Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for August 18, 2023

So no success and happiness for Rat.

“If at first you don’t succeed, keep on suckin’ til you do succeed.” —Curly Howard

Do the work

Living a miserable life is a choice, that many people choose to make.

“What matters most are the simple pleasures so abundant that we can all enjoy them…Happiness doesn’t lie in the objects we gather around us. To find it, all we need to do is open our eyes.”-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

But Rat is successful at making everyone around him miserable. That’s got to count for something.

Sort of true. But success depends on preparation, ability, and LUCK.

Rat wanted to hear “drink beer and watch football”.

Eh some peoples will be never be happy.

The guy on the hill don’t have much room to move.

Guess that Rat is very successful.

Yeah, the Wise *ss On The Hill is ok, but how ’bout the return of Guard Duck?!

Note that even though the word *ss is in the comic (twice), it’s censored when I use it in the comments!

Depends on what he means by “success.” Wealth? Happiness? Changing the world?

Not the answer Rat wanted to hear!

Are you successful if daddy leaves you a fortune?

Make better choices.

Mostly, how well you choose your parents.

Life is a race, we get to the finish line sooner or later.

Only part true. Growing up in a stable home environment, family connections, and/or a modest inheritance make a HUGE difference.

Claiming I did it entirely through my own choices and work would be an insult to my parents.

Unfortunately, many people unknowingly make life choices when they are too young.

Not dwelling on past regrets helps. You can’t change the past. Make an effort to do better today and in the future. Learn from your past mistakes and pay attention to the mistakes others make, so you don’t make them. Life is too short to make all the mistakes yourself. ;-)

If at first you don’t succeed, give up. But try hard first. (K. Finnie, a lad I went to high school with)

Of course, depending on your abilities, you may have to lower your standards for what counts as “success”. But you’ll still have to put in the work.

Well, that explains my life…

It’s only bad news for the people who make poor life choices. Rat is clearly one of them.

You also need an element of luck. Plenty of people make what would be considered smart choices, but never achieve what typically is considered success.

Rat needs to seek advice from someone else, other than that as-s!

“Success” is gettin’ what you want.

“Happiness” is wantin’ what you get.

— Brother Dave Gardner

Tell it like it is, Wise @ss!! … :)

Contentment…

Or, you can skip the hard work and just vote for politicians who promise to increase taxes on other people and never have to worry about basic needs.

How is Rat able to stand up straight and apparently comfortably on such a steep slope?

What do you expect from a Donkey on a dung pile?

Spend most all your time staring at your phone and B.S. ing on social media. Add video game play for 4 hours each day and you’ll get your reward! Can’t miss.

Thanks for the palate cleanser today, Stephan, after all of yesterday’s mud slinging in the comments section. I don’t know what to say on behalf of my fellow human beings.

In my life, most of my good choices have revolved around correcting my bad choices.

Y’know, I’ve tried walking uphill like that, and it just never seemed to work for me…

There are plenty of “successful” people who have to talent or skill.

Don’t forget blind luck.

As a boy of the ‘50s, it was Try, Try, Again … now billionaire POTUS’ teach us Cheat, Lie, and Steal.

“Be born into it.”

I am floored that rat is seeking advice on how to have a life of success and happiness.

wow! you got $50,000 saved up?? i’d go out and trade in your old clunker for a nice new car! why i have 50k and you don’t.

Don’t flatter yourself, WiseA$$. All your advice is so much dross….

One of my otherwise favourite authors made this glib observation in other words, something like “If you want to achieve a goal, make sure you take the right actions to work toward it” which does make the rather substantial assumption that you KNOW which actions those are, which beyond the trivial might not be obvious at all.