Right Attitudes

The torment that so many young women know, bound hand and foot by love and motherhood, without having forgotten their former dreams.
—Simone de Beauvoir (French Philosopher)

There are so many little dyings that it doesn’t matter which of them is death.
—Kenneth Patchen (American Poet, Novelist)

He, therefore, who desires peace should prepare for war. He who aspires to victory should spare no pains to form his soldiers. And he who hopes for success should fight on principle, not chance.
—Vegetius (Roman Military Author)

God’s extraordinary work is most often done by ordinary people in the seeming obscurity of a home and family.
—Neal A. Maxwell (American Mormon Religious Leader)

A good reputation is more valuable than money.
—Publilius Syrus (Syrian-born Latin Writer)

God always has an angel of help for those who are willing to do their duty.
—Theodore L. Cuyler (American Presbyterian Clergyman)

The narrative impulse is always with us; we couldn’t imagine ourselves through a day without it.
—Robert K. Cooper (American Neuroscientist)

Now different races and nationalities cherish different ideals of society that stink in each other’s nostrils with an offensiveness beyond the power of any but the most monstrous private deed.
—Rebecca West (English Author)

The paradox of reality is that no image is as compelling as the one which exists only in the mind’s eye.
—Shana Alexander (American Journalist)

Art is not for the cultivated taste. It is to cultivate a taste.
—Nikki Giovanni (American Poet, Writer)

He gives us the very quintessence of perception.
—James Russell Lowell (American Poet, Critic)

Accept yourself as you are. Otherwise you will never see opportunity. You will not feel free to move toward it; you will feel you are not deserving.
—Maxwell Maltz (American Surgeon)

To be right with God has often meant to be in trouble with men.
—A. W. Tozer (American Christian Pastor)

The happy man is he who knows his limitations, yet bows to no false gods.
—Robert W. Service (Scottish Poet)

You must have a high concept not of what you are doing, but of what you may do someday. Without that there’s no point to working.
—Edgar Degas (French Painter)

Illusion is always based on reality, for its strength depends upon its fit with the desires, fears and experiences of countless humans.
—Dero A. Saunders (American Journalist)

Love… Force it and it disappears. You cannot will love, nor even control it. You can only guide its expression. It comes or it goes according to those qualities in life that invite it or deny its presence.
—David Seabury (American Psychologist)

Scientists are treated like gods handing down new commandments. People tend to assume that religion has been disproved by science. But the scientist may tell us how the world works, not why it works, not how we should live our lives, not how we face death or make moral decisions.
—Susan Howatch (British Historical Novelist)

If the spirit of business adventure is dulled, this country will cease to hold the foremost position in the world.
—Andrew W. Mellon (American Financier)

Forgiving those who hurt us is the key to personal peace.
—Ulysses G. Weatherly (American Sociologist, Educator)

There is nothing impossible to him who will try.
—Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) (Roman Statesman, Poet)

The humanities of business in this age have become more important than the techniques of business. Each business and industry has to sweep the public misunderstandings and the false notions off its own front walk. Thus will a pathway be cleared for popular appreciation of the important rule of business in our freedom and in our way of life.
—Harry Amos Bullis (American Business Leader)

There’s cost and benefit each time you criticize or suggest. Sometimes, it’s worth the price. Make the choice consciously.
—Marty Nemko (American Career Coach)

Those who cling to life die, and those who defy death live.
—Uesugi Kenshin (Japanese Warlord, Daimyo)

The easiest kind of relationship is with ten thousand people, the hardest is with one.
—Joan Baez (American Singer)

Worry is like a rocking chair: it keeps you moving but doesn’t get you anywhere.
—Corrie Ten Boom (Dutch Jewish Humanist)

You can fake your age or mask it, but the passion that moves the characters has to be real.
—Victoria Abril (Spanish Actress, Singer)

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.
—Pope John XXIII (Italian Catholic Religious Leader)

Finding the center of strength within ourselves is in the long run the best contribution we can make to our fellow men.
—Rollo May (American Philosopher)

We need the courage to start and continue what we should do, and courage to stop what we shouldn’t do.
—Richard L. Evans (American Mormon Religions Leader)

The person who builds a character makes foes.
—Owen D. Young (American Businessperson)

Thy modesty’s a candle to thy merit.
—Henry Fielding (English Novelist)

Nature will not forgive those who fail to fulfill the law of their being. The law of human beings is wisdom and goodness, not unlimited acquisition.
—Robert Maynard Hutchins (American Educator)

Patience has its limits, take it too far and it’s cowardice.
—Holbrook Jackson (British Journalist)

All crosses are easier to carry when we keep moving.
—Neal A. Maxwell (American Mormon Religious Leader)

Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
—Rene Descartes (French Mathematician, Philosopher)