Guide to Contents
Easy English Book of Quotations
The Easy English Book of Quotations
Compiled by Dave McKay
Smashwords Edition
copyright 2014
ISBN 9781311574671
Contents
1. Quotes About Quotes
2. Some of the Best
3. Care for the Earth
4. Truth
5. Sincerity
6. Integrity
7. Good vs Evil
8. Fear
9. Courage
10. Don’t Give Up!
11. Helping Others
12. Kindness
13. Love
14. To Make You Laugh
15. Bad Habits
16. Actions
17. Hard Work
18. Business
19. Money
20. Jesus Christ
21. Nature and God
22. Religion
23. Dreams and Hopes
24. How to be Successful
25. Planning Ahead
26. Time
27. The Young and the Old
28. Family Life
29. Friends
30. Working Together
31. Politics
32. War and Peace
33. Happiness
34. Being Bitter or Forgiving?
35. Arguments
36. Patience
37. Teaching and Learning
38. Reading and Writing
39. Talking
40. Who to Believe
41. Confidence
42. Positive Thinking
43. A Reason to Live
44. Life and Death
45. Health
46. Discipline
47. Worry
48. Leaders and Followers
49. Wise Choices
50. Little Things
51. Being Different
52. Beauty
53. Entertainment and Sports
54. The Law and Lawyers
55. Freedom
56. Animals
57. Music and Art
58. Travel
59. Change
60. Computers and Other Inventions
61. Humility
62. Leftovers
Dictionary
1. Quotes About Quotes
It is a good thing
for an uneducated man
to read books of quotes.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former British Prime Minister
Now and then I come across a saying
which has meaning for me,
and it becomes a part of me.
W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), English playwright and novellist,
Of Human Bondage, 1915
A good saying answers where the sermon fails,
just as a small hand gun
will kill more than a whole barrel of gunpowder
exploded in the air.
William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870), American writer and historian
Quotes with a point are a blessing
to people who have become shallow.
Louise Guiney (1861-1920), American poet and essayist
The surest way to make a monkey of a man
is to quote him.
Robert Benchley (1889-1945), American humourist and columnist
2. Some of the Best
A trip of a thousand miles
must begin with a single step.
Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism (about 500 BC)
One rule sums up all the others,
and that rule is to love...
first, love God, and then, love others.
Jesus, Matthew 22:37-40
Work like you don’t need the money.
Love like you’ve never been hurt.
Dance like nobody’s watching.
Satchel Paige (1906-1982), African-American baseball player
If you would not be forgotten
as soon as you are dead and rotten,
either write something worth reading
or do things worth the writing.
Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790), American inventor and statesman
Truth will not break like a bubble, at a touch;
no, you may kick it about all day like a football,
and it will be round and full at evening.
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), American doctor and writer
Whoever talks to you about others
will talk to others about you.
Spanish Proverb
Do to others
what you would want them to do to you.
Jesus, Matthew 7:12
You have to kiss a lot of frogs
to find your prince.
Author unknown
Anyone who does anything important
is surely going to be hated, and misunderstood.
Every great man understands it;
and understands, too,
that being hated is no proof of being great.
The last proof of being great lies in being able to take the hate without becoming bitter.
Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915), American writer, artist, phlosopher
If your enemy is hungry feed him;
if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing
you shall pile coals of fire on his head.
The Bible, Romans 12:20.
Think how hard it is to change yourself
and you’ll understand what little chance you
have of changing others.
Jacob M. Braude, author of Braude's Treasure of Wit and Humour
Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into
some work you believe in with all your heart.
Live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness
that you had thought could never be yours.
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), American self-improvement lecturer and author of
How to Win Friends and Influence People
The time will never be ‘just right’.
Start where you stand,
and work with whatever tools you have.
Better tools will be found as you go along.
Napoleon Hill (1883-1970), American author
If you don’t like something, change it.
If you can’t change it, change your attitude.
Maya Angelou (1923- ), American author and poet
A bank manager is a person
who lends you his umbrella
when the weather is clear,
but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist
A great weight was lifted from my shoulders
the day I learned that no one owes me anything.
Harry Browne (1933-2006), writer, politician and market analyst
Don’t cripple your children
by making their lives easy.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988), science fiction writer
I’ve had a lot of worries in my life,
most of which never happened.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist
Making the simple hard to understand
happens all the time;
making the hard to understand simple,
very simple,
that’s the mark of a truly wise person.
Charles Mingus (1922-1979), jazz musician
The way to have friends is to be one.
Ralph Waldo Emercson (1803-1882), poet, lecturer, and essayist
Forced to choose between
turning against my country
or turning against my friend,
I pray that I would have the strength
to turn against my country.
E. M. Forster (1879-1970), Two Cheers for Democracy (1951)
When I work fourteen hours a day,
seven days a week, I get lucky.
Armand Hammer (1898 - 1990), business tycoon
Nothing is especially hard
if you break it down into small jobs.
Henry Ford (1863-1947), American industrialist
and founder of the Ford Motor Company,
who pioneered assembly lines
Only one life. It will soon be past.
Only what’s done for love will last.
Charles T. Studd (1860-1931), missionary to China, India, and Africa
A man may fall many times
but he won’t be without hope
until he says someone pushed him.
Elmer G. Leterman (1897-1982), author and insurance broker
Don’t spend your time asking
‘Why isn’t the world a better place?’
It will be time wasted.
The question to ask is
‘How can I make it better?’
To that there is an answer.
Leo F. Buscaglia (1924-1998), author and motivational speaker
There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it does not become any of us
To talk about the rest of us.
Edward Wallis Hoch (1849-1925), lecturer and ex-governor of Kansas
You can no more win a war
than you can win an earthquake.
Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973), first American Congresswoman
They laugh at you, then they fight you,
and then you win.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), pacifist & ideological leader of India
Let someone else blow your horn,
and the sound will travel twice as far.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist
You will find as you look back on your life
that the times when you have truly lived
are the times when you have done things
in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond (1851-1897), scientist and author
A lie gets halfway around the world before the
truth has a chance to get its pants on.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former British Prime Minister
Find a job you like
and you add five days to every week.
Jackson Brown, Jr, American inspirational author
I never did a day’s work in my life.
It was all fun.
Thomas Edison (1847-1931), inventor and scientist
God does not expect us to be perfect,
but he does expect us to try to be perfect.
Anonymous
My country is the earth,
and my religion is to do good.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809), author, inventor, revolutionary,
intellectual
The Rights of Man part 2 (1792), page 414
We were made to help each other.
If you have something to teach us, do it.
If not, listen to what we are teaching.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C), philosopher, teacher of Alexander the Great
Auctoritates Aristotelis, (ed. J. Hamesse, 1974),
Success seems to be mostly a matter of
hanging on after others have let go.
William Feather (1889-1981), author and publisher
Words once spoken
can never be brought back.
Wentworth Dillon (1630-1685), poet, fourth Earl of Roscommon
Talk between two people becomes an argument
when one or the other stops listening.
Anonymous
Good fences make good neighbours.
mid-17th Century proverb
Better a fence at the top of the cliff
than a hospital at the bottom.
Frederick Truby King (1858-1938), New Zealand health reformer
He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes;
he who does not ask stays a fool forever.
Chinese Proverb
If you do not have something worth dying for,
you do not have anything worth living for.
Martin Luther King (1929-1968), civil rights activist, Baptist minister
People should read what they want to read.
What they are forced to read
will do them little good.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English writer and lexicographer
Boswell Life volume 1, page 428 (14 July, 1763),
Not my will, but yours, be done.
Jesus, praying before he died, in Luke 22:42
A sincere person
is one who wants to know the truth so much
that they are willing to change their actions
if the truth shows that they are wrong.
Anonymous
The truth that makes people free
is, for the most part,
the truth that they choose not to hear.
Herbert Agar (1897-1980), A Time for Greatness (1942), chapter 7
Do not believe all that you hear,
and do not say all that you believe.
Author unknown
Being an adult means being able to say
‘I’m sorry you feel like that,’
and then walk away. That’s hard.
Lois McMaster Bujold (1949- ), in A Civil Campaign, 1999
When good people do nothing,
it is all that evil people need to win.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Irish stateman and philosopher
When planning for a year,
plant corn.
When planningfor ten years,
plant trees.
When planning for life,
teach children.
Kwan-Tsu (740-645 BC)
What kind of place would this world be,
If everybody in it was just like me?
Author unknown
Not many sounds in life
are more interesting than a knock at the door.
Charles Lamb (1775-1834), Essays of Elia (1823), ‘Valentine’s Day’
The more arguments you win,
the less friends you have.
American proverb
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your
ways are not my ways,” says God.
The Bible, Isaiah 55:8
We are guilty of all the good that we did not do.
Voltaire (1694-1778), French writer, historian, philosopher
Dying does not take a smart person by surprise.
Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695), poet and fable-teller
Change yourself and you change the world.
Anonymous
Why do you call me Lord,
if you will not do what I say?
Jesus, Luke 6:46
It is not that Christianity
has been tried and did not work.
It is that people could see that it was difficult,
and because of this, they have never tried it.
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer and Christian apologist
What’s Wrong with the World (1910), part 1
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
The Bible, Psalm 111:10
If you want to be rich,
you must learn to buy less.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English writer and lexicographer
Life volume 4, page 157 (letter, 7 December, 1782),
A little more.
John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), oil magnate and philanthropist
when asked how much money a person needs to be happy
Think about the flowers in the field,
how they grow.
They do not work and they do not make cloth.
But I say that Solomon with all his wealth,
was not dressed as well as one of them.
Jesus, Matthew 6:28
We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd American president
4 March, 1933, in Public Papers (1938), volume 1
The pen is stronger than the sword.
Edwin Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873), writer and politician
3. Care for the Earth
It takes two things to make a country rich:
water and peace.
African proverb
Do not spit in the well.
You may be thirsty by and by.
Russian proverb
Thank God men cannot as yet fly
and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), author, poet and philosopher
Don't blow it. Good planets are hard to find.
Time magazine
God will destroy those who destroy the earth.
The Bible, Revelation 11:18
They kill good trees to put out bad newspapers.
James G. Watt, Newsweek (8 March, 1982)
The sun, the moon, and the stars would have
been destroyed long ago, had they
happened to be in the reach of human hands.
Havelock Ellis (1859-1939), The Dance of Life (1923)
4. Truth
God made Truth with many doors to welcome
every believer who knocks on them.
Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), Lebanese-American author
Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a
time, but it’s not going to go away.
Elvis Presley (1935-1977), American singer
Truth can receive all lights.
3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713), Sensus Communis (1709),
Long is the way, and hard,
that leads out of the dark
and up to the light.
John Milton (1608-1674),English poet5, Paradise Lost (1667), book 2
Give light,
and the darkness will go away of itself.
Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), Dutch humanist and priest
Adults can learn from very little children.
The Great Spirit may show to them
many things which older people miss.
Black Elk (1863-1950), Sioux holy man
Truth is a land without roads.
You do not go there by following a religion.
J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986), speech in Holland, 3 August, 1929
One truth must be on another truth:
truth on truth, line on line,
here a little and there a little.
The Bible, Isaiah 28:10
All truths are half truths.
It is thinking that they are whole truths
that makes devils of us.
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), Dialogues (1954), prologue
It is one thing to show a person that he is wrong,
but it is a very different thing
to give that person the truth.
John Locke (1632-1704), Essay concerning Human Understanding
Truth sits on the lips of dying men.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), Sohrab and Rustum
If you stay in my teachings,
you will know the truth,
and the truth will make you free.
Jesus, John 8:31-32
I love Plato, but I love truth more.
Aristophanes (c.450-c.385), Greek comedic playwright
It is truth that you cannot win against.
You can very easily win against me.
Socrates (469-399 BC), Plato Symposium 201d
The old always fights against the new.
Author unknown
All colours will agree in the dark.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English scientist, lawyer, and statesman
But it does move.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), after giving in to church leaders, in 1632,
who said it was wrong to say that the earth moves around the sun.
To wear the coat of Galileo
it is not enough that people are against you.
You must also be right.
Robert Park (1864-1944), American sociologist
It is dangerous to be right
when the government is wrong.
Voltaire (1694-1778), French writer, historian, and philosopher
Every man has a right to say
what he thinks is true, and every other man
has a right to knock him down for it.
Dying as a martyr is the test.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English writer and lexicographer
True, it is the salt of the earth;
but no one wants salt rubbed into their sores.
Rebecca West (1892-1983), The Salt of the Earth (1935), chapter 2
There is one thing stronger than
all the armies in the world,
and that is an idea whose time has come.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885), French writer and statesman
Don't worry about people robbing an idea.
If it's your own and it's new,
you will have to force it down their throats.
Howard Aiken (1900-1973), computer inventor
We are prisoners of ideas.
Ralph Waldo emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
I had rather do and not promise
than promise and not do.
Arthur Warwick (1603-1633), English essayist
It is easier to believe a lie
that one has heard a thousand times
than to believe a truth
that one has never heard before.
Robert S. Lynd (1892-1970), American sociologist
Newspaper writers say a thing
that they know isn’t true,
in the hope that if they
keep on saying it long enough, it will be true.
Arnold Bennett (1867-1931), English novelist, essayist and playwright
He who is not very strong in remembering
should not play with lying.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), French writer
Be sure your sin will find you out.
The Bible, Numbers 32:23
When you do not know what to say,
tell the truth.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar
It is a good thing to tell the truth,
but it is important, too, to be right.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former British Prime Minister
Some, when talking, would rather that
others see they are able to hold all arguments,
than that they know how to judge
what is true and what is not.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English scientist & lawyer, Of Discourse
Great is Truth, and stronger than anything.
The Bible, I Esdras 4:41
Truth can never be told as to be understood,
and not be believed.
William Blake (1757-1827), English poet and artist
Truth will always stand up against a lie,
as oil does above water.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), Spanish novelist and playwright
5. Sincerity
The first good quality of all really great men
is that they are sincere.
They drive out hypocrisy from their hearts.
Anotole France (1844-1924), poet, journalist, and novelist
Hateful to me as the gates of hell
is that man who hides one thing in his heart
and speaks another.
Homer (c. 800 BC-700 BC), Greek epic poet, The Iliad
No one can wear a mask for very long.
Seneca (5 BC-65 AD), Roman philosopher, statesman, and dramatist
Honesty is the first chapter
in the book of wisdom.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), third U.S. president
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
what is right, because they will be filled.
Jesus, Matthew 5:6
Happy are the people with clean hearts,
for they will see God.
Jesus, Matthew 5:8
To the clean all things are clean.
The Bible, Titus 1:15
Confession is good for the soul.
Scottish proverb
I sat at a table where there were rich food and
wine and many nice words, but sincerity and
truth were not; and I went away hungry.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), Walden
The last sin is the greatest treason:
to do the right thing for the wrong reason.
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), British playwright and literary critic
Like an ability or a muscle, hearing your inner
wisdom is made stronger by doing it.
Robbie Gass (1948- ), leadership coach and musician
When there is no enemy inside,
the enemies outside cannot hurt you.
African proverb
6. Integrity
This, above all else: Be true to yourself.
It must follow, as night follows day,
that after doing this,
you cannot be false to anyone.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet act 1, scene 3
Know yourself.
Plato (429-347 BC), Greek mathematician and philosopher
To be nobody but yourself
in a world which is doing its best, night and day,
to make you someone else
means to fight the hardest battle
which any human being can fight;
and never stop fighting.
E. E. Cummings (1894-1962), American poet, painter, and author
All goes well as long as you run with those who
are like you. But you, who are honest men in
other ways, know that there is alive somewhere
a man whose honesty shall not bend his knee
to false gods, and, on the day when you meet
him, you sink into the world of counterfeits.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
The best parts of a good person’s life
are the little secret acts of love
that no one remembers.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850),
‘Composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey’ (1798).
The best feeling I know
is to do a good act secretly,
and to have a person find it by accident.
Charles Lamb (1775-1834), The Athenaeum, 4 January, 1834
I was brought up to believe how I saw myself
was more important than how others saw me.
Anwar el-Sadat (1918-1981), former Egyptian president
Our greatest battles
are those with our own minds.
Jameson Frank
Better keep yourself clean and bright;
you are the window
through which you must see the world.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright
In the long run, we shape our lives, and we
shape ourselves. It never ends until we die.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), American author, speaker, politician
Being born in a duck yard does not matter,
if you are born from a swan’s egg.
Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), Danish fairy tale author
Never follow the crowd.
Bernard Baruch (1870-1965), American financier & political consultant
A few honest men are better than numbers.
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), leader who overthrew the British monarchy
To be an adult is to be alone.
Jean Rostand (1894-1977), Thoughts of a Biologist (1939)
We live, as we dream - alone.
Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Polish-born English novelist
They travel fastest who travel alone.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), The Story of the Gadsbys (1890),
Wide is the door and wide is the way
that leads to hell; and many go through it.
But narrow is the door and narrow is the way
that leads to life; and very few find it.
The Bible, Matthew 7:13-14
The pot should not call the kettle black.
William Penn (1644-1718), Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693
People who live in glass houses
should not throw stones.
Geoffery Chaucer (1343-1400), Toilus and Criseyde
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
Dr. Seuss (1904-1991), Oh! The Places You'll Go!
Conscience is what makes a boy tell his mother
before his sister does.
Evan Esar (1899-1995), American humourist
Do what you should,
and leave the end of it to the gods.
Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), Horace (1640), act 2, scene 8
Here I stand. I can do no other.
God help me.
Martin Luther (1483-1546), at the Diet of Worms, 18 April 1521
Get up, stand up! Stand up for the right.
Get up, stand up! Do not give up the fight.
Bob Marley (1945-1981), Get Up, Stand Up (1973 song).
7. Good vs Evil
Some opposition is a great help to a man.
Kites rise against, not with, the wind.
John Neal (1893-1976), American author, lawyer, boxer, architect
You cannot run away from a weakness;
you must sometime fight it out or perish.
If that is so, why not now, and where you stand?
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Scottish novelist and writer
You can chain me, you can torture me,
you can even destroy this body,
but you will never control my mind.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), leader of Indian independence
Oh wise man, wash your hands of that friend
who is friends with your enemies.
Saadi (1184-1291), Persian poet
Better fifty enemies
outside the house
than one inside.
Irish proverb
If you are near the enemy,
make him believe you are far from him.
If you are far from the enemy,
make him believe you are near.
Sun Tzu (about 400 BC), The Art of War
You can’t blame the innocent.
All you can do
is control them or destroy them.
Graham Green (1904-1991), The Quiet American
He seems to be right on top of things
and very alert.
We’ve always had trouble with him.
Rick Comley (1947- ), collegiate ice hockey coach
The cruelest lies are often told
by saying nothing.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Scottish novelist and writer
8. Fear
No spirit robs the brain of its ability
to act and think clearly, as does fear.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Irish stateman and philosopher,
On the Sublime and Beautiful (1757).
There is no fear in love,
for perfect love forces out all fear.
The Bible, I John 4:18
And perfect fear forces out all love.
Cyril Connolly (1903-1974), English intellectual, literary critic, writer
Present dangers
are less than future fears.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth act 1, scene 3
If you want to overcome fear, don’t sit at home
and think about it. Go out and get busy.
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), American self-improvement lecturer
Understand fear; watch it, learn about it,
come into close touch with it
instead of running away from it.
J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986), writer and speaker on spiritual issues
Feel the fear and do it anyway.
Susan Jeffers (circa 1940- ), author of several self-help books
We must travel in the direction of our fear.
John Berryman (1914-1972), American poet and scholar
He has no hope that never had a fear.
William Cowper (1731-1800), English poet and hymn-writer
It’s only those who do nothing
who make no mistakes.
Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Polish-born English novelist
Cry no more, sad fountains;
Why do you run so fast?
Sixteenth-Century proverb
Dream the impossible dream.
Joe Darion (1917-2001), American musical theatre lyricist
and author
9. Courage
The big thing to be learned in life
is never be scared of anyone or anything.
Fear is the enemy of clear thinking.
Frank Sinatra (1915-1998), American singer and actor
Either you choose to stay in the shallow end of
the pool or you go out in the ocean.
Christopher Reeve (1952-2004), American actor, film producer, director,
and author, who became a quadriplegic in 1995.
A small rock holds back a great wave.
Homer (c. 800 BC-700 BC), Greek epic poet, The Odyssey
When a dog runs at you, whistle for him.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), author, poet and philosopher
Whoever rescues even one life
has as much worth
as though he had rescued the whole world.
The Talmud, Mishna. Sanhedrin
Where there is life, there is danger.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Society and Solitude
If you’re never scared or embarrassed or hurt,
it means you never take any chances.
Julia Sorel, american author
who co-wrote Rocky with Sylvester Stallone
People who have been hurt are dangerous.
They know they can survive.
Josephine Hart
Twenty years from now
you will be more upset
about the things you didn’t do
than by the ones you did do.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist
When there is no danger in the fight,
there is no happiness in the winning.
Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), Le Cid (1637), act 2, scene 2
Don’t be afraid of the space
between your dreams and the real world.
If you can dream it, you can make it so.
Belva Davis (1932- ), Arican-American journalist and author
10. Don't Give Up!
Winners never quit and quitters never win.
Vince Lombardi (1913-1970), American football coach
When you get to the end of your rope,
tie a knot and hang on.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), Kansas City Star, June 5, 1977
If you only knock long enough and loud enough
at the gate, you are sure to wake up someone.
Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882), American poet and educator
Most of the important things in the world
have been done by people who have kept on
trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), American self-improvement lecturer
No matter how long the night,
the morning will come.
African proverb
Come what will, time and the hour
run through the roughest day.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth act 1, scene 3
If you’re going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former British Prime Minister
If you pump long enough, hard enough
and enthusiastically enough,
sooner or later it will bring the reward.
Zig Ziglar (1926- ), American salesman and motivational speaker
This one step,
choosing a target and sticking to it,
changes everything.
Scott Reed (1938- ), African-American author
One of the best experiences we can ever have
is to wake up feeling healthy
after we have been sick.
Harold Kushner (1935- ), American Rabbi and author
The wisest person
is not the one who fails the least, but the one
who turns those failings to best account.
Richard R. Grant
Look at the turtle. He makes progress
only when he sticks his neck out.
James Bryant Conant (1893-1978), American educator and chemist
11. Helping Others
There are two ways of showing one’s strength:
one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)
African American educator, author, speaker, and political leader
It is always easier to tear down
than it is to build up.
Author unknown
Each person has a place to fill in the world,
and is important in some way,
whether he chooses to be so or not.
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864),
American novelist and short story writer
If you’re afraid to let someone else see your
weakness, take heart: Nobody’s perfect.
Besides, trying to hide your weaknesses
does not work as well as you think it does.
Julie Morgenstern, O Magazine, April 2004
If we had no winter, spring would not be so good:
if we did not sometimes taste of troubles,
success would not be so welcome.
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), Meditations Divine and Moral, 1655
Don’t let the bastards get you down.
British Army Intelligence saying during World War II
Sadness is for one night,
but happiness comes in the morning.
The Bible, Psalm 30:4
After all, tomorrow is another day.
Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949), Gone With The Wind
Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings
while the morning is still dark.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Bengali poet, artist, and musician
There is good in seeing good in others.
William Congreve (1670-1729), to Sir Godfrey Kneller
Those who are lifting the world
up higher and on farther
are those who encourage more than criticise.
Elizabeth Harrison (1849-1927), American educator
I've tried not to laugh at the actions of people,
not to cry over them, not to hate them,
but to understand them.
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677),
Tractatus Politicius (1677), chapter 1, section 4
12. Kindness
Speaking with kindness builds confidence,
thinking with kindness builds wisdom,
giving with kindness builds love.
Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism (about 500 BC)
Kindness is the language which
the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist
You have two hands.
One for helping yourself,
the other for helping others.
Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), American actress and humanitarian
Those who bring sunlight to the lives of others
cannot keep it from themselves.
James M. Barrie (1860-1937), Scottish author and dramatist
Love and kindness always make a difference.
They bless the one who receives them,
and they bless you, the giver.
Barbara De Angelis (1951- ), author and lecturer on relationships
Do good and care not to whom.
Italian Proverb
Instead of trying to be right,
why don’t we try being kind?
Wayne Dyer (1940- ), American self-help author and lecturer
Trust men and they will be true to you;
act toward them as if they are great
and they will show themselves great.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
Simple kindness to yourself and all that lives
is the most powerful changing force of all.
David R. Hawkins (1927- ), American psychiatrist, author and lecturer
A kind word is never thrown away.
Arthur Helps (1813-1875), English writer and dean of the Privy Council
All you need is love.
But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.
Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000), American cartoonist
If you know what hurts yourself,
you know what hurts others.
Author unknown
No act of kindness is ever wasted.
Aesop (c. 620-564 BC), Greek fable teller
Before you judge me, walk a mile in my shoes.
Author unknown
The art of being kind
is all that this sad world needs.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1855-1919), The World’s Need
No man can sincerely try to help another
without helping himself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
You will get more bees with honey
than with vinegar.
Author unknown
Be good to people on the way up,
because you will meet them
on the way down.
Wilson Mizner (1876-1933),
in A. Johnston's The Legendary Mizners (1953), chapter 4
I and the people know
what all school children learn:
If you are cruel to another,
they will be cruel in return.
W. H. Auden (1907-1973), ‘September 1, 1939’ (1940)
A soft answer turns away anger.
The Bible, Proverbs 15:1
Smile. It is the key
that fits the lock of everybody’s heart.
Anthony J. D’Angelo. American self-help author
I have witnessed the hardest of hearts
become soft by a simple smile.
Goldie Hawn (1945- ), American actor, film director and producer
What the sun is to flowers,
smiles are to people.
Author unknown
13. Love
Love is, above all other things,
the giving of yourself.
Jean Anouilh (1910-1987), Ardèle (1949), page 79
We may give without loving,
but we cannot love without giving.
Bernard Meltzer (1916-1998), Harvard graduate and radio show host
A person who does not love
does not know God;
for God is love.
The Bible, I John 4:8
Hell, madam, is to love no more.
Georgs Bernanos (1888-1948), French author and WWI soldier
Let those love now, who never loved before.
Let those who always loved, now love the more.
Pervigilium Veneris (translated by Thomas Parnell, 1722)
It is better to have loved and lost
than never to have loved at all.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902), English author
Love is being able and willing
to let those that you care for
be what they choose for themselves without
telling them that they must do what you choose.
Wayne Dyer (1940- ), American self-help author and lecturer
Knowledge makes you feel important,
but love helps you
to make others feel important.
The Bible, I Corinthians 8:1
Love...
and after that, do what you want.
St Augustine of Hippo (354-430), philosopher and theologian,
Epistolam Joannis ad Parthos (AD 413)
One who has not loved has not lived.
John Gay (1685-1732), The Captives (1724), act 2, scene 2
No one is born hating another person
because of the colour of his skin,
or his way of life, or his religion.
People must learn to hate,
and if they can learn to hate,
they can be taught to love,
for love comes more naturally
to the human heart than its opposite.
Nelson Mandela (1918- 2013 ), former President of South Africa
We are not held back
by love we didn’t receive in the past,
but by love we’re not giving out in the present.
Marianne Williamson (1952- ), author, lecturer and spiritual activist
They pray well who love well.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834),
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798), part 7
Where there is great love
there are always miracles.
Willa Cather (1843-1947), American novelist who wrote of frontier life
I did the worst to him I loved the most.
Laxdaela Saga (c. 12 century); the words of Gudrun
Those have most power to hurt us that we love.
Francis Beaumont (1584-1616). and John Fletcher (1579-1625),
The Maid’s Tragedy (written 1610-1611), act 5
A bell’s not a bell until you ring it.
A song’s not a song until you sing it.
Love wasn't put in your heart to stay.
Love isn’t love until you give it away!
Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960), American theatrical producer
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hate, let me plant love.
St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), "Prayer of St. Francis"
The greatest love
is to give your life for a friend.
Jesus Christ, John 15:13
The only good life
is the one that is lived for others.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German physicist, Defining Success
To keep the body, mind, and heart in parallel strength
one must exercise, study, and love.
Karl von Bonstetten (1745-1832), Swiss writer
Anything will give up its secrets
if you love it enough.
When I talk to the little peanut,
it gives up its secrets.
and when I quietly talk with people they give up
their secrets also -- if you love them enough.
George Washington Carver (1864-1943)
American scientist, inventor, and educator
Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright
The weather and love are the two things
about which one can never be sure.
Alice Hoffman (1952- ), Here on Earth
It is easier to know man in general
than to know one man as a person.
Francois, Duc de la Rochefoucauld (1613-1680), French author
It is a far far better thing I do
than ever I have done.
It is a far far better rest that I go to
than I have ever known before.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), book 3,
chapter 15 (by a man who was going to die for another man)
We must love one another, or die!
W. H. Auden (1907-1973), September 1, 1939 (1940)
Hear the other side.
St Augustine of Hippo (354-430), philosopher and theologian
Love is like a virus.
It can happen to anyone at any time.
Maya Angelou (1923- ), American author and poet
Nice guys finish last.
Leo Durocher (1905-1991), American baseball manager
Nice guys finish last, but we get to sleep in.
Evan Davis (1962- ), British TV presenter and economist
It’s not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys
are winners before the game even starts.
Addison "Mort" Walker (1923- ), comic illustrator
14. To Make You Laugh
Laughing is the best medicine.
Author unknown
A joke’s a very serious thing.
Charles Churchill (1732-1764), English poet and satirist
Looking at life through the wrong end
of a telescope is what I do.
And that helps me to laugh at life’s problems.
Dr. Seuss (1904-1991). American writer, poet, and cartoonist
Laugh until it helps!
Laugh Club motto
Never be afraid to laugh at yourself.
After all, you could be missing out on
the joke of the century.
Dame Edna Everage (Barry Humphries), (1934- ),
Australian artist, comedian, auhor, film producer, and character actor.
People are different
from all other animals
because we can laugh.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719), English writer and politican,
The Spectator No. 494 (26 September 1712)
The most wasted day of all
is that in which we have not laughed.
Sebastian R. N. Chamfort (1741-1794), French writer
Mix a little foolishness with your wisdom.
It's good to be foolish at the right time.
Horace (65 BC - 8 BC), Roman lyric poet
Jokes can be rubber swords. They let you
make a point without drawing blood.
Mary Hirsch, teacher of humorous writing
There is a foolish corner
in the brain of the wisest man.
Aristotle (384-322 BC), Greek philosopher, student of Plato
An onion can make people cry,
but there has never been a vegetable invented
to make them laugh.
Will Rogers (1879-1935), American cowboy and comedian
Laughing is the sun
that drives winter from the human face.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885), French writer and statesman
I've known what it is to be hungry,
but I always went straight to a restaurant.
Ring Lardner (1885-1933), American author and humourist
If I called the wrong number,
why did you answer the phone?
James Thurber (1894-1961), New Yorker, June 5, 1937
I hope that when I die, people say about me,
‘That guy sure owed me a lot of money.’
Jack Handey (1949- ), Deep Thoughts
If I were two-faced,
would I be wearing this one?
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), former U.S. President
God gives men a brain and a penis,
but only enough blood to run one at a time.
Robin Williams (1951- 2014), American actor and comedian
This is the sixth book I’ve written, which isn’t
bad for a guy who’s only read two.
George Burns (1896-1996), American actor, comedian, and writer
Opera is when a guy gets stabbed
and, instead of bleeding, he sings.
Ed Gardner (1901-1963), American comic actor, writer, and director
I do not mind what language
they sing an opera in,
so long as it is a language I don’t understand
.
Edward Appleton, Observer 28 August 1955
I know that God won’t give me more trouble
than I can handle ... but sometimes I wish he
wouldn’t trust me so much.
Sister Teresa (1910-1997), Albanian missionary to India
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
Author unknown
When Solomon said
there was a time and place for everything
he had not yet faced the problem
of parking a car.
Bob Edwards (1947- ), American radio broadcaster
Some scientists say that the future will be just
like the past, only far more expensive.
John Sladek (1937-2000), American science fiction writer
Not Hercules could have knocked out his brains,
for he had none.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright
The reason lightning doesn’t hit twice
in the same place
is that the same place
isn’t there the second time.
Willie Tyler (1940), American ventriloquist, comedian and actor
If wisdom were on sale in the open market,
the stupid would not even ask the price.
Author unknown
The weather: Everyone talks about it,
but no one does anything about it.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist
Money is the opposite of the weather.
Nobody talks about it,
but everybody does something about it.
Rebecca Johnson, author of And Sometimes Why, in ‘Vogue’
I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places.
He told me to quit going to those places.
Henny Youngman (1906-1998), American comedian and violinist
There is no human problem which could not be
fixed if people would simply do as I say.
Gore Vidal (1925- )
I don’t want to belong to any club
that would have me as a member.
Groucho Marx (1890-1977), American comedian and film star
First the doctor told me the good news: I was
going to have a sickness named after me.
Steve Martin
Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
Erma Bombeck
In Paris they simply looked at me
when I spoke to them in French.
I never was able to make those crazy people
understand their language.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist
Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris.
Thomas Gold Appleton (1812-1884), American writer and artist
Speak in French
when you can’t think of the English for a thing.
Lewis Caroll (1832-1898), English author, mathematician,
and photographer, most remembered for writing Alice in Wonderland
You know you’re getting old
when you bend to tie your shoestrings
and ask yourself what else you can do
while you’re down there.
George Burns (1896-1996), American actor, comedian, and writer
If cars had followed the computer's pattern,
they would today cost one hundred dollars,
get a million miles to the gallon,
and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.
Robert X. Cringely (Mark Stephens, 1953- ), InfoWorld magazine
I cannot say that I do not disagree with you.
Groucho Marx (1890-1977), American comedian and film star
How young can you be and still die of old age?
Steven Wright (1955- ), American comedian, actor, and writer
No one goes there these days.
It's too crowded.
Yogi Berra (1925- ), American baseball player and manager
A girl with a brain
should do more with it than think.
Anita Loos (1893-1981), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925)
Death is nature’s way
of telling you to slow down.
American life insurance proverb, Newsweek, 25 April, 1960
If God had wanted us to fly,
he would have given us tickets.
Mel Brooks (1926- ), American comedian, actor, film produer and
director, screenwriter, and composer
Whoever called it necking
is a poor judge of the human body.
Groucho Marx (1890-1977), American comedian and film star
The one who laughs last
laughs best.
John Vanbrugh (1664-1726), English architect and dramatist
Midpoint
15. Bad Habits
I’m not so think as you drunk I am.
J.C. Squire
You’re not drunk
if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
Dean Martin
When angry, count to four;
when very angry, swear.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist
I kissed my first girl
and smoked my first cigarette
on the same day.
I haven’t had time for tobacco since.
Arturo Toscanini
Chains of habit are too light to be felt
until they are too heavy to be broken.
Warren Buffett (1930- ), one of the wealthiest people in the world
A human being has a natural desire to have
more of a good thing than he needs.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), Following the Equator
Wine laughs at you,
and strong drink shouts at you in anger.
The Bible, Proverbs 20:1
At the first cup, you drink wine.
At the second cup, wine drinks wine.
After that, wine drinks you.
Author unknown
Free yourselves from the slavery of
tea and coffee and other kettle waste.
William Cobbett
That’s all that drugs and alcohol do.
They cut off your emotions in the end.
Ringo Star (1940- )
It is best to hide that we are stupid,
but it is hard to do this
when we relax over wine.
Heraclitus (540-480 BC), On the Universe
Smoking is ugly to the eye,
bad to the nose,
and dangerous to the brain and lungs.
James I (James VI of Scotland), (1566-1625),
A Counterblast to Tobacco (1604),
16. Actions
What you’ve done becomes the judge
of what you’re going to do –
especially in other people’s minds.
William Least Heat Moon (1939- ), American travel writer
of part Osage Nation origin
A tree is known by its fruit.
Jesus, Matthew 12:33
Think before you act;
but think after you act too.
Vinobha Bhave (1895-1982), Indian advocate of nonviolence,
and successor to Gandhi
Thinking well is good;
planning well is better;
doing well is best.
Persian proverb
Being smart is understanding quickly;
but ability is acting well on the thing
after you understand it.
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), English mathematician,
Dialogues (1954), 15 December, 1939
There is much that one can do
who does both act and know.
Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), English poet and parliamentarian,
An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland (1650),
Let him that would move the world,
first move himself.
Socrates (469-399 BC), Greek philosopher
Starting is half the job.
Horace (65-8 BC), Roman poet, Epistles book no. 2, line 1
It is better to wear out than to rust out.
Richard Cumberland (1631-1718), English philosopher and bishop
Good is best when you do it quickly.
Waiting to do it will come to nothing.
Robert Southwell (c. 1561-1595), Loss in Delays (1595)
Think globally; act locally.
Patrick Geddes (1854-1932), Scottish biologist and town planner
Faith without works is dead.
The Bible, James 2:20
History is philosophy in action.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus (60-7 BC), Greek historian and teacher
Never confuse movement with action.
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961), American author and journalist
I will travel through this life but one time.
Any good thing that I can do
or any kind act that I can show
to any other person, I must do now.
I must not put it off, or choose not to do it,
for I will not come this way again.
Stephen Grellet (1773-1855), Quaker missionary
The world is divided into people who
do things and people who get the credit.
Try, if you can, to belong to the first group.
There’s far less competition.
Dwight Morrow (1873-1931), American politician and businessman
Our bodies are our gardens.
Our wills are gardeners.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright
Where there’s a will there’s a way.
Mid seventeenth century proverb
17. Hard Work
Man is made great or small by his own will.
J.C.F. von Schiller (1759-1805), German historian, poet, playwright
Moving mountains starts with a good shovel.
Anonymous
Work is life and good work is good life.
J. W. Elliot (1833-1915), English composer
Far and away the best that life can give
is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President of the U.S.
If you have much ability,
work will make it better.
If you have little ability,
work will make up the difference.
Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), Discourses on Art (1769)
Give your heart to God,
and your hand to work.
Swami Omkar (1895-1982), Indian holy man
Work is love that we can see.
Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), The Prophet (1923), ‘On Work’
A smart person who will not work
is like a cloud without rain.
Author unknown
The only place where success
comes before work is in the dictionary.
Donald Kendall (1921- ), former CEO of Pepsi Cola
It is good for a man that he carry the yoke
when he is young.
The Bible, Lamentations 3:27
Change yourself,
and your work will seem different.
Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993), American minister and author
Put your shoulder to the wheel.
Aesop (620 BC - 560 BC), Hercules and the Wagoner
The more we do,
the more we can do.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830), English essayist and literary criic
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Milton Friedman (1912-2006), American economist and author
If you ever need a helping hand,
you’ll find one at the end of your arm.
Sam Levenson (1911-1980), American humourist, writer, and TV host
Some people work hard...
at finding ways to get others to do the work.
Anonymous
God gives every bird his worm;
but he does not throw it into the nest.
Swedish Proverb
I have nothing left to give but
blood, labour, tears and sweat.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former British Prime Minister
Shallow men believe in luck.
Strong men believe in cause and effect.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find
the harder I work the more I have of it.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), third U.S. President
Luck sometimes visits a fool,
but it never sits down with him.
German Proverb
If I find ten thousand ways
that something won’t work,
I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged,
because everything I try that is wrong
is another step forward.
Thomas Edison (1847-1931), inventor and scientist
If people only knew how hard I have worked
to get this ability,
it would not seem so wonderful at all.
Michelangelo (1475-1564), Italian painter, engineer, poet, architect
A problem is your chance to do your best.
Duke Ellington (1899-1974), American composer and pianist
Start by doing what is needed;
then do what is possible;
and soon you will be doing the impossible.
Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), Italian Catholic preacher
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Jesus, Matthew 26:41
The rest of a labouring man is sweet.
The Bible, Ecclesiastes 5:12
All work and no play makes Jack a boring boy
and Jill a rich widow.
Evan Esar (1899-1995), American humourist
Work liberates.
words on the gates of Dachau concentration camp, 1933,
and later on those of Auschwitz
Early to rise and early to bed
makes a male healthy, wealthy and dead.
James Thurber (1894-1961), American author and cartoonist
It’s true hard work never killed anyone;
but I say why take the chance?
Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), actor and 40th U.S. President
By working faithfully eight hours a day
you may one day get to be boss
and work twelve hours a day.
Robert Frost (1874-1963), American poet
No man would choose to work on a ship if he was
smart enough to get himself put into a prison;
for being in a ship is like being in a prison
with the added chance of drowning.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Boswell's Life of Johnson
A man is not lazy just because he is thinking.
There is work that can be seen
and there is invisible work.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885), French writer and statesman
Come to me, all you who labour and are tired;
and I will give you rest.
Jesus, Matthew 11:28
My yoke is easy
and what I ask you to carry is light.
Jesus, Matthew 11:30
I’m lazy. But it’s the lazy people who invented
the wheel and the bicycle because they didn’t
like walking or carrying things.
Lech Walesa (1943- ), Polish human rights activist
We will go early to a job that we love,
and we will go happily.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Antony and Cleopatra act 4
There’s no need to do house work at all.
After the first four years,
the dirt does not become any worse.
Quentin Crisp (1908- ), The Naked Civil Servant (1968), chapter 15
The fastest way to do many things
is to do them one at a time.
Samuel Smiles (1812-1904), Self-Help (1859), chapter 9
Easy come, easy go.
title of a 1967 musical starring Elvis Presley
18. Business
Don't open a shop unless you like to smile.
Chinese proverb
If your business keeps you so busy
that you have no time for anything else,
there must be something wrong,
either with you or with your business.
William J. H. Boetcker (1873-1962), Presbyterian minister
To really serve you must add something
which one cannot buy or measure with money,
and that is sincerity and integrity.
Donald A. Adams, 15th President of Rotary International
Whoever does not love his work
cannot hope that it will please others.
Author unknown
The first rule in business is not to get caught.
Anonymous
Eat and drink with relatives;
but only do business with strangers.
Greek proverb
If your desk isn’t messy,
you probably aren’t doing your job.
Harold Geneen (1910-1997), American businessman
The most successful businessman is the one
who holds onto the old just as long as it is good,
and takes the new just as soon as it is better.
Lee Iacocca (1924- ), American businessman
No people can become rich until they learn that
there is as much worth in ploughing a field
as in writing a rhyme.
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), educator, author, and speaker
No one has ever had an idea in a dress suit.
Frederick G. Banting (1891-1941), Canadian doctor and Nobel laureate
Ideas are like rabbits.
You get a couple and learn how to handle them,
and soon you have a lot of them.
John Steinbeck (1902-1968), American author and Nobel laureate
The more you look for security,
the less of it you have.
But the more you look for a way to grow,
the more likely it is
that you will get the security that you desire.
Brian Tracy (1944- ), Canadian self-help author
Nothing is against the law
if a hundred businessmen choose to do it.
Andrew Young (1932- ), American politician, activist, and pastor
If you are in a job you hate,
face the truth squarely and get out.
Michael Korda (1933- ), author and novellist
A good newspaper
is a country talking to itself.
Arthur Miller (1915-2005), American writer, Observer, 26 Nov., 1961
Do not kill the goose that lays the gold egg.
Author unknown (reference to one of Aesop's fables)
Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
H.M. Markowitz (1927- ), American economist and Nobel laureate
Price is what you pay. Worth is what you get.
Warren Buffett (1930- ), one of the wealthiest people in the world
19. Money
A rich man
is nothing but a poor man with money.
W.C. Fields (1880-1946), comedian, juggler, actor, writer
Like dogs running in a wheel, greedy men
still climb and climb, but never reach the top.
Robert Burton (1577-1640), English scholar at Oxford University
The trouble with the rat race
is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.
Lily Tomlin (1939- ), actress, comedienne, writer
Do not be fooled into believing
that because a man is rich he is smart.
There is enough proof to show the opposite.
Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932), U.S. businessman and philanthropist
The person who dies rich
dies a loser.
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919),
North American Review June, 1889 ‘Wealth’
People who work sitting down get paid more
than people who work standing up.
Ogden Nash (1902-1971), American poet
Let them eat cake.
Marie Antoinette, when she learned that the peasants had no bread
A man without money need no more fear a
crowd of lawyers than a crowd of pickpockets.
William Wycherley (c. 1640-1715), English dramatist
Without a rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
There is no real use for wealth,
but to give it to others.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English scientist, lawyer, and statesman,
Of Riches
A bank is a place that will lend you money
if you can prove that you don’t need it.
Bob Hope (1903-2003), American comedian and actor
There is some magic in wealth,
that a fool who is rich should be given
more honour by the world
than a good man or a wise man who is poor!
Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823), The Mysteries of Edolpho
The love of money
is the root of all evil.
The Bible, I Timothy 6:10
All animals are equal,
but some animals
are more equal than others.
George Orwell (1903-1950), Animal Farm (1945), chapter 10
No one can serve two masters at the same time.
You cannot work for God and for money.
Jesus, Matthew 6:24
God’s people work for love.
The devil’s people work for money.
Anonymous
The rich think of money.
The poor think of God.
Author unknown
Too much has made me poor.
Ovid (43 BC-17 AD), Roman poet, Metamorphoses, book 2
To be smart enough to get all that money,
one must be stupid enough to want it.
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer and Christian apologist
It is harder for a rich man
to go into the kingdom of heaven
than it is for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle.
Jesus, Matthew 19:24
Does not God choose the poor
to be his people?
Do not the rich fight against
the teachings of Jesus?
The Bible, James 2:5-7
I sit on a man’s back, hurting him
and forcing him to carry me,
and I tell myself and others
that I feel sad for him,
and want to help him in any way that I can.
...in any way, that is, but to get off his back.
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), What Then Must We Do? (1886),
chapter 16
He who is carried on another's back
does not think about how far off the town is.
African proverb
You can hold money,
but money should not hold you.
Author unknown
They have mouths but do not talk,
eyes but cannot see,
ears but cannot hear,
noses but cannot smell,
hands but cannot touch,
and feet but cannot walk.
The Bible, Psalm 115:5 (about idols)
Greed is the same as worshiping idols.
The Bible, Colossians 3:5
Men, to make a living, forget to live.
Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), American journalist and feminist
I will tell you about the very rich.
They are different from you and me.
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), All the Sad Young Men (1926)
The rich and poor are two different countries,
with no feeling for each other,
and no words between them.
They know as little about each other
as they would know if they were
living on different planets.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), Sybil (1845), book 2, chapter 5
Where your wealth is,
there your heart will be too.
Jesus, Matthew 6:21
There is enough on earth for each man's need,
but not enough for each man's greed.
Frank Buchman (1878-1961), Remaking the World (1947), page 56
Time is money.
Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790), inventor, statesman, philosopher,
Advice to a Young Tradesman (1748)
Time is not money.
Time is far more important than that; time is life.
Anonymous
Where greed ends, happiness begins.
Author unknown
Learn to give quickly, lose happily,
and become rich without becoming greedy.
George Sand (1804-1876), female French novellist
To be upset over what you don’t have is to
waste what you do have.
Ken Keyes (1921-1995), American self-help author
Count what you have,
not what you do not have.
Author unknown
Something is better than nothing.
Author unknown
When we cannot get what we love,
we must learn to love what we get.
Roger de Rabutin (1618-1693), French memoirist
The earth is full of a number of things.
We all should be as happy as kings.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Scottish novelist and writer,
A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885), ‘Happy Thoughts’
The king is no more than a man... as I am.
The flower smells to him as it does to me.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Henry V act 4, scene 1
Because we do not have money,
we have been forced to think.
Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), British chemist and physicist.
The Bulletin of the Institute of Physics (1962), volume 13, page 102
They that die by famine die by inches.
Matthew Henry (1662-1714), English Bible commentator and minister
There is no wealth but life.
John Ruskin (1819-1900), Unto this Last (1862), essay 4, page 156
Have nothing in your house
that you do not use,
or that you do not believe
to be beautiful.
William Morris (1834-1896), English artist, writer, and socialist,
Hopes and Fears for Art (1882), ‘Making the Best of It’
If you buy what you do not need,
you will need what you cannot buy.
Author unknown
How many things I can do without!
Socrates (469-399 BC), on looking at all the things people were
selling, in Diogenes Laertius' Lives of the Philosophers book 2
Travel light, and you can sing
in the face of the robber.
Juvenal (55-127 AD),Roman poet and satirist, Satires number 10
The rich have servants, but no friends.
We have no servants, but we have friends.
Ezra Pound (1883-1972), American poet, The Garret
When you give to the poor,
your left hand should not know
what your right hand is doing.
Jesus, Matthew 6:3
Rough was their house and poor their food,
for all their wealth was doing good.
Samuel Garth (1661-1719), Claremont (1715),
It is better to give than to receive.
The Bible, Acts 20:35
The act of giving is an act of receiving too.
Author unknown
You help the poor most
when you help them quickly.
Publilius Syrus (1st Century BC), freed Syrian slave
Senteniae number 274, in J. & A. Duff, Minor Latin Poets
Do it now.
It is not safe to leave a generous feeling
for the cooling effect of the world.
Thomas Guthrie (1803-1873), Scottish preacher and philanthropist
God loves an enthusiastic giver.
The Bible, II Corinthians 9:7
The ones who are right before God
will all live by faith.
The Bible, Romans 1:17
There is no better way
that any group can use money
than to put milk into babies.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former British Prime Minister,
on radio, 21 March, 1943, in Complete Speeches (1974)
The rich are the scum of the earth
in every country.
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer and Christian apologist
The Lord is my Shepherd;
I shall not go without what I need.
