a Kempis, Thomas, see, Thomas a Kempis

Aaronovitch, Ben

• Every great decision creates ripples--like a huge boulder dropped in a lake. The ripples merge, rebound off the banks in unforseeable ways. The heavier the decision, the larger the waves, the more uncertain the consequences. (Remembrance of the Daleks)

Abbey, Edward

• That which today calls itself science gives us more and more information, and indigestible glut of information, and less and less understanding. ("Down the River with Henry Thoreau" Words from the Land)

• Every man, every woman carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary.

Abdul-Baha

• Man is not intended to see through the eyes of another, hear through another's ears nor comprehend with another's brain. Each human creature has individual endowment, power and responsibility in the creative plan of God.

Abel, Bree

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

Abelard, Peter

• The first key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning ... for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.

Abelson, Phillip Hauge

• Part of the strength of science is that it has tended to attract individuals who love knowledge and the creation of it. ("The Roots of Scientific Integrity" Science 1963)

Abert, Geoffrey F.

• The most important thing about having goals is having one.

• Prosperity depends more on wanting what you have than having what you want.

• When you take charge of your life, there is no longer need to ask permission of other people or society at large. When you ask permission, you give someone veto power over your life.

Ackerman, Diane

• I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

Acosta, Mercerdes de

• Nothing that is beautiful is easy, but everything is possible.

Adam, Juliette

• Death is the opening of a more subtle life. In the flower, it sets free the perfume; in the chrysalis, the butterfly; in man, the soul.

Adams, Abigail

• Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence. (Letter to John Adams, May 8, 1780)

Adams, Ansel

• In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration. (in Older & Wiser, ed. by Hofmayer)

Adams, Douglas

• A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

• First we thought the PC was a calculator. Then we found out how to turn numbers into letters with ASCII--and we thought it was a typewriter. Then we discovered graphics, and we thought it was a television. With the World Wide Web, we've realized it's a brochure.

• Human being, 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.

• The impossible often has a kind of integrity which the merely improbable lacks.

• It is a rare mind indeed that can render the hitherto non-existent blindingly obvious. The cry 'I could have thought of that' is a very popular and misleading one, for the fact is that they didn't, and a very significant and revealing fact it is too. (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency)

Adams, Franklin P.

• I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way.

Adams, George Matthew

• Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years... Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart. (The Christmas Heart)

• There is no such thing as a "self-made" man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.

• There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them have come about through encouragement from someone else. I don't care how great, how famous or successful a man or woman may be, each hungers for applause.

Adams, Henry Brooks

• Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.

• A friend in power is a friend lost. (The Education of Henry Adams)

• He too serves a certain purpose who only stands and cheers.

• In plain words, Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man. (The Education of Henry Adams)

• One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible.

• A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.

Adams, John

• Let us dare to read, think, speak and write

Adams, John Quincy

• Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.

Adams, Patch

• When a dream takes hold of you, what can you do? You can run with it, let it run your life, or let it go and think for the rest of your life about what might have been. (Gesundheit!)

Adams, Philip

• Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.

Adams, Scott

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

• I'm slowly becoming a convert to the principle that you can't motivate people to do things, you can only demotivate them. The primary job of the manager is not to empower but to remove obstacles.

• You don't have to be a "person of influence" to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they've taught me.

Adams, William

• Faith is a continuation of reason.

Addams, Jane

• Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics.

• Civilization is a method of living, an attitude of equal respect for all men.

Addison, Joseph

• Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.

• The greatest sweetener of human life is Friendship. To raise this to the highest pitch of enjoyment, is a secret which but few discover.

• I consider an human soul without education like marble in the quarry, which shows none of its inherent beauties till the skill of the polisher fetches out the colours, makes the surface shine, and discovers every ornamental cloud, spot and vein that runs through the body of it.

• To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature: to be so to the utmost of our agilities is the glory of man.

• The transition from cause to effect, from event to event, is often carried on by secret steps, which our foresight cannot divine, and our sagacity is unable to trace.

• What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul.

• What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

• When we ask advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.

Ade, George

• One cannot rest except after steady practice. (Forty Modern Fables)

Adenauer, Konrad

• In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He did not also limit his stupidity.

Adier, Judi

• Champions know there are no shortcuts to the top. They climb the mountain one step at a time. They have no use for helicopters!

Adkin, Wil S.

• Don't aim to be an earthly saint, with eyes fixed on a star,
  Just try to be the fellow that your Mother thinks you are.

