Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
We think in generalities, but we live in detail.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
Circumstances—what are circumstances? I make circumstances.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Isn’t it the mind that translates the outer condition into happiness and suffering?
—Matthieu Ricard (b.1946) French Buddhist Monk
To every disadvantage there is a corresponding advantage.
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
Knock the “t” off the “can’t”.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched.
—George Jean Nathan (1882–1958) American Drama Critic, Editor
As is our confidence, so is our capacity.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
If they do kill me, I shall never die another death.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Cynicism is intellectual dandyism.
—George Meredith (1828–1909) British Novelist, Poet, Critic
I am dying, but otherwise quite well.
—Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) British Poet, Literary Critic
Of course all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side of the work – the big sudden blows that come, or seem to come, from outside – the ones you remember and blame things on and, in moments of weakness, tell your friends about, don’t show their effect all at once. There is another sort of blow that comes from within – that you don’t feel until it’s too late to do anything about it, until you realize with finality that in some regard you will never be as good a man again. The first sort of breakage seems to happen quick – the second kind happens almost without your knowing it but is realized suddenly indeed. Before I go on with this short history, let me make a general observation – the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
I make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes.
—Sara Teasdale (1884–1933) American Poet
How things look on the outside of us depends on how things are on the inside of us. Stay close to the heart of nature and forget this troubled world. Remember, there is nothing wrong with nature; the trouble is in ourselves.
—Parks Cousins
The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.
—Chinese Proverb
Rosiness is not a worse windowpane than gloomy gray when viewing the world.
—Grace Paley (1922–2007) American Short-Story Writer, Political Activist
Knock the “t” off the “can’t”.
—George Reeves (1914–59) American Actor
It is never too late to be what you might have been.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
The only prison we need to escape from is the prison of our own minds.
—Unknown
Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive—it’s such an interesting world.
—Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) Canadian Novelist
This I conceive to be the chemical function of humor: to change the character of our thought.
—Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese Author, Philologist
Failure is impossible.
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American Civil Rights Leader
There are more defects in temperament than in the mind.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
There is room enough in human life to crowd almost every art and science in it. If we pass “no day without a line”—visit no place without the company of a book—we may with ease fill libraries, or empty them of their contents. The more we do, the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
He was a ‘how’ thinker, not an ‘if’ thinker.
—Unknown
We have a problem. “Congratulations.” But it’s a tough problem. “Then double congratulations.”
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
Clear your mind of ‘can’t”.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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