We should every night call ourselves to an account: What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones tend to take care of themselves.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man I’ve met.
—Dwight L. Moody (1837–99) Christian Religious Leader, Publisher
It is the highest form of self-respect to admit our errors and mistakes and make amends for them. To make a mistake is only an error in judgment, but to adhere to it when it is discovered shows infirmity of character.
—Dale Turner (1917–2006) American Priest, Columnist, Epigrammist
It’s a dangerous thing to name yourself wrongly or to name yourself unjustly.
—John O’Donohue (1956–2008) Irish Priest, Hegelian Philosopher
How are you going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued? Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.
—Anne Lamott (b.1954) American Writer, Activist
Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.
—Pope John XXIII (1881–1963) Italian Catholic Religious Leader, Pope
Man is not intended to see through the eyes of another, hear through another’s ears nor comprehend with another’s brain. Each human creature has individual endowment, power and responsibility in the creative plan of God.
—‘Abdu’l-Baha (1844–1921) Persian Bahai Leader, Philosopher
A bird does not sing because he has an answer. He sings because he has a song.
—Joan Walsh Anglund (1926–2021) American Poet, Children’s Book Author
A desire to be in charge of our own lives, a need for control, is born in each of us. It is essential to our mental health, and our success, that we take control.
—Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68) American Politician, Lawyer
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; but, define yourself.
—Harvey Samuel Firestone (1868–1938) American Industrialist
I am still learning—how to take joy in all the people I am, how to use all my selves in the service of what I believe, how to accept when I fail and rejoice when I succeed.
—Audre Lorde (1934–92) American Poet, Activist
I believe a unique core self is born into every human being; the result of millennia of environment adn heredity combined in an unpredictable way that could never happen before or again.
—Gloria Steinem (b.1934) American Feminist, Journalist, Activist, Political Advocate
Small is the number of them that see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.
—e. e. cummings (1894–1962) American Poet, Writer, Painter
Those who know what is enough are wealthy.
Those who persevere have direction.
Those who maintain their position endure.
And those who die and yet do not perish, live on.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
The only one thing I can change is myself, but sometimes that makes all of the difference.
—Anonymous
No one to blame! That was why most people led lives they hated, with people they hated. How wonderful to have someone to blame! How wonderful to live with one’s nemesis! You may be miserable, but you feel forever in the right. You may be fragmented, but you feel absolved of all the blame for it. Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.
—Erica Jong (b.1942) American Novelist, Feminist
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
The one person who most blocks you from a full, happy, and successful life is you. He is therefore wise who makes himself an asset. We can be our won worst enemy or best friend. We can be a source of trouble or a cure for trouble. So if you feel empty, as many do, start by getting free from yourself as a first stop to vibrant living.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
—Marianne Williamson (b.1952) American Activist, Author, Lecturer
Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
How do the geese know when to fly to the sun? Who tells them the seasons? How do we, humans, know when it is time to move on? As with the migrant birds, so surely with us, there is a voice within, if only we would listen to it, that tells us so certainly when to go forth into the unknown.
—Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1926-2004) American Psychiatrist
I know this now. Every man gives his life for what he believes. Every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing yet they give their lives to that little or nothing. One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. And then it is gone. But to sacrifice what you are and live without belief, that’s more terrible than dying.
—Joan of Arc (c.1412–31) French National Heroine
Ninety per cent of the world’s woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves—so how can we know anyone else?
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Essayist, Drama Critic
Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted, but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.
—Garrison Keillor (b.1942) American Author, Humorist, Radio Personality
Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan’s egg.
—Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) Danish Author, Poet, Short Story Writer
Life demands from you only the strength you posses. One one feat is possible—not to have run away.
—Dag Hammarskjold (1905–61) Swedish Statesman, UN Diplomat
We mean by “politics” the people’s business—the most important business there is.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
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