Adler, Alfred

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

Adler, Felix

• An optimist is a person who sees only the lights in the picture, whereas a pessimist sees only the shadows. An idealist, however, is one who sees the light and the shadows, but in addition sees something else: the possibility of changing the picture, of making the lights prevail over the shadows.

Adler, Morton J.

• The telephone book is full of facts, but it doesn't contain a single idea.

Aeschylus

• It is an easy thing for one whose foot/is on the outside of calamity/to give advice and to rebuke the sufferer.

• It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted.

• The wisest of the wise may err.

Aesop

• Affairs are easier of entrance than of exit; and it is but common prudence to see our way out before we venture in.

• Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.

• Example is the best precept. ("The Two Crabs" Fables)

• Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.

• Plodding wins the race.

Agather, Elaine

• The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it.

Agee, James

• In every child who is born, under no matter what circumstances, and of no matter what parents, the potentiality of the human race is born again.

Agee, Joan

• We all need the waters of the Mercy River. Though they don't run deep, there's usually enough, just enough, for the extravagance of our lives. (Sweet Eyes)

Aiken, Howard

• Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good you'll have to ram them down people's throats.

Aiken, Joan

• Children read to learn--even when they are reading fantasy, nonsense, light verse, comics or the copy on cereal packets, they are expanding their minds all the time, enlarging their vocabulary, making discoveries: it is all new to them.

an Air Force motte

• The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer.

Akers, John

• Set your expectations high; find men and women whose integrity and values you respect; get their agreement on a course of action; and give them your ultimate trust.

Akhenaton

• Honor is the inner garment of the Soul; the first thing put on by it with the flesh, and the last it layeth down at its separation from it.

• To be satisfied with a little, is the greatest wisdom; and he that increaseth his riches, increaseth his cares; but a contented mind is a hidden treasure, and trouble findeth it not.

Albee, Edward

• Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writer turns fact into truth; a bad writer will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite.

• Remember one thing about democracy. We can have anything we want and at the same time, we always end up with exactly what we deserve.

Albert, Eddie

• I don't really care how I am remembered as long as I bring happiness and joy to people. (in Success Secrets of Super Achievers by Stovall)

Albright, Herm

• A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

Albright, Madeleine

• As you go along your own road in life, you will, if you aim high enough, also meet resistance... But no matter how tough the opposition may seem, have courage still - and persevere.

Alcott, Amos Bronson

• Strengthen me by sympathizing with my strength, not my weakness.

• Thought means life, since those who do not think do not live in any high or real sense.

Alcott, Louisa May

• Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.

• I like good strong words that mean something. (Little Women)

• Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth's sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.

• "Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary.

Alda, Alan

• Be brave enough to live creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can't get there by bus, only by hard work, risking, and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful: yourself.

• Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don't leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.

• No man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle and good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.

• Originality is unexplored territory. You get there by carrying a canoe--you can't take a taxi.

Alden, Andrew

• Before speaking, consider the interpretation of your words as well as their intent.

Aldrich, Bess Streeter

• Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart...filled it, too, with melody that would last forever. (Song of Years)

• The life of every man is a diary, in which he means to write one story, and writes another. (Cheers For Miss Bishop (movie based on the novel Miss Bishop))

Alexander (the Great)

• I would rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent than in the extent of my powers and dominion. (in "Alexander" Plutarch's Lives)

Alexander, Lloyd

• We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.

Alexander, Scott

• All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy.

Alexander, Shana

• The paradox of reality is that no image is as compelling as the one which exists only in the mind's eye. (Talking Woman)

• The sad truth is that excellence makes people nervous. ("Neglected Kids--The Bright Ones" in The Feminist Eye)

Alexander, Thea

• Great things are only possible with outrageous requests.

Ali, Muhammad

• Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.

Allen, Adela A. (Dr.)

• We should acknowledge differences, we should greet differences, until difference makes no difference anymore.

Allen, Ed

• To change is difficult. Not to change is fatal.

Allen, George

• People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.

Allen, Gracie

• They laughed at Joan of Arc, but she went right ahead and built it anyway.

Allen, James

• The aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is," embraces the whole of man's being. It is so comprehensive that it reaches out to every condition and circumstance of life. A man is literally what he thinks. His character is the sum of his thoughts.

• Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.

• Fixedness of purpose is at the root of all successful efforts, whether in things worldly or spiritual.

• Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bear bad fruit.

• He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. Dream lofty dreams and as you dream so shall you become... (Your Achievement Ezine - Issue No. 153)

• If there is no peace, there must be strength; if there is to be security, there must be stability; if there is to be lasting joy, there must be no leaning upon things which at any moment may be snatched away for ever. (Byways of Blessedness)

• To begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment.

• The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart--this you will build your life by, and this you will become.

• Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results.

Allen, W. H.

• Choice of attention--to pay attention to this and ignore that--is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both choices man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences.

Allen, Woody

• Eighty percent of success is showing up.

• If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative.

Almond, David

• Sometimes we think we should be able to know everything. But we can't. We have to allow ourselves to see what there is to see, and we have imagine. (Skellig)

Alther, Lisa

• That's the risk you take if you change: that people you've been involved with won't like the new you. But other people who do will come along.

Amadon, Art

• I get my way more often now that I have more than one way.

Amiel, Henri Frederic

• Almost everything comes from nothing.

• Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour springs and germinates no more.

• Learn to ... be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not.

• Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the dark way with us.

• Life is short. Be swift to love! Make haste to be kind!

• A man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied; he must know how to disengage what is essential from the detail in which it is enwrapped, for everything cannot be equally considered; in a word, he must be able to simplify his duties, his business and his life.

• The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides. Accept life and you must accept regret.

• To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.

• To learn new habits is everything, for it is to reach the substance of life. Life is but a tissue of habits.

• True humility is contentment. (Journal)

• We are all visionaries, and what we see is our soul in things. (Journal)

• Whenever conscience speaks with a divided, uncertain, and disputed voice, it is not the voice of God. Descend still deeper into yourself, until you hear nothing but a clear, undivided voice, a voice which does away with doubt and brings with it persuasion, light, and serenity.

Amos, Tori

• I believe in rainbows and all of that. But there are darker colors ... and it's the shade that defines the light.

Anacharsis

• Play so that you may be serious. (Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle)

Ananthan, Sanjeeva

• At times your lives seem like that of a tranquil island in a sea of chaos. The battle is to keep this sea of chaos at bay and not let it wash us away into utter chaos.

• When in a hole, stop digging.

Andersen, Hans Christian

• Being born in a duck yard does not matter, if only you are hatched from a swan's egg.

Anderson, Beverly

• There's a feeling of goodwill and peace,
  It's a time of joyous giving
  And love is everywhere.
  What a wonderful time is Christmas! ("What a Wonderful Time Is Christmas")

Anderson, Dave

• I don't pretend to tell people how to live their lives other than to do the right thing and work hard. Everything else should take care of itself. (in Success Secrets of Super Achievers by Stovall)

Anderson, Ernestine

• Nobody can teach you to sing the blues, you have to feel the blues.

Anderson, Greg

• When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live.

Anderson, M. T.

• A library is an adjustable wrench for opening the head.

Anderson, Poul

• I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which when you looked at in the right way, did not become still more complicated. (in New Scientist, 9/25/69)

Anderson, Sherry Ruth and Patricia Hopkins

• I feel that most people have visions, dreams, and insight as the fruits of their spiritual practices... But we need to give ourselves permission to act out those dreams and visions ... even if it takes a lifetime. (The Feminine Face of God)

• In essence, prayer is communion with mystery. And for that reason, there can be no one right way to do it, no prescription for prayer that will minister to everyone's needs. ... However, perhaps there is one requisite: that our heart be in it. (The Feminine Face of God)

• Underneath the question of whether spiritual life is easy or difficult, far deeper than that question is the truth of how a woman actually lives her life. The important issue, one woman told us, is not how to develop spiritually, but how to live authentically. "I'm not the least bit interested in spirituality," another said emphatically. "I'm interested in reality." (The Feminine Face of God)

Anderson, U. S.

• Pessimists are second rate people. They do not believe in life. ... All they want to do is drag you down and appease their own feelings of mediocrity and fear.

Anderson, Walter

• Our lives improve only when we take chances--and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.

Andretti, Mario

• Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal--a commitment to excellence--that will enable you to attain the success you seek.

• Do it no matter what. If you believe in it, it is something very honorable. If somebody around you or your family does not understand it, then that's their problem. But if you do have a passion, an honest passion, just do it. (in "A Moment With A Legend" by Zino)

• If everything's under control, you're going too slow.

• Love what you do. Believe in your instincts. And you'd better be able to pick yourself up and brush yourself off every day.

Andrews, Julie

• Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth.

• Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly.

Andrews, Robert

• Books of quotations are an elemental model of how culture is perpetuated, the wisdom of the trite passed on to posterity, to be added to, edited, and modified by subsequent generations.

Andrus, Ethel Percy

• Such to me is the new image of aging: growth in self and service for all mankind.

Angelou, Maya

• The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

• Among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.

