Things ain’t what they used to be and probably never was.
—Will Rogers (1879–1935) American Actor, Rancher, Humorist
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
—William J. H. Boetcker (1873–1962) American Presbyterian Minister
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
A Realist is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been purified. A skeptic is an idealist who has gone through the fire and been burned.
—Warren W. Wiersbe (1929–2019) American Pastor, Biblical Scholar
Let us take things as we find them: let us not attempt to distort them into what they are not. We cannot make facts. All our wishing cannot change them. We must use them.
—John Henry Newman (1801–90) British Theologian, Poet
You can get all A’s and flunk life.
—Walker Percy (1916–90) American Novelist
The first rule (to Peace of Mind, Serenity) is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world.
—Unknown
He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.
—Arabic Proverb
We want the facts to fit the preconceptions. When they don’t it is easier to ignore the facts than to change the preconceptions.
—Jessamyn West
Whatever you believe with emotion becomes your reality. You always act in a manner consistent with your innermost beliefs and convictions.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Business underlies everything in our national life, including our spiritual life. Witness the fact that in the Lord’s Prayer, the first petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach.
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow.
—Robert H. Goddard (1882–1945) American Physicist, Engineer, Rocketry Pioneer
People are where they are because that is exactly where they really want to be—whether they will admit that or not.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.
—Douglas Hugh Everett (1916–2002) British Physical Chemist, Academic
There are few things as seemingly untouched by the real world as a child asleep.
—John Irving (b.1942) American Modern Novelist
When you’re the victim of the behavior, it’s black and white; when you’re the perpetrator, there are a million shades of gray.
—Laura Schlessinger (b.1947) American Radio Talk-Show Host, Author
The wise man does not deny and affirm, he does not exalt himself and he does not despair, he does not believe either in the existence of God or in his existence. The wise man has no certainty, he only has more or less probable hypotheses.
—Luciano De Crescenzo (b.1928) Italian Writer, Film Actor, Director, Engineer
To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Reality isn’t the way you wish things to be, nor the way they appear to be, but the way they actually are.
—Robert Ringer (b.1938) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
If we think we have ours and don’t owe any time or money or effort to help those left behind, then we are a part of the problem rather than the solution to the fraying social fabric that threatens all Americans.
—Marian Wright Edelman (b.1939) American Activist, Advocate
The sky is not less blue because the blind man does not see it.
—Danish Proverb
Anything, everything, can be learned if you can just get yourself in a little patch of real ground, real nature, real wood, real anything … and just sit still and watch.
—Lauren Hutton (b.1943) American Actress, Model
Reality cannot be ignored except at a price; and the longer the ignorance is persisted in, the higher and more terrible becomes the price that must be paid.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Satirist, Short Story Writer
Now the writer, I think, has the chance to live more than other people in the presence of … reality. It is his business to find it and collect it and communicate it to the rest of us.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
We must have strong minds, ready to accept facts as they are.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.
—Philip K. Dick (1928–82) American Writer, Science Fiction Author
Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you’re not really interested in order to get where you’re going.
—Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American Novelist, Journalist, Poet, Essayist
The optimist thinks this is the best of all worlds. The pessimist fears it is true.
—J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–67) American Nuclear Physicist
A thing either is what it appears to be; or it is not, but yet appears to be; or it is, but does not appear to be; or it is not, and does not appear to be.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
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