Right Attitudes

God’s holiness is not just a moral category; it is the very essence of His ‘otherness.’ To understand the Law is to understand how a holy God can dwell among an unholy people.
—James Edward Smith (English Botanist)

Those who have employed the study of history, as they ought, for their instruction, for the regulation of their private manners, and the management of public affairs, must agree with me that it is the most pleasant school of wisdom.
—John Dryden (English Poet)

I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.
—Pablo Picasso (Spanish Painter)

The men of the past had convictions, while we moderns have only opinions.
—Heinrich Heine (German Poet, Writer)

It is a very fine thing to have an open mind. But it is a fine thing only if you have the ability to make a decision after considering all sides of a question.
—James Edward Smith (English Botanist)

Speaking much is a sign of vanity, for he that is lavish in words is a niggard in deed.
—Walter Raleigh (English Explorer, Courtier)

Never retract, never explain, never apologize; get things done and let them howl.
—Nellie McClung (Canadian Suffragist, Author)

Biblical wisdom is not the pursuit of high intelligence, but the application of God’s truth to the ‘nitty-gritty’ of daily existence.
—James Edward Smith (English Botanist)

Humor does not diminish the pain – it makes the space around it get bigger.
—Allen Klein (American Author)

The worse you’re performing, the more you must work mentally and emotionally. The greatest and toughest art in golf is “playing badly well.” All the true greats have been masters at it.
—Jack Nicklaus (American Sportsperson)

Truth does not become more true by virtue of the fact that the entire world agrees with it, nor less so even if the whole world disagrees with it.
—Moses Maimonides (Jewish Philosopher, Rabbinic Scholar)

That is the saving grace of humor, if you fail no one is laughing at you.
—A. Whitney Brown (American Comedian)

War is nothing but the continuation of politics with the admixture of other means.
—Carl von Clausewitz (Prussian General)

A man who trims himself to suit everybody will soon whittle himself away.
—Charles M. Schwab (American Businessperson)

You can always tell when a man is a great way from God—when he is always talking about himself, how good he is.
—Dwight L. Moody (Christian Religious Leader)

We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems.
—John W. Gardner (American Activist)

In the herb of the field, as well as in the stars of heaven, the finger of God is clearly to be traced.
—James Edward Smith (English Botanist)

Too often new ideas are studied and analyzed until they are suffocated.
—C. William Pollard (American Businessman, Author)

When we are dealing with death we are constantly being dragged down by the event: Humor diverts our attention and lifts our sagging spirits.
—Allen Klein (American Author)

Hunger makes a thief of any man.
—Pearl S. Buck (American Novelist)

Who would not give a trifle to prevent what he would give a thousand worlds to cure?
—Edward Young (English Poet)

The really great novel tends to be the exact negative of its author’s life.
—Andre Maurois (French Novelist, Biographer)

I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an “Honest Man.”
—George Washington (American Head of State)

When the flatterer pipes, then the devil dances.
—Thomas Fuller (English Cleric, Historian)

To fail is a natural consequence of trying, To succeed takes time and prolonged effort in the face of unfriendly odds. To think it will be any other way, no matter what you do, is to invite yourself to be hurt and to limit your enthusiasm for trying again.
—David Viscott (American Psychiatrist, Author)

The one word that makes a good manager—decisiveness.
—Lee Iacocca (American Businessperson)

The best teacher one can have is necessity.
—Francois de La Noue (French Huguenot)

Every theory of love, from Plato down teaches that each individual loves in the other sex what he lacks in himself.
—G. Stanley Hall (American Psychologist)

Art is so wonderfully irrational, exuberantly pointless, but necessary all the same. Pointless and yet necessary, that’s hard for a puritan to understand.
—Gunter Grass (German Novelist, Poet)

If you don’t have a dream, how are you going to make a dream come true?
—Walt Disney (American Entrepreneur)

There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties or you alter yourself meeting them.
—Phyllis Bottome (British Novelist)

Opportunity rarely knocks until you are ready. And few people have ever been really ready without receiving opportunity’s call.
—Channing Pollock (American Playwright, Critic)

In a narrow circle the mind grows narrow. The more one expands, the larger their aims.
—Friedrich Schiller (German Poet)

Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.
—H. L. Mencken (American Journalist, Literary Critic)

Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulse. There lies freedom, indeed.
—George MacDonald (Scottish Poet, Novelist)

Fame is the inheritance not of the dead, but of the living. It is we who look back with lofty pride to the great names of antiquity.
—William Hazlitt (English Essayist)

A pessimist is one who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.
—Oscar Wilde (Irish Poet, Playwright)

Where you see valid achievements or virtue being attacked, it’s by someone viewing them as a mirror of their own inadequacy instead of an inspiring beacon for excellence.
—Vanna Bonta (American Writer)

Man dies of cold, not of darkness.
—Miguel de Unamuno (Spanish Philosopher, Writer)