Quotes to inspire and reflect

Progress is the mother of problems.

The wise man thinks about his troubles only when there is some purpose in doing so; at other times he thinks about other things.

Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of.

This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble.

Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it, it’s only good for wallowing in.

Waste no tears over the griefs of yesterday.

Difficulties exist to be surmounted.

Contrary to popular opinion, the hustle is not a new dance step—it is an old business procedure.

It is the character of a brave and resolute man not to be ruffled by adversity and not to desert his post.

The good things of prosperity are to be wished, but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.

In the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm; in the real world, all rests on perseverance.

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure.

Fate gave to man the courage of endurance.

Our delight in any particular study, art or science rises in proportion to the application which we bestow upon it. Thus, what was at first an exercise becomes at length an entertainment.

A man comes to measure his greatness by the regrets, envies and hatreds of his competitors.

In this world the one thing supremely worth having is the opportunity to do well and worthily a piece of work of vital consequence to the welfare of mankind.

Injuries should be done all together, so that being, less tasted, they will give less offense. Benefits should be granted little by little, so that they may be better enjoyed.

Opportunity has hair in front but is bald behind.

Fate often puts all the material for happiness and prosperity into a man’s hands just to see how miserable he can make himself with them.

Whatever limits us we call Fate.

No wind favors him who has no destined port.

Destiny: A tyrant’s authority for crime and a fool’s excuse for failure.

Society can exist only on the basis that there is some amount of polished lying and that no one says exactly as he thinks.

People lie because they don’t remember clear what they saw. People lie because they can’t help making a good story better than it was the way it happened.

Without lies humanity would perish of despair and boredom.

Delusions, errors and lies are like huge, gaudy vessels, the rafters of which are rotten and worm-eaten, and those who embark in them are fated to be shipwrecked.

By all means use some times to be alone. Salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear.

Pessimism leads to weakness; optimism to power.

The trust that we put in ourselves makes us feel trust in others.

The greatest realities are physical and economic, all the subtleties of life come afterward.

What men want is not talent, it is purpose; in other words, not the power to achieve, but will to labor. I believe that labor judiciously and continuously applied becomes genius.

To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.

Power is not happiness. Security and peace are more to be desired than a man at which nations tremble.

The admiration of power in others is as common to man as the love of it in himself; the one makes him a tyrant, the other a slave.

Orators are most vehement when they have the weakest cause, as men get on horseback when they cannot walk.

Necessity is the mother of invention is a silly proverb. Necessity is the mother of futile dodges is much nearer the truth.

Memory is a net: One finds it full of fish when he takes it from the brook, but a dozen miles of water have run through it without sticking.

Necessity is the constant scourge of the lower classes, ennui of the higher ones.

The heart’s memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good; and thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burdens of the past.

It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory.

Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this, that you are dreadfully like other people.

Man, biologically considered, and whatever else he may be into the bargain, is the most formidable of all beasts of prey, and indeed, the only one who preys systematically on his own species.

You will find men who want to be carried on the shoulders of others, who think that the world owes them a living. They don’t seem to see that we must all lift together and pull together.

Life is divided into three terms—that which was, which is and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present to live better for the future.

You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give.

Every man is born to one possession which outvalues all his others—his last breath.

Life must be lived forwards, but can only be understood backwards.

Remember that life is neither pain nor pleasure; it is serious business, to be entered upon with courage and in a spirit of self-sacrifice.