I’m carrying on a tradition. But I’d rather be a first-rate version of myself than a second-rate version of somebody else. I’m proud of my parents, and the only way that I can prove it to them is to take what they gave me and work my head off.
—Liza Minnelli (American Singer, Actress)
Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.
—Maya Angelou (American Poet)
Be glad of life because it gives you to chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (American Author, Educator, Clergyman)
Individualism is cherished because it produces freedom, but the gift is conditional.
—Garrett Hardin (American Ecologist)
The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men.
—Alice Walker (American Novelist, Activist)
Prejudice renders a man’s virtue his habit, and not a series of unconnected acts. Through just prejudice, his duty becomes a part of his nature.
—Edmund Burke (British Philosopher, Statesman)
History has now been for the first time systematically considered, and has been found, like other phenomena, subject to invariable laws.
—Auguste Comte (French Philosopher)
When crisis hits, we don’t turn against each other. No, we listen to each other, we lean on each other, because we are always stronger together.
—Michelle Obama (American First Lady)
It’s very, very hard to affect culture. And you can get surprised thinking you’re farther down the path of change than you really are because, frankly, most of us like the way things are.
—Carol Bartz (American Businesswoman)
You need people who can walk their companies into the future rather than back them into the future.
—Warren Bennis (American Management Consultant)
The story of a man’s soul, however trivial, can be more interesting and instructive than the story of a whole nation.
—Mikhail Lermontov (Russian Novelist, Poet)