To lead the people, walk behind them.
—Laozi (Chinese Philosopher)
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
—John Wooden (American Sportsperson)
The way to get ahead is to start now. If you start now, you will know a lot next year that you don’t know now and that you would not have known next year if you had waited.
—William Feather (American Publisher)
Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.
—Michel de Montaigne (French Philosopher)
The most gifted natures are perhaps also the most trembling.
—Andre Gide (French Novelist)
Be a good animal, true to your animal instincts.
—D. H. Lawrence (English Novelist)
First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.
—Napoleon Hill (American Author)
As regards obstacles, the shortest distance between two points can be a curve.
—Bertolt Brecht (German Poet)
He was one of those men who possess almost every gift, except the gift of the power to use them.
—Charles Kingsley (English Clergyman)
Although human subtlety makes a variety of inventions by different means to the same end, it will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple, or more direct than does nature, because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.
—Leonardo da Vinci (Italian Polymath)
Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.
—Henry David Thoreau (American Philosopher)
The best preparation for the future is the present well seen to, the last duty well done.
—George MacDonald (Scottish Christian Author)