The Bible, Psalm 23:1
Foxes have holes
and birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of Man has nowhere
to lay his head.
Jesus, Matthew 8:20
20. Jesus Christ
Look! The Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!
Bible, John 1:29.
There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the good Lord was put to death,
Who died to save us all.
Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895), Irish poet and hymn writer
Take up your cross and follow me.
Jesus, Matthew 16:24
He who finds his life will lose it,
but he who will lose his life for me will find it.
Jesus, Matthew 10:39
Anyone who does not forsake all that he owns
cannot be my disciple.
Jesus, Luke 14:33
If you love me,
you will obey my teachings.
Jesus, John 14:15
Anyone who gathers not with me
is against me.
Jesus, Matthew 12:30
If someone asks you for your coat,
give them your shirt as well.
Jesus, Luke 6:29
The disciple is not greater than his master.
If they have called me a devil,
they will do the same to you.
Jesus, Matthew 10:24-25
Do not give your pearls to pigs.
Jesus, Matthew 7:6
Give to the king what is the king’s,
and give to God what is God’s.
Jesus, Matthew 22:21
Many that are first will be last,
and the last will be first.
Jesus, Matthew 19:30
You can’t have both:
the crown and the thirty pieces of silver.
Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960), British politician
21. Nature and God
If a person walks in the forest
and listens carefully,
he can learn more than what is in books,
for it speaks with the voice of God.
George Washington Carver (1864-1943), U.S. scientist and inventor
Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice.
It is inside everyone.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), pacifist & ideological leader of India
We spend most of our time in a kind of horizontal
thinking. We move along the top of things; but
there are times when we stop and lose ourselves
in a pile of leaves. We listen and voices from a
whole other world begin to whisper.
James Carroll (1943- ), American novelist, historian, and journalist
God the first garden made,
and the first city Cain.
Abraham Cowley (1618-1667), English poet
It is a good thing to be out on the hills alone.
A man cannot be cruel or a fool
alone on a great mountain.
Francis Kilvert (1840-1879), from his diaries
You will find something more in a forest
than in books.
Trees and stones will teach you
that which you can never learn from masters.
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), French Abbott
Thanks to highways, it is now possible to travel
from one side of the country to the other
without seeing anything.
Charles Kuralt (1934-1997), American journalist
He that plants trees
loves others besides himself.
English Proverb
A fool does not see
the same tree that a wise man sees.
William Blake (1757-1827), The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Don’t go around saying
the world owes you a living.
The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than
a step in the work of the stars.
Walt Whitman (1819-1892), American poet, essayist and journalist
Where the telescope ends,
the microscope begins,
and who can say which has the wider vision?
Victor Hugo (1802-1885), Les Miserables
The earth is God’s,
and all that is in it.
The Bible, Psalm 24:1
The leaves fall, the wind blows,
and the farm slowly changes
from summer cottons into its winter wools.
Henry Beston (1888-1968), Northern Farm
In the cold midwinter icy wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone;
Snow was falling, snow on snow, Snow on
snow, In the cold midwinter, Long ago.
Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), A Christmas Carol
We dig the ground
and plant the good seed on the land, but
food and water come
from God’s much stronger hand.
Jane Montgomery Campbell (1817-1878), 1861 hymn
translated from the German of Matthias Claudius (1740-1815)
In God we live and move
and have our being.
The Bible, Acts 17:28
Nature is but name for an effect,
Whose cause is God.
William Cowper (1731-1800), English poet and hymn writer
God gave Noah the rainbow sign,
no more water, the fire next time.
Home in that Rock (Negro Spiritual)
The wolf also shall live with the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the young goat.
The Bible, Isaiah 11:6.
God made the country;
man made the town.
William Cowper (1731-1800), The Task (1785), book 1 ‘The Sofa’
Cain moved away from where God was,
and he made a city.
The Bible, Genesis 4:16-17
If being spiritual is being humble
in the face of forces greater than you,
and believing those forces
lean more toward being good than being bad,
then I'm a spiritual person.
Michael J. Fox (1961- ), Candadian actor, author, and producer,
Good Housekeeping, June, 2011
Are people monkeys or angels?
I am on the side of the angels.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), former British Prime Minister,
speech at Oxford, 25 November, 1874, The Times 26 November
Man is Nature’s sole mistake!
Humphrey Gilbert (1539-1583), soldier, explorer and British MP
He made this world to be like the world above,
and below, and all in one.
The Zohar (Kabbalah), Jewish mystical writings
God is a circle of which the centre
is everywhere and the border is nowhere.
Empedocles (490-430 BC), Greek philosopher
Your body is the temple of God’s Spirit.
The Bible, I Corinthians 6:19
All we know of what they do above, is that
they are happy and that they love.
Edmund Waller (1606-1687), Upon the Death of My Lady Rich
(1645)
Oh God, if there be a God,
save my soul, if I have a soul.
prayer of a soldier before the battle of Blenheim, 1704
I said to the man standing at the door to the
new year, “Give me a light to help me walk
safely into the future.” He answered, “Go into
the darkness, and put your hand into the hand
of God. That will be to you better than a light
and safer than knowing the future.”
Minnie Louise Haskins (1875-1957), Desert (1908), ‘God Knows’
As I shouted,
growing more angry and wild at each word,
I believed I could hear one saying, “Child.”
And I answered, “My God!”
George Herbert (1593-1633), The Collar (1633)
Go to sleep in peace. God is awake.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885), French writer and statesman
His eye is on the sparrow,
and I know he watches me.
Civilla D. Martin (1866-1948), Canadian-American hymn writer
Be strong, and be encouraged!
Do not be afraid; and do not be worried.
For God is with you wherever you go.
The Bible, Joshua 1:9
God hides himself from the mind of man,
but he shows himself to a man's heart.
African proverb
Can you by looking find out God?
The Bible, Job 11:7
No man has seen God at any time.
The Bible, John 1:18
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The Bible, John 4:24
In His will is our peace.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Italian writer and philosopher
Be quiet, and know that I am God.
The Bible, Psalm 46:10
God stops talking to people
who do not want to hear.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902), author
Further Extracts from Notebooks (1934), page 279
Will the clay tell the potter what to make of it?
The Bible, Isaiah 29:16
If God be for us, who can be against us?
The Bible, Romans 8:31
Remember now your Maker,
in the days when you are young.
The Bible, Ecclesiastes 12:1
When I was young I remembered God.
Now that I am old, he remembers me.
Robert Southey (1774-1843), The Old Man’s Comforts (1799)
God be in my head and in my understanding.
God be in my eyes and in my looking.
God be in my mouth and in my talking.
God be in my heart and in my thinking.
God be in my end and in my leaving.
Sarum Missal 11th Century
In the measure that we give to God,
He will give to us.
Jesus, Luke 6:38
God does not see as people see.
People look on the outside,
but God looks on the heart.
The Bible, I Samuel 16:17
My house shall be called a house of prayer
for all people.
The Bible, Isaiah 56:7
People should always pray, and not give up.
Jesus, Luke 18:1
Your words are a light for my feet.
The Bible, Psalm 119:105
As for me and my house,
we will serve the Lord.
The Bible, Joshua 24:15
22. Religion
I do not fear Satan half so much
as I fear those who fear him.
Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Spanish mystic and Carmelite nun
Beliefs separate us.
Dreams and pain bring us together.
Eugene Ionesco (1909-1994), Romanian playwright
We have enough religion to make us hate,
but not enough to make us love each other.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Thoughts on Various Subjects (1711)
Wise people all have the same religion.
But because they are wise,
they will not tell you what religion it is.
1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621-1683), Bishop Gilbert Burnet
History of My Own Time, volume 1 (1724), book 2, chapter 1
You cannot put God in a box.
Author unknown
Where Jesus builds his Church,
the devil builds in the same place his temple.
Richard Bancroft (1544-1610), sermon at Paul’s Cross, 1588
A cult is a religion with no political power.
Tom Wolfe (1931- ), American author and journalist
What’s a cult? It just means
not enough people to make a minority.
Robert Altman (1925-2006), American film director and screenwriter
The devil is most dangerous
when people think well of him.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861), English poet,
Aurora Leigh (1857), book 7
When religion was strong
and science weak,
men believed magic was medicine.
Now, when science is strong
and religion weak,
men believe medicine is magic.
Thomas Szasz (1920- ),
Hungarian psychiatrist and academic,
The Second Sin (1973)
The price of freedom of religion
is that we must put up with a lot of rubbish.
Robert Jackson (1892-1954), former U.S. Attorney General
Whoever obeys the gods,
to him they especially listen.
Homer (c. 800 BC-700 BC), Greek epic poet, The Iliad
Toward no crime
have men shown themselves to be so cruel
as in punishing differences of belief.
James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), American poet, critic, and diplomat
Religion is a candle inside a lantern
with different colours.
Everyone looks through a different colour,
but the candle is always the same.
Mohammed Neguib (1901-1984), first president of Egypt
You can preach a better sermon with your life
than with your lips.
Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774), Irish writer and physician
It is no use walking anywhere to preach
unless our walking is our preaching.
Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), Italian Catholic preacher
I will show you what I believe by what I do.
The Bible, James 2:18
If you pray, you will believe;
If you believe, you will love;
If you love, you will help.
Sister Teresa (1910-1997), Albanian Catholic nun
We need to put legs to our prayers.
Author unknown
This is my simple religion.
There is no need for temples;
no need for difficult philosophy.
Our own brain, our own heart is our temple;
the philosophy is kindness.
14th Dalai Lama (1935), Nobel laureate and spiritual leader of Tibet
Hate the sin, but love the sinner.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), pacifist & ideological leader of India
When the gods wish to punish us,
they answer our prayers.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish writer and poet,
An Ideal Husband, 1893
Danger past, God forgotten.
Scottish Proverb
There are only two ways to live your life.
One as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German physicist
Give thanks for unknown blessings
already on their way.
Native American Prayer
It is not happiness that makes us thankful,
but it is being thankful that makes us happy.
Scott Reed (1938- ), African-American author
The word enthusiasm
comes from the words “God in you”.
Anonymous
What hunger is to food, enthusiasm is to life.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), Welsh philosopher and historian
To become enthusiastic,
act like you are enthusiastic.
Percy H. Whiting, American writer, salesman, and speaker
Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will
come for miles to watch you burn.
John Wesley (1703-1791), English founder of the Methodist Church
Two people were watching a church burn down.
First person: I have never seen you
at this church before.
Second person: That is because this church
has never been on fire before.
Anonymous
There's one thing I wish I could give my family
and that is the Christian religion. If they had
that and I had not given them one cent,
they would be rich.
Patrick Henry (1736-1799), American orator and politician
One religion is as true as another.
Robert Burton (1577-1640), English scholar at Oxford University
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
The Bible, Deuteronomy 19:21
23. Dreams and Hopes
The one without dreams
is the one without wings.
Muhammad Ali (1942- ), American boxer, philanthropist, and activist
To do great things, we must not only act, but
also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
Anatole France (1844-1924), French poet, journalist, and novelist
Nothing happens... but first a dream.
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), American writer and editor
Faith is the proof of things we cannot see.
The Bible, Hebrews 11:1
But I am a dreamer
So you sent me away.
Sometimes we dreamers
Just get in the way.
Shawn Mullins (1968- ), American singer, Anchored In You
The only things that stand between a person
and what they want in life are the will to try it
and the faith to believe it is possible.
Rich Devos (1926- ), American billionaire and co-founder of Amway
24. How to be Successful
I don’t know the key to success,
but the key to failing
is trying to please everybody.
Bill Cosby (1937- ), American comedian, actor, author, and musician
Success won’t just come to you.
It has to be met at least halfway.
Frank Tyger (1929-2011), American political cartoonist
As a general rule the most successful man in
life is the man who has the best information.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), former British Prime Minister
The easiest success measuring tool
is a simple question:
What did you do today to move forward?
Rich DiGirolamo, American seminar speaker
Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got
where he is had to begin where he was.
Richard L. Evans (1906-1971), American writer, Mormon leader,
and former President of Rotary International
There is always room at the top.
Daniel Webster (1782-1852), American statesman and senator
Do the hard jobs first.
The easy jobs will take care of themselves.
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), American self-improvement lecturer
The art of being wise
is the art of knowing what to overlook.
William James (1842-1910), American psychologist and philosopher
The road up and the road down
are one and the same.
Heraclitus (c. 540 to c.480 BC), Greek philosopher,
Diels & Kranz Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (1954)
If you don’t like what you’re doing,
then don’t do it.
Ray Bradbury (1920- ), science fiction, fantasty, and horror writer
When God is come
to mark against your name,
He writes not if you won or lost
but how you played the game.
Grantland Rice (1880-1954), American sportswriter,
Alumnus Football (1941)
25. Planning Ahead
Be prepared.
Boy Scout motto
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790), inventor, statesman, philosopher
Your choices today make your tomorrow;
you make your life through the power of choice.
Kathy Smith
The time to fix the roof
is when the sun is shining.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th President of the United States
When the house closest to you is on fire,
it does not hurt to put water on your own.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Irish stateman and philosopher
Reflections of the Revolution in France (1790), page 29
Dig the well before you are thirsty.
Chinese Proverb
A stitch in time saves nine.
Author unknown
The future belongs
to those who prepare for it today.
Malcolm X (1925-1965), African-American Muslim minister and
human rights activist
In life, as in chess, planning ahead wins.
Charles Buxton (1823-1871), English brewer, writer, philanthropist, MP
You never miss the water
until the well has run dry.
Irish Proverb
For every minute you spend planning
an hour is saved.
Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790), inventor, statesman, philosopher
A good plan now
is better than a perfect plan next week.
George S. Patton (1885-1945), American army general
26. Time
The past is what we build on.
The present is what we build with.
The future is what we build.
Aurobindo Ghose (1872-1950), Indian freedom fighter and writer
The present holds all that there is. It is holy
ground; for it is the past and it is the future.
Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), English mathematician,
I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes.
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), Cornhuskers (1918), “Prairie”
My interest is in the future because I am going
to spend the rest of my life there.
Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958), American inventor and engineer
The farther backward you can look,
the farther forward you are likely to see.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former British Prime Minister
Buy back the badly used time of the past,
and live this day as if it were your last.
Thomas Ken (1637-1711), English cleric, bishop, and hymn-writer,
Morning Hymn (1709)
We live life forward,
but we understand it backwards.
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Danish philosopher, Life
Tomorrow comes to us at midnight.
It's perfect when it arrives
and it puts itself in our hands.
It hopes we've learned something
from yesterday.
John Wayne (1907-1979), actor, film director, and producer
Today is the tomorrow
that we worried about yesterday.
Author unknown
How did it get so late so soon?
It’s night before it’s afternoon.
Dr. Seuss (1904-1991). American writer, poet, and cartoonist
Life is the little shadow which runs across the
grass and loses itself in the setting of the sun.
Crowfoot, last words (1890), Blackfoot warrior and orator
It is never too late
to be what you might have been.
George Eliot/Marian Evans (1819-1880), English writer
This is your life
and it’s ending one minute at a time.
David Fincher (1962- ), American film director
The more sand that leaves the hourglass
of our lives, the clearer we should see.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), French writer, philosopher and activist
We have only this minute,
melting like a snow flake.
Let us use it before it is too late.
Marie Beyon Ray, 20th Century American writer, and editor of Vogue
Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.
Napoleon Hill (1883-1970), American author
In times like these it helps to remember that
there have always been times like these.
Paul Harvey (1918-2009), American radio broadcaster
What a difference a day makes!
Maria Grever (1894-1951), Mexican composer
Time is the great healer.
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), Henrietta Temple (1837),
People talk of killing time,
but time is quietly killing them.
Dion Boucicalt (1820-1890), London Assurance (1841), act 2, scene 1
Killing time is the name
for one of many ways
that time uses to kill us.
Osbert Sitwell (1892-1969), English writer, Milordo Inglese (1958)
The clock is always slow.
It is later than you think.
Robert W. Service (1874-1958), It is Later Than You Think (1921)
27. The Young and the Old
Everybody has been young before,
but not everybody has been old before.
African proverb
Believe the one who has been through it.
Virgil (70-19 BC), Roman poet, Aeneid book 10
To know the road ahead,
ask those coming back.
Chinese Proverb
If you choose not to be made straight
when you are green,
you will not be made straight when you are dry.
African proverb
Age does not protect you from love.
But love, in a way, protects you from age.
Jeanne Moreau (1928- ), French actress, singer, writer, and director
When young, we learn.
When old, we understand.
Marie Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916), Austrian writer
The measure of life is not in its length,
but in what we do with it.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), Essai, No. 1, line 20
As long as you live, the first twenty years will be
the longest half of your life.
