Total Noob:Is bigger always better?

Ok, im just after getting me a new Canon SD300 (ixus 40) and its beautiful. Naturally, i know nothing about photography so i stumble on even the smallest snipet of knowledge!So im messing about with resolutions and quality and their different permutations and combinations, but i just dont know whats right!
What im wondering is, is it always the best to snap everything on the best quality + Resolution? (when size of card isnt a problem-i have a 512mb card)
I like the look of smaller pictures, but i dont like a lack of quality.
So can anyone help a BIG noob?

Always shoot on the highest becuase you never know when you will get one that you may want to print on 8x10. If space isn't a problem, there is no reason not to.

Shoot the highest possible as often as possible.

You can always make the images smaller but if you shoot them small to start with you can never make them bigger!

yeah, that seems to make the most sense.I can always use photoshop to resize.Thanks! Now to move to the basics!

How about if I were to take a photo in the biggest size resolution. If I wanted to just print out a 4x6, would that take some quality out of the picture or would it be the same?

More quality, kind of.

That would depend on how the image is downsized for the printing. If you downsize it yourself tp 4x6 using a photo editor, then you should not really loose any quality. However, if you send the original high res picture to a printer and let the printer downsize it for you, then the printed image may not be as good as it could be. But I think that printers now-a-days have become sophisticated enough that they can handle downsizing without any problems.