Quotes to inspire and reflect

Life is so constructed, that the event does not, cannot, will not, meet the expectation.

To rest in the arms of perfection is the desire of any man intent upon creating excellence.

Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.

From time to time there appear on the face of the earth men of rare and consummate excellence, who dazzle us by their virtue, and whose outstanding qualities shed a stupendous light.

Example moves the world more than doctrine. The great exemplars are the poets of action, and it makes little difference whether they be forces for good or forces for evil.

A superior who works on his own development sets an almost irresistible example.

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil but as a necessity, or even a duty.

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.

Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become one himself. And when you stare for a long time into an abyss, the abyss stares back into you.

No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from.

The most powerful cause of error is the war existing between the senses and reason.

With Pleasure own your Errors past, And make each day a Critic on the last.

Generally speaking, the errors of religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous.

Error is acceptable as long as we are young; but one must not drag it along into old age.

A show of envy is an insult to oneself.

and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact.

An envious heart makes a treacherous ear.

We often pride ourselves on even the most criminal passions, but envy is a timid and shame-faced passion we never dare acknowledge.

The envious die not once, but as often as the envied win applause.

Envy is a littleness of soul, which cannot see beyond a certain point, and if it does not occupy the whole space, feels itself excluded.

Hearts are flowers; they remain open to the softly-falling dew, but shut up in the violent downpour of rain.

Few men have the strength of character to rejoice in a friend’s success without a touch of envy.

The brain may take advice, but not the heart.

It is an easy thing for one whose foot Is on the outside of calamity to give advice.

Enthusiasm is a volcano on whose top never grows the grass of hesitation.

Enthusiasm is the great hill-climber.

Every great and commanding movement in the annals of the world is the triumph of some enthusiasm.

For what is enthusiasm but the oblivion and swallowing-up of self in an object dearer than self?

There is no such thing as “the Queen’s English.” The property has gone into the hands of a joint stock company and we own the bulk of the shares!

Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.

I like to be beholden to the great metropolitan English speech, the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven.

English, no longer an English language, now grows from many roots; and those whom it once colonized are carving out large territories within the language for themselves. The Empire is striking back.

Modern English is the Wal-Mart of languages: convenient, huge, hard to avoid, superficially friendly, and devouring all rivals in its eagerness to expand.

It is a language which is being molded by writers to do delicate things and yet be in the grasp of superficially educated people.

Eloquence is a painting of thought.

Shame on all eloquence which leaves us with a taste for itself and not for its substance.

Eloquence is feeling pouring itself to other minds, courting their sympathy.

Eloquence lies as much in the tone of the voice, in the eyes, and in the speaker’s manner, as in his choice of words.

Eloquence, when at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection; but addressing itself entirely to the fancy or the affections, captivates the willing hearers, and subdues their understanding.

Eloquence may set fire to reason.

Eloquence is the power to translate a truth into language perfectly intelligible to the person to whom you speak.

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.

In the drowsy dark caves of the mind dreams build their nest with fragments dropped from day’s caravan.

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to an human soul.

Dreams are the true interpreters of our inclinations; but there is art required to sort and understand them.

In bed my real love has always been the sleep that rescued me by allowing me to dream.