Quotes to inspire and reflect

Show me the person you honor, for I know better by that the kind of person you are. For you show me what your idea of humanity is.

Value is not intrinsic; it is not in things. It is within us; it is the way in which man reacts to the conditions of his environment.

The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts.

When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.

A human being feels able and competent only so long as he is permitted to contribute as much as, or more, than he has contributed to him.

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something else.

Life can only be understood backwards…But it must be lived forwards.

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.

We cannot put off living until we’re ready. Life is fired at us point blank.

Confidence....thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them, it cannot live.

In life as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard.

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on.

If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.

It is only through work and strife that either nation or individual moves on to greatness. The great man is always the man of mighty effort, and usually the man whom grinding need has trained to mighty effort.

Character and personal force are the only investments that are worth anything.

We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

We understand why children are afraid of the darkness, but why are men afraid of the light?

Without self-confidence we are as babes in the cradles. And how can we generate this imponderable quality, which is yet so invaluable most quickly? By thinking that other people are inferior to oneself.

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor souls who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.

The three great essentials to achieving anything worthwhile are; first, hard work, second, stick-to-it-iveness, and third, common sense.

A man who doesn't dream is like a man who doesn't sweat: he stores up a lot of poison.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.

Nothing is permanent but change.

We all have to take defeats in life.

Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things.

There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.

The actual tragedies of life bear no relation to one's preconceived ideas. In the event, one is always bewildered by their simplicity, their grandeur of design, and by that element of the bizarre which seems inherent in them.

Facts are the enemy of truth.

I don't have hobbies; hobbies cost money. Interests are quite free.

Knowledge is power.

To talk well and eloquently is a very great art, but that an equally great one is to know the right moment to stop.

Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer.

Genius is eternal patience.

Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.

One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar.

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles with it.

You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. 'Which road do I take?' she asked. His response was a question: 'Where do you want to go?' 'I don't know,' Alice answered. 'Then,' said the cat, 'it doesn't matter.'

For any student of history, change is the law of life. Any attempt to contain it guarantees an explosion down the road; the more rigid the adherence to the status quo, the more violent the ultimate outcome will be.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and over again, but expecting a different result.

Do or do not. There is no try.

Timing is everything. There is a tide in the affairs of men which when taken at the flood leads on to fortune.