It is difficult, if not impossible, for most people to think otherwise than in the fashion of their own period.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
One is not idle because one is absorbed. There is both visible and invisible labor. To contemplate is to toil, to think is to do. The crossed arms work, the clasped hands act. The eyes upturned to Heaven are an act of creation.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
He who thinks and thinks for himself, will always have a claim to thanks; it is no matter whether it be right or wrong, so as it be explicit. If it is right, it will serve as a guide to direct; if wrong, as a beacon to warn.
—Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) British Philosopher, Economist
Thought is an infection. In the case of certain thoughts, it becomes an epidemic.
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American Poet
The old believe everything; the middle-aged suspect everything; the young know everything.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Every one must see and feel, that bad thoughts quicklv ripen into bad actions; and that, if the latter only are forbidden, and the former left free, all morality will soon be at an end.
—Beilby Porteus (1731–1809) Anglican Bishop of London
Modern man likes to pretend that his thinking is wide-awake. But this wide-awake thinking has led us into the mazes of a nightmare in which the torture chambers are endlessly repeated in the mirrors of reason.
—Octavio Paz (1914–98) Mexican Poet, Diplomat
When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809) American Nationalist, Author, Pamphleteer, Radical, Inventor
The how” thinker gets problems solved effectively because he wastes no time with futile “ifs” but goes right to work on the creative “how”.”
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
If one wants to abide in the thought-free state, a struggle is inevitable. One must fight one’s way through before regaining one’s original primal state. If one succeeds in the fight and reaches the goal, the enemy, namely the thoughts, will all subside in the Self and disappear entirely.
—Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) Indian Hindu Mystic
The unconscious is the ocean of the unsayable, of what has been expelled from the land of language, removed as a result of ancient prohibitions.
—Italo Calvino (1923–85) Italian Novelist, Essayist, Journalist
If we examine our thoughts, we shall find them always occupied with the past and the future.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
A thought embodied and embrained in fit words walks the earth a living being.
—Edwin Percy Whipple (1819–86) American Literary Critic
The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canadian Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Thoughts come into our minds by avenues which we never left open, and thoughts go out of our minds through avenues which we never voluntarily opened.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Every great originating mind produces in some way a change in society; every great originating mind, whose exercise is controlled by duty, effects a beneficial change. This effect may be immediate, may be remote. A nation may be in a tumult today for a thought which the timid Erasmus placidly penned in his study more than two centuries ago.
—Edwin Percy Whipple (1819–86) American Literary Critic
Things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
The rich are too indolent, the poor too weak, to bear the insupportable fatigue of thinking.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
A man is infinitely more complicated than his thoughts.
—Paul Valery (1871–1945) French Critic, Poet
Thought is the sculptor who can create the person you want to be.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of action without thought.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
Think of your own faults the first part of the night when you are awake, and of the faults of others the latter part of the night when you are asleep.
—Chinese Proverb
Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Nothing is more active than thought, for it travels over the universe, and nothing is stronger than necessity for all must submit to it.
—Thales of Miletus (c.624–c.545 BCE) Greek Philosopher, Mathematician
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
The surprises of thought are like those of love: they wear out. But here too you can carry on for a long time doing your conjugal duty.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
Don’t wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you’ve got to make yourself.
—Alice Walker (b.1944) American Novelist, Activist
I’ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they’ve gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.
—Emily Bronte (1818–48) English Novelist, Poet
We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten.
—Cesare Pavese (1908–50) Italian Novelist, Poet, Critic, Translator
To me the meanest flower that blows can give thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Poet
Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.
—Chinese Proverb
Chase after the truth like all hell and you’ll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat-tails.
—Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American Civil Liberties Lawyer
All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take firm root in our personal experience.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined! As you simplify your life, the laws of the Universe will be simpler, solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Thought means life, since those who do not think do not live in any high or real sense. Thinking makes the man.
—Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher
A man is what he thinks about all day long.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
Perhaps we should comprehend these things better were it not for the persistence of the superstition that human beings habitually think. There is no more persistent superstition than this.
—Nicholas Murray Butler (1862–1947) American Philosopher, Diplomat, Educator
The average person thinks he isn’t.
