WORK

If you want to make sure that a job is done badly, pay for the whole thing in advance.

Before you start a project, think hard on how you want it to end.

It doesn't matter how strong you are; if you lift something in the wrong way, you're going to hurt yourself. Keep your legs together, your hands on the inside, and bend your knees.

For a worker, the week has seven todays. For the lazy man, it has seven tomorrows.

If someone says he'll get back to you later, ask him when. And get his name.

You don't need a lot of fancy equipment to be a writer. Remember that Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address on the back of an envelope while on the train to Gettysburg. But that being said, a laptop or even a cell phone can be very useful if you can't find an old envelope to write on.

My daddy used to tell a story his dad told him. Two horses were pulling a cart. One horse was barely leaning against the traces, the other was pulling for all he was worth. The driver was whaling away at the horse who was giving all he had. A bystander asked, "Why don't you beat the other horse?" The driver replied, "Don't you know? You always beat the horse that pulls." See, everybody piles the biggest load on the willing horse.

— David Jones

Touch a piece of paper only once. A busy man will get more done by either tossing a piece of paper into the trash can or sending it on its way with the appropriate action. The same applies to e-mail: Read. Respond. Delete.

Waste an hour in the morning and you'll spend all day trying to catch it up.

The four B's of creativity are Bed, Bath, Beach, and Bus. These are the places that ideas come to you, where solutions occur. They can pop into your head as if by magic, so be prepared to grab them. Never go to bed without a pen and paper nearby, and no matter how convinced you are that you'll remember it in the morning, make yourself get up and write the idea down.

It's not enough to have an idea, even if it's a great idea. You've got to do the work to implement it. That's the hard part.

If you really want to know what a fellow is like, give him some authority and see what he does with it.

An hour's work done in the morning is worth two done in the evening.

The reverse side has its own reverse side. If you've got a job to do, turn it over in your mind and look at it from all angles before you make any important decisions.

Think ahead and plan for all eventualities. The cow doesn't miss her tail until fly time.

If you try and fail, try again. If you fail again, contract the job out.

One volunteer is worth five hired hands.

Get a job.

If you've got a trade, you've got a job.

If you can't make it in America, you can't make it anywhere.

My step-grandfather had been an oil man back in West Virginia in the boom days. He said when you were up on a rig and it started to fall, you never jumped off. He had a wooden leg earned learning that hard lesson. When she starts to fall, he said, ride her to the ground. It's a pretty good lesson, even though I don't think I'll be climbing many oil derricks.

Never jump off, hang on, ride her to the ground.

— Allen Appel

CARS

You can always take a curve ten miles an hour faster than the sign says.

Brake before you get into the curve; accelerate through it.

If a cop stops you, don't get out of your car unless he tells you to do so. Uncalled for jumping out of cars makes a cop very nervous. Be respectful. Do what he says. He's the one carrying the gun.

It's usually better to have a drunk driver in front of you where you can watch him.

Don't expect that buying a car, new or used, is going to be a rational experience. Be as knowledgeable as you can when you go into it, but generally it's just two fools agreeing on a price.

The only guy you have to watch out for is the guy in front of the guy behind you.

My father had a heart attack and was in intensive care. He motioned me over to the bedside. "Allan," he said, his voice as thin as paper, "take the car in for an oil change. But make sure you tell them to give you the old filter. If they don't give you the old filter, they just wipe it off and put it right back on."

— Allan Janus

TOOLS, WOOD-WORKING, AND REPAIRS

Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

Let the tool do the work.

If you want the job done right, do it yourself.

Do things right. You will never remember how much time it required once you are finished.

There are only two ways to do a job: the right way, and any other way.

If you don't have the time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?

Never break one thing to fix another.

Measure twice; cut once.

With a computer, a few basic tools, and a reasonable intelligence, a man can build his own house, fix his car, and learn to fly an airplane.

When using a handsaw, remember that the blade cuts only on the forward thrust.

Well begun is half done.

Finish what you start.

Use two hands.

Getting the right tool is half the job.

The right tool will make a hard job simple; the wrong tool will make a simple job hard.

In any craft you wish to master, buy one excellent tool.

A computer is a tool, just like a hammer.

When painting, everything takes two coats. No matter what it says on the paint can.

Build something as if you want it to last forever — or at least long after you are gone. If you do, and it does, it's a reminder of your time on this earth.

Hold the hammer at the end of the handle; don't choke up.

Drive every nail as if it were the only one you'll ever drive — and a hundred carpenters are watching.

Any home-repair job will entail at least three trips to the hardware store.

Put the top back on.

When you take apart something complex, lay the pieces out in the order they were removed; if very complex, take pictures of the process and pieces with your cell phone as you work.

Never force anything that's stuck. Stop and think it over. There's a gentle way to get it unstuck.

If you're working with a screwdriver or any threaded object, remember the rhyme — Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey. Turn the screw or nut to the right, it gets tighter; turn it to the left and it loosens.

Never cut what you can untie.

The third half hitch is always a waste of time. (The first two knots will do the job.)

The best carpenter makes the smallest pile of sawdust.

My father was "Mr. Fixit." I never remember seeing a repairman at our house when anything went on the fritz....