A-F

A

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of  others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

-Douglas Adams

In this life we get only those things for which we hunt, for which we are willing to strive and for which we are willing to sacrifice. It is better to aim for something that you want - even though you may miss it - then to get something that you didn't aim to get and which you don't want! If we look long enough for what we want in life, we are almost sure to find it, no matter what the objective may be.

-George Matthew Adams

It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

 -Alfred Adler

People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. 

Most men succeed because they are determined to. 
-George Allen

Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the 

meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything. 
-Muhammad Ali

The task ahead of us is never as great as the power behind us.

-Alcoholics Anonymous

You never know what happiness a simple act of kindness will bring about.

 -Bree Abel          

There are high spots in all of our lives, and most of them come about through encouragement from someone else.

-George Adams

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep".

"There is no idea so good it can't be ruined by a few well-placed idiots."

-Scott Adams

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying."

- Woody Allen

Aristotle

What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.

"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies."

One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation. 
-Arthur Ashe

"You must be true to yourself. Strong enough to be true to yourself. Brave enough to be strong enough to be true to yourself. Wise enough to be brave enough, to be strong enough to shape yourself from what you actually are." 

-Sylvia Constance Ashton-Warner

 B

When you want to be honoured by others, you learn to honour them first.

-Sathya Sai Baba

The faults of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is difficult to perceive

-Bhagavad Gita

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is. 
-Francis Bacon

Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.

-James Baldwin

The greatest personal limitation is to be found not in the things you want to do and can't, but in the things you've never considered doing.

-Richard Bandler

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new end. 
-Carl Bard

"The secret of happiness is not doing what one likes, but in liking what one does."

-James Barrie

"Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life."

-Karl Barth

The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, 

so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men. 
-Bill Beattie

"Music is a higher revelation than philosophy." 

-Ludwig van Beethoven

"Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils."

-Hector Berloiz

Josh Billings

Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are and doing things as they ought to be done.

Consider the postage stamp, my son. It secures success through its ability to stick to one thing until it gets there.

As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand. 

That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily 

please them by doing what you know is wrong.
-William J. H. Boetcker

The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. 
-Niels Bohr

"The most important thing in life is not to capitalize on your gains. Any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your losses."

-William Bolitho

Napoleon Bonaparte

The best way to keep one's word is not to give it.

Ability is of little account without opportunity.

"Doubt whom you will, but never yourself."

When all else is lost, the future still remains.

-Christian N. Bovee

Make peace with the knowledge that you can't have everything you want. Why? Because it's more important for us to get 

everything we need.
-Sarah Ban Breathnach

The finest kind of friendship is between people who expect a great deal of each other but never ask it. 
-Sylvia Bremer

"The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work."

-Arthur Brisbane

We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all. 
-Jean de La Bruyere

"Though good may come of practice, This primal truth endures; The first time anything is done, It's done by amateurs."

-Art Buck

Race prejudice is not only a shadow over the colored-it's a shadow over all of us, and the shadow is darkest over those who feel it least and allow its evil effects to go on.

-Pearl S. Buck  

"Believe in nothing, no matter who said it, no matter if I said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense"

What you are is what you have been, and what you will be is what you do now

-The Buddha

In prosperity, prepare for a change. In adversity, hope for one.
-James Burgh

C

Albert Camus

There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.

"Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend."

"It takes 20 years to become an overnight success."

-Eddie Cantor

"Everywhere in life, the true question is not what we gain, but what we do."

-Thomas Carlyle

Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes 

you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves. 
-Dale Carnegie

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life. 

-Sandra Carey

"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be."

-Rosalyn Carter

"No matter how old you get, if you can keep the desire to be creative, you're keeping the man-child alive."

-John Cassavetes

It doesn't matter if the water is cold or warm if you're going to have to wade through it anyway. 
-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

"There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds."

-Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it. 
-Agatha Christie

Winston Churchill 

"Eating words has never given me indigestion."

"We have nothing to fear but fear itself."

"I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals."

Personally, I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.

Paulo Coelho (author of The Alchemist)

"Everyone, when they are young, knows what their destiny is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their destiny...It's a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your destiny. It prepares your spirit and your will, because there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth...The Soul of the World is nourished by people's happiness. And also by unhappiness, envy, and jealousy. To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation. All things are one...In the long run, what people think about shepherds and bakers becomes more important for them than their own destinies."

    "Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity."

    "The wise men understood that this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise. The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom. That's what I mean by action."

    "It's not what enters men's mouths that's evil," said the alchemist. "It's what comes out of their mouths that is."

    "He decided to concentrate on more practical matters. He knew that in the caravan there was a man to whom he was to teach some of his secrets. The omens had told him so. He didn't know the man yet, but his practiced eye would recognize him when he appeared. He hoped that it would be someone as capable as his previous apprentice. I don't know why these things have to be transmitted by word of mouth, he thought. It wasn't exactly that they were secrets; God revealed his secrets easily to all his creatures. He had only one explanation for this fact: things have to be transmitted this way because they were made up from the pure life, and this kind of life cannot be captured in pictures or words. Because people become fascinated with pictures and words, and wind up forgetting the Language of the World."  

    "I'm alive...When I'm eating, that's all I think about. If I'm on the march, I just concentrate on marching. If I have to fight, it will be just as good a day to die as any other. Because I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man. You'll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living right now."

