To expect happiness without giving up negative action is like holding your hand in a fire and hoping not to be burned. Of course, no one actually wants to suffer, to be sick, to be cold or hungry—but as long as we continue to indulge in wrong doing we will never put an end to suffering. Likewise, we will never achieve happiness, except through positive deeds, words, and thoughts. Positive action is something we have to cultivate ourselves; it can be neither bought nor stolen, and no one ever stumbles on it just by chance.
—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader)
I doubt not that in due time, when the arts are brought to perfection, some means will be found to give a sound head to a man who has none at all.
—Voltaire (French Philosopher)
A man that is young in years may be old in hours, if he has lost no time.
—Francis Bacon (English Philosopher)
Fear and lies fester in darkness. The truth may wound, but it cuts clean.
—Jacqueline Carey (American Novelist)
That best academy, a mother’s knee.
—James Russell Lowell (American Poet)
It is no easy thing for a principle to become a man’s own unless each day he maintains it and works it out in his life.
—Epictetus (Ancient Greek Philosopher)
Misfortunes one can endure—they come from outside, they are accidents. But to suffer for one’s own faults—Ah! there is the sting of life.
—Oscar Wilde (Irish Poet)
Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom.
—Phyllis Theroux
The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core strength within you that survives all hurt.
—Max Lerner
The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.
—Mike Murdock