Quotes to inspire and reflect

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming that comes when you finish the life of the emotions and of personal relations; and suddenly find - at the age of fifty, say - that a whole new life has opened before you, filled with things you can think about, study, or read about...It is as if a fresh sap of ideas and thoughts was rising in you.

A Hospital is no place to be sick.

The true traveler is he who goes on foot, and even then, he sits down a lot of the time.

Evil is obvious only in retrospect.

In every power, of which taste is the foundation, excellence is pretty fairly divided between the sexes.

If a writer wrote merely for his time, I would have to break my pen and throw it away.

The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it.

We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.

We distinguish the excellent man from the common man by saying that the former is the one who makes great demands upon himself, and the latter who makes no demands on himself.

Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.

The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.

Happiness: a good bank account, a good cook and a good digestion.

Perhaps I am a bear, or some hibernating animal underneath, for the instinct to be half asleep all winter is so strong in me.

Laughter is by definition healthy.

Television is the triumph of machine over people.

The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.

A schedule defends from chaos and whim.

I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.

Before he sets out, the traveler must possess fixed interests and facilities to be served by travel.

When you make a world tolerable for yourself, you make a world tolerable for others.

The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.

Time cools, time clarifies; no mood can be maintained quite unaltered through the course of hours.

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.

For the sense of smell, almost more than any other, has the power to recall memories and it is a pity that you use it so little.

Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within, as on the state of things without and around us.

When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind.

One must know oneself, if this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better.

They were so strong in their beliefs that there came a time when it hardly mattered what exactly those beliefs were; they all fused into a single stubbornness.

A man can do all things if he but wills them.

To establish oneself in the world, one has to do all one can to appear established.

[Water is] the only drink for a wise man.

Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge.

The good or ill of a man lies within his own will.

To will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring one to that goal, and then hold to that action till the goal is reached. The key is action.

[Medicine is] a collection of uncertain prescriptions the results of which, taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind.

A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.

Guilt is a rope that wears thin.

We turn not older with years, but newer every day.

I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music.

The one thing more difficult than following a regimen is not imposing it on others.

Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

Appetite, with an opinion of attaining, is called hope; the same, without such opinion, despair.

Silence is more musical than any song.

Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment.

Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet in a crowded day - like writing a poem, or saying a prayer.

There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else.

It is better wither to be silent, or to say things of more value than silence. Sooner throw a pearl at hazard than an idle or useless word; and do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few.

In the attitude of silence, the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.