Love is generally confused with dependence; but in point of fact, you can love only in proportion to your capacity for independence.
—Rollo May (1909–94) American Philosopher
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
—Unknown
If you don’t know how to die, don’t worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately. She will do this job perfectly for you; don’t bother your head about it.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
I’m not a big believer in long-term planning and far-off goals. In fact, I generally set 3-month and 6-month dreamlines. The variables change too much and in-the-future distance becomes an excuse for postponing action.
—Tim Ferriss (b.1977) American Self-help Author
Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense.
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) British Novelist, Playwright, Critic
Each man has his own vocation. The talent is the call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him. He has faculties silently inviting him thither to endless exertion. He is like a ship in a river; he runs against obstructions on every side but one; on that side all obstruction is taken away, and he sweeps serenely over a deepening channel into an infinite sea. This talent and this call depend on his organization, or the mode in which the general soul incarnates itself in him. He inclines to do something which is easy to him, and good when it is done, but which no other man can do. He has no rival. For the more truly he consults his own powers, the more difference will his work exhibit from the work of any other. His ambition is exactly proportioned to his powers. The height of the pinnacle is determined by the breadth of the base. Every man has this call of the power to do somewhat unique, and no man has any other call. The pretence that he has another call, a summons by name and personal election and outward “signs that mark him extraordinary, and not in the roll of common men,” is fanaticism, and betrays obtuseness to perceive that there is one mind in all the individuals, and no respect of persons therein.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Most things which are urgent are not important, and most things which are important are not urgent.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
I would like to explain the meaning of compassion, which is often misunderstood. Genuine compassion is based not on our own projections and expectations, but rather on the rights of the other: irrespective of whether another person is a close friend or an enemy, as long as that person wishes for peace and happiness and wishes to overcome suffering, then on that basis we develop genuine concern for his or her problem. This is genuine compassion. Usually when we are concerned about a close friend, we call this compassion. This is not compassion; it is attachment. Even in marriage, those marriages that last only a short time do so because of attachment—although it is generally present—but because there is also compassion. Marriages that last only a short time do so because of a lack of compassion; there is only emotional attachment based on projection and expectation. When the only bond between close friends is attachment, then even a minor issue may cause one’s projections to change. As soon as our projections change, the attachment disappears—because that attachment was based solely on projection and expectation. It is possible to have compassion without attachment—and similarly, to have anger without hatred. Therefore we need to clarify the distinctions between compassion and attachment, and between anger and hatred. Such clarity is useful in our daily life and in our efforts towards world peace. I consider these to be basic spiritual values for the happiness of all human beings, regardless of whether one is a believer or a nonbeliever.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader, Civil Rights Leader, Philosopher, Author
Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.
—Alfred A. Montapert (1906–97) American Engineer, Philosopher
An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.
—Friedrich Engels (1820–95) German Socialist Political Philosopher
The Universe is one great kindergarten for man. Everything that exists has brought with it its own peculiar lesson. The mountain teaches stability and grandeur; the ocean immensity and change. Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes, – every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man. Even the bee and ant have brought their little lessons of industry and economy.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
If you’re going through hell, keep going.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another, without helping himself.
—Gamaliel Bailey (1807–59) American Journalist
How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined! As you simplify your life, the laws of the Universe will be simpler, solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him with the words, ‘And this, too, shall pass away.’ How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
When our memories outweigh our dreams, we have grown old.
—Bill Clinton (b.1946) American Head of State, Lawyer, Public Speaker
Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Within each of us lies the power of our consent to health and sickness, to riches and poverty, to freedom and to slavery. It is we who control these, and not another.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
It is because we don’t know who we are, because we are unaware that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us, that we behave in the generally silly, the often insane, the sometimes criminal ways that are so characteristically human. We are saved, we are liberated and enlightened, by perceiving the hitherto unperceived good that is already within us, by returning to our eternal ground and remaining where, without knowing it, we have always been.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.
—James Cash Penney (1875–1971) American Entrepreneur
There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.
—Douglas Hugh Everett (1916–2002) British Physical Chemist, Academic
The superior man is modest in his speech but exceeds in his actions.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
The only way around is through.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
The state of your life is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
The journey is the reward.
—Chinese Proverb
There is no use trying, said Alice, “one can’t believe impossible things”. “I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (1832–98) British Anglican Author, Mathematician, Clergyman, Photographer, Logician
To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.
—Deepak Chopra (b.1946) Indian-born American Physician, Public Speaker, Writer
Some men see things as they are and say, “Why?” I dream things that never were, and say, “Why not?”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Picasso’s mother held great ambitions for him when he was a child. She instructed him: If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general. If you become a monk, you’ll end up as Pope”. Instead,” Picasso quipped, “I became a painter and became a Picasso”.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.
—Indian Proverb
Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Most people would rather die than think, in fact, most do.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
The challenge is not to manage time, but to manage ourselves.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Always listen to the experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done and why. Then do it.
—Robert A. Heinlein (1907–88) American Science Fiction Writer
The first of all qualities of a general is courage.
—David McCullough (b.1933) American Historian
We live in deeds, not years:
In thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.
—Bert Williams (1876–1922) American Entertainer, Actor
Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such speed. It feels an impulsion … this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond the horizons.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
We have ancient habits to deal with, vast structures of power, indescribably complicated problems to solve. But unless we abdicate our humanity altogether and succumb to fear and impotence in the presence of the weapons we have ourselves created, it is as possible and as urgent to put an end to war and violence between nations as it is to put an end to poverty and racial injustice.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman