Happy 92nd Birthday, Betty White! Here Are 6 Lessons You've Taught Us

NBC

Never change for a guy: Rose is giddy when she meets her soon-to-be serious boyfriend Miles, a college professor. She's falling in love but Miles and his intellectual, bookish friends intimate her. Worried she's not smart enough for him, Rose backs out of their date one night, convincing Blanche to take her place. After learning that Miles had a miserable time without her, Rose summons the courage to bare her insecurities about the relationship. "You're a teacher. You think for a living," she tells him. But Miles is determined they should be together. "You're very special Rose," he says. "I'm just lucky I'm smart enough to see it." Aww.

Beauty is on the inside:
When Rose starts secretly dating a midget psychiatrist named Dr. Jonathan Newman, the girls beg to meet him, but Rose refuses because she's embarrassed about their height difference. However, when Rose suspects that Jonathan is planning to propose, she grapples with whether or not she could overcome her superficiality. In the end, Rose's anxiety was all for naught because Jonathan dumps her for not being Jewish and Rose learns to accept people for who they are on the inside.

You're stronger than you think: One night, while the girls were at a Madonna concert, robbers break into their house. Rose is so traumatized that she buys a gun for protection despite nearly shooting Blanche's date when she mistakes him for an intruder. One day, Rose is walking through a parking lot and thinks a man is following her. She suddenly abandons her fear and drop kicks the guy (turns out, he was the parking attendant), making her realize the power of her own strength. "I can take care of myself!" she exclaims.

Listen to your instincts:
Rose becomes suspicious that her dentist Lou sexually assaulted her while she was under the influence of nitrous oxide during a tooth procedure, but she's afraid to speak up for fear of ruining the man's career. She finally summons the courage to confront her dentist, but he convinces her she was hallucinating under anesthesia and Rose feels guilty about her accusations. But when Lou soon makes another pass at her, Rose becomes empowered and reports him to the state dental board before spraying him with water.

You can't succeed without failing: Rose becomes bored with her job as an assistant at the local news station so she applies for a higher position as a weekend news reporter, despite having no on-camera experience. She's given a trial assignment to cover Miami's 13th annual dog show, a job she takes very seriously - perhaps too seriously. During the show, a man with a gun and a ski mask holds Dorothy and Sophia hostage but Rose, ever the professional, is determined to get the story, reporting on the dog show, despite the chaos around her. "I'm a reporter, damn it. They sent me to cover a story and that's what I did," she says. Unsurprisingly, Rose doesn't get the job, but she did learn the value of work ethic.

Some problems just can't be fixed:
Rose is disappointed when her little sister (who she doesn't like) announces that she's coming to Miami on business. Holly charms Rose's roommates, but excludes Rose from their activities. But when Rose tried to convince the girls that her sister isn't as nice as she seems, they chalk up her gripes to sibling rivalry. It's only when Rose catches Holly kissing Blanche's boyfriend that Holly's true colors are revealed. Rose finally confronts her sister: "Just because we're sisters, doesn't mean we have to be friends," she says. And she learns that families aren't always so perfect.

There's nothing that a St. Olaf story (and a slice of cheesecake) can't fix:
When she's happy, sad, or simply nostalgic, Rose's longwinded tales of yore from her hometown of St. Olaf are the best. Whether she's recounting the towns' festival of the dancing virgins, how her pig Lester had a knack for predicting the best supporting actor Oscar winner, or how the soda jerk at Lars Ericson Drug Store and Tackle Shop sexually harassed her with scoops of ice cream arranged in a sexually explicated manner, her stories are simply the best. More cheesecake, please!