Quotes to inspire and reflect

Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.

The case has, in some respects, been not entirely devoid of interest.

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.

The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood.

It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.

The British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst. Sir Winston Churchill, Hansard, June 10, 1941 #3287 Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

If we attend continually and promptly to the little that we can do, we shall ere long be surprised to find how little remains that we cannot do.

One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.

Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt... We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will finish the job.

It has been said that the love of money is the root of all evil. The want of money is so quite as truly.

All slang is a metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry. G. K.

Vladimir: That passed the time. Estragon: It would have passed in any case. Vladimir: Yes, but not so rapidly.

We are all born mad. Some remain so.

Do not consider painful what is good for you.

One cannot review a bad book without showing off. W. H.

When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time. Saint Francis de Sales #3244Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish.

At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely. W.

Reprove thy friend privately; commend him publicly.

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.

He that climbs the tall tree has won right to the fruit.

There is no den in the wide world to hide a rogue. Commit a crime and the earth is made of glass. Commit a crime, and it seems as if a coat of snow fell on the ground, such as reveals in the woods the track of every partridge, and fox, and squirrel.

A little wonton money, which burned out the bottom of his purse.

Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts.

They wonder much to hear that gold, which in itself is so useless a thing, should be everywhere so much esteemed, that even men for whom it was made, and by whom it has its value, should yet be thought of less value than it is.

Nature made him, and then broke the mold.

Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it.

There is no other way of guarding oneself against flattery than by letting men understand that they will not offend you by speaking the truth; but when everyone can tell you the truth, you lose their respect.

There are three classes of intellects: one which comprehends by itself; another which appreciates what others comprehend; and a third which neither comprehends by itself nor by the showing of others; the first is the most excellent, the second is good, and the third is useless.

Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.

When neither their property nor their honor is touched, the marjority of men live content.

A prince should therefore have no other aim or thought, nor take up any other thing for his study but war and it organization and discipline, for that is the only art that is necessary to one who commands.

Iron rusts from disue; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.

Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.

If the present world go astray, the cause is in you, in you it is to be sought.

You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?

A fair request should be followed by the deed in silence.

Consider your origin; you were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.

He listens well who takes notes.

All hope abandon, ye who enter here!

In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.

I was in love with loving.

Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favor; for even death is one of the things that Nature wills.

Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised.

By a tranquil mind I mean nothing else than a mind well ordered.

How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy.

You should pray for a sound mind in a sound body.

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect.

The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things - bread and circuses!