—Larry Lorenzoni
The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
Thoughts lead on to purpose, purpose leads onto actions, actions form habits, habits decide character, and character fixes our destiny.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
I have condemned Khomeini’s fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie as a breach of international relations and as an assault on Islam as we know it in the era of apostasy. I believe that the wrong done by Khomeini towards Islam and the Muslims is no less than that done by the author himself. As regards freedom of expression, I have said that it must be considered sacred and that thought can only be corrected by counter-thought. During the debate, I supported the boycott of the book as a means of maintaining social peace, granted that such a decision would not be used as a pretext to constrain thought.
—Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006) Egyptian Novelist
Great minds think alike.
—Common Proverb
Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open.
—James Dewar (1842–1923) British Chemist, Physicist
The only way to give finality to the world is to give it consciousness.
—Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) Spanish Educator, Philosopher, Author
If you think twice before you speak once, you will speak better for it.
—Anonymous
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Minds are like parachutes; they work best when open.
—Felix Bloch
Think twice before you speak to a friend in need.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
Man—being made reasonable, and so a thinking creature, there is nothing more worthy of his being than the right direction and employment of his thoughts, since upon this depends both his usefulness to the public and his own present and future benefit in all respects.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Political leader, Philosopher
We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.
—Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu Monk, Mystic
Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think — rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men.
—James Beattie
Thought expands, but paralyzes; action animates, but narrows.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
All thought must, directly or indirectly, by way of certain characters, relate ultimately to intuitions, and therefore, with us, to sensibility, because in no other way can an object be given to us.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
As you think, so shall you become.
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
It is clear that all verbal structures with meaning are verbal imitations of that elusive psychological and physiological process known as thought, a process stumbling through emotional entanglements, sudden irrational convictions, involuntary gleams of insight, rationalized prejudices, and blocks of panic and inertia, finally to reach a completely incommunicable intuition.
—Northrop Frye
Consciousness is a phase of mental life which arises in connection with the formation of new habits. When habit is formed, consciousness only interferes to spoil our performance.
—William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) English Anglican Clergyman, Priest, Mystic
Thoughts are the shadows of our sensations — always darker, emptier, simpler than these.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Rarely do we find men who willingly to engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
There are lots of people who cannot think seriously without injuring their minds.
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933) American Biographer, Poet, Essayist, Writer
Most of one’s life is one prolonged effort to prevent oneself thinking.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
The correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting — no more — and then it motivates one towards originality and instills the desire for truth.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
It is the power of thought that gives man power over nature.
—Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) Danish Author, Poet, Short Story Writer
It is never too late to be what you might have been.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched.
—George Jean Nathan (1882–1958) American Drama Critic, Editor
Those who know how to think need no teachers.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Mental fight means thinking against the current, not with it. It is our business to puncture gas bags and discover the seeds of truth.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
Cherish your visions. Cherish your ideals. Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Your automatic creative mechanism is teleological. That is, it operates in terms of goals and end results. Once you give it a definite goal to achieve, you can depend upon its automatic guidance system to take you to that goal much better than “you” ever could by conscious thought. “You” supply the goal by thinking in terms of end results. Your automatic mechanism then supplies the means whereby.
—Maxwell Maltz (1899–1975) American Surgeon, Motivational Writer
Thoughts, like fleas, jump from man to man, but they don’t bite everybody.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish Aphorist, Poet
You become what you think about.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
Let the wise man guard his thoughts, for they are difficult to perceive, very artful, and they rush wherever they list: thoughts well guarded bring happiness.
—The Dhammapada Buddhist Anthology of Verses
It is impossible for men engaged in low and groveling pursuits to have noble and generous sentiments. A man’s thought must always follow his employment.
—Demosthenes (384–322 BCE) Greek Statesman, Orator
Man is what he believes.
—Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian Short-Story Writer
Our normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Think success, don’t think failure. At work, in your home, substitute success thinking for failure thinking. When you face a difficult situation, think, “I’ll win,” not “I’ll probably lose.” When you compete with someone else, think, “I’m equal to the best,” not “I’m out-classed.” When opportunity appears, think “I can do it,” never “I can’t. Let the master thought “I-will-succeed” dominate your thinking process. Thinking success conditions your mind to create plans that produce success. Thinking failure does the exact opposite. Failure thinking conditions the mind to think other thoughts that produce failure.
—David J. Schwartz (1927–87) American Self-help Author
Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who know me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower when I thought a flower would grow.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
No one can be a great thinker who does not recognize that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead.
