Bloom where you are planted.
—Mary Engelbreit (b.1952) American Artist, Illustrator
Every man must get to Heaven his own way.
—Frederick II of Prussia (1712–86) King of Prussia, Military Strategist
Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.
—Sylvester Stallone (b.1946) American Actor, Screenwriter, Director
For me, writing is the only thing that passes the three tests of metier: (1) when I’m doing it, I don’t feel that I should be doing something else instead; (2) it produces a sense of accomplishment and, once in a while, pride; and (3) it’s frightening.
—Gloria Steinem (b.1934) American Feminist, Journalist, Activist, Political Advocate
If you go to heaven without being naturally qualified for it, you will not enjoy it there.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road.
—Dag Hammarskjold (1905–61) Swedish Statesman, UN Diplomat
Man can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as… from a lack of bread.
—Richard Wright (1908–1960) American Novelist, Short-Story Writer
Do you know that disease and death must needs overtake us, no matter what we are doing? … What do you wish to be doing when it overtakes you? If you have anything better to be doing when you are so overtaken, get to work on that.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
What one man does, another fails to do; what’s fit for me may not be fit for you.
—Unknown
A first rate soup is better than a second rate painting.
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist
Abasement, degradation is simply the manner of life of the man who has refused to be what it is his duty to be.
—Jose Ortega y. Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish Critic, Journalist, Philosopher
Everyone has a right to his own course of action.
—Moliere (1622–73) French Playwright
Personality, too, is destiny.
—Erik Erikson (1902–94) German-born American Developmental Psychologist
The only success worth one’s powder was success in the line of one’s idiosyncrasy … what was talent but the art of being completely whatever one happened to be?
—Henry James (1843–1916) American-born British Novelist, Writer
People are ridiculous only when they fly or seem to be that which they are not.
—Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837) Italian Poet, Essayist, Philosopher
To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Philosopher, Musician, Physician
Every man has his own destiny; the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
To feel that one has a place in life solves half the problem of contentment.
—George Edward Woodberry (1855–1930) American Literary Critic, Poet
Don’t take anyone else’s definition of success as your own. (This is easier said than done.)
—Jacqueline Briskin (b.1927) American Novelist, Writer
All I would tell people is to hold on to what was individual about themselves, not to allow their ambition for success to cause them to try to imitate the success of others. You’ve got to find in on your own terms.
—Harrison Ford (b.1942) American Actor
Freedom and constraint are two aspects of the same necessity, the necessity of being the man you are and not another. You are free to be that man, but not free to be another.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
Different people have different duties assigned to them by Nature; Nature has given one the power or the desire to do this, the other that. Each bird must sing with his own throat.
—Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) Norwegian Playwright
Those who love a cause are those who love the life which has to be led in order to serve it.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
I’ll walk where my own nature would be leading; it vexes me to choose another guide.
—Emily Bronte (1818–48) English Novelist, Poet
Nothing is good for everyone, but only relatively to some people.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
If a man has a talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If he has a talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it, he has gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and a triumph few men ever know.
—Thomas Wolfe (1900–38) American Novelist
Let them know a real man, who lives as he was meant to live.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
What’s a joy to the one is a nightmare to the other.
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) German Poet, Playwright, Theater Personality
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