Right Attitudes

Unless you’re the lead sled dog, the view is pretty much the same.
—Inuit Proverb

The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency or change. That everything changes is the basic truth for each existence. No one can deny this truth and all teaching of Buddhism is condensed within it. This is the teaching for all of us. Wherever we go this teaching is true. This teaching is also understood as the teaching of selflessness. Because each existence is in constant change, there is no abiding self.
—Shunryu Suzuki (Buddhist Monk, Author)

He who limps is still walking.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (Polish Aphorist, Poet)

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
—H. P. Lovecraft (American Science-fiction Writer)

It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree—make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.
—Elon Musk (American Entrepreneur )

Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of the earth.
—William McKinley (American Head of State)

A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that’s unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (Austrian-born British Philosopher)

A clear and focused mind will last a lifetime. Getting your mind in shape is nothing less than the key to sustainable success in the world.
—Russell Simmons (American Music Promoter)

Our best evidence of what people truly feel and believe comes less from their words than from their deeds.
—Robert Cialdini (American Social Psychologist)

In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (American Economist)

The people who successfully delude themselves seem happier than the people who can’t.
—Woody Allen (American Film Actor, Director )

The society in which each man lives is at once the basis for, and the nemesis of, that fullness of life which each man seeks.
—Reinhold Niebuhr (American Theologian)

In all adversity, what God takes away He may give us back with increase.
—Edward Bouverie Pusey (British Anglican Theologian)

It’s a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people don’t want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.
—P. G. Wodehouse (English Novelist)

Perfection does not exist. To understand this is the triumph of human intelligence; to expect to possess it is the most dangerous kind of madness.
—Alfred de Musset (French Poet, Playwright)

No one regards what is before his feet; we all gaze at the stars.
—Ennius (Roman Poet)

The only person entitled to use the imperial ‘we’ in speaking of himself is a king, an editor, and a man with a tapeworm.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (American Lawyer, Orator, Agnostic)

Civilization rests on a set of promises; if the promises are broken too often, the civilization dies, no matter how rich it may be, or how mechanically clever. Hope and faith depend on the promises; if hope and faith go, everything goes.
—Herbert Agar (American Journalist, Historian)

The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.
—Leon Trotsky (Russian Revolutionary)

People lie so that others will form beliefs that are not true. The more consequential the beliefs—that is, the more a person’s well-being demands a correct understanding of the world or of other people’s opinions—the more consequential the lie.
—Sam Harris (American Neuroscientist, Atheist, Author)

Search not a Wound too deep, lest thou make a new one.
—Thomas Fuller (English Cleric, Historian)

When it comes to getting things done, we need fewer architects and more bricklayers.
—Colleen Barrett (American Businessperson)

Failure is more frequently from want of energy than want of capital.
—Daniel Webster (American Statesman, Lawyer)

What identifies an individual as a king is how other people behave towards him. All authority is assumed, and if other people don’t accept your authority then you don’t have it. Perhaps the critical thing to being a convincing figure of authority is actually not to try too hard.
—Patrick Stewart (British Actor)

The beauty of the brain is that you can still be as greedy as you like for knowledge and it doesn’t show.
—Stephen Fry (English Actor, Writer)

Nothing is lost upon a person who is bent upon growth; nothing is wasted on one who is always preparing for his work and life by keeping eyes, mind, and heart open to nature, men, books, experience. Such a man finds ministries to his education on all sides; everything cooperates with his passion for growth.
—Hamilton Wright Mabie (American Essayist, Editor)

Charity is a very complicated thing. Its important to find an area where you can really help and you can feel the results. Charity is not like feeding pigeons in the square. It is a process that requires professional management.
—Roman Abramovich (Russian-Israeli Businessman)

To have good ideas, you have to have a lot of ideas.
—Linus Pauling (American Scientist, Peace Activist)

A horse is dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle.
—Ian L. Fleming (English Novelist, Journalist)

The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.
—B. B. King (American Blues Musician)

A valiant mind no deadly danger fears.
—Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (English Poet, Courtier)

If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm.
—Bruce Fairchild Barton (American Advertising Executive)

You can’t pick cherries with your back to the tree.
—J. P. Morgan (American Financier, Philanthropist)

If you threw a stone into a gutter, it would only spurt filth in your face.
—R. K. Narayan (Indian Novelist, Short-story Writer)

The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan. Stick to the good plan.
—John C. Bogle (American Mutual Fund Pioneer)

Even if death were to fall upon you today like lightning, you must be ready to die without sadness and regret, without any residue of clinging for what is left behind. Remaining in the recognition of the absolute view, you should leave this life like an eagle soaring up into the blue sky.
—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader)

Today’s accomplishments were yesterday’s impossibilities.
—Robert H. Schuller (American Televangelist, Author)

Good wood is better than good paint.
—Vietnamese Proverb

It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.
—Morarji Desai (Indian Political Leader )

Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad, but it’s the middle that counts. You have to remember this when you find yourself at the beginning.
—Sandra Bullock (American Film Actress)

The person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another’s keeping .
—Dale Carnegie (American Self-Help Author)

