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Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those be well-tried before you give them your confidence. - George Washington, 1732-1799
Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt. - William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
Imagine every day to be the last of a life surrounded with hopes, cares, anger and fear. The hours that come unexpectedly will be much the more grateful. - Horace, 65 BC- 8 BC
Years teach us more than books. - Berthold Auerbach, 1812-1882
In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet. - Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1965
The searching-out and thorough investigation of truth ought to be the primary study of man. - Cicero, 106 BC-43 BC
All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible. - T.E. Lawrence, 1888-1935
Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny. - George Dana Boardman, 1801-1831
A man should have any number of little aims about which he should be conscious and for which he should have names, but he should have neither name for, nor consciousness concerning, the main aim of his life. - Samuel Butler, 1835-1902
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. - Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826
Unrest of spirit is a mark of life; one problem after another presents itself and in the solving of them we can find our greatest pleasure. - Karl Menninger, 1893-1990
A strong imagination begetteth opportunity. - Michel de Montaigne, 1533-1592
Rely on your own strength of body and soul. Take for your star self-reliance, faith, honesty and industry. Don't take too much advice -- keep at the helm and steer your own ship, and remember that the great art of commanding is to take a fair share of the work. Fire above the mark you intend to hit. Energy, invincible determination with the right motive, are the levers that move the world. - Noah Porter, 1811-1892
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. - Aristotle, 384 BC-322 BC
Life has no smooth road for any of us; and in the bracing atmosphere of a high aim the very roughness stimulates the climber to steadier steps, till the legend, over steep ways to the stars, fulfills itself. - William Croswell Doane, 1832-1913
To rejoice in another's prosperity, is to give content to your own lot: to mitigate another's grief, is to alleviate or dispel your own. - Thomas Edwards, 1837-1900
Half of the failures in life come from pulling one's horse when he is leaping. - Thomas Hood, 1799-1845
Never let life's hardships disturb you ... no one can avoid problems, not even saints or sages. - Nichiren Daishonin, 1222-1282
The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others. - Solomon ibn Gabirol, 1021-1058
Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul. - Democritus, 460 BC-370 BC
Know thyself means this, that you get acquainted with what you know, and what you can do. - Menander, 342 BC-291 BC
Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal. - Pamela Vaull Starr, 1909-1993
A fair reputation is a plant, delicate in its nature, and by no means rapid in its growth. It will not shoot up in a night like the gourd of the prophet; but, like that gourd, it may perish in a night. - Jeremy Taylor, 1613-1667
Failures do what is tension relieving, while winners do what is goal achieving. - Denis Waitley, 1933-present
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. - Harriet Tubman, 1820-1913
The essential thing is not knowledge, but character. - Joseph LeConte, 1869-1901
He who has imagination without learning, has wings and no feet. - Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970
The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed. - Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1751-1816
Life is like a library owned by the author. In it are a few books which he wrote himself, but most of them were written for him. - Harry Emerson Fosdick, 1878-1969
He who has imagination without learning, has wings and no feet. - Joseph Joubert, 1754-1824
Go to the people. Learn from them. Live with them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. The best of leaders when the job is done, when the task is accomplished, the people will say we have done it ourselves. - Lao Tzu, 6th Century BCE
Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day. - Thornton Wilder, 1897-1975
The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be. - Horace Bushnell, 1802-1876
The secret of many a man's success in the world resides in his insight into the moods of men and his tact in dealing with them. - J. G. Holland, 1819-1881
They fail, and they alone, who have not striven. - Thomas Bailey Aldrich, 1836-1907
Don't waste your life in doubts and fears: spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours or ages that follow it. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
The art of being wise is knowing what to overlook. - William James, 1842-1910
The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts; therefore guard accordingly. - Marcus Aurelius, 121-180
The only journey is the journey within. - Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875-1926
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one. - Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862
The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret to outward success. - Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887
It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves. - Francois De La Rochefoucauld, 1613-1680
Far away 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. - Louisa May Alcott, 1832-1888
Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world. - Harriet Tubman, 1820-1913
It requires less character to discover the faults of others than to tolerate them. - J. Petit-Senn, 1792-1870
Be known for pleasing others, especially if you govern them. Ruling other has one advantage: you can do more good than anyone else. - Baltasar Gracián, 1601-1658
If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes. - Clement of Alexandria, 150-211
To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all is that which says: "Leave no stone unturned." - Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1803-1873
It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. - Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909
The real leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the way. - Henry Miller, 1891-1980
Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash. - George S. Patton, 1885-1945
When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. - Helen Keller, 1880-1968
The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. - Socrates, 469-399 B.C.
The secret of many a man's success in the world resides in his insight into the moods of men and his tact in dealing with them. - J.G. Holland, 1819-1881
Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will. - Jawaharlal Nehru, 1889-1964
Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character. - James Russell Lowell, 1819-1891
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. - Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862
What chance gathers she easily scatters. A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, "Always do what you are afraid to do." - Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be. - Horace Bushnell, 1802-1876
Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace. - Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900
There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music. - George Eliot, 1819-1880
I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. - E. B. White, 1899-1985
My father taught me how to be a man -- and not by instilling in me a sense of machismo or an agenda of dominance. He taught me that a real man doesn't take, he gives; he doesn't use force, he uses logic; doesn't play the role of trouble-maker, but rather, trouble-shooter; and most importantly, a real man is defined by what's in his heart, not his pants. - Kevin Smith, 1970-present
Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else's can shorten it. - Cullen Hightower, 1923-2008
It is not easy for men to rise whose qualities are thwarted by poverty. - Juvenal, 55 AD-127 AD
The worst loneliness is not to be comfortable with yourself. - Mark Twain, 1835-1910
We can only learn to love by loving. - Iris Murdoch, 1919-1999
That is what marriage really means: helping one another to reach the full status of being persons, responsible and autonomous beings who do not run away from life. - Paul Tournier, 1898-1986
No legacy is so rich as honesty. - William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. - Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
As I get older, I've learned to listen to people rather than accuse them of things. - Po Bronson, 1964-present
He that is busy is tempted by but one devil; he that is idle, by a legion. - Thomas Fuller, 1608-1661
The first duty of a leader is to make himself be loved without courting love. To be loved without 'playing up' to anyone - even to himself. - Andre Malraux, 1901-1976
What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers. - Martina Horner, 1939-present