The memories of long love gather like drifting snow, poignant as the mandarin ducks who float side by side in sleep.
—Murasaki Shikibu (Japanese Diarist, Novelist)
The test of all beliefs is their practical effect in life. If it be true that optimism compels the world forward, and pessimism retards it, then it is dangerous to propagate a pessimistic philosophy.
—Helen Keller (American Author)
Each of us, face to face with other men, is clothed with some sort of dignity, but we know only too well all the unspeakable things that go on in the heart.
—Luigi Pirandello (Italian Dramatist)
A rolling stone can gather no moss.
—Publilius Syrus (Syrian-born Latin Writer)
No matter how complicated a problem is, it usually can be reduced to a simple, comprehensible form which is often the best solution.
—An Wang (Chinese-born American Engineer)
Now is now. It can never be a long time ago.
—Laura Ingalls Wilder (American Author of Children’s Novels)
Better remain silent, better not even think, if you are not prepared to act.
—Annie Besant (British-born Indian Theosophist)
Do not give way to useless alarm; though it is right to be prepared for the worst, there is no occasion to look on it as certain.
—Jane Austen (English Novelist)
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
—G. K. Chesterton (English Journalist)
Sympathy is never wasted except when you give it to yourself.
—John W. Raper (American Journalist, Aphorist)
As long as I am back in my military life for a second, I should like to observe one thing about leadership that one of the great has said—Napoleon. He said, the great leader, the genius in leadership, is the man who can do the average thing when everybody else is going crazy.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (American Head of State)
May we agree that private life is irrelevant? Multiple, mixed, ambiguous at best—out of it we try to fashion the crystal clear, the singular, the absolute, and that is what is relevant; that is what matters.
—May Sarton (American Children’s Books Writer)
The water drop playing on a lotus petal has an extremely uncertain existence; so also is life ever unstable. Understand, the very world is consumed by disease and conceit, and is riddled with pangs.
—Adi Shankaracharya (Indian Hindu Philosopher)
The nice thing about egotists is that they don’t talk about other people.
—Lucille S. Harper (American Freelance Writer)
There’s a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker.
—Charles M. Schulz (American Cartoonist)
Without moral and intellectual independence, there is no anchor for national independence.
—David Ben-Gurion (Russian-born Israeli Head of State)
Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance. Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor vexation. Where there is poverty and joy, there is neither greed nor avarice. Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt.
—Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian Monk)