It doesn’t matter how many say it cannot be done or how many people have tried it before; it’s important to realize that whatever you’re doing, it’s your first attempt at it.
—Wally Amos (American Entrepreneur)

We become more religious in proportion to our readiness to doubt and not our willingness to believe.
—Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Indian Philosopher, Political Leader)

It is the things we are unaware of in ourselves which make us so very angry when we see them in other people.
—Irene Claremont de Castillejo (British Psychoanalyst)

At a time when opportunism is everything, when hope seems lost, when everything boils down to a cynical business deal, we must find the courage to dream. To reclaim romance. The romance of believing in justice, in freedom, and in dignity. For everybody.
—Arundhati Roy (Indian Novelist, Activist)

It costs a man only a little exertion to bring misfortune on himself.
—Menander (Greek Comic Dramatist)

An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets the more interested he is in her.
—Agatha Christie (British Novelist)

A bishop wrote gravely to the Times inviting all nations to destroy ‘the formula’ of the atomic bomb. There is no simple remedy for ignorance so abysmal.
—Peter Medawar (British Immunologist, Writer)

When you get to my age, and I’m 66 now, you realize that the world is a madhouse and that most people are operating in fantasy anyway. So once you realize that, it doesn’t bother you much.
—John Cleese (British Comic Actor, Writer)

Values are principles and ideas that bring meaning to the seemingly mundane experience of life. A meaningful life that ultimately brings happiness and pride requires you to respond to temptations as well as challenges with honor, dignity, and courage.
—Laura Schlessinger (American Broadcaster)

Habit is necessary; it is the habit of having habits, of turning a trail into a rut, that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain alive.
—Edith Wharton (American Novelist, Short-story Writer)

Our dreams have to be bigger.
Our ambitions higher.
Our commitment deeper.
And our efforts greater.
This is my dream.
—Dhirubhai Ambani (Indian Businessperson)

In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
—Thurgood Marshall (American Jurist)

With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us. We as parents are their most important role models.
—Michelle Obama (American First Lady)

Rage and grief are savage companions, but despair is the final undoing.
—Mia Farrow (American Actress, Activist)

I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you—it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists.
—Philip Roth (American Novelist, Short-story Writer)

Prayer is translation. A man translates himself into a child asking for all there is in a language he has barely mastered.
—Leonard Cohen (Canadian Musician, Author)

The consumer is not a moron. She is your wife. Try not to insult her intelligence.
—David Ogilvy (British Advertising Executive)

Some men are more beholden to their bitterest enemies than to friends who appear to be sweetness itself. The former frequently tell the truth, but the latter never.
—Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato) (Roman Statesman)

When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing to himself.
—Louis Nizer (American Lawyer, Author)

To sin because mercy abounds is the devil’s logic; he that sins because of God’s mercy, shall have judgment without mercy.—Mercy is not for them that sin and fear not, but for them that fear and sin not.
—Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (American Business Executive)

The wisdom of the wise and the experience of ages may be preserved by quotation.
—Isaac D’Israeli (English Writer, Scholar)

Love is not just looking at each other, it’s looking in the same direction.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French Novelist, Aviator)

Memory is the greatest of artists, and effaces from your mind what is unnecessary.
—Maurice Baring (British Author)

I hold this as a rule of life: Too much of anything is bad.
—Terence (Roman Comic Dramatist)

All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them.
—Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) (Danish Novelist, Short-story Writer)

Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade, there the life—there, if one must speak out, the real man.
—Marcus Aurelius (Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher)

Be moderate in prosperity, prudent in adversity.
—Periander (Tyrant of Corinth)

Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.
—Mary Wollstonecraft (English Writer, Feminist)

Whenever there is a simple error that most laymen fall for, there is always a slightly more sophisticated version of the same problem that experts fall for.
—Amos Tversky (Israeli Cognitive Psychologist)

Success is falling nine times and getting up ten.
—Jon Bon Jovi (American Musician)

Choose the course which you adopt with deliberation; but when you have adopted it, then persevere in it with firmness.
—Bias of Priene (Greek Orator)

Horror is always aware of its cause; terror never is. That is precisely what makes terror terrifying.
—Christopher Isherwood (Anglo-American Novelist, Playwright)

The birds have vanished into the sky, and now the last cloud drains away. We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains.
—Li Bai (Chinese Taoist Poet)

Watch people, because you can fake for a long time, but one day you’re gonna show yourself to be a phony.
—Tupac Shakur (American Rapper, Actor)

If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.
—Dolly Parton (American Musician, Actress)

Well-being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.
—Zeno of Citium (Greek Philosopher)

The liberals have not softened their view of actuality to make themselves live closer to the dream, but instead sharpen their perceptions and fight to make the dream actuality or give up the battle in despair.
—Margaret Mead (American Cultural Anthropologist)

Few of us are granted the grace to know ourselves, and until we do, maybe the best we can do is be consistent.
—Andre Agassi (American Tennis Player)

There is in gardens a plant which one ought to leave dry, although most people water it. It is the weed called envy.
—Cosimo de’ Medici (Florentine Statesman, Banker)

As she has planted, so does she harvest; such is the field of karma.
—The Guru Granth Sahib (Sacred Text of Sikhism)