It is God who is the ultimate reason of things, and the knowledge of God is no less the beginning of science than his essence and will are the beginning of beings.
—Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (German Philosopher, Mathematician)
The angel of the Family is Woman. Mother, wife, or sister, Woman is the caress of life, the soothing sweetness of affection shed over its toils, a reflection for the individual of the loving providence which watches over Humanity. In her there is treasure enough of consoling tenderness to allay every pain. Moreover for every one of us she is the initiator of the future. The mother’s first kiss teaches the child love; the first holy kiss of the woman he loves teaches man hope and faith in life; and love and faith create a desire for perfection and the power of reaching towards it step by step; create the future, in short, of which the living symbol is the child, link between us and the generations to come. Through her the Family, with its divine mystery of reproduction, points to Eternity.
—Giuseppe Mazzini (Italian Revolutionary)
A style is not a matter of camera angles or fancy footwork, it’s an expression, an accurate expression of your particular opinion.
—Karel Reisz (Czech-British Film Director)
There are two kinds of writers—the great ones who can give you truths, and the lesser ones, who can only give you themselves.
—Clifton Fadiman (American Intellectual)
Great men are rarely isolated mountain-peaks; they are the summits of ranges.
—Thomas Wentworth Higginson (American Reformer, Editor)
The best armor of old age is a well-spent life preceding it.
—Charlie Munger (American Investor, Philanthropist)
Man can never escape pleasure or pain, because his body, which is a product of his good or bad actions, is by nature transient. After pleasure pain, after pain pleasure: creatures cannot escape these two, as they cannot the succession of day and night….It is, therefore, that the Sages knowing that all is but illusion, remain steadfast and neither are aggrieved nor joyous for events unhappy or happy.
—Adhyatma Ramayana (Hindu Religious Text)
An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.
—John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (Scottish Novelist)
The only criterion for what is a fact is what it is rational to accept.
—Hilary Putnam (American Philosopher)
Steady as a clock, busy as a bee, and cheerful as a cricket.
—Martha Washington (American First Lady)
Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.
—Jack Canfield (American Self-Help Author)