Quotations
for Mind and Soul


There is so much bad in the best of us, and so much good in the worst of us, that it ill-behooves any of us to find fault with the rest of us. (anon)


It has been said that the last thing fish will "discover" is water. In a similar way and for the same reason, the last thing we will "discover" is spirit. (anon)


Confidence, like art, never comes from having all the answers; it comes from being open to all the questions. (Earl Gary Stevens)


Example has more followers than reason. We unconsciously imitate what pleases us, and approximate to the characters we most admire. (Bovee)


Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas. (Donatella Versace)


The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. (Aristotle)


In order to find the edge, you must risk going over the edge. (Dennis Dugan)


Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity: the dread of doing what has been done before. (Edith Warton)


I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung. (Tagore)


The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause. (Mark Twain)


You don’t get into the mood to create – it’s discipline. It’s not, “Do I feel like doing this?” It’s, “This is what I do.” (Twyla Tharp)


The poet is like the prince of the clouds, Haunting the tempest and laughing at the archer; Exiled on earth amongst the shouting people, His giant’s wings hinder him from walking. (Baudelaire, from “Often to Amuse”)


A true sense of humor – specifically including a sense of humor about oneself – is not merely a fringe benefit or a nice add-on. It is a pretty reliable indicator that its proprietor knows what is serious because he or she know what’s funny. It is a precondition of true sympathy and compassion for one’s fellow creatures. (Meg Greenfield)


We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us, but for ours to amuse them. (Evelyn Waugh)


What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are. (C.S.Lewis)


If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the City of God which had been shown! (Emerson)


If you love something, set it free;
If it comes back, it's yours.
If it doesn't, it never was.
(anon)


Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do, and what is the right thing to do. (Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart)


In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary. (Aaron Rose)


There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. (Ansel Adams)


Some people equate negative moods and thoughts with being realistic. But everything around us is essentially neutral; we impose the value, either positive or negative. The question is, which distortion do you wish to choose? (Michael Fordyce, professor of psychlogy)


If you can’t convince them, confuse them. (Harry S Truman)


You can’t stay mad at somebody who makes you laugh. (Jay Leno)


Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances. (Thomas Jefferson)


Champions have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill. (Muhammad Ali)


The greater the artist, the greater the doubt; perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize. (Robert Hughes)


When a friendship is born, there is a feeling that your capacity to love and care has miraculously been enlarged. It’s like having a tiny apartment and somebody moves in with you, but instead of becoming cramped and crowded, the space expands, and you discover rooms you never knew you had until your friend moved in. (anon)


What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. (Thomas Paine)


There are two types of people – those who come into a room and say, “Well, here I am!” and those who come in and say, “Ah, there you are." (Frederick L. Collins)


If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don’t bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, or weeping, or seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you’ll get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he’s a good man. (Dostoyevsky)


True power is knowing that you can, but you don’t. (Juliet Alicia Jarvis)


The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate. (Doug Englebart)


While intelligent people can often simplify the complex, a fool is more likely to complicate the simple. (Gerald W. Grumet, M.D.)


The best things in life aren’t things. (Art Buchwald)


A lot of people mistake a short memory for a clear conscience. (Doug Larson)


Whoever you are, there is some younger person who thinks you are perfect. There is some work that will never be done if you don’t do it. There is someone who would miss you if you were gone. There is a place that you alone can fill. (Jacob M. Braude)


Be open-minded, but not so open-minded that your brains fall out. (anon)


We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)


You have greater impact on others by the way you listen than by the way you talk. (James R. Fisher, Jr.)


I think it would be a good idea. (Mahatma Gandhi, on being asked what he thought of Western civilization)


You could take all the integrity in Hollywood, put it in the navel of a flea, and still have room left over for an agent’s heart and a caraway seed. (Fred Allen)


Never ascribe to malice what can be perfectly well explained by stupidity. (anon)


A truth is not hard to kill and a lie told well is immortal. (Mark Twain)


The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like and do what you’d ruther not. (Mark Twain)


Military glory—the attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood. (Abraham Lincoln)


An atheist staring from his attic window is often nearer to God than the believer caught up in his own false image of God. (Martin Buber)


Marrying a woman for her beauty is like buying a house for its paint. (anon)


The end of the day is near when small men start making long shadows. (anon)


Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often, it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out. (Oliver Wendell Holmes)


The art of a people is a true mirror to their minds. (Jawaharial Nehru)


Four-word story of failure: Hired, tired, mired, fired. (anon)


It is when we forget ourselves that we do things that are most likely to be remembered. (anon)


The more you know, the more you know you don't know. (anon)


The argument you just won with your spouse isn't over yet. (anon)


A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell, where his influence stops. (Henry B. Adams)


Education: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. (Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary")


Big egos are big shields for lots of empty space. (Diana Black)


Imagination is more important than knowledge. (Albert Einstein)


From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put. (Winston Churchill)


The more you say, the less people remember. The fewer the words, the greater the profit. (Felelon)


The 10 Commandments contain 297 words. The Bill of Rights is stated in 463 words. Lincon's Gettysburg Address contains 266 words. A recent federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words. (The Atlanta Journal)


The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the poor, to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread. (Anatole France)


A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer. (Robert Frost)


The society that exalts philosophy to the detriment of plumbing will eventually find that neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water. (anon)


Health: The slowest possible way to die. (anon)


A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices. (William James)


Nothing makes you more tolerant of a neighbor's party than being there. (anon)


Never wrestle with a pig: You both get all dirty, and the pig likes it. (anon)


Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience (anon)


If you dance with a grizzly bear, you had better let him lead. (anon)


The first myth of management is that it exists. (anon)


People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts. (Robert Keith Leavitt)


It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)


A psychologist once said that we know little about the conscience except that it is soluble in alcohol. (Thomas Blackburn)


A toast to your coffin. May it be made of 100 year old oak. And may we plant the tree together, tomorrow (Irish blessing)


A waist is a terrible thing to mind. (anon)


People who like this sort of thing will find that this is the sort of thing they like. (President Abraham Lincoln,playing literary critic)


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...' (Isaac Asimov)


As easy as 3.1415926... [mathematical pie] (anon)


Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head. (As You Like It, act 2, scene 1.)


Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground. (anon)


When you try to stay on the surface of the water, you sink; but when you try to sink, you float. (Zen proverb)


Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. (anon)


People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first. (David Comins)


Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity. (Frank Leahy)


Feelings of superiority and inferiority are the same. They both come from fear. - (Dr. Robert Anthony)


I have never let schooling interfere with my education. (Mark Twain)


Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as nothing happened. (Sir Winston Churchill)


Its amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. (Harry S. Truman)


When I was a child, my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk you'll end up as the pope.' Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso. (Pablo Picasso)


All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing. (Edmund Burke)


Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain -- and most fools do. (Dale Carnegie)


Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. (Leonardo da Vinci)


Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. (anon)


Speaking of incompetence, when you earnestly believe you can make up for a lack of skill by doubling your effort, there's no end to what you can't do. (anon)


Avaritia facit Bardus - Greed makes you stupid.


Our future is determined by our past. Therefore be very careful about what you do in your past. (Ziggy)


People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun's out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light within. (Elisabeth Kubler-Ross)


Women hope men will change after marriage but they don’t; men hope women won’t change but they do. (Bettina Arndt)


A penny will hide the biggest star in the Universe if you hold it close enough to your eye. (Samuel Grafton)


Tap into people's dignity, and they will do anything for you. Ignore it, and they won't lift a finger. (Thomas Friedman)


Of love in the world, there's an atrocity of paucity. (by me)


Home / For Mind and Soul