• A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. (quoted in Mind Your Own Bizniche by Squire)

• My life has been one great big joke
  A dance that's walked
  A song that's spoke
  Sometimes I laugh until I choke
  When I think of myself.

• Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try to understand each other, we may even become friends. ("Passports to Understanding" Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now)

• Therefore we pledge to bind ourselves to one another, to embrace our lowliest, to keep company with our loneliest, to educate our illiterate, to feed our starving, to clothe our ragged, to do all good things, knowing that we are more than keepers of our brothers and sisters. We are our brothers and sisters.

• There's a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth. (I Dream a World by Lanker)

Anonymous

• Adversity weakens the weak and strengthens the strong.

• All mothers are physically handicapped. They have only two hands. (The Best of Bits and Pieces)

• All movement is not progress, just as all motion is not forward.

• All through life we must keep choosing. Destiny hangs on "yes" and "no." As we look back, it is to wonder what would have happened if we had gone the other way when the road forked. (Philadelphia Ledger, 1926)

• An arrogant tycoon once told his minister that there really was no need for him to pray ever again. After all, he had everything--he was young, rich, and good-looking.
  After hearing this, the minister said, "Well, you might want to pray for humility." (Bits & Pieces)

• As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks.

• Attitudes are contagious is yours worth catching?

• Be careful of the words you say,
  Keep them short and sweet.
  You never know, from day to day,
  Which ones you'll have to eat.

• Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.

• The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch swing with, never say a word, then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation that you ever had.

• The best leaders are clear. They continually light the way, and in the process, let each person know that what they do makes a difference.

• The best way out of a difficulty is through it.

• Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.

• Books are the shoes with which we tread the footsteps of great minds.

• Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color. Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense, and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable.

• A closed mouth gathers no foot.

• Comparison is the thief of joy.

• The decision doesn't have to be logical, it was unanimous.

• Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how it remains so popular?

• Don't be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.

• The door to opportunity is always labeled 'push'.

• Due to budgetary restraints the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off. We apologize if this inconveniences you in any way.

• The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

• Even a mosquito doesn't get a slap on the back until it starts to work.

• Every man is enthusiastic at times. One man has enthusiasm for thirty minutes, another has it for thirty days--but it is the man that has it for thirty years who makes a success in life. (The Catholic Layman)

• Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours. They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra hour. What will you do with this priceless treasure?

• Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory.

• Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.

• Excellence can be attained if you care more than others think is wise, risk more than others think is safe, dream more than others think is practical, and expect more than others think is possible.

• Expect the people you love to be better. It helps them to become better. But don't get upset when they fail. It helps them keep trying.

• Follow your dreams, for as you dream you shall become.

• For heights and depths no words can reach, music is the soul's own speech.

• Forgiveness is the fragrance that the flower leaves on the heel of the one that crushed it.

• A friend hears the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.

• The future should be something we deserve, not something which is merely reached at the rate of 60 minutes per hour.

• Go out and change the world. The more you study, the more you should have--
  A GOAL you should be pursuing;
  A DREAM your should be launching;
  A PLAN you should be executing;
  A PROJECT you should be starting;
  A POSSIBILITY you should be exploring;
  An OPPORTUNITY you should be grabbing;
  An IDEA you should be working;
  A PROBLEM you should be tackling;
  A DECISION you should be making.
  The greatest force in the world is a positive idea.

• God gave us two ends. One to sit on and one to think with. Success depends on which one you use; head you win--tails, you lose.

• Great people talk about great ideas; average people talk about average ideas; small people talk about other poeple.

• Have courage for the great sorrows of life and for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.

• Hell is a giant banquet room with tables filled with every possible good thing to eat and drink. The people are all seated at the banquet tables, but they are all starving, emaciated, skin on skeleton figures. They are chained in such a way that they can reach out and pick up the food, but the chains prevent them from bringing the food to their mouth. In the ultimate cruelty, they are dying of starvation with food in their hands.
  Surprisingly, the Heaven is also a giant banquet room with tables filled with all the same, wonderful, choices as before. And just as before, the people are all chained so that they can pick up the food, but can't bring it to their mouth. However, in this banquet room, the people are all healthy. They are laughing, singing and enjoying themselves. The difference? In Heaven, they have realized that although they cannot feed themselves, the chains allow them to feed each other.

• Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel.

• How do you treat ideas?
  Treat them TENDERLY--they can be killed quickly.
  Treat them GENTLY--they can be bruised in infancy.
  Treat them RESPECTFULLY--they could be the most valuable thing that ever came into your life.
  Treat them PROTECTIVELY--don't let them get away.
  Treat them NUTRITIONALLY--feed them and feed them well.
  Treat them ANTISEPTICALLY--don't let them get infected with the germs of negative thoughts.
  Treat them RESPONSIBLY--Respond! Act! Do something with them! Decide to decide!