Robert Southey (1774-1843), English poet, The Doctor
I'm seventeen and crazy.
My uncle says the two always go together.
Ray Bradbury (1920- ), American writer, Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
I grow old, but I do not stop learning.
Solon (c. 640-556 BC), Greek poet and statesman,
Poetae Lyrici Graeci (1843), number 18
Nobody grows old just by living a number of
years. We grow old by losing our beliefs.
Samuel Ullman (1840-1924), American businessman and poet
We all want to live long.
But no one wants to be old.
Jonathon Swift (1667-1745), Irish writer, cleric, and political campaigner,
Thoughts on Various Subjects
Being old is not so bad when you think about
what the other choice is.
Author unknown
Old age is always fifteen years older than I am.
Bernard M. Baruch (1870-1965), American financier and statesman
Forty is the old age of youth,
and fifty is the youth of old age.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885), French writer and statesman
If you live to be one hundred, you’ve got it
made. Very few people die past that age.
George Burns (1896-1996), American actor, comedian, and writer
The fountain of youth is boring as paint.
Methuselah is my most loved saint.
I’ve never been so comfortable before,
Oh I’m so glad I’m not young any more.
Alan Jay Lerner (1918-1986), American lyricist
I don’t worry about getting old. I’m old already.
Only young people worry about getting old.
George Burns (1896-1996), American actor, comedian, and writer
You know you are getting old when the candles
cost more than the cake.
Bob Hope (1903-2003), American comedian and actor
28. Family Life
What God has joined together,
let no man pull apart.
Jesus, Matthew 19:6
Yes, do marry.
If you get a good wife, you'll be happy.
If you get a bad one you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates (469-399 BC), Greek philosopher
Husbands, love your wives,
and be not bitter against them.
The Bible, Colossians 3:19
I would be married, but I’d have no wife;
I would be married to a single life.
Richard Crashaw (c. 1613-1649), English poet
Never shall I say that marriage
brings more happiness than pain.
Euripides (480 BC - 406 BC), Greek playwright
The music at a wedding always makes me think
of the music of soldiers going into battle.
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), German poet and literary critic
From Jesus we learn that the great curse of
Sodom and Gomorrah was not being homosexual.
It was buying and selling, planting and building,
and getting married.
Anonymous
All married people should learn the art of battle.
Good battle is honest, and never cruel.
Good battle is healthy and brings a feeling
of both people being equal.
Ann Landers (Epple Lederer), (1918-2002), advice columnist
Real love is having someone
who’ll go the distance with you. Someone who,
when the wedding day limo breaks down,
is willing to share a seat on the bus.
Oprah Winfrey (1954- ), talk show host, O Magazine, February 2004
The only two people who count in any marriage
are the two that are in it.
Hillary Rodham Clinton (1947- ), 67th U.S. Secretary of State
We were happily married for eight months.
But we were married for four and a half years.
Nick Faldo (1957- ), English professional golfer
Wife and Servant are the same,
But only different in the name.
Mary Chudleigh (1656-1710), English feminist writer
We men have got love well weighed up;
we can get by without it.
Women don’t seem to think that’s good enough;
They write about it.
Kingsley Amis (1922-1995), English writer and teacher
If men had to have babies,
they would only ever have one.
Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997), first wife of Prince Charles
All that women do,
they must do twice as well as men
before people will think they are half as good.
Charlotte Whitton (1896-1975), Canadian feminist & Mayor of Ottawa,
Canada Month June, 1963
If all men are born free,
how is it that all women are born slaves?
Mary Astell (1666-1731), English feminist writer
I do not want women to control men;
but to be able to control themselves.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), English feminist writer & philosopher
A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), chapter 4
When men are scared of a woman,
they always say that she is acting like a man.
Elizabeth Aston, English novelist, The Second Mrs. Darcy, 2007
Look like a girl, act like a woman,
think like a man, and work like a dog.
Caroline K. Simon (1900-1993), American lawyer and politician
Never marry a man who hates his mother,
because he’ll end up hating you.
Jill Bennett (1931-1990), British actress
As is the mother, so is her daughter.
The Bible, Ezekiel 16:44
Parents love their children
more than children love their parents.
Aristotle, (384-322 BC), Greek philosopher, Auctoritates Aristotelis
There is no such thing as
other people’s children.
Hillary Rodham Clinton (1947- ), 67th U.S. Secretary of State
The most interesting thing about America,
is the way the parents obey their children.
Edward VIII (1894-1972), King of England, who abdicated in 1936
God lends you your children until they’re about
eighteen years old. If you haven’t made your
points with them by then, it’s too late.
Betty Ford (1918-2011), U.S. First Lady from 1974-1977
We worry about what a child will be tomorrow,
yet we forget that he is someone today.
Stacia Tauscher, possibly 17th Century writer
It is easier to live through someone else
than to become whole yourself.
Betty Friedan (1921-2006), American writer, activist, and feminist
Children begin by loving their parents.
After a time they judge them.
They almost never forgive them.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish writer and poet
To a child, one of the clearest truths about
adults is that they have forgotten
what it was like to be a child.
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965), American writer and poet laureate
A child's life is like a piece of paper on which
every person leaves a mark.
Chinese Proverb
There are only two lasting gifts
we can give our children...
one is roots, the other wings.
Stephen Covey (1932- ), American author
A mother is not a person to lean on,
but a person to free you from the need to lean.
Dorothy Fisher (1879-1958), American author and social activist
Many inventions had their birth as toys.
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983), American author
We are the people
our parents warned us about.
Jimmy Buffett (1946- ), American singer, author, and film producer
A good son makes a good husband.
American proverb
The reason grandparents and grandchildren
get along so well
is because they have the same enemy.
Sam Levenson (1911-1980), American humourist, writer, and TV host
Never have children, only grandchildren.
Gore Vidal (1925- ), American writer and political activist
Family isn’t about whose blood you have. It’s
about who you care about.
Trey Parker & Matt Stone, creators of the U.S. TV series South Park
For thirty years my mother served the family
nothing but leftovers.
The first meal has never been found.
Calvin Trillin (1935- ), American writer and humourist
My grandmother started walking
five miles a day when she was sixty.
She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know
where on earth she is.
Ellen DeGeneres (1958- ), American comedienne and talk show host
A man’s home is his castle.
Edward Coke, The Institutes of the Laws of England, 1628
A child who does the right thing
makes his father happy;
but a foolish son or daughter
brings sadness to her mother.
The Bible, Proverbs 10:1
The family that prays together
stays together.
Al Scalpone, motto for the Catholic Family Rosary Crusade, 1947
A prophet is not without honour, apart from
in his own country, and in his own house.
Jesus, St Matthew 13:57
29. Friends
There is a friend
that sticks closer than a brother.
The Bible, Proverbs 18:24
We can live without a brother,
but not without a friend.
A friend is one spirit
living in two bodies.
Aristophanes (c. 450-c. 385 BC), Greek comic playwright
God gives us relatives.
Thank God we can choose our friends.
Ethel Mumford (c. 1877-1940), American author
Think where happiness starts and ends,
and say
“My happiness is that I had good friends.”
W. B. Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet and playwright,
The Municipal Gallery Re-visited (1939)
Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead.
Walk beside me and be my friend.
Albert Camus (1913-1960), French author and philosopher
One never reaches home,
but wherever friendly paths meet
the whole world looks like home for a time.
Hermann Hesse (1877-1962), German writer, painter & Nobel laureate
There are no strangers here;
Only friends you have not yet met.
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet and playwright
It takes a lot of courage
to show your dreams to someone else.
Erma Bombeck (1927-1996), American humourist, author,& columnist
Open not your heart to every man.
The Bible, Ecclesiasticus 8:19
You cannot buy friends;
but you can sometimes rent them.
Anonymous
Love comes from being blind;
friends from knowledge.
Roger de Rabutin (1618-1693), French memoirist
To find a friend one must close one eye.
To keep him - two.
Norman Douglas (1868-1952), English writer
Before borrowing money from a friend,
think about which you need more.
Addison H. Hallock (biographic details unknown)
Your friend is the man who knows all about you
and still likes you.
Elbert Hubbard (1865-1915), American writer, artist, and philosopher
The best mirror is an old friend.
George Herbert (1593-1633), Welsh orator and Anglican priest
Our friends, the enemy.
Pierre-Jean de Beranger (1780-1857), French poet and song-writer
There is nothing like the razor sharp tongue of a good friend
to cut through the lies we tell ourselves.
Laura Moncur, motivational speaker, Merriton
A true friend thinks you're a good egg
even though he knows you're a little cracked.
Bernard Meltzer (1916-1998), Harvard graduate and radio show host
A friend is a present you give yourself.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Scottish novelist and writer
If you want friends, you must first be friendly.
The Bible, Proverbs 18:24
A trouble shared is a trouble cut in half.
Early 20th century proverb
A faithful friend is the medicine of life.
The Bible, Ecclesiasticus 5:15
30. Working Together
We must learn to live together as brothers,
or perish together as fools.
Martin Luther King (1929-1968), civil rights activist, & Baptist minister
Do not protect yourself by a fence,
but rather by your friends.
Czech proverb
Throw your heart over the fence
and the rest will follow.
Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993), American minister and author
The heart that gives, gathers.
Marianne Moore (1887-1972), American poet
Two heads are better than one.
Author unknown
All for one, and one for all.
Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), French writer,
The Three Musketeers (1844), chapter 9
No man is an island.
John Donne (1572-1631), English poet, lawyer, and priest
Together we stand; divided we fall.
John Dickinson (1732-1808), American lawyer and politician
Writings of John Dickinson volume 1 (1895), page 421
We are, each of us, angels with only one wing.
We can only fly by hugging one another.
Luciano de Crescenzo (1928- ),
Italian writer, actor, and engineer
When you live on a round planet,
there’s no choosing sides.
Wayne Dyer (1940- ), American self-help author and lecturer
From each as they have ability,
to each as they have need.
Karl Marx (1818-1883), German philosopher, historian, and journalist
Each affects the other
and the other affects the next,
and the world is full of stories,
but the stories are all one.
Mitch Albom, American writer and radio and TV broadcaster,
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
When evil people come together,
good people must come together too,
or they will fall one by one.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Irish stateman and philosopher
Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770), page 71
My life belongs to the whole community,
and as long as I live,
I will be happy to do for it whatever I can.
I want to be all used up when I die,
for the harder I work, the more I live.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright
No cruel leader need fear
until men begin to feel confident in each other.
Aristotle (384-322 BC), Greek philosopher, student of Plato
The dwarf sees farther than the giant,
when he has the giant’s shoulder to mount on.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), English poet and philosopher
It is not for one to pride himself for loving his own country,
but rather for loving the whole world.
The earth is but one country.
Baha’u’llah (1817-1892), Persian founder of the Baha'i Faith
31. Political Life
Ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th U.S. President,
Inaugural address, 20 January, 1961, Vital Speeches 1 February, 1961
The whole country is not in flames;
there are people in the country besides
politicians, entertainers, and criminals.
Charles Kuralt (1937-1997), American journalist
I don’t want to cover myself in the flag,
because I’m afraid I’ll get burned.
Warren Burger (1907-1995), 15th Chief Justice of the United States
The power to tax brings the power to destroy.
John Marshall (1755-1835), former Chief Justice of the U.S.
The reason there are so few female politicians
is that it is too much trouble
to put makeup on two faces.
Maureen Murphy (1952-2008), American politician
Like Caesar’s wife, all things to all men.
A newly-elected mayor, saying that he would be fair to all.
When I gave food to the poor,
they called me a saint.
When I asked why the poor were hungry,
they called me a communist.
Helder Camara (1909-1999), Roman Catholic Archbishop
I am just one thing only, and that is a clown.
It puts me far above any politician.
Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), English comic actor, composer, director
One who does not vote
has no right to complain.
Louis L’Amour (1908-1988), American author
If presidents wouldn’t do it to their wives,
then why would they do it to their countrymen?
Arthur Tugman (1938- ), American author of books on success
Who will guard the guards?
Juvenal (55-127 AD), Roman poet and satirist
When the President says something on Monday,
he still believes it on Wednesday--
no matter what happened on Tuesday.
Stephen Colbert (1964- ), American actor, writer, and TV host,
speech at White House correspondents' dinner, April 30, 2006
32. War and Peace
These politicians are all about
sending people to war,
but they don’t know what it’s all about,
having bombs go off, hearing bullets fly by.
They have no idea what that’s like.
Antonio Molina, returned soldier
We Americans, we’re a simple people...
but make us angry, and we’ll bomb your cities.
Robin Williams (1951- ), American actor and comedian
Choose the right weapon for the job.
You cannot change people’s hearts with guns.
Author unknown
Strength lies not in defense but in attack.
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), German dictator
There is no honour in battle
worth the blood it costs.
Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969), arny general & 34th U.S. President
Force is not an answer.
John Bright (1811-1889), The Times 17 November, 1880
What can wars give us
but more wars?
John Milton (1608-1674), English poet and civil servant
On the Lord General Fairfax at the Siege of Colchester (1648)
In war there are no winners.
All are losers.
Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940), British Prime Minister, 1937-1940
speech at Kettering, in The Times 4 July, 1938
They that live by the sword
will die by the sword.
The Bible, Matthew 26:52
All is fair in love and war.
John Lyly (1553-1606), English writer, Euphues (1578)
Where do wars come from?
They come from your greed.
When you cannot get what you want,
you fight and kill for it.
The Bible, James 4:1-2
When war starts,
Truth is the first to die.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English writer and lexicographer
The Idler number 30 (11 November, 1785)
The fastest way to end a war
is to lose it.
George Orwell (1903-1950), Irish playwright,
Polemic May, 1946 ‘Second Thoughts on James Burnham’
They say that a book is important
if it is about men at war;
but it is not important if it is about
the feelings of women in their living rooms.
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), English writer
I know not with what weapons
World War III will be fought, but World War IV
will be fought with sticks and stones.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German physicist
Some day they will give a war
and nobody will come.
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), American writer,The People, Yes (1936),
Sleep before you fight.
It’s not too late tomorrow to be brave.
John Armstrong (1709-1779), Scottish doctor and poet,
The Art of Preserving Health
We should not talk out of fear,
but we should not fear to talk.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th President of the United States,
Vital Speeches, 1 February, 1961
I think that people want peace so much
that one of these days
governments had better get out of the way
and let them have it.
Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969), army general & 34th U.S. President
If everyone wanted peace instead of another
television, then there’d be peace.
John Lennon (1940-1980), English musician, singer, and songwriter
While you are talking peace with your lips, be
careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), Italian Catholic preacher
If we are to teach real peace in this world,
and if we are to carry on a real war against war,
we shall have to begin with the children.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), pacifist & ideological leader of India
There was never a good war or a bad peace.
Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790), inventor, statesman, philosopher
War is the business of kings.
John Dryden (1631-1700), English writer, literary critic and translator
There is no need to go to India
or anywhere else to find peace.
You will find that right in your room.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1926-2004), American psychiatrist
If you cannot find peace inside yourself,
you will never find it anywhere else.
Marvin Gaye (1939-1984), American singer and songwriter
'There is no rest,' says God,
'for evil people.'
The Bible, Isaiah 48:22
33. Happiness
The greatest happiness for the most people
is the bottom line for what is right,
and for making the rules of any country.
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), Commonplace Book
in J. Bowring (ed.), Works volume 10 (1843), page 142
The place to be happy is here.
The time to be happy is now.
The way to be happy
is to make others happy.
Ma Yogashakti Saraswati (1927- ), Indian yoga teacher
Ask yourself if you are happy,
and you will stop being happy.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), in his autobiography (1873), ch. 5
What can be added to the happiness
of a man who is in good health,
out of debt, and has a clear conscience?
Adam Smith (1723-1790), social philosopher
The secret to living the happiest life
is to live dangerously.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), poet, philosopher, composer
Die Fröhliche Wissenschaft (1882), book 3, section 116
One swallow does not make a summer.
In the same way, one day of happiness
does not make a person fully happy.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C), philosopher & teacher of Alexander the Great
I never think of the future.
It comes soon enough.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Austrian physicist
Help your brother’s boat across, and look!
your own has reached the other side.
Hindu Proverb
Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on
others without getting some on yourself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
To be stupid, selfish, and healthy
are needed for happiness,
but if one is not stupid, all is lost.
Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French writer
The happiness of your life
is built on the quality of your thoughts.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD), Roman emperor from 161 AD
When someone does something good, clap!
You will make two people happy.
Samuel Goldwyn (1879-1974), American film producer and executive
You are happiest
if you do not try to be happier.
John Milton (1608-1674), English poet, Paradise Lost (1667), book 5
One has no better thing to do under the sun
than to eat and to drink and to be happy.
Bible, Ecclesiastes 8:15
Happiness is losing all that you have... and after
a time... receiving it back again.
Anonymous
Yesterday is dead. Tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet.
I have just one day, today,
and I’m going to be happy in it.
Groucho Marx (1890-1977), American comedian and film star
Happiness always comes after pain.
Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), French writer, Le Pont Mirabeau
Happiness makes up in height
what it does not have in length.
Robert Frost (1874-1963), American poet, title of a poem (1942),
People take different roads
looking for happiness.
Just because they’re not on your road
doesn’t mean they’re lost.
Jackson Brown, Jr., American author
Be happy while you’re living,
for you’re a long time dead.
Scottish proverb
For every minute you are angry
you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
34. Being Bitter or Forgiving?
The only person who cannot be helped
is that person who blames others.
Carl Rogers (1902-1987), American psychologist
To be wronged is nothing
unless you go on remembering it.
Confucius (551 BC- 459 BC), Chinese philosopher
Being bitter is like cancer.
It eats the one who has it.
Maya Angelou (1923- ), American author and poet
Hate does not stop in this world by hating,
but by not hating; this is an eternal truth.
Guatama Buddha (c. 563 BC - c. 483 BC), Indian spiritual leader
Hate destroys the one who hates
more than the one who is hated.
Anonymous
Those who hate you don’t win
unless you hate them.
And then you destroy yourself.
Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994), 37th President of the United States
You can’t shake hands with a closed fist.
Indira Gandhi (1917-1984), third Prime Minister of the Republic of India
Fighting fire with fire only gets you ashes!
Abigail van Buren (Pauline Phillips), (1918- ),
American advice columnist ("Dear Abby"), and Radio Show host
Anger is being crazy for a short time.
Horace (65-8 BC), Roman lyric poet, Epistles, book 1, number 2
If you hate a person,
you hate something in that person
that is part of yourself.
What is not a part of us
does not make us angry.
Hermann Hesse (1877-1962), German poet and painter Demian ch. 6
In time, we hate what we often fear.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright,
Antony and Cleopatra act 1, scene 3
Two wrongs do not make one right.
B. Rush, a letter written in 1783
Good people give and forgive.
Bad people get and forget.
Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1993), Indian Hindu spiritual leader
He who asks for mercy, but shows none,
burns the bridges over which
he himself must later pass.
Thomas Adams (1871-1940), English pioneer of urban planning
Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness
forces you to grow bigger than what you were.
Cherie Carter-Scott (1949- ), American self-help author
Forgiveness is our most important gift
to the healing of the world.
Marianne Williamson (1952- ), American author, and spiritual activist
Forgiving those who hurt us
is the key to inner peace.
G. Weatherly (1865-1940), a founder of American Sociological Society
If someone hits you on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also.
Jesus, Matthew 5:39
Give him enough rope and he will hang himself.
Emily Bronte (1818-1848), English author of Wuthering Heights
Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea,
until they have something to forgive.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Irish writer, academic, & Christian apologist
Forgiveness is a funny thing.
It warms the heart and cools the burn.
William Arthur Ward (1921-1924), American writer of short sayings
Love is living. Hate is dying.
Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), Hindu philosopher
It is kind to forgive, but stupid to forget.
Anonymous
Forgive your enemies,
but never forget their names.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th President of the United States
35. Arguments
Most of our so-called reasoning
is made up of us finding arguments
for going on believing as we already do.
James Harvey Robinson (1863-1936), American historian
I learned long ago never to roll with a pig. You
get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.
Cyrus Ching (1876-1967), Canadian industrialist and union mediator
The only argument available against an east wind
is to put on your coat.
James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), American poet, editor, and diplomat
Use soft words and hard arguments.
English proverb
I am not arguing with you;
I am telling you!
James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), American artist,
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890), page 51
When you are right, no one remembers;
when you are wrong, no one forgets.
Irish Saying
Stupid people feel
it makes them look better
if they can say others are not perfect.
Isaac D’Israeli (1766-1848), British writer and scholar,
and father of British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli
A rat who chews at a cat’s tail
is asking for destruction.
Chinese Proverb
When you have an elephant by the back leg,
and he is trying to run away,
it’s best to let him run.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 1809-1865, 16th U.S. President
A good listener tries to understand
what the other person is saying.
In the end he may disagree sharply,
but because he disagrees, he wants to know
very clearly what it is he is disagreeing with.
Kenneth A. Wells, American author, Guide to Good Leadership (1956)
One does not need to understand things
to argue about them.
Pierre Beaumarchais (1732-1799), French watchmaker, arms dealer,
inventor, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, financier, and revolutionary
36. Patience
He that has patience can have what he will.
Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790), inventor, statesman, philosopher
With love and patience, nothing is impossible.
Daisaku Ideda (1928- ), Japanese Buddhist lay leader
You must first have a lot of patience
to learn to have patience.
Stanislaw J. Lec (1909-1966), Polish poet, Unkempt Thoughts
Never discourage anyone who is getting better,
no matter how slowly.
Plato (429-347 BC), Greek mathematician and philosopher
The hurrier I go the behinder I get.
Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), American author, Alice in Wonderland
Never cut what you can untie.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824), French moralist and essayist
Patience is the friend of wisdom.
St Augustine of Hippo (354-430), philosopher and theologian
Rome wasn't built in a day.
translated from French, Le Proverbe au Vilain (c. 1190)
37. Teaching and Learning
A teacher affects eternity.
Henry Adams (1838-1918), American writer, historian, and academic,
The Education of Henry Adams
I am patient with stupid people,
but not with those who are proud of it.
Edith Sitwell (1887-1964), English poet
Not to know is bad.
Not to wish to know is worse.
African proverb
People need to be helped to remember
more often than they need to be taught.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English writer and lexicographer
It is easier to make a camel jump a channel
than to make a fool listen to reason.
Turkish Proverb
Teachers open the door, but you must go
through by yourself.
Chinese Proverb
A teacher is a second parent,
and a parent is a second teacher.
People learn when they teach too.
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-65 AD), Roman philosopher, statesman,
and dramatist, Epistulae Morales no. 7
We loved the teaching
because we loved the teacher.
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), Character of the late Dr. S. Annesley
I’d rather see a sermon
than hear one any day.
I’d rather one should walk with me
than just to tell the way.
The eye’s a better student
and more willing than the ear.
Good words can be confusing,
but a sample’s always clear.
Edgar A. Guest (1881-1959), English-American poet
Better to build schools for the boy
than prisons for the man.
Eliza Cook (1818-1889), A Song for the Ragged Schools (1853)
The stupidest person can ask more questions
than the smartest person can answer.
Charles Caleb Colton (c. 1780-1832), English cleric, Lacon (1820)
The ability to ask the right question
is more than half the battle
of finding the answer.
Thomas J. Watson (1874-1956), IBM Pres.
What the foolish person finishes up doing,
the wise person starts out doing.
Author unknown
One picture is worth a thousand words.
Frederick R. Barnard, Printer's Ink trade journal, December 8, 1921
One word to the wise is enough.
Plautus (c. 250-184 BC), Roman playwright, Persa line 729
In your thirst for knowledge,
be sure not to drown in all the information.
Anthony J. D’Angelo, self-help author, The College Blue Book
Information is power.
Eric Schmidt (1955- ), american engineer and chairman of Google,
University of Pennsylvania commencement address, 2009
So far as I can remember,
there is not one word in the Gospels
saying that it is good to be smart.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), Welsh philosopher and historian
Information is not knowledge,
Knowledge is not understanding,
Understanding is not wisdom.
Cliff Stoll & Gary Schubert, Nothing to Hide, (2000)
I do not know how others see me,
but to myself
I feel like a boy playing on the beach
– showing interest from time to time in a
smoother stone or a more beautiful shell,
when the big ocean of truth
is in front of me and I do not see it .
Isaac Newton (1642-1727), English mathematician, philosopher, astronomer,
physicist, and theologian, Joseph Spence Anecdotes (1966),
Anyone who stops learning is old,
whether at twenty or eighty.
Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The
greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
Henry Ford (1863-1947), American automobile industrialist,
who pioneered assembly-line production
Whoever stops being a student
has never been a student.
George Iles (1852-1942), English writer
Real education should link us
with all other humans.
Nancy Astor (1879-1964), first British female MP
Education is when you read the small print.
Experience is what you get if you don’t.
Pete Seeger (1919- ), American folk singer, and songwriter
Education is what survives when
what has been learned has been forgotten.
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990), American psychologist, inventor, author,
philosopher, and poet, New Scientist, May 21, 1964
Listening is very cheap;
not listening could be very expensive!
Tom Brewer (1931- ), American baseball player
Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), pacifist & ideological leader of India
They know enough
who know how to learn.
Henry Adams (1838-1918), American writer, historian, and academic,
The Education of Henry Adams (1907), ch. 21
As long as I live, I will learn.
Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886), Indian mystic
I was brought up to believe
that the only thing worth doing was
to add to the sum of true information in the world.
Margaret Mead (1901-1978), American cultural anthropologist
Wisdom is not tested in the schools.
Wisdom cannot be passed from one having it
to another not having it,
Wisdom is its own proof.
Walt Whitman (1819-1892), American poet, essayist and journalist
No one lights a candle
and puts it under a bowl.
Jesus, Matthew 5:15
Open a school, and close a prison.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885), French writer and statesman
People who can, do.
People who cannot, teach.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Man and Superman (1903)
Try not to let schooling
get in the way of your education.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist
Without education, we are in deadly danger
of taking educated people seriously.
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer and Christian apologist
One day with a smart person
is equal to a whole life
with a stupid person.
Arabian proverb
Keep the old, but learn the new.
Chinese proverb
Knowledge is of two kinds.
We know a subject ourselves, or we know
where we can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English writer and lexicographer
38. Reading and Writing
The greatest university is a lot of books.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), Scottish writer, historian, and teacher
Books are the quietest friends
and the most patient teachers.
Charles W. Eliot (1834-1926), American academic, The Happy Life
True power is held by the person
who owns the biggest book shelf,
not the biggest gun cabinet or the most money.
Anthony J. D’Angelo, American self-help author
A house without books
is a house without windows.
Thomas Mann (1875-1955), German writer and philanthropist
An empty book is like a baby’s soul,
in which anything may be written.
Thomas Traherne (1637-1674), English poet and religious writer
Writing books is the closest men ever come
to having children.
Norman Mailer (1923-2007), American writer and film director
In any place where books will be burned,
in the end people too will be burned.
Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), German poet, Almansor (1823)
Of making books
there is no end.
The Bible, Ecclesiastes 12:12
Everywhere I go,
I find a poet has been there before me.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), Austrian founder of psychoanalysis
I think it's good that we have books,
but they do make me sleepy.
Frank Zappa (1940-1993), American composer, singer, film director
A good book is the best friend.
Martin Tupper (1810-1889), English writer and poet,
Proverbial Philosophy, Series I (1838), ‘Of Reading’
Choose a writer as you choose a friend.
Wentworth Dillon (1630-1685), poet, fourth Earl of Roscommon
Take up and read!
Take up and read!
St Augustine of Hippo (354-430), philosopher and theologian
Confessions (397-398), book 8, chapter 7
If there's a book you really want to read,
and it hasn't been written yet,
then you must write it.
Toni Morrison (1932- ), American novelist, professor and Nobel winner
I am a bear of very little brain,
and long words upset me.
Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne creation)
Say all you have to say,
in the fewest possible words.
John Ruskin (1819-1900), English art critic and philanthropist
Good things, when short, are twice as good.
Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658), Spanish Jesuit writer
I believe more in the scissors
than I do in the pen.
Truman Capote (1924-1984), American author
39. Talking
Not that the story need be long,
but it will take a long time
to make it short.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), letter to Harrison Blake,
16 November, 1857, in Writings (1906), volume 6, page 320
If A is success, then A equals X plus Y plus Z,
X is work, Y is play, Z is keep your mouth shut.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Austrian physicist, Observer, Jan. 15, 1950
A fool says all that he or she is thinking.
The Bible, Proverbs 29:11
The secret to being boring
is to tell all that you know.
Voltaire (1694-1778), French writer, historian, and philosopher,
Discours en vers sur l’homme (1737), ‘De la nature de l’homme’
Think all that you say,
but do not say all that you think.
Author unknown
Give every man your ear but few your voice.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright
Because the parrot talks so much,
it is shut up in a cage.
Other birds, who do not speak, fly freely about.
Saskia Pandita (1182-1251), Tibetan spiritual leader, Buddhist scholar
When you have nothing to say, say nothing.
Charles Caleb Colton (c. 1780-1832), English cleric, Lacon (1820)
Understand the subject,
and the words will follow.
Cato the Elder (234-149 BC), Roman statesman,
in Caius Julius Victor Ars Rhetorica ‘De inventione’
Close your lips and open your heart.
Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), Hindu philosopher
The less you think,
the more you talk.
Montesquieu (1689-1755), French social commentator
Dogs that are afraid bark loudest.
John Webster (c.1580 – c.1634), English dramatist
Making noise
is a good way of showing opposition.
Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945), Nazi Germany's Minister of Propaganda
Speak for England.
Leo Amery (1873-1955), British politician and journalist
Talk softly, but carry a big stick.
You will go far.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President of the U.S.,
3 April, 1903, New York Times, 4 April, 1903
If you can't bite, don't show your teeth.
Jewish proverb
Your words should always be sweet,
with a little touch of salt.
The Bible, Colossians 4:6
Propaganda is a soft weapon:
hold it in your hands too long,
and it will move about like a snake,
and hit out the other way.
Lillian Hellman (1905-1984), American playwright
If you haven’t got anything good to say about
anyone come and sit by me.
Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980), controversial daughter of
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States
Where everything is bad
it must be good to know the worst.
F. H. Bradley (1846-1924), English philosopher
Those who are not here
are always in the wrong.
Philippe Nericault Destouches (1680-1754), French dramatist
In the country of the blind
the one-eyed man is king.
Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), Dutch humanist and priest
The night has a thousand eyes,
and the day but one.
F.W. Bourdillon (1852-1921), English poet and translator
Words once spoken can never be brought back.
Wentworth Dillon (1630-1685), English poet
40. Who to Believe
Anyone who can handle a needle well
can make us see a thread which is not there.
E. H. Gombrich (1909-2001), Austrian art historian
Men are nearly always willing
to believe what they wish.
Julius Caesar (100 BC-44 BC), Roman writer, general, and statesman
We see what we want to see.
Anonymous
There is something worse than being blind,
and that is seeing something that isn’t there.
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), English novellist and poet
Living is easy with eyes closed,
misunderstanding all you see.
John Lennon (1940-1980), English songwriter, Strawberry Fields
You see, but you do not understand.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), Scottish physician and writer
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892),
With all of your getting
get understanding.
The Bible, Proverbs 4:7
Keep your brain working to do things;
and keep it open to understand things.
Chinese proverb
Believe nothing of what you hear,
and only half of what you see.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), American statesman, scientist,
philosopher, printer, writer and inventor
A camel never sees its own back.
African proverb
Look out for false prophets!
They come to you in sheep's clothes,
but in their hearts they are dangerous wolves.
Jesus, Matthew 7:15
Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth.
Democritus (460-370 BC), Greek philosopher
If it looks like a duck and it walks like a duck
and it sounds like a duck,
then I say it is a duck.
James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916), American poet
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire
.
Author unknown
Truth is beautiful, but so are lies.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
Those who think it is okay to tell white lies
soon grow colour-blind.
Austin O'Malley (1858-1932), American physician and humourist
I was not lying.
I said things that later seemed to not be true.
Richard Nixon (1913-1994), 37th President of the U.S., on Watergate,
You may be tricked if you trust too much; but
you will live in pain if you do not trust enough.
Frank Crane (1868-1921), Presbyterian minister and writer
No one tests how deep the river is
by using both feet.
African proverb
41. Confidence
Confidence comes not from always being right
but from not fearing to be wrong.
Peter T. Mcintyre (1910-1995), New Zealand artist and author
If you have no confidence in yourself, you lose
twice in the race of life. With confidence, you
have won even before you have started.
Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), Jamaican journalist and orator
Everybody is stupid, only on different subjects.
Will Rogers (1879-1935), American cowboy and comedian
Confidence on the outside
begins by living with integrity on the inside.
Brian Tracy (1944- ), self-help author
They can, because they think they can.
Virgil (70-19 BC), Roman poet, Aeneid, book 5
Always keep your head up, but be careful to
keep your nose at a friendly level.
Max L. Forman (1909-1990), Jewish-American writer
The minute you start talking about
what you’re going to do if you lose,
you have lost.
