My father taught me how to be a man — and not by instilling in me a sense of machismo or an agenda of dominance. He taught me that a real man doesn’t take, he gives; he doesn’t use force, he uses logic; doesn’t play the role of trouble-maker, but rather, trouble-shooter; and most importantly, a real man is defined by what’s in his heart, not his pants. – Kevin Smith, 1970-present
Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else’s can shorten it. – Cullen Hightower, 1923-2008
It is not easy for men to rise whose qualities are thwarted by poverty. – Juvenal, 55 AD-127 AD
The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself. – Mark Twain, 1835-1910
We can only learn to love by loving. – Iris Murdoch, 1919-1999
That is what marriage really means: helping one another to reach the full status of being persons, responsible and autonomous beings who do not run away from life. – Paul Tournier, 1898-1986
No legacy is so rich as honesty. – William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. – Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
As I get older, I’ve learned to listen to people rather than accuse them of things. – Po Bronson, 1964-present
He that is busy is tempted by but one devil; he that is idle, by a legion. – Thomas Fuller, 1608-1661
The first duty of a leader is to make himself be loved without courting love. To be loved without ‘playing up’ to anyone – even to himself. – Andre Malraux, 1901-1976
What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers. – Martina Horner, 1939-present
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. – The Dalai Lama, 1935-present
If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. – Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790
Laugh at yourself first, before anyone else can. – Elsa Maxwell, 1883-1963
Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action. – Napoleon Hill, 1883-1970
We too often let the material things serve as indicators that we’re doing well, even though something inside us tells us that were not doing our best. That we are avoiding that which is hard, but also necessary. That we are shrinking from rather than rising to the challenges of the age. – Barack Obama, 1961-present
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. – Frederick Douglass, 1817-1895
The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself. – Anna Quindlen, 1953-present
I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. – Christopher Reeve, 1952-2004
If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success – but only if you persist. – Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992
You will need to find your passion. Don’t give up on finding it because then all you’re doing is waiting for the Reaper. – Randy Pausch, 1960-2008
Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind. – Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519
First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others. – Thomas a Kempis, 1380-1471
Put more trust in nobility of character than in an oath. – Solon, 638 BC-559 BC
The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls. – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1815-1902
The central struggle of parenthood is to let our hopes for our children outweigh our fears. – Ellen Goodman, 1941-present
A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart. – Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745
Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. That is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil. – Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1965
Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body. – Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809-1894
The memory should be specially taxed in youth, since it is then that it is strongest and most tenacious. But in choosing the things that should be committed to memory the utmost care and forethought must be exercised; as lessons well learnt in youth are never forgotten. – Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. – Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865
Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes. – Confucius, 551 BC-479 BC
One man with courage makes a majority. – Andrew Jackson, 1767-1845
A good marriage is one which allows for change and growth in the individuals and in the way they express their love. – Pearl Buck, 1892-1973
To be mature means to face, and not evade, every fresh crisis that comes. – Fritz Künkel, 1889-1956
Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for. – Dag Hammarskjold, 1905-1961
Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command. – Alan Watts, 1915-1973
Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
Life is full of surprises and serendipity. Being open to unexpected turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns. Just find your next adventure-do it well, enjoy it-and then, not now, think about what comes next. – Condoleeza Rice, 1954-present
You can’t have a light without a dark to stick it in. – Arlo Guthrie, 1947-present
My parents taught me how to listen to everybody before I made up my own mind. When you listen, you learn. You absorb like a sponge-and your life becomes so much better than when you are just trying to be listened to all the time. – Steven Spielberg, 1946-present
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ’em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it. – Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919
No legacy is so rich as honesty. – William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil. – Plato, 427 BC-347 BC
We laugh a lot. That’s for sure. Sure beats the alternative, doesn’t it? – Betty White, 1922-present
Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. – Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948
The first duty of a leader is to make himself be loved without courting love. To be loved without ‘playing up’ to anyone – even to himself. – Andre Malraux, 1901-1976
I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. – Ettiene De Grellet, 1773-1855
I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there. – Richard Feynman, 1918-1988
Deeds, not words shall speak me. – John Fletcher, 1579-1625
They envy the distinction I have won; let them therefore, envy my toils, my honesty, and the methods by which I gained it. – Sallust, 86 BC-34 BC
This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. – George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950
Courage is of no value unless accompanied by justice; yet if all men became just, there would be no need for courage. – Agesilaus the Second, 444 BC-360 BC
Truly successful decision making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking. – Malcolm Gladwell, 1963-present
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not. – Oprah Winfrey, 1954-present
The ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence. – Robert J. Shiller, 1946-present
Do something. If it doesn’t work, do something else. No idea is too crazy. – Jim Hightower, 1943-present
Have the courage to be ignorant of a great number of things, in order to avoid the calamity of being ignorant of everything. – Sydney Smith, 1771-1845
Imagination is more important than knowledge… – Albert Einstein, 1879-1955
Humility is no substitute for a good personality. – Fran Lebowitz, 1950-present
There’s nothing like a gleam of humor to reassure you that a fellow human being is ticking inside a strange face. – Eva Hoffman, 1945-present
An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous. – Henry Ford, 1863-1947
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. – Sir Winston Churchill, 1874-1965
An honor is not diminished for being shared. – Lois McMaster Bujold, 1949-present
Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don’t give up. – Anne Lamott, 1954-present
Happiness isn’t something you experience; it’s something you remember. – Oscar Levant, 1906-1972
Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself. – Richard Nixon, 1913-1994
Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story. – John Barth, 1930-present
We find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve. – Maxwell Maltz, 1899-1975
Never tell evil of a man, if you do not know it for certainty, and if you know it for a certainty, then ask yourself, ‘Why should I tell it?’ – Johann K. Lavater, 1741-1801
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs. – Euripides, 484 BC-406 BC
You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. – Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955
Men of genius do not excel in any profession because they labor in it, but they labor in it because they excel. – William Hazlitt, 1778-1830
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. – Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931
“The only real valuable thing is intuition.” – Albert Einstein
The man who has won millions at the cost of his conscience is a failure.
