Archives for October 2013

Autobiography is probably the most respectable form of lying.
—Humphrey Carpenter (English Children’s Books Writer)

Doubt is part of all religion. All the religious thinkers were doubters.
—Isaac Bashevis Singer (Polish-born American Children’s Books Writer)

Youth is the time of getting, middle age of improving, and old age of spending.
—Anne Bradstreet (English Poet)

The superior man is the providence of the inferior. He is eyes for the blind, strength for the weak, and a shield for the defenseless. He stands erect by bending above the fallen. He rises by lifting others.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (American Atheist Politician)

If a man for whatever reason has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.
—Jacques Cousteau (French Military Leader)

The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellow-men.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (American Atheist Politician)

We term sleep a death by which we may be literally said to die daily; in fine, so like death, I dare not trust it without my prayers.
—Thomas Browne (English Christian Author)

Everything is a gift of the universe—even joy, anger, jealously, frustration, or separateness. Everything is perfect either for our growth or our enjoyment.
—Ken Keyes, Jr. (American Motivational Speaker)

If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.
—Toni Morrison (American Novelist)

Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.
—Voltaire (French Philosopher)

Humanity is the virtue of a woman, generosity that of a man.
—George Goodman (American Economist)

Difficult times always create opportunities for you to experience more love in your life.
—Barbara De Angelis (American Lecturer)

The absence of the will to live is, alas, not sufficient to make one want to die.
—Michel Houellebecq (French Novelist)

It is better to create than to be learned; creating is the true essence of life.
—Barthold G. Niebuhr

The firefly only shines when on the wing; so it is with the mind; when we rest we darken.
—Gamaliel Bailey

There are three wants which can never be satisfied: that of the rich, who want something more; that of the sick, who want something different; and that of the traveler, who says, “Anywhere but here”.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Philosopher)

A man’s accomplishments in life are the cumulative effect of his attention to detail.
—John Foster Dulles (American Lawyer)

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts about reality.
—Theodore Roosevelt (American Head of State)

What keeps you going isn’t some fine destination but just the road you’re on, and the fact that you know how to drive.
—Barbara Kingsolver (American Novelist)

There is nothing that war has ever achieved we could not better achieve without it.
—Havelock Ellis (British Sexologist)

No matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto.
—W. Clement Stone (American Businessperson)

Nothing that was worthy in the past departs; no truth or goodness realized by man ever dies, or can die.
—Thomas Carlyle (Scottish Writer)

People who postpone happiness are like children who try chasing rainbows in an effort to find the pot of gold at the rainbow’s end… Your life will never be fulfilled until you are happy here and now.
—Ken Keyes, Jr. (American Motivational Speaker)

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do. That is character.
—Theodore Roosevelt (American Head of State)

Revenge is always the weak pleasure of a little and narrow mind.
—Juvenal (Roman Poet)

Conversation means being able to disagree and still continue the discussion.
—Dwight Macdonald (American Film Critic)

The most dangerous thing in the world is to try to leap a chasm in two jumps.
—David Lloyd George (British Head of State)

In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous.
—Robert G. Ingersoll (American Atheist Politician)

If you could understand a single grain of wheat, you would die of wonder.
—Martin Luther (German Protestant Theologian)

Truth is never to be expected from authors whose understanding is warped with enthusiasm.
—John Dryden (English Poet)