Sentiment is the poetry of the imagination.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
Each of us makes his own weather, determines the color of the skies in the emotional universe which he inhabits.
—Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979) American Catholic Religious Leader, Theologian
People hate those who make them feel their own inferiority.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
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
One’s suffering disappears when one lets oneself go, when one yields – even to sadness.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
The barrenest of all mortals is the sentimentalist.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Emotions have taught mankind to reason.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
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
It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story 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
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
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
The degree of one’s emotions varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
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
Nothing vivifies, and nothing kills, like the emotions.
—Philibert Joseph Roux (1780–1854) French Surgeon
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
It is as healthy to enjoy sentiment as to enjoy jam.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
How much has to be explored and discarded before reaching the naked flesh of feeling.
—Claude Debussy (1862–1918) French Composer
When I repress my emotion my stomach keeps score.
—Enoch Powell (1912–98) English Conservative Politician, Scholar
The heart is forever inexperienced.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
As none can see the wind but in its effects on the trees, neither can we see the emotions but in their effects on the face and body.
—Nathaniel LeTonnerre
The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind, is curiosity.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
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
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
Every time a resolve or fine glow of feeling evaporates without bearing fruit, it is worse than a chance lost; it works to hinder future emotions from taking the normal path of discharge.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Where the heart lies, let the brain lie also.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
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
Today there are no more irreconcilable enmities, because there are no more disinterested emotions: that’s a good thing born from a bad thing.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keep out the joy.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
Music is the shorthand of emotion.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
Society is infested by persons who, seeing that the sentiments please, counterfeit the expression of them. These we call sentimentalists—talkers who mistake the description for the thing, saying for having.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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
Strange how love coexists with hate, how they render eachother mute, how the swilling of them together makes a new and softer, sympathetic thing.
—Sonya Hartnett (b.1968) Australian Novelist, Children’s Writer
All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
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 is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.
—The Dhammapada Buddhist Anthology of Verses
All humanity is passion; without passion, religion, history, novels, art would be ineffectual.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
An emotion is an automatic response, an automatic effect of man’s value premises. An effect, not a cause. There is no necessary clash, no dichotomy between man’s reason and his emotions
—Ayn Rand (1905–82) Russian-born American Novelist, Philosopher
One ought to hold on to one’s heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Emotion always has its roots in the unconscious and manifests itself in the body.
—Irene Claremont de Castillejo (1885–1967) British Psychoanalyst
There are strings in the human heart that had better not be vibrated.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Systems die; instincts remain.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
Swift instinct leaps; slow reason feebly climbs.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
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
To increase your effectiveness, make your emotions subordinate to your commitments.
—Brian Koslow
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
The heart errs like the head; its errors are not any the less fatal, and we have more trouble getting free of them because of their sweetness.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
Emotional intelligence, more than any other factor, more than I.Q. or expertise, accounts for 85% to 90% of success at work… I.Q. is a threshold competence. You need it, but it doesn’t make you a star. Emotional intelligence can.
—Warren Bennis (1925–2014) American Business Academic, Author