George Shultz (1920- ), American statesman and businessman
The future belongs to those who believe
in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), American author, speaker, politician
How little do we know of what we are.
How much less do we know
of what we could be.
George Byron (1788-1824), English poet, Don Juan (1819-1824)
We know what we are,
but not what we can be.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright,
Hamlet act 4, scene 5
If you smile at life,
life will smile at you.
Author unknown
42. Positive Thinking
Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Bob Fosse (1927-1987), actor, dancer, screenwriter, director
If life gives you a lemon, make lemonade.
Author unknown
Keep your face to the sunlight
and you cannot see the shadows.
Helen Keller (1880-1968), deaf-blind American author and lecturer
Count your blessings, and not your troubles.
Author unknown
The jungle is dark but full of diamonds.
Arthur Miller (1915-2005), American writer, Death of a Salesman
Before you put on a sad look,
make sure there are no smiles available.
Jim Beggs (1926-), sixth administrator of NASA
Shoot for the moon.
Even if you miss, you’ll end up with the stars.
Les Brown, African-American motivational speaker
One cannot get through life without pain...
What we can do is choose how to use the pain
that life gives to us.
Bernie Siegel, American doctor and lecturer
Hate drinks the greater part of her own poison,
and destroys herself.
Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), French essayist
A positive attitude may not fix all your problems,
but it will upset enough people
to make it worth the work.
Herm Albright (1876-1944), German painter and lithographer
The more you teach positive ideas to others,
the better you learn them yourself.
Brian Tracy (1944- ), Canadian self-help author
The only thing that stands between a man and
what he wants from life is often just the will to
try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.
Richard Devos (1926- ), American billionaire & co-founder of Amway
Write your sad times in sand,
and your good times in stone.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright
You have no control
over what the other guy does.
You only have control over what you do.
A. J. Kitt (1968- ), American alpine ski champion
It is not a lucky word, this name “impossible”.
No good comes of those who have it
so often in their mouths.
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), Scottish writer, historian, and teacher
It’s no use carrying an umbrella
if your shoes have holes in them.
Irish proverb
It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.
Walt Disney (1901-1966), American animator, film producer,
entrepreneur, screen writer, voice actor, and philanthropist,
The most rewarding things you do in life
are often the ones
that look like they cannot be done.
Arnold Palmer (1929- ), American professional golfer
One man's meat is another man's poison.
Lucretius (c. 99-55 BC), Roman poet and philosopher
All things work together for good
to them that love God.
The Bible, Romans 8:28
Two men look out through the same bars.
One sees the mud and one the stars.
Frederick Langbridge (1849-1923), English poet and religious writer
She was happier to light a candle
than to curse the darkness.
Her light has warmed the earth.
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965), American politician, on hearing that
Eleanor Roosevelt had died, New York Times, 8 November, 1962
I love living.
I have some problems with my life,
but living is the best thing
they’ve come up with so far.
Neil Simon (1927), American playwright and screenwriter
43. A Reason to Live
Those who have a ‘why’ to live
can put up with almost any ‘how’.
Victor Franki (1905-1997), Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist
A vision keeps the wealthy soul
looking at the path and not at the rocks.
Michael Norwood, Canadian doctor and author
Having a vision for your life lets you
live out of hope, rather than out of your fears.
Stedman Graham (1951- ), American educator, author, and speaker,
better known as a friend and close companion of Oprah Winfrey
If you do not know
where you are sailing,
no wind is good.
Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC-65 AD), Epistulae Morales number 71
There is nothing without a reason.
Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716), German philosopher and mathematician
Fear God and do what he tells you.
This is the whole reason for us being here.
The Bible, Ecclesiastes 12:13
When we find a reason to live,
the way to do it will follow.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), pacifist & ideological leader of India
If we stand for nothing,
we will fall for anything.
Alex Hamilton (1936- ), ‘Born Old’ in Listener, 9 November, 1978
In all that you do, think about
what it is leading to in the end.
Gesta Romanorum number 103, circa 1300 AD
The night comes when no man can work.
Jesus Christ, John 9:4
If you are not part of the answer,
you are part of the problem.
Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998), writer and Black Panther leader
It is the reason for dying,
and not the death,
that makes the martyr.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), French revolutionary military hero
44. Life and Death
I die because I do not die.
John of the Cross (1542-91), Spanish priest, mystic, and writer
In my end is my beginning.
Mary Stuart (1542-1587), Queen of Scotland 1542-1567,
executed for plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I
If I die, I die.
The Bible, Esther 4:16, when going to ask the king to help her people.
If my heart is right,
it makes no difference
which way my head is turned.
Walter Raleigh (c. 1552-1618), English writer, soldier, and explorer,
before being killed with an axe by the French.
You can destroy the container if you will;
but the smell of the flowers will not go away.
Thomas Moore (1779-1852), Irish poet and singer, Irish Melodies, 1807
The more you cut us down
the more we grow in number.
The blood of Christians
is the seed of the Church.
Tertullian (c. 160-c. 225), Roman Christian author, Apologeticus ch. 50
And how can one die better,
than facing serious danger
for the good of his fathers
and the temples of his gods?
T. B. Macaulay (1800-1859), English poet, historian, and politician,
Lays of Ancient Rome (1842), ‘Horatius’
I know that the one who saves me is alive,
and that he will stand at the last day
on the earth.
The Bible, Job 19:25, after the devil destroyed all that Job owned.
What good does it do a man to win
the whole world,
and then lose his own soul?
Jesus, Mark 8:36
Death breaks into the cabins of the poor
as into the castles of kings.
Horace (65-8 BC), Roman lyric poet
When the chess game is over,
the King and the pawn
go back into the same box.
Italian proverb
The few little years we spend on earth
are only the first scene
in a play that projects into eternity.
Edwin Markham (1852-1940), American poet
All the earth is a stage,
and we are the actors on it.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), As You Like It act 2, scene 7
They say such nice things about you at funerals,
that it makes me sad to think
I’m going to miss mine by just a few days.
Garrison Keillor (1942- ), American author, humourist, and radio star
The sole equality on earth is death.
Philip James Bailey (1816-1902), English poet and author
A man’s dying
is more the survivors' business than his own.
Thomas Mann (1875-1955), German writer and philanthropist
Saying goodbye doesn’t mean anything.
It’s the time we were together that matters,
not how we left it.
Trey Parker & Matt Stone, South Park creators, Tweek vs. Craig, 1999
The living need love more than the dead.
George Arnold (1834-1865), The Jolly Old Pedagogue (1866),
All people are like grass.
The best we can do is no better than the
flowers in the grass.
The grass dies and the flowers fall away
when the Spirit of God touches them.
The Bible, Isaiah 40:6
God loved the world enough
to give us his Son.
Now anyone who believes him need not die;
they can live forever.
The Bible, John 3:16
Life is short but sweet.
Sophocles (495-406 BC), Greek playwright, Alcestis
Learning comes slowly,
and life flies quickly.
John Davies (1569-1626), English poet and lawyer, Nosce Teipsum
All that a man has
will he give for his life.
The Bible, Job 2:4
Let the dead bury the dead.
Jesus, Matthew 8:22
I am not afraid to die,
but I do not want to be there when it happens.
Woody Allen (1935- ), actor, author, jazz musician, Death (1975)
Death is one of the few things that can be done
just as easily lying down.
Woody Allen (1935- ), actor, author, jazz musician
Life does not stop being funny when people die
any more than it stops being serious
when people laugh.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright
45. Health
Serious sicknesses
are fixed with serious medicines,
or they will not be fixed at all.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet act 4, scene 2
One should eat to live,
and not live to eat.
Molière (1622-1673), French playwright, L’Avare (1669)
There is a thin man inside every fat man.
George Orwell (1903-1950), Irish playwright,
Coming up for Air (1939), part 1, chapter 3
When the stomach is full,
it is easy to talk of fasting.
Saint Jerome (374-419), Roman Christian priest, in a letter
The need of exercise was invented by people
who ate too much and had nothing to think about.
George Santayana (1863-1952), Spanish philosopher and writer
Why do strong arms tire themselves
with foolish weight-lifting?
To dig a vineyard is better exercise for men.
Marcus Valerius Martial (c 40 AD - 103 AD), Spanish poet
Early to bed, and early to rise,
makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790), inventor, statesman, philosopher
If it tastes good, it’s bad for you.
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), American author and biochemist
Tell me what you eat
and I will tell you what you are.
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), French lawyer, politician & epicure
Cooking is the oldest of the arts,
for Adam was born hungry.
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), French lawyer, politician & epicure
With the bread finished,
up breaks the company.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), Spanish novelist and playwright
Man is what he eats.
Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872), German philosopher and anthropologist
46. Self-control
When people will not weed their own minds,
they are likely to be overcome with nettles.
Horace Walpole (1717-1797), English art historian and politician
The worst place for a Christian
is a comfortable place.
Author unknown
The best way out is always through.
Robert Frost (1874-1963), American poet,
A Servant to Servants (1914)
Say to yourself, ‘I used to be angry every day;
then every other day; now only every third or
fourth day.’ When you reach thirty days, make
a gift to the gods to show you are thankful.
Epictetus (55 AD-135 AD), Roman slave who became a philosopher
He who controls his emotions
is more than a king.
John Milton (1608-1674), English poet and civil servant
What they learn in pain,
they can teach in song.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), English poet
The hard times teach us
more than the easy times.
Anonymous
Courage does not always shout.
Sometimes it is a quiet voice at the end of the
day saying, “I will try again tomorrow”.
Mary Anne Radmacher, American artist who makes cards and posters
I see the better things and agree with them,
but I follow the worse.
Ovid (43 BC - c. 17 AD), Roman poet, Metamorphoses book 7
The good that I want to do, I do not do;
but the bad that I do not want to do, I do.
The Bible, Romans 7:19
47. Worry
If you can’t sleep, get up and do something.
It’s the worry that gets you,
not missing out on sleep.
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), American self-improvement lecturer
This is the night
that makes me or breaks me.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Othello act 5, scene 1
When a thing cannot be changed,
I cannot worry about it.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Richard II act 2, scene 3
A little water is an ocean to an ant.
Afghan proverb
Worries go down better with soup than without.
Jewish proverb
I'm happy tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), speech in Memphis, April 3,
1968, the day before he was assassinated
48. Leaders and Followers
God said, “Who will I send?”
And, “Who will go for me?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me.”
The Bible, Isaiah 6:8
Son of man, I have made you a watchman
to the house of Israel.
So give them warning from me.
The Bible, Ezekiel 3:17
The hour is come, but not the man.
Walter Scott (1771-1832), Scottish poet, lawyer, and novellist
The Heart of Midlothian (1818), chapter 4
He is gone,
but his shadow still stands over all of us.
It still tells us what to do
and we, very often, obey.
Svetlana Alliluyeva (1926), daughter of Russian Premier Josef Stalin
I am not afraid of an army of lions
led by a sheep.
I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.
Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedon
Do not try to fight a lion
if you are not one yourself.
African proverb
The king must be a fox,
to understand the tricks that go with his job;
and a lion, to make the wolves afraid.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian writer, historian & philosopher,
The Prince (1513), chapter 18
Whenever death may surprise us,
let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached
even one open ear and another hand
reaches out to take up our arms.
Che Guevara (1928-1967), Argentine revolutionary, doctor, and author
Hundreds can talk, for one who can think,
and thousands can think for one who can see.
To see clearly is music, prophecy and religion,
all in one.
John Ruskin (1819-1900), English art critic and philanthropist
In life you are either a passenger or a pilot...
it is your choice.
Author unknown
An expert is just someone who knows some of
the worst mistakes that can be made in his
subject and is able to not make them.
Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), German physicist
Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead to where there is no path
and make one.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
When you’re a team of one,
you’re always the leader.
Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata,
Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005
If you don’t run your own life...
someone else will.
John Atkinson (details unknown)
Action springs not from thought,
but from being ready to take responsibility.
Dietrich Bonhoffer (1906-1945), German Lutheran theologian
who was executed for planning to assassinate Adolf Hitler
The art of leading is in saying no, not yes.
It is very easy to say yes.
Tony Blair (1953- ), British Prime Minister from 1997-2007
The key to being a good manager
is keeping the people who hate me
away from those who are still not sure.
Casey Stengel (1890-1975), American baseball manager
How fast the boss goes
is how fast the team goes.
Lee Iacocca (1924- ), American businessman
Don’t put the cart before the horse.
Author unknown
I’d rather be a hammer than a nail.
Paul Simon (1941- ), American singer-songwriter
If you can’t take the heat,
stay out of the kitchen.
Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), 33rd President of the United States
49. Wise Choices
There is a choice you have to make,
in everything you do.
And you must always keep in mind
the choice you make, makes you.
John Wooden (1910-2010), American basketball player and coach
Right timing is in all things
the most important point.
Hesiod (~700 BC), Greek poet, Works and Days
You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
John Heywood (c. 1497-c. 1580), English writer
We know what happens to people
who stay in the middle of the road.
They get run down.
Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960), English politician, Observer, 6 Dec., 1953
All you get from riding the fence
is a sore middle.
Anonymous
Two roads divided in the yellow forest,
and I – I took the one less travelled.
That has made all the difference.
Robert Frost (1874-1963), American poet, The Road Not Taken
To each man and country
comes the time to choose.
James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), American poet, critic,
and diplomat, The Present Crisis (1845)
We can believe what we choose,
but we must also answer for what we choose.
Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), 27June, 1848, in C.S. Dessain (ed.),
Letters and Diaries of John Henry Newman, volume 12 (1962)
I think... and because of this I am.
René Descartes (1596-1650), French philosopher and writer,
Le Discours de la méthode (1637), part 1
A true philosopher is like an elephant;
he never puts the second foot down
until the first one is solidly in place.
Fontenelle (1657-1757), French author
What is your job in philosophy?
To show the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), Austrian philosopher
and Cambridge professor from 1939-1947
50. Little Things
Size isn’t everything.
Author unknown
There’s nothing wrong with staying small.
You can do big things with a small team.
Jason Fried, co-founder of 37 Signals, a web design company;
keynote speech, SXSW, 2006
Never use a cannon to kill a fly.
Confucius (551 BC- 459 BC), Chinese philosopher
The person who moves a mountain
begins by carrying away small stones.
Chinese proverb
A trip of a thousand miles
begins with a single step.
Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism (about 500 BC)
Tall trees grow from little seeds.
David Everett (1769-1813),
‘Lines Written for a School Declamation’ (aged 7)
Little actions that you do
are better than big actions
that you plan to do.
Peter Marshall (1902-1949), twice chaplain of the U.S. Senate
How we spend our days
is how we spend our lives.
Annie Dillard (1945- ), Pullitzer Prize winning American author
Every day is a letter from God.
Russian proverb
One should count each day a separate life.
Seneca (5 BC-65 AD), Roman philosopher, statesman, and dramatist
Take time for the little things,
for one day you may look back
and see that they were the big things.
Robert Brault, American free-lance writer
If you can’t do great things,
do small things in a great way.
Napolean Hill (1883-1970), one of the first American success writers
Nothing is more simple than to be great.
The truth is that to be simple is to be great.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
Life was always made to be simple,
but never made to be easy.
Author unknown
Only those who have the patience
to do simple things perfectly
will get the ability to do difficult things easily.
Johann Schiller (1759-1805), German writer and historian
He that is faithful in that which is least
will be faithful also in much.
The Bible, Luke 16:10
Teach yourself to listen to that small voice
that tells you what is important and what is not.
Sue Grafton (1940- ), American detective story writer
There is little difference in people,
but that little difference makes a big difference.
The little difference is attitude.
The big difference is whether it is
positive or negative.
Clement Stone, (1902-2002), American businessman & philanthropist
51. Being Different
We may have all come on different ships,
but we are in the same boat now.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), Baptist minister and leader of the
African-American civil rights movement
People can be quite cold to those
whose eyes see the world differently.
Eric A. Burns (1947- ), American author, broadcast journalist
and media critic
We do not judge the people we love.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), French writer, philosopher and activist
Go ahead. Fall down.
The world looks different from the ground.
Oprah Winfrey (1954- ), African-American talk show host, actress,
media proprietor, and philanthropist
It is because we are different
that each of us is special.
Brian Dyson, American author and former CEO of Coca-Cola
It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white,
as long as it catches mice.
Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997), former leader
of the Communist Party of China
52. Beauty
When something doesn't seem to be beautiful,
I ask myself why do I think it's not beautiful, and
very shortly I learn that there is no reason.
John Cage (1912-1992), American poet, artist, and music composer
Do not read beauty magazines.
They only make you feel ugly.
