PHILOSOPHICAL QUOTES (section two)

He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson


To get up each morning with the resolve to be happy...is to set our own conditions to the events of each day. To do this is to condition circumstances instead of being conditioned by them.

-Ralph Waldo Trine


The most fatal illusion is the settled point of view. Since life is growth and motion, a fixed point of view kills [figuratively speaking] anybody who has one.

-Brooks Atkinson


No man can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself.

-James Russell Lowell


There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.

-Gen. George S. Patton Jr.


On many of the great issues of our time, men have lacked wisdom because they have lacked courage.

-William Benton


Your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing.

-Abraham Lincoln


Practice yourself in little things, and thence proceed to greater.

-Epictetus


From their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.

-Plutarch


Each golden sunrise ushers in new opportunities for those who retain faith in themselves, and keep their chins up.... Meet the sunrise with confidence. Fill every golden minute with right thinking and worthwhile endeavor. Do this and there will be joy for you in each golden sunset.

-Alonzo Newton Benn


A great man is one who seizes the vital issue in a complex question, what we might call the jugular vein of the whole organism, and spends his energies upon that.

-Joseph Rickaby


The worth of every conviction consists precisely in the steadfastness with which it is held.

-Jane Adams


Man never rises to great truths without enthusiasm.

-Vauvenargues


A man must be able to cut a knot, for everything cannot be untied.

-Henri Frederic Amiel


Every problem contains the seeds of its own solution.

-Stanley Arnold


The great artist and thinker are the simplifiers.

-Henri Frederic Amiel


When you have decided what you believe, what you feel must be done, have the courage to stand alone and be counted.

-Eleanor Roosevelt


The block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of the weak becomes a steppingstone in the path of the strong.

-Thomas Carlyle


Happiness is a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

-Nathaniel Hawthorne


The time is always right to do what is right.

-Martin Luther King Jr.


Nothing is impossible when we follow our inner guidance, even when its direction may threaten us by reversing our usual logic.

-Gerald Jampolsky


There are but two roads that lead to an important goal and to the doing of great things: Strength and perseverance. Strength is the lot of but a few privileged men; but austere perseverance, harsh and continuous, may be employed by the smallest of us and rarely fails of its purpose, for its silent power grows irresistably greater with time.

-Johann von Goethe


If, after all, men cannot always make history have a meaning, they can always act so that their own lives have one.

-Albert Camus


Words gain credibility by deed.

-Terence


Many of our fears are tissuepaper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.

-Brendan Francis


Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.

-Jonathan Swift.


For the inspired, the sun shines radiantly every day of the year.

-Ray Gattavara


A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn't feel like it.

-Alfred Alistair Cooke


All that we do is done with an eye to something else.

-Aristotle


What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.

-Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche


In a calm sea every man is a pilot.

-John Ray


The greatest pleasure I have known is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.

-Charles Lamb


Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others.

-Danny Thomas


We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.

-Ben Sweetland


The brave man carves out his fortunes, and every man is the sum of his own works.

-Miguel de Cervantes


Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

-Charles Mingus


If a man would move the world, he must first move himself.

-Socrates


We may fail of our happiness, strive we ever so bravely; but we are less likely to fail if we measure with judgment our chances and capabilities.

-Agnes Repplier


He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.

-Solomon


There is a time when we must firmly choose the course we will follow, or the relentless drift of events will make the decision for us.

-Herbert B. Prochnow


One of the reasons why so few of us ever act, instead of react, is because we are continually stifling our deepest impulses.

-Henry Miller


A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

-Francis Bacon


When some passion or effect is described in a natural style, we find within ourselves the truth of what we hear, without knowing it was there.

-Blaise Pascal


To do easily what is difficult for others is the mark of talent. To do what is impossible for talent is the mark of genius.

-Henri Frederic Amiel


Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.

-Lord Tennyson


That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.

-Francis Hutcheson


When people will not weed their own minds, they are apt to be overrun with neetles.

-Horace Walpole


When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but we often look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.

-Helen Keller


Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

-Mark Twain


Simplicity and naturalness are the truest marks of distinction.

-W. Somerset Maugham


We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand.... and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it is too late.

-Marie Beynon Ray


Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

-Albert Schweitzer


Fortunate is the person who has developed the self-control to steer a straight course toward his objective in life, without being swayed from his purpose by either commendation or condemnation.

-Napoleon Hill


The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

-Martin Luther King Jr.


One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

-Helen Keller


The ability to discriminate between that which is true and that which is false is one of the last attainments of the human mind.

-James Fenimore Cooper


To really enjoy the better things in life, one must first have experienced the things they are better than.

-Oscar Holmolka


Seek to do good, and you will find that happiness will run after you.

-James Freeman Clarke


If you aspire to the highest place, it is no disgrace to stop at the second, or even the third, place.

-Cicero


Try to live the life of the good man who is more than content with what is allocated to him.

-Marcus Aurelius


I cannot do everything, but I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can do.

-Edward Everett Hale


Have a time and place for everything, and do everything in its time and place, and you will not only accomplish more, but have far more leisure than those who are always hurrying.

-Tyron Edwards


Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, and from the disposition of the mind and soul. Admittedly, a good inner life is difficult to achieve, especially in these trying times. It takes reflection and contemplation and self-discipline.

-W.L. Shirer


Providing for personal safety and security, regardless of the environment, always rests with each individual. No law, institutional policy, or wishful thinking can dilute this responsibility for any of us. And there is no affront to wisdom if one chooses to act bravely, in spite of one's fear, and attack evil or insanity intent on taking life or limb.

-Ray Gattavara


Few men make themselves masters of the things they write or speak.

-John Seldon


Courage is a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it.

-Gen. William T. Sherman


We must never despair; our situation has been compromising before, and it has changed for the better; so I trust it will again. If difficulties arise, we must put forth new exertion and proportion our efforts to the exigencies of the times.

-George Washington


There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.

-Epictetus


The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply.

-Kahlil Gibran


Only that day dawns to which we are awake.

-Henry David Thoreau


Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

-Mark Twain


This nation was built by men who took risks - pioneers who were not afraid of the wilderness, businessmen who were not afraid of failure, scientists who were not afraid of the truth, thinkers who were not afraid of progress, dreamers who were not afraid of action.

-Brooks Atkinson


We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them.

-Elbert Hubbard


The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.

-Robert G. Ingersoll


Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson


The moral optimism of a culture, and perhaps the entire world as well, often depends on those who are visionary, courageous, patient, compassionate, humble, and wise. In societies where these traits are absent, or lie dormant among a large percentage of the population, social and political evolution can come to a halt, and in some cases even begin to regress.

-Ray Gattavara


If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

-Frank A. Clark


Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.

-Marlene vos Savant


Happiness ... leads none of us by the same route.

-Charles Caleb Colton


The knowledge that something remains yet unenjoyed impairs our enjoyment of the good before us.

-Samuel Johnson


Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.

-Helen Keller


Simply give others a bit of yourself; a thoughtful act, a helpful idea, a lift over a rough spot, a sense of understanding, a timely suggestion. You take something out of your mind, garnished in kindness out of your heart, and put it into the other fellow's mind and heart.

-Charles H. Burr


Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

-Theodore Roosevelt


Be what you are. This is the first step toward becoming better than you are.

-Julius Charles Hare


We are very near to greatness: one step and we are safe; can we not take the leap?

-Ralph Waldo Emerson


Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.

-Henry David Thoreau


Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

-Booker T. Washington


True contentment ... is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous, and it is rare.

-G.K. Chesterston


Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances.

-Bruce Barton


A life uncommanded now is uncommanded; a life unenjoyed now is unenjoyed; a life not lived wisely now is not lived wisely.

-David Grayson


Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.

-Gen. Omar N. Bradley


Times of general calamity and confusion have ever been productive of the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storms.

-Charles Caleb Colton


Were a man to order his life by the rules of true reason, a frugal substance joined to a contented mind is for him great riches.

-Lucretius


Experience tells you what to do, confidence allows you to do it.

-Stan Smith


I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.

-Abraham Maslow


Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime; and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs, jolted by every pebble in the road.

-Henry Ward Beecher


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

-Henry Brooks Adams


The reading of good books is like a conversation with the best men of past centuries - in fact like a prepared conversation, in which they reveal only the best of their thoughts.

-Rene Descartes


Let every action aim solely at the common good.

-Marcus Aurelius


The great difficulty in philosophy is to come to every question with a mind fresh and unshackled by former theories, though strengthened by exercise and information.

-William Hazlitt


No one can be a great thinker who does not recognize that as a thinker it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead.

-John Stuart Mill


This is the character of truth: it is of all time, it is for all men, it has only to show itself to be recognized, and one cannot argue against it.

-Voltaire


The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.

-Solomon Gabirol


Many men would have arrived at wisdom had they not believed themselves to have arrived there already.

-Seneca The Younger


You cannot be wise without some basis of knowledge, but you may easily acquire knowledge and remain bare of wisdom.

-Alfred North Whitehead


Brave men earn the right to shape their own destiny.

-Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.


The strength or weakness of our conviction depends more on our courage than on our intelligence.

-Vavenargues


I like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it; who sees at once what is to be done in given circumstances and does it. He does not beat about the bush for difficulties or excuses, but goes the shortest and most effectual way to work to attain his own ends, or to accomplish a useful object.

-William Hazlitt


He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.

-Walter Lippmann


The most wonderful inspirations die with their subject, if he has no hand to paint them to the senses.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson


Social evolution is a resultant of the interaction of two wholly distinct factors: the individual ... bearing all the power of initiative and origination in his hands; and, second, the social environment with its power of adopting or rejecting both him and his gifts. Both factors are essential to change. The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.

-William James


There is no greater satisfaction for a just and well - meaning person than the knowledge that he has devoted his best energies to the service of the good cause.

-Albert Einstein


That writer does the most, who gives his reader the most knowledge, and takes from him the least time.

-Charles Calob Colton


Nothing so bolsters our self-confidence and reconciles us with ourselves as the continuous ability to create; to see things grow and develop under our hand, day in, day out.

-Eric Hoffer


The man of genius inspires us with a boundless confidence in our own powers.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson


The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.

-Walt Whitman


The real advantage which truth has consists in this, when an opinion is true, it may be extinguished once, twice, or many times, but in the course of ages there will generally be found persons to rediscover it, until some one of its reappearances falls on a time when from favorable circumstances it escapes persecution until it has made such head as to withstand all subsequent attempts to suppress it.

-John Stuart Mill


The visionary disciplines himself to see the world always as if he had only just seen it for the first time.

-Colin Wilson


It is better to have wisdom without learning than learning without wisdom.

-Charles Caleb Colton


No writing is good that does not tend to better mankind some way or other.

-Alexander Pope


For the spread and endurance of an idea the originator is dependent on the self-development of the receivers and transmitters.

-B.H. Liddell Hart


Philosophy, to be relevant, must offer us a wisdom to live by.

-Abraham J. Heschel


Faith in the creative process, in the dynamics of emergence, in the values and purposes that transcend past achievements and past forms, is the precondition of all further growth.

-Lewis Mumford


Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best ends by the best means.

-Francis Hutcheson


Knowledge--like the sky-- is never private property. No teacher has a right to withhold it from anyone who asks for it. Teaching is the art of sharing.

-Abraham J. Heschel


The virtue of a human being is the application of his capacity to the general good.

-William Godwin


Uncommon things must be said in common words, if you would have them to be received in less than a century.

-Coventry Patmore


Whatever enlarges hope will exalt courage.

-Samuel Johnson


The finest thought runs the risk of being irrevocably forgotten if we do not write it down.

-Arthur Schopenahauer


A genuine leader is not a searcher of consensus but a molder of consensus,

-Martin Luther King Jr.