Right Attitudes

Not a mother, not a father will do so much, nor any other relative; a well-directed mind will do us greater service.
—The Dhammapada (Buddhist Anthology of Verses)

As the sun is best seen at his rising and setting, so men’s native dispositions are clearest seen when they are children, and when they are dying.
—Robert Boyle (Irish Scientist, Philosopher)

What would your good do if evil didn’t exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared?
—Mikhail Bulgakov (Russian Novelist, Dramatist)

Eagles don’t flock–you have to find them one at a time.
—Ross Perot (American Businessman)

It is sinful to even see the face of a man who does not feel his friend’s pain. Treat your own mountain-like pain as though it were a speck. Treat your friend’s speck-like pain as though it were a mountain.
—Tulsidas (Indian Hindu Poet)

When people ask for time, it’s always for time to say no. Yes has one more letter in it, but it doesn’t take half as long to say.
—Edith Wharton (American Novelist, Short-story Writer)

At 46 one must be a miser; only have time for essentials.
—Virginia Woolf (English Novelist)

Hair is another name for sex.
—Vidal Sassoon (Anglo-American Hairstylist)

I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but people. And if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not to take the power from them, but to inform them by education
—Thomas Jefferson (American Head of State)

It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry.
—Nikolai Gogol (Russian Novelist, Dramatist)

Fine feathers make fine birds.
—Aesop (Greek Fabulist)

Remember that you don’t have to like or admire someone to feel compassion for that person. All you have to do is wish for that person to be happy.
—Thanissaro Bhikkhu (American Buddhist Monk)

Leaders learn by leading, and they learn best by leading in the face of obstacles. As weather shapes mountains, problems shape leaders.
—Warren Bennis (American Management Consultant)

To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.
—Sun Tzu (Chinese Military Leader)

The ability to express an idea is well nigh as important as the idea itself.
—Bernard M. Baruch (American Financier)

All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door. The violence of revolutions is the violence of men who charge into a vacuum.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (American Economist)

Sometimes the easiest way to get something done is to be a little naive about it.
—Bill Joy (American Computer Engineer)

A man should be able to hear, and to bear, the worst that could be said of him.
—Saul Bellow (Canadian-born American Novelist)

Homesickness is… absolutely nothing. Fifty percent of the people in the world are homesick all the time… You don’t really long for another country. You long for something in yourself that you don’t have, or haven’t been able to find.
—John Cheever (American Novelist)

My main point today is that usually one gets what one expects, but very rarely in the way one expected it.
—Charles F. Richter (American Physicist, Geologist)

That’s how it is sometimes when we plunge into the depths of our lives. No one can accompany us, not even those who would give up their hearts for our happiness.
—Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Indian-born American Novelist)

In order to acquire intellect one must need it. One loses it when it is no longer necessary.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (German Philosopher, Scholar)

Humanity is not the last rung of the terrestrial creation. Evolution continues and man will be surpassed. It is for each individual to know whether he wants to participate in the advent of this new species.
—Mirra Alfassa (French-Born Indian Spiritual Guru)

All my life I believed I knew something. But then one strange day came when I realized that I knew nothing; yes, I knew nothing. And so words became void of meaning. I have arrived too late at ultimate uncertainty.
—Ezra Pound (American Poet, Critic)

Truth is best (of all that is) good. As desired, what is being desired is truth for him who (represents) the best truth.
—Zoroaster (Persian Religious Leader, Prophet)

Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lies comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, around him, and so loses all respect for himself and others.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russian Novelist)

If a man does not have an ideal and try to live up to it, then he becomes a mean, base and sordid creature, no matter how successful.
—Theodore Roosevelt (American Head of State)

Religion is the possibility of the removal of every ground of confidence except confidence in God alone.
—Karl Barth (Swiss Protestant Theologian)

We all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace.
—Pope Francis (Religious Leader)

Friendships aren’t perfect and yet they are very precious. For me, not expecting perfection all in one place was a great release.
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (American Writer)

We like someone because, we love someone in spite of.
—Swami Chinmayananda (Indian Hindu Teacher)

Be bold. If you’re going to make an error, make a doozy, and don’t be afraid to hit the ball.
—Billie Jean King (American Tennis Player)

Fools are more to be feared than the wicked.
—Christina, Queen of Sweden (Swedish Monarch)

Psychoanalysis can unravel some of the forms of madness; it remains a stranger to the sovereign enterprise of unreason. It can neither limit nor transcribe, nor most certainly explain, what is essential in this enterprise.
—Michel Foucault (French Philosopher)

Those who eat too much or eat too little, who sleep too much or sleep too little, will not succeed in meditation. But those who are temperate in eating and sleeping, work and recreation, will come to the end of sorrow through meditation.
—The Bhagavad Gita (Hindu Scripture)

Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and instead of bleeding he sings.
—Howard Gardner (American Psychologist)

It is love alone that gives worth to all things.
—Teresa of Avila (Spanish Carmelite Nun, Mystic)

The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.
—Barbara Kingsolver (American Novelist, Essayist)

Physical bravery is an animal instinct; moral bravery is a much higher and truer courage.
—Wendell Phillips (American Abolitionist)

Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.
—Andre Gide (French Novelist)

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
—Bertrand A. Russell (British Philosopher, Mathematician)

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
—Laozi (Chinese Philosopher)

You never find yourself until you face the truth.
—Pearl Bailey (American Singer, Actress)

Easy way to soften a piece of feedback or criticism: turn periods into question marks.
—Ben Casnocha (American Entrepreneur, Investor)

For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.
—Lily Tomlin (American Comedy Actress)

Always fall in with what you’re asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever’s going. Not against: with.
—Robert Frost (American Poet)

The only thing new in this world is the history that you don’t know
—Harry S. Truman (American Head of State)