Archives for August 2009

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
—Henry Kissinger (American Diplomat)

As you see yourself, I once saw myself; as you see me now, you will be seen.
—Mexican Proverb

The criterion of true beauty is that it increases on examination; if false, that it lessens. There is therefore, something in true beauty that corresponds with right reason, and is not the mere creation of fancy.
—George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick

For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.
—Ivan Panin

A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve.
—Joseph Joubert (French Essayist)

The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.
—Oprah Winfrey (American TV Personality)

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes the ice melt, kindness causes misunderstandings, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.
—Albert Schweitzer (French Theologian)

Even as a great fish swims along the two banks of a river, first along the eastern bank and then the western bank, in the same way the Spirit of man moves along beside his two dwellings: this waking world and the land of sleep and dreams.
—The Upanishads

Death is as sure for that which is born, as birth is for that which is dead. Therefore grieve not for what is inevitable.
—The Bhagavad Gita (Hindu Scripture)

I hear the words, the thoughts, the feeling tones, the personal meaning, even the meaning that is below the conscious intent of the speaker. Sometimes too, in a message which superficially is not very important, I hear a deep human cry that lies buried and unknown far below the surface of the person. So I have learned to ask myself, can I hear the sounds and sense the shape of this other person’s inner world? Can I resonate to what he is saying so deeply that I sense the meanings he is afraid of, yet would like to communicate, as well as those he knows?
—Carl Rogers (American Psychologist)

Faults become thick where love is thin.
—English Proverb

The ultimate function of prophecy is not to tell the future, but to make it. Your successful past will block your visions of the future.
—Joel A. Barker

The world is governed by opinion.
—William Ellery Channing

Life is a lying dream, he only wakes who casts the World aside.
—Zeami Motokiyo (Japanese Playwright)

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious—the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

When all think alike, then no one is thinking.
—Walter Lippmann (American Journalist)

Confidence is attractive, but vulnerability is disarming.
—Derek Sivers (American Entrepreneur)

Light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it beautiful.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Philosopher)

For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Philosopher)

A wise man should keep far away from an unpleasant person, from injuring others, from other’s views, from unrighteous conduct and from untruth.
—Subhashita Manjari

Strength is the sign of vigor, the sign of life, the sign of hope, the sign of health, and the sign of everything that is good. As long as the body lives, there must be strength in the body, strength in the mind, strength in the hand.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic)

The power of God is with you at all times; through the activities of mind, senses, breathing, and emotions; and is constantly doing all the work using you as a mere instrument.
—The Bhagavad Gita (Hindu Scripture)

Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen.
—Robert Bresson

You do not destroy an idea by killing people;
you replace it with a better one.
— Edward Keating

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
— Bertrand A. Russell

A friend is a gift you give yourself.
— Robert Louis Stevenson

Under all speech that is good for anything there lies a silence that is better, Silence is deep as Eternity; Speech is shallow as Time.
— Thomas Carlyle

Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man
does what he ought to do in circumstances confronting him.
— Thomas Aquinas

The most effective way to ensure the value of the future
is to confront the present courageously and constructively.
— Rollo May

A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks almost instantly.
— Bits and Pieces

We all agree that your theory is crazy, but is it crazy enough?
— Niels Bohr

All great discoveries are made by people whose feelings run ahead of their thinking.
— Charles Henry Parkhurst

You can pretend to be serious; you can’t pretend to be witty.
— Sacha Guitry

You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
—Mark Twain (American Humorist)

Grains collected by ants, honey accumulated by bees, and wealth collected by a greedy miser, all perish along with the source.
—Subhashita Manjari

We often rebel against the strenuousness and chaos of our time. But historically it has always been in such time that man won his great inner victories.
—Unknown

It is not good enough for things to be planned – they still have to be done; for the intention to become a reality, energy has to be launched into operation.
—Vilayat Inayat Khan (British Sufi Mystic)

I don’t want any yes-men” around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their jobs.”
—Samuel Goldwyn (Polish-born American Film Producer)

Self-esteem must be earned! When you dare to dream, dare to follow that dream, dare to suffer through the pain, sacrifice, self-doubts, and friction from the world, you will genuinely impress yourself.
—Laura Schlessinger (American Children’s Books Writer)

No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess.
—Isaac Newton (English Physicist)

Talk happiness. The world is sad enough without your woe. No path is wholly rough.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox (American Poet)

All created beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim state, and unmanifest again when they are annihilated. So what need is there for lamentation?
—The Bhagavad Gita (Hindu Scripture)

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
—Jack London

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
—Khalil Gibran (Lebanese-born American Philosopher)

This body, full of faults, has yet one great quality: whatever it encounters in this temporal life depends upon one’s actions.
—Nagarjuna (Indian Buddhist Philosopher)

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.
—Andrew Carnegie (Scottish-American Industrialist, Philanthropist)

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can play weird–that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple complicated is commonplace–making the complicated simple, awesomely simple–that’s creativity.
—Charles Mingus

The abundant life does not come to those who have had a lot of obstacles removed from their path by others. It develops from within and is rooted in strong mental and moral fiber.
—William Mather Lewis

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
—Aristotle (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out.
—Russian Proverb

All that is real in me is God; all that is real in God is I. The gulf between God and me is thus bridged. Thus by knowing God, we find that the kingdom of heaven is within us.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic)

The secret to success is to know something nobody else knows.
—Aristotle Onassis (Greek Businessperson)

Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, they will never cease to be amused.
—Unknown

I think it’s generally a mistake to assume that rationality is going to be perfect even in very able people. I think hubris contributes to it.
—Charlie Munger