“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”
Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece
Book III, ch. 23.
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Boglárka
@Boglárka, member from Oct. 22, 2022Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece
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Variant: ...none ought to be educated but the free;...
Book II, ch. 1.
“Everywhere I go I find that a poet has been there before me.”
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psychoanalysis
As quoted in In factor of the sensitive man, and other essays (1976 edition) by Anais Nin, p.14
Attributed from posthumous publications
“Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off. Build your wings on the way down.”
Ray Bradbury book Fahrenheit 451
Brown Daily Herald (24 March 1995)
Variant: Stand at the top of a cliff and jump off and build your wings on the way down.
Source: Fahrenheit 451
“I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
Likely spurious quote, UNVERIFIED ATTRIBUTE - Quoted in The Lexington Observer & Reporter (16 June 1864)
1860s
Variant: I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.
“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.”
Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese artist, poet, and writer
We consider the quote as suspicious, we have no evidence supporting authorship
Chester Bennington (1976–2017) American singer-songwriter
Also attributed to Johnny Depp.
“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
“If my eyes could show my soul, everyone would cry when they saw me smile.”
Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist
“Be yourself. The world worships the original.”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker
Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author
Attributed to Kafka in Ambiguous Spaces (2008) by NaJa & deOstos (Nannette Jackowski and Ricardo de Ostos), p. 7, and a couple other publications since, this is actually from Report to Greco (1965) by Nikos Kazantzakis, p. 434
Misattributed
“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Source: A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls.”
C.G. Jung book Psychology and Alchemy
CW 12, par. 126 (p 99)
Psychology and Alchemy (1952)
Context: People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. They will practice Indian yoga and all its exercises, observe a strict regimen of diet, learn the literature of the whole world - all because they cannot get on with themselves and have not the slightest faith that anything useful could ever come out of their own souls. Thus the soul has gradually been turned into a Nazareth from which nothing good can come.
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.”
Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul
The Note Book of Elbert Hubbard (1927)
Variant: The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.
“If you would take, you must first give, this is the beginning of intelligence.”
Laozi (-604) semi-legendary Chinese figure, attributed to the 6th century, regarded as the author of the Tao Te Ching and fou…
“Retaliation gets you nothing. Revenge is worthless.”
Tom Hiddleston (1981) English actor, producer and musical performer