There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance.
—Walt Whitman (American Poet)
I used to be afraid I wouldn’t make enough money; now I’m afraid I won’t make enough difference.
—Bob Goff (American Philanthropist)
A high-school teacher, after all, is a person deputized by the rest of us to explain to the young what sort of world they are living in, and to defend, if possible, the part their elders are playing in it.
—Emile Capouya (American Essayist, Critic, Publisher)
If we were to ask the brain how it would like to be treated, whether shaken at a random, irregular rate, or in a rhythmic, harmonious fashion, we can be sure that the brain, or for that matter the whole body, would prefer the latter.
—Itzhak Bentov (Israeli American Scientist)
When we are no longer able to change a situation … we are challenged to change ourselves.
—Viktor Frankl (Austrian Psychiatrist)
Men simply copied the realities of their hearts when they built prisons.
—Richard Wright (American Novelist, Short-Story Writer)
In marriage, a man becomes slack and selfish, and undergoes a fatty degeneration of his moral being.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (Scottish Novelist)
Your mind is like a muscle. The more you use it, the more it grows.
—Carol Dweck (American Psychologist)
Consistency is a virtue for trains: what we want from a philosopher is insights, whether he comes by them consistently or not.
—Stephen Vizinczey (Hungarian-Canadian Writer)
Everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear.
—George W. Bush (American Head of State)
A man who makes trouble for others is also making trouble for himself.
—Chinua Achebe (Nigerian Novelist, Poet)
Curiosity is the engine of civilization. If I were to elaborate it would be to say read, read, read, and don’t forget to talk to people, really talk, listening with attention and having conversations, on whatever topic, that are an exchange of thoughts. Keep the reading broad, beyond just the professional. This helps to develop one’s sense of perspective in all matters.
—Peter Cundill (Canadian Investor)