    "When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision."

     "...the sheep had taught him something even more important: that there was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired."

     "People learn, early in their lives, what is their reason for being...Maybe that's why they give up on it so early, too. But that's the way it is."

You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.
-Edwin Louis Cole

Great minds must be ready not only to take opportunities, but to make them. 

There is this paradox in pride - it makes some men ridiculous, but prevents others from becoming so.
-C. C. Colton

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan press on has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."

-President Calvin Coolidge

Sayings of the Companions and the Righteous Followers

"Judge yourselves before you yourselves are judged; and weigh yourselves before you yourselves are weighed in the balance.
When you are brought to account tomorrow, it will be much easier for you if you have already brought yourselves to account today - so do so, before you come to the final gathering."

"The Believer with the Believer is like each of a pair of hands, each washes the other. It may be that dirt cannot be removed except with a certain amount of roughness, but that brings about cleanliness and softness for which we praise that roughness."

"We were afflicted with hardship, and we persevered and endured, but when we enjoyed times of ease, we were unable to persevere."

Confucis

"To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice."

"The superior man is modest in his speech, but excels in his actions."

Choose a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life.

"A fool marvels at rare things, but a wise man at common ones."

"Man who stand on hill with mouth open will wait long time for roast duck to drop in."

"Silence is the true friend that never betrays."

Those who cannot forgive others break the bridge over which they themselves must pass."

"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone."

-Bill Cosby

Words are like diamonds. Polish them too much, and all you get are pebbles. 

-Bryce Courtenay

The most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have 

fought well.
-Pierre De Coubertin

"Razor sharp focus gives dreams their cutting edge."

"If you enter a race and finish last, you are a winner. The loser never entered the race."

-Roger Crawford

"When I was told to the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, 'Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?'"

-Quentin Crisp

There are two kinds of men who never amount to very much: Those who cannot do what they are told, and those who can do

 nothing else.
-Cyrus H.K. Curtis

D

The world is increasingly interdependent. It is crucial that all of us, the strong and the weak, contribute in our own way.

-Dalai Lama

"I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. Well, I think my mother is attractive, but I just keep pictures of her."

-Ellen DeGeneres

Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.

-Descartes

"Minds are like parachutes – they only function when open."

-Thomas Dewar

"If you can dream it, you can do it."

-Walt Disney

"Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm."

"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge."

-Benjamin Disraeli

"In every success, you find someone has made a courageous decision."

-Peter F. Drucker

True love always makes a man better, no matter what woman inspires it.
-Alexandre Dumas

"Use what talent you possess. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."

-Henry Van Dyke

“Our deeds follow us, and what we have been makes us what we are."

-John Dykes

E

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. 
As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey.
-Thomas Edison

Albert Einstein

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.  The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge.  Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

"Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance."

"I want to know God's thoughts, the rest are details."  

"If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what then, is an empty desk?"

"Little is the number that think with their own mind and feel with their own heart."

 "If A equals success, then the formula is A = X + Y + Z. X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut."

Dwight D. Eisenhower

"What matters is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog."

A soldier's pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner's chains.

Make yourself a blessing for someone. Your kind smile or pat on the back just might pull someone off the edge.

-Carmelia Elliot

"The two most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity."

-Harlan Ellison

T. S. Eliot

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

"Keep cool: it will all be over 100 years hence."

"The ancestor of every action is a thought."

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

"Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind."

"When the eyes say one thing and the tongue another, the practiced person relies on the language of the first."

"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer."

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."

The reward for a thing well done is to have done it.

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

-Epictetus

"In the simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where he wants to go, and gets up and goes."

-John Erskine 

"Fortune truly helps those who are of good judgment."

"Sight not what is near, while aiming at what is far."

-Euripides

F

Fear, the thief of Dreams

-No Fear shirt

The prudence of the best heads is often defeated by tenderness of the best hearts. 
-Henry Fielding

Henry Ford

"Coming together is a beginning; Keeping together is progress; Working together is success."

"You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do."

"Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, either way you're right."

There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can.

"It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly." 

It's better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.

-Anatole France

Ben Franklin

If you would be loved, love, and be lovable

An empty bag cannot stand upright.

Be always ashamed to catch thyself idle.

The Doors of wisdom are never shut.

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Full of courtesy, full of craft.

God helps them that help themselves.

Hunger never saw bad bread.

If Jack's in love, he's no judge of Jill's beauty.

Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee.

A Lie stands on one leg, the truth on two.

A Man without a wife is but half a man.  

One today is worth two tomorrows.

Pay what you owe and you'll know what's your own.

A Quarrelsome man has no good neighbors.

The Rotten apple spoils his companion.

Speak little, do much.

Trouble knocked on the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away.
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

Up, sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough.

Visits should be short, like a winter's day.

Well done is better than well said.

A good example is the best sermon.

You may delay, but time will not.

There are lazy minds as well as lazy bodies.

"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."

Character is not made in crisis - it's only exhibited. 
-Robert Freeman

If I am what I have and if I lose what I have who then am I?
-Erich Fromm

Robert Frost

"A flower unplucked is but left to the falling, And nothing is gained by not gathering roses."

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

"A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer."

"One may miss the mark by aiming too high, as too low."

-Thomas Fuller