• How high could you go if you knew you wouldn't fall?

• However much of Christmas giving, the real Christmas must be first in the heart.

• I am never a failure until I begin blaming others.

• I believe that none of us ever fails at anything. Every time we create something we are successful at creation. However, we do make some poor choices about what we create.

• "I can't" isn't a reason to give up, it's a reason to try harder.

• I don't know about having too much zeal; but I think it is better the pot should boil over than not boil at all.

• If a task is once begun
  Never leave it till it's done.
  Be the labor great or small
  Do it well or not at all.

• If it weren't for the last minute, a lot of things wouldn't get done.

• If language is as inextricably tied up with consciousness as it seems to be, then the continuing diminishment of our inclination to use it to express in letters the times in which we live could mean that an element of human consciousness itself is on the verge of disappearing.

• If you are going to be original, you are going to be wrong a lot.

• If you know someone who tries to drown their sorrows, you might tell them sorrows know how to swim.

• If you love something, set it free.
  If it returns, it's yours forever.
  If it doesn't it was never your to begin with.

• If you think that praise is due,
  Now's the time to show it,
  'cause a man can't read his tombstone when he's dead.

• If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space.

• Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them . . . work, family, health, friends and spirit, and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls . . . family, health, friends and spirit . . . are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same.

• In the game of life nothing is less important than the score at halftime.

• It is better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

• It takes a little courage, and a little self-control. And some grim determination, If you want to reach the goal. It takes a deal of striving, and a firm and stern-set chin. No matter what the battle, If you really want to win. There's no easy path to glory, There's no road to fame. Life, however we may view it, Is no simple parlor game; But it's prizes call for fighting, For endurance and for grit; For a rugged disposition and don't know when to quit.

• It takes years to build up trust, but only seconds to destroy it.
  You can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes.
  After that you'd better know something.
  Don't compare yourself to the best others can do,
  But to the best you can do.
  It's not what happens to people that's important.
  It's what they do about it.
  Always leave loved ones with loving words.
  It may be the last time you see them.
  You control your attitude or it controls you.
  It isn't always enough to be forgiven by others.
  Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.
  Your background and circumstances may have influenced who you are,
  But you are responsible for who you become.
  Even if you do the right thing for the wrong reason,
  It's still the wrong thing to do.

• It's beauty that captures your attention; personality which captures your heart.

• It's easy to pick children whose mothers are good housekeepers; they are usually found in other yards.

• It's true that everything that could be said has been said.
  It's also true that no one was listening.
  Therefore, I'll say again...

• Leadership is not the private reserve of a few charismatic men and women. It is a process ordinary people use when they are bringing forth the best from themselves and others.

• Life is not measured by the breaths you take but by the moments that take your breath away.

• Life isn't long enough to do all you could accomplish. And what a privilege even to be alive. In spite of all the pollutions and horrors, how beautiful this world is. Supposing you only saw the stars once every year. Think what you would think. The wonder of it!

• Live your life as an exclamation--not an explanation.

• Man needs a day of rest from the cares, toils, and trials of the six days of work in the material realm. He needs to reflect, meditate, contemplate, and to turn his eyes inward, as it were, rather than outwards. (The Lookout)

• The man on top of the mountain did not fall there.

• A man walks through life painting a portrait, not of what he would have done, could have done, or should have done, but of what he did.

• The man who never makes a mistake always takes orders from one who does.

• The mathematics of high achievement--
  Begin with a dream.
  DIVIDE the problems and conquer them one by one.
  MULTIPLY the exciting possibilities in your mind.
  SUBTRACT all the negative thoughts to get started.
  ADD enthusiasm and determination.
  And the RESULT will be the attainment of your goal.

• May there always be work for your hands to do,
  May your purse always hold a coin or two.
  May the sun always shine warm on your windowpane,
  May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
  May the hand of a friend always be near you,
  And my d fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

• The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world.

• Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

• Never let defeat have the last word.

• Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.

• No matter how difficult life can be the most important thing is to live it with hope.

• The Northwest coast is a land of contrasts. At time it is wild and wave-battered, at other times quiet and restful. All along its length there is variety: long, sandy beaches, steep headlands, lush pasture, rocky covers, patches of deep forest. ... This is a place for photographers, hikers, picnickers, campers, and for those who want nothing more than a few relaxing moments in beautiful, unpeopled surroundings. (The Beautiful Northwest ed. by Krell)

• Old-timers said the local train was so slow that the cowcatcher should be on the back instead of up front to discourage cows from climbing aboard the last car. (example sentence, Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, 5/22/98)

• One cannot change the past, but one can ruin the present by worrying over the future.