—John Stuart Mill (1806–73) English Philosopher, Economist
In America we can say what we think, and even if we can’t think, we can say it anyhow.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
It is remarkable to what lengths people will go to avoid thought.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
Thinking leads man to knowledge. He may see and hear, and read and learn whatever he pleases, and as much as he pleases; he will never know anything of it, except that which he has thought over, that which by thinking he has made the property of his own mind. Is it then saying too much if I say that man, by thinking only, becomes truly man? Take away thought from man’s life, and what remains?
—Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827) Swiss Educator
Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.
—Rene Descartes (1596–1650) French Mathematician, Philosopher
Kind thoughts are rarer than either kind words or deeds. They imply a great deal of thinking about others. This in itself is rare. But they also imply a great deal of thinking about others without the thoughts being criticisms. This is rarer still.
—Frederick William Faber (1814–63) British Hymn writer, Theologian
Alas, we make a ladder of our thoughts, where angels step, but sleep ourselves at the foot; our high resolves look down upon our slumbering acts.
—Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–38) English Poet, Novelist
My thoughts are my company; I can bring them together, select them, detain them, dismiss them.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t “try” to do things. You simply “must” do things.
—Ray Bradbury (b.1920) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
I would rather think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to come together and make sense.
—Harold Kushner (b.1935) American Jewish Religious Leader, Priest
All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
If you think you can, you can.
And if you think you can’t, you’re right.
—Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
There is this difference between happiness and wisdom, that he that thinks himself the happiest man really is so; but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Ninety-nice percent of the troubles that threaten our civilization come from too optimistic accounting. And yet these damn accountants with their desire for mathematical purity want to devote exactly as much attention to accounting that is too pessimistic as they do to accounting that is too optimistic — which is crazy. Ninety-nine percent of the problems come from being too optimistic. Therefore, we should have a system where the accounting is way more conservative.
—Charlie Munger (b.1924) American Investor, Philanthropist
There are mighty few people who think what they think they think.
—Robert Henri (1865–1929) American Painter, Teacher
An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.
—Buddhist Teaching
How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to the light I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right—stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Nothing is impossible for those who act after wise counsel and careful thought.
—The Thirukkural (c.5th cent. CE) Tamil Sacred Couplets
Thinking is not to agree or disagree. That is voting.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.
—Grenville Kleiser (1868–1935) Canadian Author
If I held all the thoughts of the world in my hand, I would be careful not to open it.
—Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) French Essayist, Polymath, Philosopher
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
The ancestor of every action is a thought.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
No man should think himself a zero, and think he can do nothing about the state of the world.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; they become destiny.
—Frank Outlaw American Businessperson
Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Our goodness comes solely from thinking on goodness; our wickedness from thinking on wickedness. We too are the victims of our own contemplation.
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933) American Biographer, Poet, Essayist, Writer
Thought engenders thought. Place one idea upon paper, another will follow it, and still another, until you have written a page. You cannot fathom your mind. It is a well of thought which has no bottom. The more you draw from it, the more clear and fruitful will it be. If you neglect to think yourself, and use other people’s thoughts, giving them utterance only, you will never know what you are capable of. At first your ideas may come out in lumps, homely and shapeless; but no matter; time and perseverance will arrange and polish them. Learn to think, and you will learn to write; the more you think, the better you will express your ideas.
—George Augustus Henry Sala (1828–95) British Journalist
No brain is stronger than its weakest think.
—Thomas Masson (1866–1934) American Journalist, Humorist, Author
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
As soon as true thought has entered our mind, it gives a light which makes us see a crowd of other objects which we have never perceived before.
—Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand (1768–1848) French Writer, Academician, Statesman
The birth of thought in the depths of the spirit, the shaping and ordering of it into periods, the translation into signs, and above all the transference of it from one spirit to another, the communication that is, if only for an instant, the meeting of two beings, with the unforeseeable consequences that such a meeting always causes, is in fact a miracle; except that the moment one stops to think about it one can’t even write a letter.
—Salvatore Satta (1902–75) Italian Jurist, Novelist
He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
Guard your roving thoughts with a jealous care, for speech is but the dialer of thoughts, and every fool can plainly read in your words what is the hour of your thoughts.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
—The Dhammapada Buddhist Anthology of Verses