Great quotes from great individuals from the past.

[petesede]

My pet peeve one

The journey of a thousand mile begins with a single step.

It bugs me when people are proud about goals they make or plans they have.  Until you have acted, taken a few steps...  don´t treat your goals as if they are accomplishments you should be proud of.

Or to paraphrase the above.

Put one foot in front of the other, and soon you´ll be walking out the door - random christmas special.

[takibari]

The quotes here are nice. I hope this thread gets revived! Few of my favorites are from the Book of Proverbs, written by Solomon (the person attributed to be the wisest person in the Bible)

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. (Proverbs 15:1)

Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all wrongs. (Proverbs 10:12)

Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. (Proverbs 12:18)

He who works is land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. (Proverbs 28:19)

[akosichupacabra]

"A lie often repeated enough becomes the truth." - Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister.

This is an awesome line distinguishing the difference between politics and the natural sciences. People tend to forget that one plus one may equal to two in Math but it may not be the case in politics. Here's a quote I encountered while making a paper for Benigno Aquino:

"You may have the might, but that does not necessarily make you right" - Benigno Aquino III

[languagelearner]

My personal favorite is "simplify, simplify, simplify" by Thoreau. I love transcendentalism.

[czarina84]

These quotes are so great.   I've a had few favorite quotes but the top of the list is this one.  "Be the change you want to see in the world".  I love that quote.  So many times people are more "Do as I say and not as I do."

[anna3101]

Love this thread. I'll add some of my favourites.

- “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

- “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

- “Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.” Albert Einstein

- “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King

- “If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change. ” Buddha

- “I said "Somebody should do something about that." Then I realized I am somebody.” Lily Tomlin

- “You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” Charles Buxton

- “Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever.” Walt Disney

- “Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four Cs. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.” Walt Disney

- “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  Margaret Mead

- “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” Carl Jung

- “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

- “Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” Winston Churchill

- “If it's not fun, you're not doing it right.” Bob Basso

- “Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don't be sorry.” Jack Kerouac

- “Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Alan Milne

- “Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.” Brad Paisley

- “Was Du erlebst, kann keine Macht der Welt Dir rauben. (What you have experienced, no power on earth can take from you.) Not only our experiences, but all we have done, whatever great thoughts we may have had and all we have suffered, all this is not lost, though it is past; we have brought it into being. Having been is a kind of being, and perhaps the surest kind.” Viktor Frankl

[Trellum]

I totally love this one and I believe it to be 100%  true:

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of the infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.” 

― H.P. Lovecraft

 

[VinayaSpeaks]

Though not from the past, I love this quote from Warren Buffet:

Never buy things which you do not need, later you may have to sell things that you don't need.

Another one from Warren Buffet

Taking risk does not mean you have both of your legs inside water.

[reverserewind]

If it's to be, it's up to ME

- someone

I agree with that statement. We should be accountable for our own actions.

[takibari]

Still hopeful that this thread will be revived and more and more people will pitch in. Anyway, one of my favorite books that I came across back while I was a university student was a book called Das Energi by Paul Williams. It was written sometime in the 70s. This was just a very thin book, and what caught me was the form of writing. It wasn't verbose. The thoughts to me are short and direct (at least to my mind). Here's one of the quotes I like in that book talking about GUILT.

Guilt is a form of self-hatred ...

Also of self-indulgence.
No one benefits from your feeling guilty.
Except you—you use guilt to shield yourself from the pain of awareness.
When you short-circuit your energy, you cheat us all.
Then use that as excuse for further short-circuiting. / There is a way out of this trap.
Don't feel guilty.
Don't cop out.
Accept responsibility for your actions.
Do what's right.
Don't live in the past.
Learn from the past.
Do right in the present.