• The only thing I can change is myself, but sometimes that makes all of the difference.

• Opportunity always looks bigger going than coming.

• 1. People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered (including me). Love them anyway.
  2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
  3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
  4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
  5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
  6. The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the littlest people with the littlest ideas. Think big anyway.
  7. People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
  8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
  9. People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help them anyway.
  10. Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth. Give the best you have anyway.

• People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be, not what you nag them to be.

• People don't grow old. When they stop growing, they become old.

• People with extraordinary minds, talk about ideas.
  People with average minds, talk about events.
  People with simple minds, talk about other people.

• Praise does wonders for the sense of hearing.

• "Reality" is the only word in the English language that should always be used in quotes.

• Remember, life is not what happens to you but what you make of what happens to you. Everyone dies, but not everyone fully lives. Too many people are having "near-life experiences."

• Seeds of discouragement will not grow in the thankful heart.

• Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.

• The six most important words: I admit I made a mistake The five most important words: You did a good job The four most important words: What is your opinion? The three most important words: If you please The two most important words: Thank you The one least important word: I.

• The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention.

• Smiling is infectious, you catch it like the flu,
  When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.
  I passed around the corner, and someone saw my grin--
  When he smiled I realized, I'd passed it on to him.
  I thought about that smile, then I realized its worth,
  A single smile, just like mine, could travel round the earth.
  So, if you feel a smile begin, don't leave it undetected--
  Let's start an epidemic quick and get the world infected!

• So remember while December
  Brings the only Christmas day,
  In the year let there be Christmas
  In the things you do and say.

• Some cannot sing, but the orchard is full of birds and we can all listen.

• Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same.

• A somebody was once a nobody who wanted to and did.

• Sometimes the best way to figure out who you are is to get to that place where you don't have to be anything else.

• Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up. (Guideposts)

• Success stems from motivation, effort, and a commitment to excellence.

• Take life just as though it was--as it is--an earnest, vital and important affair. Take it as though you were born to the task of performing a merry part in it--as though, the world awaited your coming.

  Take it as though it was a grand opportunity to do and achieve, to carry forward great and good schemes, to help and cheer a suffering, weary, it may be heart-broken brother. Now and then a man stands aside from the crowd, labors earnestly, steadfastly, confidently, and straightway becomes famous for wisdom, intellect, skill, greatness of some sort. The world wonders, admires, idolizes, and it only illustrates what others may do if they take hold of life with a purpose.

  The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few, is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the promptings of a brave, determined spirit. (From a well-worn clipping preserved in an early note-book Belonging to Mark Twain)

• There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it's easy.

• There are hundreds of languages in the world, but a smile speaks them all.

• There are three ways you can get to the top of a tree: 1) sit on an acorn 2) make friends with a bird 3) climb it.

• There is no danger of developing eyestrain from looking on the bright side of things.

• There is only one you for all time. Fearlessly be yourself.

• Three wise women would have...
  asked directions,
  arrived on time,
  helped deliver the baby,
  cleaned the stable,
  made a casserole,
  brought practical gifts,
  and there would be peace on Earth.

• Time is like a snowflake--it melts away while we try to decide what to do with it.

• To dream of the person you'd like to be, is a waste to the person you are.

• To have a good friend is one of the highest delights in life; to be a good friend is one of the noblest and most difficult undertakings.

• To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
  To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
  To reach for another is to risk involvement.
  To expose your feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
  To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
  To love is to risk not being loved in return.
  To live is to risk dying.
  To believe is to risk despair.
  To try is to risk failure.
  But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
  The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
  They may avoid suffering an d sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
  Chained by their attitudes they are slaves; they have forfeited their freedom.
  Only a person who risks is free.

• The trick to juggling is determining which balls are made of rubber and which ones are made of glass.

• The trick to life is to not fear death, but not to welcome it either.

• A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.

• Truth is violated by falsehood, but outraged by silence.

• Two goats are eating cans of film on the back lots of MGM Studios. One goat turns to the other and says, "This film is good." To which the other goat responds, "Not as good as the movie." (On Course Magazine)

• Until one feels the spirit of Christmas, there is no Christmas. All else is outward display--so much tinsel and decorations. For it isn't the holly, it isn't the snow. It isn't the tree not the firelight's glow. It's the warmth that comes to the hearts of men when the Christmas spirit returns again. (Pipefuls)

• War is not about what's right. It's about what's left.

