Systems die; instincts remain.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
Our emotions are only incidents in the effort to keep day and night together.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
Emotion always has its roots in the unconscious and manifests itself in the body.
—Irene Claremont de Castillejo (1885–1967) British Psychoanalyst
We find nothing easier than being wise, patient, superior. We drip with the oil of forbearance and sympathy, we are absurdly just, we forgive everything. For that very reason we ought to discipline ourselves a little; for that very reason we ought to cultivate a little emotion, a little emotional vice, from time to time. It may be hard for us; and among ourselves we may perhaps laugh at the appearance we thus present. But what of that! We no longer have any other mode of self-overcoming available to us: this is our asceticism, our penance.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
But are not this struggle and even the mistakes one may make better, and do they not develop us more, than if we kept systematically away from emotions?
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keep out the joy.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
Regret is an odd emotion because it comes only upon reflection. Regret lacks immediacy, and so its power seldom influences events when it could do some good.
—Edward William O’Rourke (1917–99) American Roman Catholic Bishop
He is not affected by the reality of distress touching his heart, but by the showy resemblance of it striking his imagination. He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
We know too much and feel too little. At least, we feel too little of those creative emotions from which a good life springs.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Sentiment is the poetry of the imagination.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
If you would have me weep, you must first of all feel grief yourself.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
The tragedy of life is in what dies inside a man while he lives-the death of genuine feeling, the death of inspired response, the death of the awareness that makes it possible to feel the pain or the glory of other men in yourself.
—Norman Cousins (1915–90) American Journalist, Author, Academic, Activist
It is as healthy to enjoy sentiment as to enjoy jam.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
Sentiment is intellectualized emotion; emotion precipitated, as it were, in pretty crystals by the fancy.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Emotions have taught mankind to reason.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
Sentimentality is the only sentiment that rubs you the wrong way.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
If one uses one’s intellect to become master over the unlimited emotions, it may produce a sorry and diversionary effect upon the intellect.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
To increase your effectiveness, make your emotions subordinate to your commitments.
—Brian Koslow
It is very difficult to be wholly joyous or wholly sad on this earth. The comic, when it is human, soon takes upon itself a face of pain; and some of our grieves… have their source in weaknesses which must be recognized with smiling compassion as the common inheritance of us all.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
A clear understanding of a negative emotion dismisses it .
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Spiritual Teacher, Philosopher
The evidence of the emotions, save in cases where it has strong objective support, is really no evidence at all, for every recognizable emotion has its opposite, and if one points one way then another points the other way. Thus the familiar argument that there is an instinctive desire for immortality, and that this desire proves it to be a fact, becomes puerile when it is recalled that there is also a powerful and widespread fear of annihilation, and that this fear, on the same principle proves that there is nothing beyond the grave. Such childish proofs are typically theological, and they remain theological even when they are adduced by men who like to flatter themselves by believing that they are scientific gents…
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Where the heart lies, let the brain lie also.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
How much has to be explored and discarded before reaching the naked flesh of feeling.
—Claude Debussy (1862–1918) French Composer
Strange how love coexists with hate, how they render each other mute, how the swilling of them together makes a new and softer, sympathetic thing.
—Sonya Hartnett (b.1968) Australian Novelist, Children’s Writer
Sensitiveness is closely allied to egotism. Indeed, excessive sensitiveness is only another name for morbid self-consciousness. The cure for it is to make more of our objects, and less of ourselves.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
Emotion is primarily about nothing and much of it remains about nothing to the end.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the old man who will not laugh is a fool.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
The world makes up for all its follies and injustices by being damnably sentimental.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
The degree of one’s emotion varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts—the less you know the hotter you get.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
There are strings in the human heart that had better not be vibrated.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The heart is half a prophet.
—Yiddish Proverb
Where we have strong emotions, we’re liable to fool ourselves.
—Carl Sagan (1934–96) American Astronomer
Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he exposes himself.
—Rodney Dangerfield (1921–2004) American Comedian, TV Personality, Actor
It may be true of all relationships, not only between fathers and sons, but between men and women. Nothing seems fixed. Everything is always changing. We seem to have very little control over our emotional life.
—Sherwood Anderson (1876–1941) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts, he does not hide; he exposes himself.
—Jeanne Moreau (1928–2017) French Stage, Screen Actor, Singer
Sentimentality—that’s what we call the sentiment we don’t share.
—Graham Greene (1904–91) British Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
How do I change?
If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labour.
If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent I will think of past success.
If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.
Today I will be the master of my emotions.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it.
—Vincent van Gogh (1853–90) Dutch Painter
You learn to put your emotional luggage where it will do some good, instead of using it to shit on other people, or blow up aeroplanes.
—Margaret Drabble (b.1939) English Novelist, Biographer, Critic, Short Story Writer
All emotions are pure which gather you and lift you up; that emotion is impure which seizes only one side of your being and so distorts you.
—Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian Poet
When I repress my emotion my stomach keeps score.
—Enoch Powell (1912–98) English Conservative Politician, Scholar
The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
The heart is forever inexperienced.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Are you not justified in feeling inferior, when you seek to cover it up with arrogance and insolence?
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
The appearance of things change according to the emotions, and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
The barrenest of all mortals is the sentimentalist.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
In this and like communities public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed; consequently he who moulds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes and decisions. He makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be executed.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State