The shadows: some hide, others reveal.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
No object is mysterious. The mystery is your eye.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.
—James Bryant Conant (1893–1978) American Chemist, Educator
Travelers never think that they are the foreigners.
—Mason Cooley (1927–2002) American Aphorist
Without the aid of prejudice and custom, I should not be able to find my way across the room.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d druther not.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
I am convinced that a light supper, a good night’s sleep, and a fine morning, have sometimes made a hero of the same man, who, by an indigestion, a restless night, and rainy morning, would have proved a coward.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author
There is but an inch of difference between the cushioned chamber and the padded cell.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Edible. Good to eat and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
As far as the Moon is concerned, he is always full.
—Nathaniel LeTonnerre
Make voyages. Attempt them. There’s nothing else.
—Tennessee Williams (1911–83) American Playwright
A question that sometimes drives me crazy: am I or are the others crazy?
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.
—Robert W. Service (1874–1958) Scottish Poet, Author
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, I am a citizen of the world.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Innocence most often is a good fortune and not a virtue.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
There are always three sides to every story: your side, the other side, and the truth.
—Unknown
The best rose-bush, after all, is not that which has the fewest thorns, but that which bears the finest roses.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
—Mary Engelbreit (b.1952) American Graphic Artist
Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.
—Unknown
Why assume so glibly that the God who presumably created the universe is still running it? It is certainly conceivable that He may have finished it and then turned it over to lesser gods to operate.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
There’s only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.
—Common Proverb
You can’t catch trout with dry breeches.
—Spanish Proverb
If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious as to work: but when they seldom come, they wished for come, and nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The highest virtue here may be least in another world.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Set out from any point. They are all alike. They all lead to a point of departure.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
A boil is no big deal. On someone else’s neck.
—Hebrew Proverb
The average man will bristle if you say his father was dishonest, but he will brag a little if he discovers that his great-grandfather was a pirate.
—Bert Williams
The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
All the suns labor to kindle your flame and a microbe puts it out.
—Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Poet
People who look through keyholes are apt to get the idea that most things are keyhole shaped.
—Unknown
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
When a guy goes to a hooker, he’s not paying her for sex, he’s paying her to leave.
—Unknown
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
Conscience gets a lot of credit that belongs to cold feet.
—Unknown
I never ask God to give me anything; I only ask him to put me where things are.
—Mexican Proverb
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
Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
When those waiters ask me if I want some fresh ground pepper, I ask if they have any aged pepper.
—Andy Rooney (b.1919) American Writer, Humorist, TV Personality
Who dares nothing, need hope for nothing.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
An apology for the Devil: It must be remembered that we have only heard one side of the case. God has written all the books.
—Samuel Butler
No man but feels more of a man in the world if he have but a bit of ground that he can call his own. However small it is on the surface, it is four thousand miles deep; and that is a very handsome property.
—Charles Dudley Warner (1829–1900) American Essayist, Novelist
Some men see things as they are and say, “Why?” I dream things that never were, and say, “Why not?”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
The moment one gives a close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world unto itself.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
Let me fly, let me see things that are hidden from other eyes.
—Sonya Hartnett (b.1968) Australian Novelist, Children’s Writer
All honor’s wounds are self-inflicted.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
If we escape punishment for our vices, why should we complain if we are not rewarded for our virtues?
—John Churton Collins (1848–1908) English Literary Critic
If I had been around when Rubens was painting, I would have been revered as a fabulous model. Kate Moss? Well, she would have been the paintbrush.
—Dawn French (b.1957) Welsh Comedienne, Actress, Writer