Right Attitudes

All of us have so much more time than we use well. How many hours in a life are spent in a way of which one might be proud, looking back?
—Walter Kaufmann (German-American Philosopher)

Paradise is surrounded by what we dislike; the fires of hell are surrounded by what we desire.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (Persian Muslim Mystic)

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (Austrian Novelist)

True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason.
—Alfred North Whitehead (English Mathematician, Philosopher)

God loveth a cheerful giver.
—The Holy Bible (Scripture in the Christian Faith)

Decision is the spark that ignites action. Until a decision is made, nothing happens…. Decision is the courageous facing of issues, knowing that if they are not faced, problems will remain forever unanswered.
—Wilferd Arlan Peterson (American Author)

Trust, but verify.
—Russian Proverb

Learning is wealth to the poor, an honor to the rich, an aid to the young, and a support and comfort to the aged.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (Swiss Theologian, Poet)

The moment of near despair is quite often the moment that precedes courage.
—Christopher Hitchens (Anglo-American Social Critic)

Words are a wonderful form of communication, but they will never replace kisses and punches.
—Ashleigh Brilliant (British Cartoonist)

Nothing is so beautiful as spring—when weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush; Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring the ear, it strikes like lightning to hear him sing.
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (English Poet)

I think that one should recognize reality even when one doesn’t like it; indeed, especially when one doesn’t like it.
—Charlie Munger (American Investor, Philanthropist)

Intuition becomes increasingly valuable in the new information society precisely because there is so much data.
—John Naisbitt (American Trend Analyst)

God was invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand.
—Richard Feynman (American Physicist)

How prudently most men creep into nameless graves, while now and then one or two forget themselves into immortality.
—Wendell Phillips (American Abolitionist)

The course of true love never did run smooth.
—William Shakespeare (British Playwright)

People who make no mistakes lack boldness and the spirit of adventure. They are the brakes on the wheels of progress.
—Dale Turner (American Congregational Priest)

Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.
—Anton Chekhov (Russian Short Story Writer)

Happy people are ignoramuses and glory is nothing else but success, and to achieve it one only has to be cunning.
—Mikhail Lermontov (Russian Novelist, Poet)

All achievement, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea!
—Napoleon Hill (American Author)

Heaven and God are best discerned through tears; scarcely perhaps are discerned at all without them. The constant association of prayer with the hour of bereavement and the scenes of death suffice to show this.
—James Martineau (English Unitarian Theologian)

The wisdom of one generation will be the folly of the next, and yet we persist in making preceding generations dictate to the succeeding ones.
—Joseph Priestley (English Clergyman, Scientist)

The fool thinks himself alone and commits sin. But I know of no lonely place at all… . Of a bad action my “Self” is a witness far more sharp-sighted than any other person.
—The Jataka Tales (Genre of Buddhist Literature)

Everything is evil. I mean, everything that is, is wicked; every existing thing is an evil; everything exists for a wicked end. Existence is a wickedness and is ordained for wickedness. Evil is the end, the final purpose, of the universe…The only good is nonbeing; the only really good thing is the thing that is not, things that are not things; all things are bad.
—Giacomo Leopardi (Italian Poet)

Unrest of the spirit is a mark of life; one problem after another presents itself and in the solving of them we can find our greatest pleasure.
—Karl Menninger (American Psychiatrist)

Truth is the breath of life to human society. It is the food of the immortal spirit. Yet a single word of it may kill a man as suddenly as a drop of prussic acid.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (American Physician, Essayist)

Care not for time and success. Act out thy part, whether it be to fail or to prosper.
—Sri Aurobindo (Indian Mystic, Philosopher, Poet)

Inspiration never arrived when you were searching for it.
—Lisa Alther (American Novelist)

The writer does the most good who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time.
—Sydney Smith (English Preacher)

Listen, my friend! Your helplessness is your best prayer. It calls from your heart to the heart of God with greater effect than all your uttered pleas. He hears it from the very moment that you are seized with helplessness, and He becomes actively engaged at once in hearing and answering the prayer of your helplessness.
—Ole Hallesby (Norwegian Theologian)

Think of yourself as an incandescent power, illuminated and perhaps forever talked to by God and his messengers.
—Brenda Ueland (American Journalist Memoirist)

If there were dreams to sell, what would you buy?
—Thomas Lovell Beddoes (English Poet)

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

Long absent, soon forgotten.
—Common Proverb

Life is made up, not of great sacrifices or duties, but of little things, in which smiles and kindness and small obligations, given habitually, are what win and preserve the heart and secure comfort.
—Humphry Davy (British Chemist)

Attention is the most basic form of love. By paying attention we let ourselves be touched by life, and our hearts naturally become more open and engaged.
—Tara Brach (American Psychologist, Author)

One golden day redeems a weary year.
—Celia Thaxter (American Poet)

Tyranny cannot defeat the power of ideas.
—Helen Keller (American Author)

In many lines of work, it isn’t how much you do that counts, but how much you do well and how often you decide right.
—William Feather (American Author, Publisher)

Where slavery is, there liberty cannot be; and where liberty is, there slavery cannot be.
—Charles Sumner (American Statesman)

We are all failures—at least, the best of us are.
—J. M. Barrie (Scottish Novelist)