Quotes to inspire and reflect

Why not seize the pleasure at once, how often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparations.

I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.

We know next to nothing about virtually everything. It is not necessary to know the origin of the universe; it is necessary to want to know. Civilization depends not on any particular knowledge, but on the disposition to crave knowledge. George F.

Management" means, in the last analysis, the substitution of thought for brawn and muscle, of knowledge for folklore and superstition, and of cooperation for force. . . Peter F.

It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.

What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who also knows why will always be his boss. As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.

An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.

If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time.

Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.

The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights. J.

It is the theory that decides what we can observe.

God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: "This is my country.

One of the hardest things in this world is to admit you are wrong. And nothing is more helpful in resolving a situation than its frank admission.

He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.

Only learn to seize good fortune, for good fortune is always here.

Talking and eloquence are not the same thing: to speak, and to speak well, are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.

He who finds Fortune on his side should go briskly ahead, for she is wont to favor the bold.

Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.

I expect nothing. I fear no one. I am free.

The gods too are fond of a joke.

To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up.

Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he does not wish to sign his work.

The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.

If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around you own.

I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come.

The author of the Iliad is either Homer or, if not Homer, somebody else of the same name.

How ridiculous and unrealistic is the man who is astonished at anything that happens in life.

We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.

Since we cannot match it let us take our revenge by abusing it.

Ideas must work through the brains and arms of men, or they are no better than dreams.

Some people will never learn anything, for this reason, because they understand everything too soon.

Students achieving Oneness will move on to Twoness.

Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too. Richard M.

No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or "get rich" in business by being a conformist. J.

What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough to embrace the whole truth: life always spills over the rim of every cup.

In order to write about life, first you must live it

The mark of a good action is that it appears inevitable in retrospect.

Live life to the fullest.

Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.

I respect the man who knows distinctly what he wishes. The greater part of all mischief in the world arises from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims. They have undertaken to build a tower, and spend no more labor on the foundation than would be necessary to erect a hut.

Modesty is a vastly overrated virtue.

Life is a perpetual instruction in cause and effect.

The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.

This is the true joy in life -- being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one...