THE NEXT TIME you decide to bake fortune cookies, you may wish to include a few of these wise and inspiring sayings on the little slips of paper inside them.

You are wise beyond your years, assuming that you are four years old.

Things that you think of as uncertain may be more certain than you think, but possibly not.

People who live in glass houses should grow Phragmipedium orchids.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and you have exceptionally beautiful eyes when you are looking at me.

ERRATUM: The phrase “or a nelk” in the previous fortune should have read “or an elk.”

You have a hidden talent for macramé.

If a man offers you lint, check its quality before buying.

Your lucky animal is the Japanese beetle. Sorry about that.

Be strong like the oak and silent like the—well, like the oak.