BC Forbes
The secret of many a man’s success in the world resides in his insight into the moods of men and his tact in dealing with them. – J. G. Holland, 1819-1881
They fail, and they alone, who have not striven. – Thomas Bailey Aldrich, 1836-1907
Don’t waste your life in doubts and fears: spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour’s duties will be the best preparation for the hours or ages that follow it. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. – Louisa May Alcott, 1832-1888
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. – Harriet Tubman, 1820-1913
It requires less character to discover the faults of others than to tolerate them. – J. Petit-Senn, 1792-1870
Be known for pleasing others, especially if you govern them. Ruling other has one advantage: you can do more good than anyone else. – Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658
If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes. – Clement of Alexandria, 150-211
To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all is that which says: “Leave no stone unturned.” – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1803-1873
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. – Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909
The real leader has no need to lead – he is content to point the way. – Henry Miller, 1891-1980
Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash. – George S. Patton, 1885-1945
When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. – Helen Keller, 1880-1968
The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. – Socrates, 469-399 B.C.
The secret of many a man’s success in the world resides in his insight into the moods of men and his tact in dealing with them. – J.G. Holland, 1819-1881
Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will. – Jawaharlal Nehru, 1889-1964
Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character. – James Russell Lowell, 1819-1891
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. – Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862
What chance gathers she easily scatters. A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, “Always do what you are afraid to do.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be. – Horace Bushnell, 1802-1876
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace. – Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900
There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music. – George Eliot, 1819-1880
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. – E. B. White, 1899-1985
In life we don’t get what we want, we get in life what we are. If we want more we have to be able to be more, in order to be more you have to face rejection. – Farrah Gray, 1984-present
If you haven’t forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others? – Dolores Huerta, 1930-present
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive. – Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850-1894
Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done and why. Then do it. – Robert Heinlein, 1907-1988
Act as if it were impossible to fail. – Dorothea Brande, 1893-1948
If you can’t have faith in what is held up to you for faith, you must find things to believe in yourself, for a life without faith in something is too narrow a space to live. – George E. Woodberry, 1855-1930
The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence. – John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963
Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness. – Joseph Addison, 1672-1719
Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards. – Vernon Sanders Law, 1930-present
Life engenders life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich. – Sarah Bernhardt, 1844-1923
Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength. – Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983
Every minute you are thinking of evil, you might have been thinking of good instead. Refuse to pander to a morbid interest in your own misdeeds. Pick yourself up, be sorry, shake yourself, and go on again. – Evelyn Underhill, 1875-1941
Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. – Edgar Allan Poe, 1809-1849
Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. – Malcolm Forbes, 1919-1990
Above all things, never be afraid. The enemy who forces you to retreat is himself afraid of you at that very moment. – Andre Maurois, 1885-1967
Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself. – Rabbi Abraham Heschel, 1907-1972
If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent. – Isaac Newton, 1642-1727
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. – Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970
If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise. – Robert Fritz, 1943-present
A good man would prefer to be defeated than to defeat injustice by evil means. – Sallust, 86 BC-34 BC
If you greatly desire something, have the guts to stake everything on obtaining it. – Brendan Behan, 1923-1964
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. – Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900
Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance. – Oprah Winfrey, 1954-present
As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death. – Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519
First it is necessary to stand on your own two feet. But the minute a man finds himself in that position, the next thing he should do is reach out his arms. – Kristin Hunter, 1931-2008
Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings. – Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784
Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount. – Clare Booth Luce, 1903-1987
The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed. – Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1751-1816
Life is like a library owned by the author. In it are a few books which he wrote himself, but most of them were written for him. – Harry Emerson Fosdick, 1878-1969
He who has imagination without learning, has wings and no feet. – Joseph Joubert, 1754-1824
Go to the people. Learn from them. Live with them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. The best of leaders when the job is done, when the task is accomplished, the people will say we have done it ourselves. – Lao Tzu, 6th Century BCE
Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day. – Thornton Wilder, 1897-1975
The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be. – Horace Bushnell, 1802-1876
