Essieisms

My mom, Essie Mae Brown Chever, had a way with words.  She’s the beautiful lady in the blue dress, surrounded by four of her five children (1969). She was always making statements that made you smile and think.  My brother, Billy (standing on the left in the white tee shirt), called them “Essieisms.”  Some of her famous Essieisms are:

He/ she can out lie a cross tie.

The person can look you straight in the face and not tell you the truth.

Everything that comes up doesn’t have to come out.

Just because you have an opinion about something,  doesn’t mean you have to say it.  Especially if your opinion will cause someone else pain.

If you hold your hand too tight, nothing goes out and nothing comes in.

Be generous by giving to others; share what you have.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

If you truly want something,  you can get it.  But, the getting usually involves hard work, effort and not giving up.

That’s more than a notion.

The situation is a bit overwhelming.  (But mom would add, you have to hang in there no matter what.)

Heap sees, few knows.

A lot of people may see what goes on from the outside, but few people know what is really going on inside someone else’s life. (This saying has taught me to try not to judge another person’s actions.  According to mom, you never know what’s going on inside of the person to cause them to act the way they act or to do the things they do.)

 

More of mom’s sayings will be listed in the future.