Faith, and belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.
—Ambrose Bierce (American Journalist, Author)
Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress. When you’re pissed off at someone and you’re angry at them, you just haven’t given them enough time. Just give them a little more time and they almost always will impress you.
—Randy Pausch (American Computer Scientist)
You try very hard to make up for something that was never your fault,” I suggested while a new kind of tugging started at the edges of my skin. “What I mean is, it’s not like you asked for this. You didn’t choose this kind of life, and yet you have to work so hard to be good.
—Stephenie Meyer (American Novelist)
Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces together.
—Ray Bradbury (American Science-Fiction Writer)
Man, mind yourself is the first commandment.
—James Hogg (Scottish poet)
Even a small star shines in the darkness.
—Finnish Proverb
Honesty is never seen sitting astride the fence.
—Lemuel K. Washburn (American Freethought Writer)
To be unconditionally present with our experience is the simplest thing we could possibly do. It means being present to what is, without relying on any view or concept about it. What could be simpler than that? And yet what could be more difficult?
—John Welwood (American Psychologist)
I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.
—Winston Churchill (British Head of State)
Decisive inventions and discoveries always are initiated by an intellectual or moral stimulus as their actual motivating force, but, usually, the final impetus to human action is given by material impulses … merchants stood as a driving force behind the heroes of the age of discovery; this first heroic impulse to conquer the world emanated from very mortal forces.
—Stefan Zweig (British Novelist, Journalist, Biographer)
Man needs more to be reminded than instructed.
—Samuel Johnson (British Essayist)
Freedom is an indivisible word. If we want to enjoy it, and fight for it, we must be prepared to extend it to everyone, whether they are rich or poor, whether they agree with us or not, no matter what their race or the color of their skin.
—Wendell Willkie (American Politician)
It has been said that idleness is the parent of mischief—which is very true; but mischief itself is merely an attempt to escape from the dreary vacuum of idleness.
—George Borrow (English Writer, Traveler)