# F. Scott Fitzgerald: A List of Things to Worry About and Things to Not Worry About

> Focusing on virtues like courage and cleanliness while ignoring external validation and fleeting concerns can lead to a more fulfilling life

Source: fs | Date: 2026-01-15 | Reading time: 3 min | Canonical: https://library.againstentropy.dev/article/f-scott-fitzgerald-a-list-of-things-to-worry-about-and-things-to-not-worry-about/ | Original: https://fs.blog/2013/10/f-scott-fitzgerald-worry/

## Snapshot

- Prioritize character traits like courage and efficiency
- Ignore external validation from popular opinion or others
- Reflect on personal goals and self-improvement regularly

**When to use:** This insight applies to individuals seeking to cultivate a strong sense of self and direction in life

**Common mistake:** Getting caught up in worries about external validation or fleeting concerns can distract from personal growth and development

**Related concepts:** emotional-regulation, personal-growth, self-awareness

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From F. Scott Fitzgerald—famous author of [The Great Gatsby](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743273567/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=farnamstreet-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0743273567&linkId=e654d9367e5a6e5d0579d2a8cdd4e7e2)—comes this letter to his daughter Frances Scott Fitzgerald. Offering a hint of his parenting, the letter from August 1933 concludes with a list of things to worry about and things not to worry about.

Below is the full letter, published in the [New York Times in 1958](https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/24/specials/fitzgerald-father.html).

> AUGUST 8, 1933  
> LA PAIX RODGERS’ FORGE  
> TOWSON, MATYLAND
> 
> DEAR PIE:
> 
> I feel very strongly about you doing duty. Would you give me a little more documentation about your reading in French? I am glad you are happy– but I never believe much in happiness. I never believe in misery either. Those are things you see on the stage or the screen or the printed page, they never really happen to you in life.
> 
> All I believe in in life is the rewards for virtue (according to your talents) and the punishments for not fulfilling your duties, which are doubly costly. If there is such a volume in the camp library, will you ask Mrs. Tyson to let you look up a sonnet of Shakespeare’s in which the line occurs Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds…
> 
> I think of you, and always pleasantly, but I am going to take the White Cat out and beat his bottom hard, six times for every time you are impertinent. Do you react to that?…
> 
> Half-wit, I will conclude. **Things to worry about:**
> 
> Worry about courage  
> Worry about cleanliness  
> Worry about efficiency  
> Worry about horsemanship
> 
> **Things not to worry about:**  
> Don’t worry about popular opinion  
> Don’t worry about dolls  
> Don’t worry about the past  
> Don’t worry about the future  
> Don’t worry about growing up  
> Don’t worry about anybody getting ahead of you  
> Don’t worry about triumph  
> Don’t worry about failure unless it comes through your own fault  
> Don’t worry about mosquitoes  
> Don’t worry about flies  
> Don’t worry about insects in general  
> Don’t worry about parents  
> Don’t worry about boys  
> Don’t worry about disappointments  
> Don’t worry about pleasures  
> Don’t worry about satisfactions
> 
> **Things to think about:**  
> What am I really aiming at?  
> How good am I really in comparison to my contemporaries in regard to:  
> (a) Scholarship  
> (b) Do I really understand about people and am I able to get along with them?  
> (c) Am I trying to make my body a useful intrument or am I neglecting it?
> 
> With dearest love,

Sounds like a timeless list, except, of course, for horsemanship.