I’ve been having an enjoyable visit with my brother and two sisters from the mainland all week and paying no attention to the news.

So we’ll depart from the usual fare and I’ll leave you with some wisdom from the great minds about brothers and sisters — keeping in mind that you have to watch what you say about your siblings because they know more embarrassing stuff about you than anybody in the world.

» "The Rule of Sibs: If your sibling gets something you want, you (1) try to take it; (2) break it; or (3) say it’s no good." — Patricia Fleming

» "The highlight of my childhood was making my brother laugh so hard that food came out his nose." — Garrison Keillor

» "If you don’t understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child." — Linda Sunshine

» "We know one another’s faults, virtues, catastrophes, mortifications, triumphs, rivalries, desires, and how long we can each hang by our hands to a bar. We have been banded together under pack codes and tribal laws." — Rose Macaulay

» "If you don’t believe in ghosts, you’ve never been to a family reunion." — Ashleigh Brilliant

» "Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero." — Marc Brown

» "We may look old and wise to the outside world. But to each other, we are still in junior school." — Charlotte Gray

» "Never let an angry sister comb your hair." — Patricia McCann

» "Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring — quite often the hard way." — Pamela Dugdale

» "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city." — George Burns

» "Brothers don’t necessarily have to say anything to each other — they can sit in a room and be together and just be completely comfortable with each other." — Leonardo DiCaprio

» "If you want to know how your girl will treat you after marriage, just listen to her talking to her little brother." — Sam Levenson

» "A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost." — Marion C. Garretty

» "If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance." — George Bernard Shaw

» "It takes two men to make one brother." — Israel Zangwill

» "To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time." — Clara Ortega

David Shapiro can be reached at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.