"Absence is to love what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small; it enkindles the great."
- Comte de Bassy Rabutin

Achievement
 

"Almost anything that you do could be insignificant but it is important that you do it."
- Ghandi
 

"We must dream of an aristocracy of achievement arising out of a democracy of opportunity."
-  Thomas Jefferson
 

"Achievement is the knowledge that you have studied, worked hard and done the best in you. Success is being praised by others, and that's nice too, but not as important and satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success."
- Helen Hayes' mother
 

"The great thing in this world is not where we stand, as in what direction we are going."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
 

"The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it, but rather what he becomes of it."
- Prism
 

"The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it, but rather what he becomes by it."
- quoted
 
 
 

"If you see a spider spinning its web, lift your child to see it, and tell him that the shining silk drawn out of the spider's body has a greater tensile strength than steel. If he learns admiration instead of disgust for the tiny spinner, he will have learned one of the greatest lessons in nature - that all life is sacred."
- Donald Culross Peattle
 
 
 

"When a fellow has been through adversity, he is more likely to have a kindlier feeling than those who have never been through trouble."
- Harry S. Truman
 

"In prosperity men ask too little of God, in adversity too much."
- Ivan Panin
 

"Adversity can cause some men to break; others to break records."
- William A. Ward
 
 
 

"Affection cannot be bought; it has to be earned."
- AGP
 
 
 

"Age is a limit we impose upon ourselves."
- from "Lost Horizon"
 

As we grow older, God sees to it that our eyes grow dimmer, so that when we look at ourselves in the mirror, we can say, "I still look as good as ever."
- Helen Hayes
 

"Old age is like climbing a mountain. The higher you get, the more tired and breathless you become. But the view becomes much more extensive."
- quoted
 
 
 

"There is no ambition noble enough to justify breaking another person's heart."
- from the book "Thorn Birds"
 
 
 

"In holding antiques, you reach across centuries and touch the very hands of genius,"
- Jonathan Gash
 
 
 

"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
- Edgar Allan Poe
 
 
 

"To be an artist is like being entrusted with something precious for a brief time. It is the duty of the artist to hand it on, like the Greek runners who passed the lighted torch, one to another."
- Jascha Heifetz; violinist
 

"Art is not about technique. It's about expressing what's inside of you. A true painter paints for himself, not for others."
- Ramakrishnan Nair; Indian painter
 
 
 

"An artist is not a special kind of man but every man is a special kind of artist."
- Eric Gill
 

"The greatest artist was once a beginner."
- Farmer's Digest
 

"A good artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she'll become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl she used to be. A great artist can look at an old woman, portray her exactly as she is and force the viewer to see the pretty girl she used to be. More than that he can make anyone see that this lovely young girl is still alive, imprisoned in her ruined body. He can make you feel the quiet, endless tragedy that there never was a girl born who ever grew older than 18 in her heart, no matter what the merciless hours have done."
- Robert Heinlein ; in "Strangers In A Strange Land"
 
 
 

"The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle, which is exactly what it is."
- Ardis Whitman
 

"The ideal man takes joy in doing favor for others; he feels ashamed to have others do it for him. For it is a mark of superiority to confer a kindness but it is a mark of inferiority to receive it."
- Aristotle
 

"The most insidious malady of our time: the tendency in most of us to observe rather than act; avoid rather than participate; the tendency to give in to the shy, negative voices that constantly counsel us to be careful, to be wary in our approach to this complicated thing called living."
- Arthur Gordon
 

"Let us not look back in anger nor forward in fear but around in awareness."
- James Thurber
 

"It takes a big man to admit when he's wrong, and an even bigger one to keep his mouth shut when he's right."
- Jim Fieling
 

"To learn how to be good to one's self is often more difficult than to learn how to be good to others."
- Joshua Loth Liebman
 

"Could we see when and where we are to meet again, we would be more tender when we bid our friends good-bye."
- Ouida
 

"We have put too much stress on intellect, too little on character;  sharpened our wits while weakening our restraints."
- Will Durant
 

On neutrality:

"The most prominent place in Hell is reserved for those who are neutral on the great issues of life."
- Billy Graham
 

On optimism:

"We cannot afford to waste tears on  "what-might-have-beens". We need to turn the tears into sweat as we go after "what-can-be.""
- Elizabeth Leyton; 68 yrs. old when she started to draw
 

On pessimism or negativism:
 

"We crucify ourselves between two thieves: regret for yesterday and fear of tomorrow."
- Fulton Oursler
 

"Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."
- Horace Mann

 

On looking at the brighter side of life:
 

"Instead of complaining about what's wrong, be grateful for what's right."
- quoted
 

On optimism:
 

When Goliath came against the Israelites, the soldiers all thought: "He's so big, we can never kill him." But David looked at the giant and thought:  "He's so big, I can't miss him."
- Russ Johnston
 
 
 
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