• We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision.

• We, the unwilling,
  led by the unknowing,
  are doing the impossible
  for the ungrateful.
  We have done so much,
  for so long,
  with so little,
  we are now qualified
  to do anything
  with nothing.

• What I do today is important because I'm exchanging a day of my life for it.

• What nobler profession than to touch the next generation--to see children hold your understanding in their eyes, your hope in their lives, your world in their hands. In their success, you find your own and so to them you give your all. ("The Essence of Teaching")

• When friendships are real, they are not glass threads, or frostwork, but the solidest things we know. A friend is the first person who come in when the whole world has gone out.

• When the people we love are stolen from us, the only way to keep them is to never stop loving them. People die, buildings burn, but eternal love lasts forever.

• Who am I?
  I am a little thing with a big meaning. I help everybody. I unlock doors, open hearts,
  dispel prejudice. I create friendship and goodwill. I inspire courtesy and admiration.
  Everybody loves me. I bore no one. I violate no law. I cost nothing. Many have praised me.
  No one has ever condemned me. I am pleasing to those of high and low degree.
  I am useful every moment of the day.
  I am Respect!

• Wisdom is knowing when to speak your mind and when to mind your speech. (Evangel)

• A writer lives in awe of words for they can be cruel or kind, and they can change their meanings right in front of you. They pick up flavors and odors like butter in a refrigerator.

• Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have. Spend it wisely.

• You and I, despite our accomplishments, abilities, pretensions, and sophistication, owe our existence to six inches of topsoil and the fact that it rains.

• You don't have to stay up nights to succeed; you have to stay awake days.

• You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.

• You may make mistakes, but you are not a failure until you start blaming someone else.

• Your talk was simply superfluous. It should be published posthumously. And the sooner the better.

Anouilh, Jean

• Beauty is one of the rare things that do not lead to doubt of God. (Becket)

• To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if saying no means death. (Antigone)

Anthony, Robert (Dr.)

• If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?

• When it becomes more difficult to suffer than to change ... you will change.

• When you blame others, you give up your power to change.

Anthony, Susan B.

• Failure is impossible.

Antisthenes

• The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what it untrue.

Anzaldua, Gloria

• The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.

Apocrypha - Ecclesiasticus

• Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remember the end, and thou shalt never do amiss.

Apollinaire, Guillaume

• "Come to the edge," He said. They said, "We are afraid." "Come to the edge," He said. They came. He pushed them...and they flew.

• Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.

Appleman, John A.

• I have heard it said that the first ingredient of success - the earliest spark in the dreaming youth - if this; dream a great dream.

Appleton, Edward (Sir)

• I rate enthusiasm even above professional skill.

Aquilina, Mike

• Humility is an elusive virtue. The more we pursue it - and the more we seem to acquire it - the more we take pride in our accomplishment, and we find ourselves back at square one. (Love in the Little Things: Tales of Family Life)

• Part of growing up spiritually is learning to be grateful for all things, even our difficulties, disappointments, failures and humiliations. (Love in the Little Things: Tales of Family Life)

Aquinas, Thomas, see, Thomas Aquinas

Arabian Nights

• Then he said to Scheherazade: "Sister, for the sake of Allah, tell us a story that will help pass the night."

Arbus, Diane

• My favorite thing is to go where I've never been.

Arendt, Hannah

• By its very nature the beautiful is isolated from everything else. From beauty no road leads to reality.. (Rachel Varnhagen)

• Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

• In order to go on living one must try to escape the death involved in perfectionism. (Rachel Varnhagen)

• Solitude is the human condition in which I keep myself company. Loneliness comes about when I am alone without being able to split up into the two-in-one, without being able to keep myself company.

• There are no dangerous thoughts; thinking itself is dangerous.

Aristophanes

• Men of sense often learn from their enemies. It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls and ships of war.

Aristotle

• All virtue is summed up in dealing justly.

• All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.

• Anyone can become angry--that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way--this is not easy.

• Change in all things is sweet.

• Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.

• Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

• Friends are an aid to the young, to guard them from error; to the elderly, to attend to their wants and to supplement their failing power of action; to those in the prime of life, to assist them to noble deeds.

• I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

• It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world. ("On the Heavens" in Manual of Greek Mathematics by Heath)

• It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

• The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.

• Teachers who educate children deserve more honor than parents who merely gave them birth; for bare life is furnished by the one, the other ensures a good life.

• We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.

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

• Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods,

Armey, Richard K.

• You cannot get ahead while you are getting even.