Mary Schmich (1953- ), American newspaper columnist
The key to finding beauty is to know where to look.
Seigfried and Roy (1939- )(1944- ), German-American entertainers
If you build love on good looks,
it will die as quickly as the good looks die.
John Donne (1572-1631), Elegies ‘The Anagram’ (c. 1595)
No beauty she does miss,
when all her robes are on;
But beauty’s self she is,
when all her robes are gone.
Francis Davison (ed.), Poetical Rhapsody (1602)
Beautiful actions are better
than beautiful bodies.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
53. Entertainment and Sports
One day they may tell you you will not go far,
That night you open and there you are.
Next day on your dressing room
They hang a star!
Let’s go on with the show!
Irving Berlin (1888-1989), Jewish-American composer and lyricist
I never expected life to do anything special for me,
yet I seemed to do more than I had ever hoped for.
Most of the time it just happened.
Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), American actress and humanitarian
There’s no business like show business.
Irving Berlin (1888-1989), Jewish-American composer and lyricist
I had the radio on.
Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), American actress and sex symbol, when
asked if she really had nothing on in her famous calendar photograph
A celebrity is a person who works hard all his
life to become well known, and then wears dark
glasses to stop people from knowing who he is.
Fred Allen (1894-1956), American comedian
I hate television as much as I hate peanuts;
but I can't stop eating peanuts.
Orson Welles (1915-1985), American actor, screenwriter, film director
Give them bread and circuses.
Juvenal (55-127 AD), Roman poet and satirist,
telling how to keep the people from warring against the King
Talk about being good
and they pass by in crowds.
Whistle and dance and shake,
and you’ve got a crowd of listeners.
Diogenes the Cynic (c. 410 BC-323 BC), Greek philosopher
You’d be surprised how much it costs
to make me look this cheap!
Dolly Parton (1946- ), American country music singer, author, songerwriter,
multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist
I grew up with six brothers. That’s how I
learned to dance - waiting for the toilet.
Bob Hope (1903-2003), American comedian and actor
Never give a party
if you will be the most interesting person there.
Mickey Friedman, details not known
At a dinner party
one should eat wisely but not too well,
and talk well but not too wisely.
W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), English playwright and novellist
The hardest thing about tennis is that no matter
how good I get, I'll never be as good as a wall.
Mitch Hedberg (1968-2005), American comedian
Whoever said, “It’s not whether you win or lose
that counts,” probably lost!
Martina Navratilova (1956- ), Czech tennis player
Winning is not everything, but wanting to win is.
Vince Lombardi (1913-1970), American football coach
I never quit trying;
I never felt
that I didn’t have a chance to win.
Arnold Palmer (1929- )
American pro golfer
Fame is a food
that dead men eat.
I have no stomach
for such meat.
Henry Austin Dobson
Life is dangerous. You can get hurt.
But people die in plane crashes,
lose their arms and legs in car accidents;
people die every day. Same with fighters:
some die, some get hurt, some go on.
You just don’t let yourself believe
it will happen to you.
Muhammad Ali (1942- ), American boxer, philanthropist, and activist
One day the sports coach pointed at four boys,
and told us to run in a race.
I said that I was weak and not able to run,
but the coach sent me to the doctor,
who said that I was perfectly well.
So I had to run.
When I got started I felt I wanted to win;
but I only came in second.
That was the way it started.
Emil Zatopek, Olympic marathon champion
The fight is won or lost behind the lines,
out there on the road,
long before I dance under those lights.
Muhammad Ali (1942- ), American boxer, philanthropist, and activist
You miss all of the shots you never take.
Wayne Gretzky (1962- ) Canadian ice hockey player and coach
The best defense is a good offense.
Jack Dempsey (1895-1983), American heavyweight boxer
Build up your weaknesses
until they become your strong points.
Knute Rockne (1888-1931), American football player and coach
54. The Law and Lawyers
Wise people,
though all laws were done away with,
would still lead the same life.
Aristophanes (446-386 BC), Greek comedic playwright
The law is equal for all;
so it stops the rich as well as the poor...
from sleeping under bridges,
begging in the streets, and robbing bread.
Anatole France (1844-1924), The Red Lily, 1894, chapter 7
Laws are spider webs through which
the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.
Honore de Balzac (1799-1850)
Every law is opposite to liberty.
Jeremy Bentham
Laws are like sausages.
It's better not to see them being made.
Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)
The great can protect themselves;
but the poor and humble
need the arm and shield of the law.
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), in 1821
The rest day rule was made for man,
and not man for the rest day.
Jesus Christ, Mark 2:27
Punishment is not about hitting back,
but about changing criminals
and making less crime.
Elizabeth Fry (1780-1845), Quaker prison reformer and philanthropist
Reason is the life of the law.
No, the law itself is nothing else but reason.
Edward Coke
I've knowingly helped a number of guilty men.
But what they must pay me
is punishment enough for anyone.
Lee Bailey, lawyer
A lawyer will do anything to win.
Sometimes he will even tell the truth.
Patrick Murray (1956- ), English screen actor
To laugh, to lie, to flatter, to face four ways
in court, to win men forgiveness.
Roger Ascham (c. 1515-1568), English scholar and writer
A man between two lawyers
is like a fish between two cats.
Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790), inventor, statesman, and philosopher
A lawyer can rob more
than a thousand men can with guns.
Mario Puzo (1920-1999), American author and screenwriter
Bad rules are the worst leaders.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Irish stateman and philosopher
in a speech at Bristol, prior to the Late Election (1780)
Rules were made to be broken.
Christopher North (John Wilson), (1785-1854), Blackwood’s Magazine
(April, 1829), ‘Noctes Ambrosianae’ number 49
55. Freedom
Oh Freedom,
what liberties are taken in your name!
Daniel George (details unknown)
Stone walls do not a prison make,
and metal bars do not make a cage.
Richard Lovelace (1618-1658), English poet, To Althea, from Prison
As we are liberated from our own fears,
we liberate others.
Nelson Mandela (1918- ), former President of South Africa
No one can be perfectly free
if all are not free.
No one can be perfectly good
if all are not good.
No one can be perfectly happy
if all are not happy.
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), English biologist and political theorist,
Social Statics (1850), part 4, chapter 30
Over time, and across the Earth,
freedom will find a way.
George W. Bush (1946- ), 43rd President of the United States
speech to UN General Assembly, September 21, 2004
The history of free men is never really written
by chance, but by choice; their choice!
Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969), army general & 34th U.S. President
I disagree with what you say, but I will fight
to the death to protect your right to say it.
Voltaire (1694-1778), French writer, historian, philosopher
We think birds in cages are singing,
but the truth is that they are crying.
John Webster (c. 1580-c. 1625), English dramatist
The White Devil (1612), act 5, scene 4
Liberty is always business that is not finished.
Title of annual report of the American Civil Liberties Union, 1956
All human beings are born free and equal.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
They are slaves
who fear to speak for the weak.
James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), American poet, critic, and diplomat
Slavery is against the laws of God
and the rights of men.
David Hartley (17-5-1757) English philosopher,
and founder of the associationist school of psychology
56. Animals
The more one gets to know of people,
the more one likes dogs.
A. Toussenel (1803-1885), French writer, L’Esprit des bêtes (1847)
From troubles of the world, I turn to ducks.
Beautiful laughable things.
F. W. Harvey (1888-1957), English poet
A cat will look down on a man.
A dog will look up to a man.
But a pig will look you straight in the eye
and see his equal.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former British Prime Minister
A dog is for life, and not just for Christmas.
National Canine Defence League
Good people think about
the feelings of their animals.
The Bible, Proverbs 12:10
57. Music and Art
My music is best understood
by children and animals.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Russian composer, Observer, 8 Oct. 1961
Music, the greatest good that humans know,
And all of heaven we have below.
Joseph Addison (1672-1719), English writer and politican
Whether I was in my body or out of my body
as I wrote it, I know not. God knows.
George Frederick Handel, of the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ in his Messiah
Music is feeling, not sound.
William Stevens (1879-1955), American poet,
Peter Quince at the Clavier (1923), part 1
Why should the devil have all the good music?
Rowland Hill (1744-1833), English preacher
I dream my painting and then paint my dream.
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), Dutch painter
Art is a jealous mistress.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
As the body cries for food,
the hair cries for flowers.
Author unknown
Better the rudest work
that tells a story or records a truth,
than the richest without meaning.
John Ruskin (1819-1900), English art critic and philanthropist
It is interesting, but is it art?
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), English writer,
The Conundrum of the Workshop, 1892
Artists can colour the sky red,
but those of us who aren’t artists
must colour things the way they really are
or people might think we’re stupid.
Jules Feiffer (1929- ), American syndicated cartoonist
The artist is not a different kind of person;
every person is a different kind of artist.
Eric Gill (1882-1940), British scuptor
Every artist puts his brush in his own soul,
and paints his own nature into his pictures.
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), American preacher and abolitionist
Dance is a rhyme,
of which each movement is a word.
Mata Hari (1876-1917), Dutch exotic dancer
A dance is measured walking,
as a rhyme is measured talking.
Author unknown
58. Travel
A trip is best measured in friends,
rather than miles.
Tim Cahill, travel expert
A good traveller has no plans that he cannot
change and is not deeply interested in arriving.
Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism (about 500 BC)
When you travel, remember that a foreign
country is not there to make you comfortable.
It is there to make its own people comfortable.
Clifton Fadiman (1904-1999), American author and media personality
There is always something new out of Africa.
Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD), Roman author, Natural History
A traveller without observation
is a bird without wings.
Moslih Eddin Saadi (1184-c. 1283), Persian poet
The French complain of everything, and always.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), French revolutionary military hero
A Boston man is the east wind made flesh.
Thomas Gold Appleton (1812-1884), American writer and artist
When you’re travelling,
you are what you are right there and then.
People don’t have your past to hold against you.
No yesterdays on the road.
William Least Heat Moon (1939- ), American travel writer
of part Osage Nation origin
The world is a book;
those who do not travel read only one page.
St Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Roman philosopher and theologian
No one knows how beautiful it is to travel
until he comes home
and rests his head on his own pillow.
Lin Yutang (1895-1976)
Chinese writer and inventor
Travel is a part of learning.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English lawyer & statesman, Of Travel
I do not travel to get to a place.
I travel to travel.
The important thing is to move.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Scottish novelist and writer,
Travels with a Donkey (1879), ‘Cheylard and Luc’
59. Change
Progress is impossible without change,
and those who cannot change their minds
cannot change anything.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright
The key to why things change
is the key to everything.
James Burke (1936- ), British author, TV producer, and historian
A new broom
sweeps clean.
Irish proverb
Nothing carries more power to change
than little acts of human kindness.
Jamie Winship, American missionary and writer
Vision without action is just a dream.
Action without vision just passes the time.
Vision with action can change the world.
Joel A. Barker, American public speaker and video maker
In this world nothing can be said to be sure,
apart from death and taxes.
Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790), inventor, statesman, philosopher
At twenty a man is full of fight and hope.
He wants to change the world.
When he is seventy he still wants to change the
world, but he knows he can't.
Clarence Darrow (1857-1938), American lawyer
Can the leopard change its spots?
The Bible, Jeremiah 13:23
We all want to change others;
but who wants to change himself?
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), Russian writer and Christian anarchist
Change your thoughts and change your world.
Norman Vincent Peale (1898-1993), American minister and author
To change your thinking,
and follow one who shows new truth,
makes you no less free than you were
before hearing the new truth.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD), Roman emperor from 161 AD
Meditations book 8, section 6
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Jesus, Matthew 3:2
If you put new wine into old wineskins,
the skins will explode.
You must put new wine
into new wineskins.
Jesus, Matthew 9:17
Nothing is more dangerous than a plan,
when you do not have a second one.
Alain (Emile-Auguste Chartier), (1868-1951), French philosopher ,
journalist and pacifist, Propos Sur la Religion (1938), number 74
The bamboo survives
by bending with the wind.
Bruce Lee (1940-1973), Chinese actor,
director and martial artist
Sometimes in the winds of change
we find our true direction.
Author unknown
60. Computers and other Inventions
The question of whether a computer can think
is no more interesting than the question of
whether a submarine can swim.
E. W. Dijkstra (1930-2002), Dutch computer scientist
There is not a flower or bird to be seen,
only a small window on which lines are moving,
while the child sits without moving,
pushing at the keyboard with one finger.
No smells or tastes, no wind or bird song.
John Davy, on arguments against teaching through computers
The danger from computers is not that they will
one day get as smart as men, but that we will
one day agree to meet them halfway.
Bernard Avishai (1949- ), Israeli writer and business consultant
You can use the best computers
to gather the numbers,
but in the end you have to set a time and act.
Lee Iacocca (1924- ), American businessman
The computer can’t tell you the emotional story.
It can give you the right numbers,
but what’s missing is the eyebrows.
Frank Zappa (1940-1993), American composer, singer, film director
I shall make electricity so cheap that only the
rich will have enough money to burn candles.
Thomas Edison (1847-1931), inventor and scientist
In all big companies, there is a fear
that someone, somewhere is having fun
with a computer on company time.
John C. Dvorak (1952- ), American columnist and broadcaster
On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.
Peter Steiner, cartoonist, The New Yorker, July 5, 1993
Ours is the age that is proud of machines that
think, and afraid of men who try to.
H. Mumford Jones (1892-1980), American writer, literary critic,
and professor of English at Harvard University
I find television very good for learning things.
Every time someone turns it on
I go into another room and read a good book.
Groucho Marx (1890-1977), American comedian and film star
There is no need for any one person
to have a computer in their home.
Ken Olson (1926-2011), American engineer,
and co-founder of Digital Equipment Corp.
I think there is a world market
for maybe five computers.
Thomas Watson (1874-1956), chairman of IBM, 1943
Heavier-than-air flying machines
are impossible.
William Thomson (1824-1907), British mathematician and physicist
Men travel faster now,
but I do not know if they go to better things.
Willa Cather (1843-1947), American novelist who wrote of frontier life
It takes hundreds of nuts to hold a car together,
but it takes only one of them
to destroy it on the highway.
Evan Esar (1899-195), American humourist, Esar's Comic dictionary
61. Humility
Being perfect is reached,
not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
Antoine de St. Exupery (1900-1944), French writer and aviator
If you have put your foot in your mouth,
it is probably not the time to try to dance.
R.M. Lynch (details unknown)
If I only had a little humility, I'd be perfect.
Ted Turner (1938- ), American media mogul and philanthropist
He that lifts himself up will be put down,
and he that humbles himself will be lifted up.
Jesus, Luke 14:11
The only true wisdom
is knowing that you know nothing.
Socrates (469-399 BC), Greek philosopher
Anger makes many problems for you.
Pride stops you from fixing them.
Anonymous
A proud spirit goes before a fall.
The Bible, Proverbs 16:18
I know nothing
but that I know nothing.
Socrates (469-399 BC), Greek philosopher,
in Diogenes' Lives of the Philosophers, book 2
It is difficult to find a person
who can weigh the weaknesses of others
without putting his finger on the scales.
Byron J. Langenfeld, details unknown
You will not grow at all
if you think you know it all.
Anonymous
If you help others, forget it.
If others help you, remember it.
Chilon (c. 6th Century BC), one of the seven sages of Greece
62. Leftovers
History repeats itself.
Author unknown
A place for everything,
and everything in its place.
Mrs. Beeton (1836-1865), Book of Household Management (1861)
What is the town if not the people?
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Coriolanus act 3, scene 3
The world is made of stories, not atoms.
Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980), American poet and poltical activist
Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing.
Let us hold close one special day.
Let us get back our childlike faith again.
Grace Noll Crowell (1877-1969), American poet
They bite the hand that feeds them.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Irish stateman and philosopher
Don't be too sweet, or they will eat you up.
Don't be too bitter or they will vomit you out.
Jewish proverb
Three o'clock is always too late or too early
for anything you want to do.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), French writer, philosopher
and activist, Nausea (1938)
If you go shopping when hungry, you are likely
to buy things that you do not need.
American Heart Association Cookbook
How different, how very different
from the home life of our own loved Queen!
comment overheard at a performance of Cleopatra
by Sarah Bernhardt, 1924
This is quite a three-pipe problem.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), Sherlock Holmes
Why should you mind being wrong
if someone can show you that you are?
A. J. Ayer (1910-1989), British philosopher
Be not overcome of evil,
but overcome evil with good.
The Bible, Romans 12:21
Someone, somewhere, wants a letter from you.
slogan for the British Post Office
Maybe, just maybe.
slogan for the British National Lottery
If you want to get ahead, get a hat.
slogan for The Hat Council
A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
line with all the letters of the alphabet in it
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
The Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:26
All is well that ends well.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright
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