Quotes to inspire and reflect

Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.

Well done is better than well said.

When a man’s willing and eager, the gods join in.

Everything comes to he who hustles while he waits.

Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.

Asking “Who ought to be boss?” is like asking “Who ought to be the tenor in the quartet?” Obviously, the man who can sing tenor.

Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.

Consensus is the negation of leadership.

High sentiments always win in the end. The leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.

The only cure for vanity is laughter. And the only fault that’s laughable is vanity.

Men often mistake notoriety for fame, and would rather be remarked for their vices and follies than not be noticed at all.

The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell.

I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it.

Ignorance is bold, and knowledge reserved.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

It is never too late to give up our prejudices.

Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.

Nothing in the world is so rare as a person one can always put up with.

I have never for one instant seen clearly within myself. How then would you have me judge the deeds of others?

That which we call sin in others is experiment for us.

To be idle requires a strong sense of personal identity.

Whoever wants to be a judge of human nature should study people’s excuses.

A life of ease is a difficult pursuit.

Laziness is nothing more than resting before you get tired.

He who praises everybody praises nobody.

Cultivate the habit of early rising. It is unwise to keep the head long on a level with the feet.

Gossip is that which no one claims to like—but everybody enjoys.

Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.

I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.

Anger is a symptom, a way of cloaking and expressing feelings too awful to experience directly—hurt, bitterness, grief and, most of all, fear.

Grow angry slowly—there’s plenty of time.

The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life but that it bothers him less and less.

A bore is a fellow talker who can change the subject to his topic of conversation faster than you can change it back to yours.

People who insist on telling their dreams are among the terrors of the breakfast table.

A fanatic is someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.

Bores bore each other, too, but it never seems to teach them anything.

Everybody has the right to express what he thinks. That, of course, lets the crackpots in. But if you cannot tell a crackpot when you see one, then you ought to be taken in.

I’m not denyin’ the women are foolish: God Almighty made ’em to match the men.

You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.

Only a fool argues with a skunk, a mule or the cook.

There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.

It is wise to remember that you are one of those who can be fooled some of the time.

Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist but in the ability to start over.

Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.

One must be poor to know the luxury of giving.

Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.

The work of an unknown good man is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground greener.

Generosity always wins favor, particularly when accompanied by modesty.