Our duty is to be useful, not according to our desires, but according to our powers.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (Swiss Philosopher)
Be like the bird, who, feeling the branch break beneath him sings, knowing that he has wings.
—Victor Hugo (French Novelist)
Politeness is an inexpensive way of making friends.
—William Feather (American Publisher)
Common-sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (English Poet)
The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.
—Andrew Carnegie (Scottish-American Industrialist, Philanthropist)
We don’t need men with new ideas as much as we need men who will put energy behind the old ideas.
—William Feather (American Publisher)
Men of genius are rarely much annoyed by the company of vulgar people.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (English Poet)
Go as far as you can see, and when you get there you will see farther.
—Orison Swett Marden (American New Thought Writer)
Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself to do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done whether you like it or not. It is the first lesson that ought to be learned and however early a person’s training begins, it is probably the last lesson a person learn thoroughly.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (English Biologist)
The ability to make yourself do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.
—Elbert Hubbard (American Writer)
Superiority to fate is difficult to gain; ’tis not conferred of any, but possible to earn.
—Emily Dickinson (American Poet)
Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.
—Laozi (Chinese Philosopher)
The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.
—Calvin Coolidge (American Head of State)