Right Attitudes

Soft data, hard conflicts.
—Gerhard Kocher (Swiss Publicist, Health Economist, Aphorist)

Of fortune’s sharp adversity, the worst kind of misfortune is this, that a man hath been in prosperity and it remembers when it passed is.
—Geoffrey Chaucer (English Poet)

A pleasant comedy, which paints the manners of the age, and exposes a faithful picture of nature, is a durable work, and is transmitted to the latest posterity. But a system, whether physical or metaphysical, commonly owes its success to its novelty; and is no sooner canvassed with impartiality than its weakness is discovered.
—David Hume (Scottish Philosopher, Historian)

Let not thy table exceed the fourth part of thy revenue: let thy provision be solid, and not far fetched, fuller of substance than art: be wisely frugal in thy preparation, and freely cheerful in thy entertainment: if thy guests be right, it is enough; if not, it is too much: too much is a vanity; enough is a feast.
—Francis Quarles (English Religious Poet)

That which we are we are all the while teaching, not voluntarily, but involuntarily.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Philosopher)

Ah just act the way ah feel.
—Elvis Presley (American Musician)

You cannot make a windmill go with a pair of bellows.
—George Herbert (Welsh Anglican Poet)

What is uttered is finished and done with.
—Thomas Mann (German Novelist)

Will localizes us; thought universalizes us.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (Swiss Philosopher, Writer)

A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. Having been alive, it won’t be so hard in the end to lie down and rest.
—Pearl Bailey (American Singer, Actress)

Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers and are famous preservers of youthful looks.
—Charles Dickens (English Novelist)

Parenthood remains the greatest single preserve of the amateur.
—Alvin Toffler (American Writer, Futurist)

A person can achieve everything by being simple and humble.
—The Vedas (Sacred Books of Hinduism)

We would rather have one man or woman working with us than three merely working for us.
—Frank Winfield Woolworth (American Retail Pioneer)

It may make a difference to all eternity whether we do right or wrong today.
—James Freeman Clarke (American Clergyman)

In many instances, marriage vows would be more accurate if the phrase were changed to ‘Until debt do us part’.
—Sam Ewing (American Writer)

The important thing is to concentrate upon what you can do—by yourself, upon your own initiative.
—Harry Browne (American Author, Economist)

The important thing to recognize is that it takes a team, and the team ought to get credit for the wins and the losses. Successes have many fathers, failures have none.
—Philip Caldwell (American Businessperson)

The weakness of ourselves and of our reason makes us see flaws in beauties by making us consider everything piece by piece.
—Johann Georg Hamann (German Philosopher)

Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.
—Plato (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.
—Bertolt Brecht (German Poet)

If human progress had been merely a matter of leadership we should be in Utopia today.
—Thomas Brackett Reed (American Politician)

Time is short—your obligations are infinite.—Are your houses regulated, your children instructed, the afflicted relieved, the poor visited, the work of piety accomplished?
—Jean Baptiste Massillon (French Bishop)

Never trust a man who speaks well of everybody.
—John Churton Collins (British Literary Critic)

Better a thousand enemies outside the house than one inside.
—Arabic Proverb

Being a woman is a terribly difficult trade since it consists principally of dealings with men.
—Joseph Conrad (Polish-born British Novelist)

There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.
—Denis Waitley (American Motivational Speaker)

There is a canyon of difference between doing your best to glorify God and doing whatever it takes to glorify yourself. The quest for excellence is a mark of maturity. The quest for power is childish.
—Max Lucado (American Author, Minister)

Do not remove a fly from your friend’s forehead with a hatchet.
—Chinese Proverb

Fear of failure must never be a reason not to try something.
—Frederick W. Smith (American Entrepreneur)

It is best to do things systematically, since we are only humans, and disorder is our worst enemy.
—Hesiod (Greek Poet)

That charity which longs to publish itself, ceases to be charity.
—Ulrich von Hutten (German Humanist, Reformer)

Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.
—E. L. Doctorow (American Novelist)

There is nothing to which men cling more tenaciously than the privileges of class.
—Leonard Woolf (British Political Theorist)