Armstrong, Edith

• I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health, love and abundance. Then whenever doubt, anxiety, or fear try to call me, they keep getting a busy signal and soon they'll forget my number.

Armstrong, Neil

• Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.

Armstrong, Richard

• When fog prevents a small-boat sailor from seeing the buoy marking the course he wants, he turns his boat rapidly in small circles, knowing that the waves he makes will rock the buoy in the vicinity. Then he stops, listens and repeats the procedure until he hears the buoy clang. By making waves, he finds where his course lies... Often the price of finding these guides is a willingness to take a few risks, to "make a few waves." A boat that stays in the harbor never encounters dangers--but it also never gets anywhere.

Armstrong, T. Alan

• If you are not getting better, you are getting left behind.

Arnauld, Angelique

• Perfection does not exist in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

Arnold, Eberhard

• If we become completely whole-hearted we will have love for all people and will seek in each person what is most holy, what God has inspired in him or her. And only then will there be no danger of softening or twisting our witness. Why? Because the capacity of our faith will no longer be narrow. If we are not broadhearted, we have not yet grasped the meaning of faith. We must always be ready to be newly led in our faith, even through the tiniest atom of godliness we find in others. It is that which leads us to the kingdom of God. We affirm that there is something of God in all people - something of the light. It may only gleam now, but it will eventually lead to complete illumination.

Arnold, Matthew

• For the creation of a masterwork of literature two powers must concur, the power of the man and the power of the moment, and the man is not enough without the moment.

Arnold, Oren

• Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.

• Don't expect too much of Christmas Day. You can't crowd into it any arrears of unselfishness and kindliness that may have accrued during the past twelve months.

Arnold, Stanley

• Every problem contains within itself the seeds of its own solution.

Arnold, Thomas

• The distinction between Christianity and all other systems of religion consists largely in this, that in these others, men are found seeking after God, while Christianity is God seeking after men.

Aron, Elaine N.

• While it is wise to accept what we cannot change about ourselves, it is also good to remember that we are never too old to replace discouragement with bits and pieces of confidence and hope. (The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You)

Arp, Jean

• Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation. Tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego.

Ascham, Roger

• There is no such whetstone, to sharpen a good wit and encourage a will to learning, as is praise.

Ash, Mary Kay

• Give yourself something to work toward--constantly.

• A good goal is like a strenuous exercise - it makes you stretch.

• A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go farther than a great idea that inspires no one. (On People Management)

• Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to try.

• People fail forward to success.

• The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang. (Mary Kay)

Ashe, Arthur

• From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life.

• True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. ("Points to Ponder" Reader's Digest, Aug. 1994)

• You are never really playing against an opponent. You are playing against yourself, your own highest standards. And when you reach your limits, that is real joy.

Ashford, Jan

• There is no such thing as can't, only won't. If you're qualified, all it takes is a burning desire to accomplish, to make a change. Go forward, go backward. Whatever it takes! But you can't blame other people or society in general. It all comes from your mind. When we do the impossible we realize we are special people.

Asimov, Isaac

• It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. ("My Own View" in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ed. by Holdstock)

• The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" ("I've found it!") but "That's funny..."

Asphasia

• For it is impossible for a man to put forward fair and honest views about our affairs if he has not, like everyone else, children whose lives may be at stake. (from a speech given by Pericles which Asphasia wrote)

Astor, Brooke

• Power is the ability to do good things for others.

Astor, Nancy (Lady)

• The penalty of success is to be bored by the people who used to snub you.

• Real education should educate us out of self into something far finer--into a selflessness which links us with all humanity.

Attenborough, David

• But although denying that we have a special position in the natural world might seem becomingly modest in the eye of eternity, it might also be used as an excuse for evading our responsibilities. The fact is that no species has ever had such wholesale control over everything on earth, living or dead, as we now have. That lays upon us, whether we like it or not, an awesome responsibility. In our hands now lies not only our own future, but that of all living creatures with whom we share the earth. (Life on Earth)

Atwood, Margaret

• Oppression involves a failure of the imagination: the failure to imagine the full humanity of other human beings.

• Their mothers had finally caught up to them and been proven right. There were consequences after all; but they were the consequences to things you didn't even know you'd done. ("The Age of Lead" Wilderness Trips)

Auden, W. H.

• It takes little talent to see what lies under one's nose, a good deal to know in what direction to point that organ.

• No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the successes of those under him.

Auerback, Berthold

• Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

Augustine, Norman R.

• Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.

Augustine, Saint see Saint Augustine

Aurelius, Marcus see Marcus Aurelius

Ausonius

• Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself.