Website owner: James Miller
Learn from the earliest days to inure your principles against
the perils of ridicule: you can no more exercise your reason
if you live in constant dread of laughter than you can enjoy
your life if you are in the constant terror of death.
Sydney Smith
The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of
adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience,
and truth over popularity. These are the choices that measure
your life. Travel the road of integrity without looking back,
for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing!
Author unknown
Use what language you will you can never say anything but what
you are.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
We are what we repeatedly do.
Aristotle
Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a
particular way -- you become just by performing just actions,
temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing
brave actions.
Aristotle
Be a pattern to others and then all will go well; for as a
whole city is infected by the licentious passions and vices of
great men so it is likewise reformed by their moderation.
Cicero
One of the greatest artifices the devil uses to engage men in
vice and debauchery is to fasten names of contempt on certain
virtues and thus fill weak souls with a foolish fear of passing
for scrupulous should they desire to put them in practice.
Pascal
Learning teaches how to carry things in suspense without
prejudice till you resolve.
Bacon
Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writing
so that you shall come easily by what others have labored
hard for.
Socrates
The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is
to be in reality what we would appear to be.
Socrates
It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and
occupation that gives happiness.
Thomas Jefferson
And They Say There Is No God!
The moon at night and the sun by day,
Migrating birds when skys are gray...
Whispering breezes, soft summer rain,
Shimmering fields of ripe, golden grain...
Seasons of change as if on cue,
Acres of flowers of every hue...
Shrimp boats at twilight, an eagle on wing,
New budding trees whispering spring...
Valleys and mountains, rivers and streams,
Magnolia nights with shiny moonbeams...
December days whiter than fleece,
An unknown soldier resting in peace...
Puppies and kittens made to love,
Sunsets and rainbows high above...
Mother and child in rocking chair,
Dad's calloused hands folded in prayer...
And they say there is no God!
Clay Harrison
Half the work that is done in this world is to make things
appear what they are not.
E. R. Beadle
Rashness is the characteristic of ardent youth, and prudence
that of mellowed age.
Cicero
Education is the best provision for old age.
Aristotle
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and
rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it
is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in
anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed
down for many generations. But after observation and analysis,
when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive
to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and
live up to it.
Buddha
When thou hast profited so much that thou respectest thyself,
thou mayest let go thy tutor.
Seneca
Say nothing of yourself, either good, bad or indifferent;
nothing good, for that is vanity; nothing bad, for that is
affectation; nothing indifferent, for that is silly.
A man's accusations of himself are always believed; his
praises of self never.
Montaigne
Seeds of Success
Success is doing what has to be done, when it has to be done,
the way it ought to be done, whether you want to do it or not.
A man's praises have very musical and charming accents in the
mouth of another, but sound very flat and untunable in his own.
Xenophon
He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the
wealth of nature.
Socrates
Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having
few wants.
Epicurus
Nothing in the world will take the place of persistence. Talent
will not; nothing is more common than the unsuccessful person
with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a
proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated
derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the
problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge
Wealth is not acquired, as many people suppose, by fortunate
speculations and splendid enterprises, but by the daily
practice of industry, frugality, and economy. He who depends
upon these means will rarely be found destitute, and he who
relies upon any other will generally become bankrupt.
Francis Wayland
A good foundation, definite goals, and an effective working set
of tactics -- that is what brings the stars down to earth.
Effective tactics bring results - but not in a day, not in a
week - perhaps a year, perhaps five years; and so with
effective tactics one needs patience and courage - especially
courage - courage to stick with your tactics in the face of
criticism and ridicule.
The Race of Life can be likened unto a general directing a huge
army of many divisions - the crucial element is the strategy
employed - and success or failure cannot be determined by
looking at the success or failure of one small element. The
main question is the effectiveness and strength of the overall
strategy.
The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depend
upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best
plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the
man of manly character and of wisdom.
Plato
Children are people under construction.
No man is free who is a slave to the flesh.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.
Benjamin Franklin
One person can bring a horse to the river but a hundred cannot
make it drink.
When a person grows to like himself, he becomes more tolerant
of others.
Strawberry Wisdom
by Lao Wei
Many people worry a lot today about tomorrow because they
didn't worry a little yesterday about today.
Capsules of Wisdom
If you do not desire much, little will seem much to you, for
small wants give poverty the power of wealth.
Democritus
If you treat everybody courteously, it will surprise you how
courteous they all become.
Skunk River Sage
Those who have learned to love most have learned to forgive
most.
Table Talk
Content lodges oftener in cottages than palaces.
Thomas Fuller
One cannot love what he cannot respect, whether it be himself
or another.
Scott Keyes
Success doesn't spoil anybody who wasn't a little rotten to
begin with.
Joni Cagle
If you have a clear conscience and good health, if you have a
few good friends and a happy home, if your heart has kept its
youth and your soul its honesty, then cheer up --- you are one
of life's fortunate millionaires.
American Salesman
He that respects himself is safe from others: He wears a coat
of mail that none can pierce.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Courtesy is owed; respect is earned; love is given.
Ruth Brown
If you want to be loved, you have to be worth loving.
Ann Anderson
Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.
Aristotle
The more you lean on others, the leaner your chances of
success.
Dean Bowie
The worst things: To be in bed and sleep not, to want for
someone who comes not, to try to please and please not.
Egyptian Proverb
It's often easier to get what you want than to enjoy it after
you have it.
Frank Clark
Money may buy a fine dog but only kindness will make him wag
his tail.
Lyle Brown
When ignorance and arrogance marry, the devil is the
matchmaker.
Father Claude Kiarkowski
in Catholic Quote
A person needs some prominence to have enemies --- anyone can
have friends.
The Country Parson
The small stones which fill up the crevices have almost as much
to do with making the fair and firm wall as the great rocks; so
wise use of spare moments contributes not a little to the
building up in good proportions a man's mind.
Edwin Paxton Hood
It is wiser to lead than to push, to request than to demand, to
suggest than to insist, to inspire than to compel, to motivate
than to manipulate.
William Arthur Ward
Defeat never comes to any man unless he admits it.
Josephus Daniels
Since virtually all our troubles are caused by our own
stupidity, to complain about our troubles is to confess our
stupidity.
ACIPCO News
Express gratitude generously and sincerely; receive gratitude
humbly and graciously; expect gratitude rarely if ever.
William Arthur Ward
All travel has its advantages. If the traveler visits better
countries, he may learn to improve his own; and if fortune
carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy his own.
Samuel Johnson
A sound body is a first-class thing; a sound mind is an even
better thing; but the thing that counts for most in the
individual as in the nation is character, the sum of those
qualities which make a man a good man and a woman a good woman.
Theodore Roosevelt
Money can be lost ... beauty normally fades with the years ...
health may fail or some disease may strike ... friends usually
vanish, perhaps die. Only memories remain for as long as you
live. So, live that your memories will make you glad rather
than sad.
George Dubow
If there is one thing in life that you alone are the absolute
and final judge of, it is whether you are a success or a
failure.
Joan Sweet
We are all handicapped people; it's just that the majority of
us have handicaps which don't show.
Arnot L. Sheppard Jr.
A seventh grade pupil in Cincinnati won a $25 Savings Bond for
a suggestion that more "LSD" is the answer to today's drug
abuse problem. The boy wrote in his essay: "What kids of today
need is lots of LSD --- love, security and discipline."
Herm Albright
After several decades of working with people, listening to
them, teaching them and counseling them, I have made the
following observations:
The joyful people are those who are generous and kind; the
miserable people are those who are selfish and unforgiving.
The problem solvers are those who are powered by faith and
optimism; the problem people are those whose lives are drained
by doubts and pessimism.
The winners are those who have learned to take full
responsibility for their actions; the losers are those who have
a handy excuse for their failures.
Troubles come to pass; they do not come to stay.
Most of us are greater than we dare to believe.
The simplist person can see God's hand in nature; the wise
person can see God's face in his fellow man.
William Arthur Ward
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than
yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann
The secret to happiness and well-being is no mystery. All it
takes is the ability to do the following:
Forget.
Apologize.
Admit errors.
Avoid mistakes.
Listen to advice.
Keep your temper.
Shoulder the blame.
Make the best of things.
Maintain high standards.
Think first and act accordingly.
Put the needs of others before your own.
Forgive.
Worthwhile folks don't just happen. You aren't born
worthwhile. You are born with the possibilities of becoming
worthwhile. Your job is to discover and develop the man or
woman you ought to be.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things
which cannot be overcome when they are together yield
themselves up when taken little by little.
Plutarch
Let the child's first lesson be obedience, and the second will
be what thou wilt.
Franklin
An obstinate man does not hold opinions; they hold him.
Alexander Pope
Folks with good habits also seem to have most of the good luck.
The Country Parson
Only choose in marriage a woman whom you would choose as a
friend if she were a man.
Joseph Joubert
Truthfulness is a cornerstone in character, and if it is not
firmly laid in youth, there will ever be a weak spot in the
foundation.
Jefferson Davis
Happiness is inward and not outward, and so it does not depend
on what we have but on what we are.
Henry Van Dyke
The mintage of wisdom is to know that rest is rust, and that
real life is love, laughter and work.
Elbert Hubbard
There is no man that lives who does not need to be drilled,
disciplined and developed into something higher and nobler and
better than he is by nature.
Henry Ward Beecher
Even the wisest men make fools of themselves about women and
even the most foolish woman is wise about men.
Theodor Reik
For every man you can trust, there was first a boy who was
trusted.
Robert Brault
Wealth, after all, is a relative thing, since he that has
little, and wants less, is richer than he who has much and
wants more.
C. C. Colton
There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help
themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he be
willing to climb himself.
Andrew Carnegie
The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.
Albert Schweitzer
Benjamin Franklin's Thirteen Guiding Precepts
1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself;
avoid trifling conversation.
3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part
of your business have its time.
4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform
without fail what you resolve.
5. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e.
waste nothing.
6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employed in something
useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and
justly, and if you speak, speak accordingly.
8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the
benefits that are your duty.
9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so
much as you think they deserve.
10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or
habitation.
11. Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents
common or unavoidable.
12. Chastity.
13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
The prescription for happiness is best filled by a loving mate.
Frank Walsh
Only the loving find love --- and they never have to look.
Alice Wheeler
Our attitude toward the world around us depends upon what we
are ourselves. If we are selfish, we will be suspicious of
others. If we are of a generous nature, we will likely be more
trustful. If we are quite honest ourselves, we won't always be
anticipating deceit in others. If we are inclined to be fair,
we won't feel we are being cheated. In a sense, looking at
people around you is like looking in a mirror. You see a
reflection of yourself.
Good Reading
There is no disguise which can long conceal love where it does
exist or feign it where it does not exist.
Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Blessed is he that expects nothing, for he shall never be
disappointed.
If you want respect, show others you respect them.
Don't ever slam a door; you might want to go back.
Outdoor Power Equipment
He approaches nearest to the gods who knows how to be silent,
even though he is in the right.
Cato the Elder
The truly wise are always simple --- simple friendliness,
simple decency, simple goodwill between man and man. It is the
little mind that spins complications.
Eugene P. Berlin
The greatest wealth is to live content with little for there is
never want where the mind is satisfied.
Lucretius
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The
mind is everything. What we think we become.
Buddha
Happiness is dependent on the taste and not on things. It is
by having what we like that we are made happy, not by having
what others think desirable.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
It is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness;
and I pronounce it as certain that there was never yet a truly
great man that was not truly virtuous.
Franklin
Some rules for living from Robert Louis Stevenson:
1. Make up your mind to be happy --- learn to find pleasure in
simple things.
2. Make the best of circumstances. No one has everything, and
everyone has something of sorrow.
3. Don't take yourself too seriously.
4. Don't let criticism worry you --- you can't please everyone.
5. Don't let your neighbors set your standards --- be yourself.
6. Do things you enjoy doing, but stay out of debt.
7. Don't borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear
than actual ones.
8. Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish enmities or
grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy.
9. Have many interests. If you can't travel, read about
places.
10. Don't hold post-mortems or spend time brooding over sorrows
and mistakes.
11. Don't be the one who never gets over things.
12. Keep busy at something. A very busy person never has time
to be unhappy.
A person who talks about his inferiors hasn't any.
Hawaiian Proverb
He who seeks fulfillment will not find it in the horn of
plenty, in the fountain of youth, on the merry-go-round of
revelry nor in the armory of prestige, popularity and power,
but on the humble path of gratitude and service to his fellow
man.
William Arthur Ward
There are far too many people in the world who live without
working, and far too many who work without living.
Diogenes
It is the parents who allow their children to do everything
they please who are not loved later in life.
Fulton J. Sheen
Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the
noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life
consists in the elimination of nonessentials.
Lin Yutang
Few persons realize how much of their happiness is dependent
upon their work, upon the fact that they are kept busy and not
left to feed upon themselves. Happiness comes most to persons
who seek her least, and think least about it. It is not an
object to be sought; it is a state to be induced; It must
follow and not lead. It must overtake you and not you overtake
it.
John Burroughs
Real security is based on wanting less --- not having more.
The Country Parson
Beauty pleases the eyes only; sweetness of disposition charms
the soul.
Voltaire
To make the destruction of a child sure, give him unwatched
liberty after dark.
Henry Ward Beecher
Our worst misfortunes never happen, and most miseries lie in
anticipation.
Honore de Balzac
So remarkably perverse is the nature of man that he despises
those that court him and admires whoever will not bend before
him.
Thucydides
If you worry about what people think of you, it means that you
have more confidence in their opinions than you have in your
own.
Harold Hayden
As restrictions and prohibitions are multiplied, the people
grow poorer and poorer. When they are subjected to overmuch
government, the land is thrown into confusion.
Lao-tzo
He who looks for a mule without a fault goes on foot.
Spanish Proverb
Objects we ardently pursue bring little happiness when gained;
most of our pleasures come from unexpected sources.
Herbert Spencer
It is vain to hope to please all alike. Let a man stand with
his face in what direction he will, he must necessarily turn
his back on one half of the world.
George Dennison Prentice
What's done to children, they will do to society.
Dr. Karl Menninger
If you want to know the secret of a long, happy marriage, study
the wife, not the husband.
Jean Jacques Rousseau
You never can win an argument if you're having it with someone
who doesn't understand the subject.
The Country Parson
The true way to gain much is never to desire to gain too much.
He is not rich that possesses much, but he that covets no more;
and he is not poor that enjoys little, but that wants much.
Francis Beaumont
He who teaches his child to be thrifty and economical has
already bequeathed him a fortune.
Garth Henrichs
It is not lack of love but lack of friendship that makes
unhappy marriages.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzche
Never speak ill of yourself; your friends will always say
enough on that subject.
Talleyrand
I don't waste time worrying about what I don't have. I just
try to do the best I can with what I do have.
Harry S Truman
The finest hours of life are not those spent among groups of
people, but in good conversation with a few, in reading good
books, in listening to great music, wandering in a forest of
giant Sequoias, peering into a microscope, unraveling Nature's
secrets in a laboratory. The men who have the most to give
their fellowmen are those who have enriched their minds and
hearts in solitude. It is a poor education that does not fit a
man to be alone with himself.
Joel Henry Hildebrand
When we have provided against cold, hunger and thirst, all the
rest is but vanity and excess.
Seneca
A man's accusations of himself are always believed; his praises
of self never.
Michael de Montaigne
It is with our judgment as with our watches. No two go just
alike, yet each believes his own.
Alexander Pope
Wisdom isn't the acquisition of knowledge. It's knowing which
knowledge is worth acquiring.
Frank Tyger
Nothing is more certain than this --- the person who cannot be
happy without money will never be happy with money. One has
only to read the daily papers to see that the wealthiest are
not necessarily the happiest. If money does not make people
happy, neither does it keep them from being happy. Happiness
is independent of money, but dependent upon the spirit within.
Harold Hayden
A man's hatred of his own condition no more helps to improve it
than hatred of other people tends to improve them.
George Santayama
Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility.
An able and yet humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.
William Penn
We are never more discontented with others than when we are
discontented with ourselves. The consciousness of wrong-doing
makes us irritable, and our heart in its cunning, quarrels with
what is outside it, in order that it may deafen clamor within.
Henri Frederic Amiel
The secret of happiness is something to do.
John Burroughs
Nothing is more unworthy of a wise man, or ought to trouble him
more, than to have allowed more time for trifling and useless
things than they deserved.
Plato
It goes far toward making a man faithful to let him understand
that you think him so; and he that does but suspect that I will
deceive him gives me a sort of right to do so.
Seneca
There are two ways to sufficiency and happiness. We may either
diminish our wants or augment our means; either will do --- the
result is the same. But if you are very wise, you will do both
in such a way as to augment the general happiness of society.
Benjamin Franklin
The secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you
have, and to lose all desire for things beyond your reach.
Lin Yutang
The man who is inquisitive into the secrets of your affairs,
with which he has no concern, should be an object of your
caution. Men no more desire another's secrets to conceal them
than they would another's purse for the pleasure of carrying
it.
Henry Fielding
Take time to think --- thoughts are the source of power.
Take time to play --- play is the secret of perpetual youth.
Take time to read --- reading is the fountain of wisdom.
Take time to pray --- prayer can be a rock of strength in time
of trouble.
Take time to love --- loving is what makes living worthwhile.
Take time to be friendly --- friendships give life a delicious
flavor.
Take time to laugh --- laughter is the music of the soul.
Take time to give --- any day of the year is too short for
selfishness.
Take time to do your work well --- pride in your work, no
matter what it is, nourishes the ego and the spirit.
Take time to show appreciation --- thanks is the frosting on
the cake of life.
My country owes me nothing. It gave me, as it gives every boy
and girl, a chance. It gave me schooling, independence of
action, opportunity for service and honor.
Herbert Hoover
Man can live longer without food than without faith; longer
without drink than without dreams; longer without rest than
without respect.
William Arthur Ward
Every man loves himself more than all the rest of man, yet sets
less value on his own opinion than on the opinion of others.
Marcus Aurelius
To spend before earning is to rest before working, to teach
before learning, to speak before thinking and to build before
planning.
William Arthur Ward
In every activity do your best and let the world make its own
appraisal. You are what you are. Explanations seldom explain.
Cultivate a fine sense of independence, based upon the
assurance that you are loyal to a high standard of conduct.
Grenville Kleiser
We attract what we habitually expect; we become what we deeply
believe.
William Arthur Ward
Watch your thoughts;
they become words.
Watch your words;
they become actions.
Watch your actions;
they become habits.
Watch your habits;
they become character.
Watch your character;
it becomes your destiny.
Frank Outlaw
I could prove God statistically. Take the human body alone ---
the chance that all the functions of the individual would just
happen is a statistical monstrosity.
George Gallop
Quite often when a man thinks his mind is getting broader, it
is only his conscience stretching.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the
unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to
himself. Therefore all progress depends upon the unreasonable
man.
George Bernard Shaw
"Don't tell your troubles to others" a Nantucket sea captain
once advised me. "Most of 'em don't care a hang; an' the rest
are damn glad of it."
Robert Haven Schauffler
Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies
for the big, worthwhile things. It isn't the mountain ahead
that wears you out --- its the grain of sand in your shoe.
Sin is first pleasing, then it grows easy, then delightful,
then frequent, then habitual, then confirmed; then the man is
impenitent, then he is obstinate, then he is resolved never to
repent, and then he is ruined.
Leighton
A friend of Diogenes visited him and found him eating a dinner
of lentils. The friend was a courtier in the court of the
king. He said to Diogenes, "If you would learn to flatter you
would not have to eat lentils." Diogenes replied, "And if you
would learn to eat lentils you would not have to flatter."
The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear
to do and get a record of successful experiences behind you.
Dale Carnegie
Don't change horses while crossing a stream.
American Proverb
Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.
Cato the Censor
Misfortune seldom intrudes upon the wise man; his greatest and
highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course
of life.
Epicurus
The unexamined life isn't worth living.
Socrates
The best way out of a difficulty is through it.
Anonymous
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek
discipline and find your liberty.
From Frank Herbert's Dune Chronicles
Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the
school of genius.
Gibbon
One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine
can do the work of one extraordinary man.
Elbert Hubbard
Constant dripping hollows out a stone.
Lucretius
True merit is like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise
it makes.
Lord Halifax
There is no education like adversity.
Disraeli
Common sense is in spite of, not the result of, education.
Victor Hugo
I never desired to please the rabble. What pleased them,
I did not learn; and what I knew was far removed from their
understanding.
Epicurus
Bright lights cast dark shadows when shone from only one
direction.
David Kelley
Men willingly believe what they wish.
Julius Caesar
Events of great consequence often spring from trifling
circumstances.
Livy
The more corrupt the state, the more laws.
Tacitus
Anger so clouds the mind, that it cannot perceive the truth.
Cato the Elder
From lightest words sometimes the direst quarrel springs.
Cato the Elder
Grasp the subject, the words will follow.
Cato the Elder
I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he
approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even
though he is in the right.
Cato the Elder
Lighter is the wound foreseen.
Cato the Elder
Patience is the greatest of all virtues.
Cato the Elder
Tis sometimes the height of wisdom to feign stupidity.
Cato the Elder
We cannot control the evil tongues of others; but a good life
enables us to disregard them.
Cato the Elder
Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for
the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not
imitate the successes of the wise.
Cato the Elder
A happy life consists in tranquillity of mind.
Cicero
A life of peace, purity, and refinement leads to a calm and
untroubled old age.
Cicero
A mind without instruction can no more bear fruit than can a
field, however fertile, without cultivation.
Cicero
As the old proverb says "Like readily consorts with like."
Cicero
Be sure that it is not you that is mortal, but only your body.
For that man whom your outward form reveals is not yourself;
the spirit is the true self, not that physical figure which can
be pointed out by your finger.
Cicero
He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason.
Cicero
Let your desires be ruled by reason.
Cicero
Nature herself makes the wise man rich.
Cicero
Never go to excess, but let moderation be your guide.
Cicero
No one can speak well, unless he thoroughly understands his
subject.
Cicero
'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak
and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln
Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.
Lao-tzu
Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.
Cicero
Hunger is the best sauce.
Italian Proverb
Instinct is the nose of the mind.
Mme. de Girardin
Three can keep a secret if two are dead.
Benjamin Franklin
Money makes a good servant, but a bad master.
Quoted by Bacon
Who knows most says least.
Beauty and folly are often companions.
As is the gardener so is the garden.
Great boaster, little doer.
Hot love is soon cold.
The handsomest flower is not the sweetest.
He who decries wants to buy.
Persuasion is better than force.
The beaten path is the safest.
He is the greatest conqueror who has conquered himself.
Small faults indulged let in greater.
The worst wheel always creaks most.
Be swift to hear, and with patience give answer.
The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise
man is in his heart.
A little neglect may breed great mischief.
A fair skin often covers a crooked mind.
More people are slain by suppers than by the sword.
What the fool does in the end the wise man does in the
beginning.
It is easier to stem the brook than the river.
In the land of the blind the one-eyed is a king.
In prosperity caution --- in adversity patience.
There are more foolish buyers than foolish sellers.
No greater promisers than they who have nothing to give.
Resolve slowly, act swiftly.
The moth does most mischief to the finest garment.
Better to deny at once than to promise long.
Good words without deeds are rushes and weeds.
The good seaman is known in bad weather.
Little dogs start the hare, but great ones catch it.
To a hasty demand a leisure reply.
When I did well, I heard it never; when I did ill I heard it
ever.
Wise men learn by other men's mistakes, fools by their own.
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life.
He that speaks doth sow, he that holds his peace doth reap.
Who lives to nature rarely can be poor --- who lives to fancy
never can be rich.
Where the world rebuketh there look out for the excellent.
For want of a nail the shoe is lost; for want of a shoe the
horse is lost; and for want of a horse the man is lost.
Don't put all of your eggs in one basket.
Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.
Early to bed and early to rise makes a fellow healthy, wealthy
and wise.
Make hay while the sun shines.
Haste makes waste.
If you want enemies, excel your friends; but if you want
friends, let your friends excel you.
La Rochefoucauld
What costs little is little valued.
None are so blind as those who won't see.
A man of pleasure is a man of pains.
Most haste, worst speed!
Labor warms, sloth harms.
As is the gardner so is the garden.
The pains of mind surpass the pains of sense.
One eye of the master sees more than four of the servant's.
There is a lower warmth in kin, but smaller truth in friends.
The latter show more surface, and the first have more depth.
Relations rally to the rescue, even in estrangement and
neglect, where friends will have fled at thy defeat, even after
promise and kindness.
M. Tupper
I had six honest serving men --- they taught me all I know;
Their names were Where and What and When and Why and How and
Who.
Kipling
The cow knows not what her tail is worth until she has lost it.
If pleasures are greatest in anticipation, just remember that
this is also true of trouble.
Elbert Hubbard
He who seeks only for applause from without has all his
happiness in another's keeping.
Oliver Goldsmith
In most cases, all an argument proves is that two people are
present.
Tony Pettito
The most consummately beautiful thing in the universe is the
rightly fashioned life of a good person.
George Herbert Palmer
The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he
pursues.
Marcus Aurelius
We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
Goethe
Know thyself.
Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.
Seneca
Better be alone than in bad company.
Never esteem anything of advantage to thee that shall make thee
break thy word or lose thy self-respect.
Marcus Aurelius
It never occurs to fools that merit and good fortune are
closely united.
Goethe
A true and genuine impudence is ever the effect of ignorance,
without the least sense of it.
Steele
The man who cannot blush, and who has no feelings of fear, has
reached the acme of impudence.
Menander
The way to avoid the imputation of impudence is, not to be
ashamed of what we do, but never to do what we ought to be
ashamed of.
Cicero
He that knows the world will not be bashful; he that knows
himself will not be impudent.
C. Simmons
The man who tells me an indelicate story does me an injury.
J. T. Fields
An impure man is every good man's enemy.
H. W. Beecher
Few things are needful to make the wise man happy, but nothing
satisfies the fool --- and this is the reason why so many of
mankind are miserable.
La Rochefoucauld
All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.
Two is company, three is a crowd.
A stitch in time saves nine.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Riches that are in the heart cannot be stolen.
Russian Proverb
Confidence is a plant of slow growth.
Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole
duty of man.
Eccl.
Love starts with the eyes.
The luck of the ugly, the pretty wishes.
A little neglect may breed great mischief.
He who knows nothing is confident of everything.
The highest art is artlessness.
He that wants looking after is not worth looking after.
Some people choose their ideas the way they choose their
clothes --- according to the latest fashion.
Tolstoy
Some people will never learn anything, because they understand
everything too soon.
To the jaundiced all things seem yellow.
If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
Bible
Fear no ill but sin, no being but Almighty God.
Our very wishes (when realized) give us not our wish.
A handsome shoe often pinches the foot.
A fool may be known by six things: anger, without cause;
speech, without profit; change, without progress; inquiry,
without object; putting trust in a stranger; and mistaking
foes for friends.
Arabian Proverb
Every man is the architect of his own destiny.
A pretty face may be enough to catch a man, but it takes
character and good nature to hold him.
The nail that sticks up gets pounded down.
Japanese Proverb
In the way of righteousness is life; and in that pathway there
is no death.
Proverbs
Sow a thought and reap an act
Sow an act and reap a habit
Sow a habit and reap a character
Sow a character and reap a destiny
The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.
Marcus Aurelius
One pound of learning requires ten pounds of common sense to
apply it.
Persian Proverb
Put an old cat to an old rat (i.e. it takes a wise old cat to
catch a wise old rat)
Work is often the father of pleasure.
Voltaire
A house is built a brick at a time.
We climb a ladder a rung at a time.
Thinking is the essence of wisdom.
Persian Proverb
Time ripens all things: no man is born wise.
Cervantes
Good manners are made of petty sacrifices.
Emerson
Never let the bottom of your purse or your mind be seen.
Anonymous
The mouse that has but one hole is soon caught.
Arabian Proverb
Charm strikes the sight, but merit wins the soul.
Pope
We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
Goethe
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
Lao Tzu
To be angry is to revenge the faults of others on ourselves.
Pope
Truth will rise above falsehood as oil above water.
Cervantes
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice.
Shakespeare
He who has health has hope; and he who has hope, has
everything.
Arabian Proverb
Never let the bottom of your purse or your mind be seen.
Anonymous
A man should learn to sail in all winds.
Italian Proverb
All sunshine makes a desert.
Arabian Proverb
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
Shakespeare
The beginnings of all things are small.
Cicero
Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory.
Cervantes
Knowledge without sense is twofold folly.
Spanish Proverb
Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls
wisdom.
Coleridge
Better shun the bait than struggle in the snare.
Dryden
What one does, one becomes.
Spanish Proverb
A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit.
Milton
A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the
value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde
A small hole can sink a big ship.
Russian Proverb
Don't see all you see and don't hear all you hear.
Irish Proverb
Every cloud engenders not a storm.
Shakespeare
When the fruit is scarcest its taste is sweetest.
Irish Proverb
One dog yelping at nothing will set ten thousand straining at
their collars.
Japanese Proverb
Good nature, like a bee, collects honey from every herb. Ill
nature, like the spider, sucks poison from the sweetest flower.
Anonymous
He conquers who endures.
Italian Proverb
We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.
Goethe
A man shows his character by what he laughs at.
German Proverb
Most people are other people. Their opinions are someone
else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a
quotation.
Oscar Wilde
It is more from carelessness about the truth than from
intention of lying that there is so much falsehood in the
world.
Samuel Johnson
Unless you enter the tiger's den you cannot take the cubs.
Japanese Proverb
Even among intimate friends there should be courtesy.
Japanese Proverb
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Practice makes perfect.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
A place for everything and everything in its place.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Easier said than done.
Practice what you preach.
One swallow does not make a summer.
Vows made in storms are forgotten in calms.
Like father, like son.
Better late than never.
When the cat is away, the mice will play.
A little learning can be a dangerous thing.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Glass, china and reputation. Things never well repaired once
cracked.
Experience is the fool's best teacher; the wise do not need
it.
Welsh Proverb
Goodness does not consist in greatness but greatness in
goodness.
Athenaeus
Friendship increases by visiting friends but visiting seldom.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
God gave us the nuts but he doesn't crack them.
German Proverb
Great good nature without prudence is a great misfortune.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Greed often overreaches itself.
Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
He that hath a trade, hath an estate.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
He that is rich need not live sparingly and he that can live
sparingly need not be rich.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
He that pays for work before it's done, has but a pennyworth
for two pence.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
He that resolves to mend hereafter, resolves not to mend now.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
He that scatters thorns, let him not go barefoot.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
He that waits on fortune is never sure of a dinner.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
He that would eat the fruit, must climb the tree.
Scottish Proverb
He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he
knows, nor judge all he sees.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
He who plots to hurt others often hurts himself.
Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
As you make your bed, so you must lie in it.
English Proverb
Distance is a great promoter of admiration!
Diderot
Pleasant it is to behold great encounters of warfare arrayed
over the plains, with no part of yours in peril.
Lucretius
Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a
nightmare.
Japanese proverb
He who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger.
Japanese proverb
Do you need proof of God? Does one light a torch to see the Sun?
Japanese proverb
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you
want to be happy yourself, practice compassion.
The 14th Dalai Lama
He is poor who does not feel content.
Japanese proverb
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for
the past, not to worry about the future, but to live the
present moment wisely and earnestly.
Buddha
It is worthy to perform the present duty well and without fail,
do not seek to avoid or postpone it till tomorrow. By acting
now, one can live a good day.
Buddha
Hate is like acid. It can damage the vessel in which it is
stored as well as destroy the object on which it is poured.
Ann Landers
Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more
it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other
things, it comes softly and sits on your shoulder.
The best way to forget your own problems is to help someone
else solve theirs.
If there's no wind, row.
Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things
you have for which you would not take money.
Money will buy a pretty good dog, but it won't buy the wag of
his tail.
Be kind. Every person you meet is fighting a hard battle.
You can make more friends in a month by being interested in
them than you can in ten years by trying to get them interested
in you.
God gave us two ears and only one mouth. Some people say
that's because He wanted us to spend twice as much time
listening as talking. Others claim it's because He knew that
listening was twice as hard.
An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about
anything.
Lynn Johnston
The manner in which it is given is worth more than the gift.
Pierre Corneille
Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others
have let go.
William Feather
You can either complain that rose bushes have thorns - or
rejoice that thorn bushes have roses.
The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night's
sleep.
E. Joseph Coleman
A slander is like a hornet; if you cannot kill it dead at the
first blow, better not to strike at it.
Josh Billings
One of the most lasting pleasures you can experience is the
feeling that comes over you when you genuinely forgive an enemy
- whether he knows about it or not.
A. Battista
The only people you should ever try to get "even" with are
those who have helped you.
John Honeyfeld
You can't base your life on other people's expectations.
We need to learn to set our course by the stars, not by the
lights of every passing ship.
Omar Bradley
It is easier to go down a hill than up, but the view is from
the top.
A smile is contagious; be a carrier.
To depend on one's own child is blindness in one eye; To depend
on a stranger, blindness in both eyes.
Malayan Proverb
An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.
Mohandas Gandhi
The noblest revenge is to forgive.
H. G. Bolon
What you say means nothing, how you say it means everything.
Kindness begets kindness.
Sophocles
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
Dalai Lama
No act of kindness is ever wasted.
Aesop
Being good to others being good to yourself.
Respect a man, and he will do the more.
James Howell
Politeness costs nothing and gains everything.
Mary Montagu
Civility costs nothing, and buys everything.
Mary Montagu
The weak can't forgive. Forgiveness is of the strong.
M. Gandhi
My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
Dalai Lama
Handle yourself, use head; Handle others, use heart.
E.Roosevelt
Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.
True religion is the life we lead, not a creed.
Louis Nizer
Love begins when nothing is expected in return.
Antoine Exup
Where there is love there is life.
Mahatma Gandhi
Man's character is his fate.
Heraclitus
The more you know the less you show.
Character is power.
Booker T Washington
Before honor is humility.
Proverbs 18:12.
Character is what you do when no one is looking.
Henry Huffman
Have more than thou show, speak less than thou know.
Shakespeare
Humility - No one act big. No one act small. Everyone act medium.
A lie has speed, truth has endurance.
Edgar Mohn
Life - a long lesson in humility.
James Barrie
Integrity needs no rules.
Albert Camus
Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.
Sophocles
Master habits before they master you.
Men are not punished for their sins, but by them.
Elbert Hubbard
Diplomacy is thinking twice and saying nothing.
The greatest truths are the simplest.
Hosea Ballou
Be sincere; be brief; be seated.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Use soft words and hard arguments.
English Proverb
Think before acting. Hear before judging. Listen before speaking.
Think much, speak little, and write less.
Italian Proverb
Examine what is said, not him who speaks.
Arab Proverb
He who angers you, controls you.
Anger blows out the lamp of the mind.
Robert Ingersoll
Sow discord, reap regret.
Arabian Proverb
The best cure for anger is delay.
Seneca
A questioning man is halfway to be wise.
Irish Proverb
Knows others is wise, knows himself is enlightened.
Tao Te Ching
I have not failed. I've found 10,000 ways that won't work.
T. Edison
The unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates
Wise and slow. They stumble that run fast.
William Shakespeare
There is only one person you can change - YOU.
Excellence is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
Keep your mouth shut and your ears open.
Change yourself, then change the world.
Study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly.
W. Channing
He is the richest who is content with the least.
Socrates
It is part of the cure to want to be cured.
Seneca
Motivation gets you started. Habit keeps you going.
Jim Ryuh
Meditate. Live purely. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery.
Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds. Shine.
Buddha
All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit
quietly in a room alone.
Pascal
Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so
established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.
Pascal
Men seek rest in a struggle against difficulties; and when they
have conquered these, rest becomes insufferable.
Pascal
We are generally the better persuaded by the reasons we discover
ourselves than by those given to us by others.
Pascal
Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved,
what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it
proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose
nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists.
Pascal
The more I see of Mankind, the more I prefer my dog.
Pascal
There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which
cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the
Creator, made known through Jesus.
Pascal
He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may
safely trust to God's providence to lead him aright.
Pascal
It isn't so much that [the experts] are ignorant. It's just that
they know so many things that aren't so. . .
Ronald Reagan
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance. It is the illusion
of knowledge.
Stephen Hawking
Six rules to a better life
1. Never hate
2. Don't worry
3. Live simply
4. Expect little
5. Give a lot
6. Always smile
The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who
want to learn. Cicero
The greatest victory is victory over yourself. Cicero
It is better for you to be free of fear lying upon a pallet, than
to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of trouble. Epicurus
Freedom will bite back more fiercely when suspended than when she
remains undisturbed. Cicero
The part of life we really live is small, for all the rest of existence
is not life, but merely time. Lucius Seneca
To win true freedom you must be a slave to philosophy. Lucius Seneca
It is not that we have little time, but more that we waste a good bit of it.
Seneca
Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. Seneca
As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters. Seneca
It is reason and wisdom which take away cares, not places affording wide views over the sea.
Horace
No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me
that you desire a fig, I answer that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit,
then ripen. Epicietus
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality. Seneca
If evil be said of thee, and it be true, correct yourself. If it be a lie laugh at it.
Epicietus
Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do.
Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you. Epicietus
Any person capable of angering you becomes your master. He can anger you only when you
permit yourself to be disturbed by him. Epicietus
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