The bond that links your true family is not one of blood,
but of respect and joy in each other's life.
-- Richard Bach, in Illusions
"The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent, but if we can come to terms with this indifference, then our existence as a species can have genuine meaning. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light."
-Stanley Kubrick
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain
We do not belong to the past dawns, but to the noons of the future
Sri Aurobindo
When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.
- Albert Einstein
"Righteousness, or justice, is, undoubtedly of all the virtues, the surest foundation on which to create and establish a new state. But there are two nobler virtues, industry and frugality, which tend more to increase the wealth, power and grandeur of the community, than all the others without them."
- Benjamin Franklin
The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.
- Oscar Wilde
"If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is
work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."
- Albert Einstein
Success
The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.
Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973), American Novelist
Ability
The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.
Thomas A. Edison (1847-1931), American Inventor
"The Moon and Sixpence" by Somerset Maugham:
"Why do you think that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the
world, lies like a stone on the beach for the careless passerby to pick up
idly? Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out
of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul. And when he has made
it, it is not given to all to know it. To recognise it you must repeat the
adventure of the artist. It is a melody that he sings to you, and to hear it
again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness and
imagination".
Knowledge
A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting.
Carlos Castaneda American Anthropologist
Men & Women
A woman who looks like a girl and thinks like a man is the best sort, the most enjoyable to be and the most pleasurable to have and to hold.
Julie Burchill British Journalist, Writer
Ability
There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.
Douglas Everett American Hockey Player
Knowledge
Learning is acquired by reading books, but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only to be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various facets of them.
Lord Chesterfield 1694-1773, British Statesman
Cinema will eliminate divergences of views among men and prove invaluable in realising the human ideal. We should accord cinema the importance it deserves."
Former Turkish premier Kemal Ataturk
Love
When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.
Martin Buber 1878-1965, Austrian-born Israeli Theologian
Knowledge
Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1859-1930, British Author