What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking … is freedom.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
The tyrant is nothing but a slave turned inside out.
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) English Polymath, Philosopher, Political/Social Theorist
Perspective, as its inventor remarked, is a beautiful thing. What horrors of damp huts, where human beings languish, may not become picturesque through aerial distance! What hymning of cancerous vices may we not languish over as sublimest art in the safe remoteness of a strange language and artificial phrase! Yet we keep a repugnance to rheumatism and other painful effects when presented in our personal experience.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
I’m afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning.
—Andy Warhol (1928–87) American Painter, Printmaker, Film Personality
Addictions do come in handy sometimes: at least you have to get out of bed for them.
—Martin Amis (1949–2023) British Novelist, Journalist
Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.
—Unknown
Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.
—Stevie Wonder (b.1950) American Singer, Songwriter
The violence we do to ourselves in order to remain faithful to the one we love is hardly better than an act of infidelity.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
A hole is nothing at all, but you can still break your neck in it.
—Unknown
If anyone were to be willing to trace his descent through an ape as his grandfather, would he be willing to trace his descent similarly on the side of his grandmother?
—Samuel Wilberforce (1805–73) English Bishop
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes, in seeing the universe with the eyes of another, of hundreds of others, in seeing the hundreds of universes that each of them sees.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
All the suns labor to kindle your flame and a microbe puts it out.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, at what stage of starvation will you prefer the grain to the vote?
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
Not he who has little, but he who wishes more, is poor.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
When I hear somebody sigh that “Life is hard,” I am always tempted to ask, “Compared to what?”
—Sydney J. Harris (1917–86) American Essayist, Drama Critic
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
—Common Proverb
It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.
—Robert W. Service (1874–1958) Canadian Poet, Writer
Travelers never think that they are the foreigners.
—Mason Cooley (1927–2002) American Aphorist
Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.
—Unknown
Set out from any point. They are all alike. They all lead to a point of departure.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart.
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Injury, when it is slight, upsets me; when it is strong it calms me.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
It is seldom indeed that one parts on good terms, because if one were on good terms one would not part.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective.
—Al Neuharth (1924–2013) American Media Businessperson, Columnist
A question that sometimes drives me crazy: am I or are the others crazy?
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
—Carl Sagan (1934–96) American Astronomer
Every man regards his own life as the New Year’s Eve of time.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Philosopher
Necessity is not an established fact, but rather an interpretation.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Leave a Reply