“I am not, I will not be.
I have not, I will not have.”
Nagarjuna (150–250) Indian philosopher
That frightens all the childish
And extinguishes fear in the wise.
§ 26
Major attributed works, Ratnāvalī (Precious Garland)
Deep quotes page 4
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American motivational speaker
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
Laozi (-604) semi-legendary Chinese figure, attributed to the 6th century, regarded as the author of the Tao Te Ching and fou…
“The trouble is, you think you have time.”
Jack Kornfield (1945) American writer
Source: Buddha's Little Instruction Book
“The opportunity of your life, it's you.”
Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer
Original: (it) L'occasione della tua vita, sei tu.
Source: prevale.net
“Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending.”
Jim Henson (1936–1990) American puppeteer
“Dreams have only one owner at a time. That's why dreamers are lonely.”
Erma Bombeck (1927–1996) When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent le…
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
As reported by Quoteinvestigator on January 11, 2011 http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/01/11/what-lies-within/ the quote appeared in “Meditations in Wall Street” (1940) by Wall Street trader Henry Stanley Haskins, "a Wall Street trader with a checkered background. The phrase was misattributed because the true author's name was initially withheld. In addition, the assignment of the maxim to a more prestigious individual, e.g., Emerson or Thoreau, made it more attractive and more believable as a nugget of wisdom." Emerson made a number of similar statements — in "The American Scholar," for example, he says "Give me insight into to-day, and you may have the antique and future worlds" — which probably increased the likelihood of misattribution. <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Variant: What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. <br class="br">Variant: What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
“If my mind can conceive it; and my heart can believe it — then I can achieve it.”
Muhammad Ali book The Soul of a Butterfly
Similar to a quote by Jesse Jackson, which is in turn a modification of a quote by Napoleon Hill: "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."
Misattributed
Source: The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey
Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933) American diplomat
Time Is
Undated
Source: Time Is...
Too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice,
But for those who love,
Time is Eternity. (Music and Other Poems, 1904)
“Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey.”
George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement
“To be or not to be. That's not really a question.”
Jean-Luc Godard (1930) French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic
“Think like a queen. A queen if not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.”
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
“The time is always right to do what’s right.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Speech delivered in Finney Chapel at Oberlin College (22 October 1964), as reported in "When MLK came to Oberlin" by Cindy Leise, The Chronicle-Telegram (21 January 2008) http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2008/01/21/when-mlk-came-to-oberlin/ <br class="br">1960s <br class="br">Variant: The time is always right to do what’s right.
“Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
Statement of January 1991, as quoted in Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett (2007) by Andrew Kilpatrick
“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.”
Sam Keen (1931) author, professor, and philosopher
“Despite the forecast, live like it's spring.”
Lilly Pulitzer (1931–2013) American fashion designer
“Being good is easy, what is difficult is being just.”
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist
“The temptation of the age is to look good without being good.”
Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine
Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
Dan Millman book Way of the Peaceful Warrior
Source: Way of the Peaceful Warrior
“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”
Maya Angelou book Letter to My Daughter
Source: Letter to My Daughter
“There is no truth. There is only perception.”
Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)
Quoted in The Letters of Gustave Flaubert, 1857-1880, ed. and trans. Francis Steegmuller (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982), xii.
Correspondence
Variant: There is no 'true'. There are merely ways of perceiving truth.
“Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.”
Sholem Aleichem (1859–1916) Yiddish author and playwright
“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.”
Jimmy Johnson (1928) American Chicago blues guitarist and singer
“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”
Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist
“It was a Monday and they walked on a tightrope to the sun.”
Markus Zusak book The Book Thief
Source: The Book Thief
“Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.”
Euripidés (-480–-406 BC) ancient Athenian playwright
“There are two ways of spreading light.. to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author
“The idea is to die young as late as possible.”
Ashley Montagu (1905–1999) British-American anthropologist
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.”
Peace Pilgrim (1908–1981) American non-denominational spiritual teacher
“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive.”
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica
“To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.”
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
“Maybe that's what life is… a wink of the eye and winking stars.”
Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American writer
Letter to Alan Harrington (23 April 1949) published in Kerouac: Selected Letters: Volume 1 1940-1956 (1996)
Source: Selected Letters, 1940-1956
“If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself.”
Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief
Source: The Lightning Thief
Lucille Ball (1911–1989) American actress and businesswoman
Variant: Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. Your really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.
“Wealth is not about having a lot of money; it's about having a lot of options.”
Chris Rock (1965) American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer, and director
“Anything becomes interesting if you look at it long enough.”
Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) American author and poet
Variant: We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest;
And deal full many a thoughtless blow,
To those who love us best.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) American poet
Hyperion http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5436, Bk. III, Ch. IV (1839). <br class="br">Variant: Believe me, every heart has its secret sorrows, which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad. <br class="br">Context: "Ah! this beautiful world!" said Flemming, with a smile. "Indeed, I know not what to think of it. Sometimes it is all gladness and sunshine, and Heaven itself lies not far off. And then it changes suddenly; and is dark and sorrowful, and clouds shut out the sky. In the lives of the saddest of us, there are bright days like this, when we feel as if we could take the great world in our arms and kiss it. Then come the gloomy hours, when the fire will neither burn on our hearths nor in our hearts; and all without and within is dismal, cold, and dark. Believe me, every heart has its secret sorrows, which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad."
“The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy.”
Eudora Welty (1909–2001) American author
“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not.”
Ann Brashares book Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood
Source: Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood
John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) British philosopher and political economist
Attributed to John Stuart Mill in The Phrenological Journal and Science of Health, Vol. LXXXV (September 1887), p. 170
Disputed
“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer
“A quitter never wins-and-a winner never quits.”
Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author
Variant: A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.
Source: Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller - Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century
“All serious daring starts from within.”
Eudora Welty (1909–2001) American author
Source: On Writing (2002)
“Love takes off the masks we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
“There are no weeds, and no worthless men. There are only bad farmers.”
Victor Hugo book Les Misérables
Source: Les Misérables
“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright
Everybody's Political What's What? (ebook, must be borrowed) https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24979564M/Everybody's_political_what's_what (1944), Chapter XXXVII: Creed and Conduct, p. 330 <br class="br">1940s and later <br class="br">Variant: Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. <br class="br">Context: Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. Creeds, articles, and institutes of religious faith ossify our brains and make change impossible. As such they are nuisances, and in practice have to be mostly ignored.
“And remember, no matter where you go, there you are.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
“A year from now you may wish you had started today.”
Karen Lamb (1982) British tennis player
“People do not lack strength, they lack will.”
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist
“Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.”
Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto) (1990)
“As with stomachs, we should pity minds that do not eat.”
Victor Hugo book Les Misérables
Source: Les Misérables
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
Variant: Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
“Love is what you've been through with somebody”
James Thurber (1894–1961) American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright
“Talent is a long patience, and originality an effort of will and intense observation.”
Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) French writer (1821–1880)
“In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.”
Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
Original from Zig Ziglar https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zig_Ziglar <br class="br">Misattributed
“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.”
Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker
Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica
March 1937
Diary entries (1914 - 1974)
Source: The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934
“Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway”
Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986) American journalist
“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and let it come in”
Morrie Schwartz (1916–1995) American sociologist
Source: Morrie: In His Own Words
“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.”
Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie
Source: Tuesdays with Morrie (1997)
“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
Stephen King (1947) American author
Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul
The Roycraft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams (1923)
Source: The Roycroft Dictionary Concocted by Ali Baba and the Bunch on Rainy Days
“I stick my finger into existence and it smells of nothing.”
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”
Billy Joel (1949) American singer-songwriter and pianist
“Your life only gets better when you get better.”
Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer
“There are two ways of spreading light: to be
The candle or the mirror that reflects it.”
Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American novelist, short story writer, designer
"Vesalius in Zante (1564)", in North American Review (November 1902), p. 631
Variant: There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that receives it.
“Life is very interesting… in the end, some of your greatest pains, become your greatest strengths.”
Drew Barrymore (1975) American actress, director and producer
Variant: In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.
“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting”
Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist
Variant: It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
Source: The Alchemist
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host
As quoted in Visions : How Science Will Revolutionize the Twenty-First Century (1999) by Michio Kaku, p. 295
2000s and attributed from posthumous publications
“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”
Og Mandino (1923–1996) American author
“Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future.”
Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
“It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.”
Lena Horne (1917–2010) American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer
Variant: It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.
“loving people live in a loving world. hostile people live in a hostile world. same world.”
Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer
