In wilderness is the preservation of the world.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
He, in his developed manhood, stood, a little sunburn by the glare of life.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet
Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
Trust not the world, for it never payeth what it promiseth.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
For one man is my world of all the men this wide world holds; O love, my world is you.
—Christina Rossetti (1830–94) English Poet, Hymn Writer
The world is in your hands, now use it.
—Phil Collins (b.1951) British Singer, Drummer, Songwriter
The beauties of the world are best seen by those who strive to reach them.
—Unknown
Let me enjoy the earth no less
Because the all-enacting Might
That fashioned forth its loveliness
Had other aims than my delight.
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) English Novelist, Poet
People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Once you kick the world, and the world and you will live together at a reasonably good understanding.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
The task for us now, if we are to survive, is to build the earth.
—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) French Jesuit Philosopher, Paleontologist
That one vast thought of God which we call the world.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
The world does not need tourists who ride by in a bus clucking their tongues. The world as it is needs those who will love it enough to change it, with what they have, where they are.
—Robert Fulghum (b.1937) American Unitarian Universalist Author, Essayist, Clergyman
Of the delights of this world, man cares most for sexual intercourse, yet he has left it out of his heaven.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Until you can see everything in the world as your friend, your work is not done.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
The world has to learn that the actual pleasure derived from material things is of rather low quality on the whole and less even in quantity than it looks to those who have not tried it.
—Unknown
All you have to do to change your world is change the way you think about it.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
All the world’s ends, arrangements changes, disappointments, hopes, and fears, are without meaning, if not seen and estimated by eternity!
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
The world has narrowed to a neighborhood before it has broadened to a brotherhood.
—Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73) American Head of State, Political leader
I’ve been up the mountain and I had a choice. Should I come down? So I came down. God said, “Okay, you’ve been up on the mountain, now you go down. You’re on your own, free. Check in later, but now you’re on your own.”
—Bob Dylan (b.1941) American Singer-songwriter
It takes all sorts of people to make a world.
—Douglas William Jerrold (1803–57) English Writer, Dramatist, Wit
I have run the silly rounds of pleasure, and have done with them all. I have enjoyed all the pleasures of the world, and I appraise them at their real worth, which is in truth very low; those who have only seen their outside always overrate them, but I have been behind the scenes, I have seen all the coarse pulleys and dirty ropes which move the gaudy machines, and I have seen and smelt the tallow candles which illuminate the whole decoration, to the astonishment and admiration of the ignorant audience. When I reflect on what I have seen, what I have heard, and what I have done, I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivolous hurry and bustle of pleasure in the world had any reality; but I look upon all that is passed as one of those romantic dreams which opium commonly occasions, and I do by no means desire to repeat the nauseous dose.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
The great see the world at one end by flattery, the little at the other end by neglect; the meanness which both discover is the same; but how different, alas! are the mediums through which it is seen?
—George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick (1746–1816) British Nobleman, Politician
Among true and real friends, all is common; and were ignorance and envy and superstition banished from the world, all mankind would be friend.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
Spring will still come, without you. Fruit will still be on the trees, without you. The tide will still come in, without you. If they can do without you so can I. So go back in your shell—I’ll do bloody well without you.
—Unknown
As far as I know, everyone feels fear as he or she moves forward through life. It is absolutely possible that there are some evolved souls in this world who never experience fear, but I have not met them.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of the billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living things within that enormous immensity.
—Wernher von Braun (1912–77) German-born American Engineer, Scientist
I believe that the first step in the setting of a real external world is the formation of the concept of bodily objects and of bodily objects of various kinds.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
How novel and original must be each new mans view of the universe – for though the world is so old – and so many books have been written – each object appears wholly undescribed to our experience – each field of thought wholly unexplored – the whole world is an America – a New World.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Money is a result, wealth is a result, health is a result, illness is a result, your weight is a result. We live in a world of cause and effect.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
The earth only has so much bounty to offer and inventing ever larger and more notional prices for that bounty does not change its real value.
—Ben Elton (b.1959) English Comedian, Writer
Becoming rich isn’t as much about getting rich financially as about whom you become, in character and mind, to get rich. I want to share a secret with you that few people know: the fastest way to get rich and stay rich is to work on developing you! The idea is to grow yourself into a successful person. Again, your outer world is merely a reflection of your inner world. You are the root; your results are the fruits.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
What you cannot see in the world is far more powerful than anything you can see.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
Thou must content thyself to see the world imperfect as it is. Thou wilt never have any quiet if thou vexest thyself because thou canst not bring mankind to that exact notion of things and rule of life which thou hast formed in thy own mind.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one’s self to be acquainted with it. The scholar, who in the dust of his closet talks or writes of the world, knows no more of it than that orator did of war, who endeavored to instruct Hannibal in it.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
The heavens and the earth alike speak of God, and the great natural world is but another Bible, which clasps and binds the written one; for nature and grace are one—grace the heart of the flower, and nature its surrounding petals.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
The year’s at the spring
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hillside’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn:
God’s in his heaven—
All’s right with the world!
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
The people of the world genuinely want peace. Some day the leaders of the world are going to have to give in and give, it to them.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
The gratitude of the world is but the expectation of future favors; its happiness, a hard heart and good digestion.
—Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (1717–97) English Art Historian, Man of Letters, Politician
Most people are quiet in the world, and live in it tentatively, as if it were not their own.
—E. L. Doctorow (b.1931) American Writer, Editor, Academic
I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
A soul disengaged from the world is a heavenly one; and then are we ready for heaven when our heart is there before us.
—John Newton (1725–1807) English Clergyman, Writer
The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be; and if we observe, we shall find, that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
The Work is the end of the world as we understand it to be, sweetheart. And it’s the opening to reality, as it really is, in all its beauty.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Do you want to be right more than you want to know the truth? It’s the truth that set me free. Acceptance, peace, and less attachment to a world of suffering are all effects of doing The Work. They’re not the goals. Do The Work for the love of freedom, for the love of truth.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
Start thinking about yourself as a lifetime student at a large university. Your curriculum is your total relationship with the world you live in, from the moment you’re born to the moment you die.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader