’ll add to the above. And I might delete or modify the existing ones as well. What if, for instance, Guy Clark became president? That might change a few things.