“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
As quoted in An Enemy Called Average (1990) by John L. Mason, p. 55.
Date unknown
Deep quotes page 6
“The deeper thought is, the taller it becomes.”
Dejan Stojanovic (1959) poet, writer, and businessman
“Thought,” p. 64
The Sun Watches the Sun (1999), Sequence: “A Stone and a Word”
“We see things not as they are, but as we are ourselves.”
H. M. Tomlinson (1873–1958) British writer
The Gift http://books.google.com/books?id=TU8jSMUix_wC&q="We+see+things+not+as+they+are+but+as+we+are+ourselves"&pg=PA149#v=onepage
“Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.”
Sophia Loren (1934) Italian actress
As quoted in Morrow's International Dictionary of Contemporary Quotations (1982) by Jonathon Green, p. 340.
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection”
Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism
Sharon Salzberg in an article in a magazine called “Woman of Power” in 1989
Misattributed
Eugene Kennedy (1928–2015) American psychologist
Eugene Kennedy, cited in: Kathy Wagoner (2002) The Promise of Friendship. p. 284
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
Truman Capote (1924–1984) American author
From "Self-Portrait" (1972)
Truman Capote: Conversations (1987)
“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”
Albert Camus book The Rebel
Introduction
The Rebel (1951)
“Come, seek, for search is the foundation of fortune:
every success depends upon focusing the heart.”
Rumi (1207–1273) Iranian poet
III, 2302-5
Jewels of Remembrance (1996)
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States
The earliest citation yet found does not attribute this to Roosevelt, but presents it as a piece of anonymous piece folk-wisdom: "When one reaches the end of his rope, he should tie a knot in it and hang on" ( LIFE magazine (3 April 1919), p. 585 http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89063018576?urlappend=%3Bseq=65). <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Variant: When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman
As quoted in Thomas Alva Edison : Sixty Years of an Inventor's Life (1908) by Francis Arthur Jones, p. 14.
1900s
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy
Misattributed
Variant: We are what we repeatedly do, therefore excellence is not an act, but a habit.
Source: Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers (1926), reprinted in Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, 1991, ISBN 0-671-73916-6], Ch. II: Aristotle and Greek Science; part VII: Ethics and the Nature of Happiness: "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation: we do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have these because we have acted rightly; 'these virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions'; we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit: 'the good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life... for as it is not one swallow or one fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes a man blessed and happy'" (p. 76). The quoted phrases within the quotation are from the Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, 4; Book I, 7. The misattribution is from taking Durant's summation of Aristotle's ideas as being the words of Aristotle himself.
“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
Robin Williams (1951–2014) American actor and stand-up comedian
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
Vince Lombardi (1913–1970) American football player, coach, and executive
“Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”
Vince Lombardi (1913–1970) American football player, coach, and executive
“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone.”
Johnny Cash (1932–2003) American singer-songwriter
“To be and not to be, that is the answer.”
Piet Hein (1905–1996) Danish puzzle designer, mathematician, author, poet
This witticism derived from William Shakespeare's line "To be or not to be; that is the question" in Hamlet, has sometimes been attributed to Hein, but also to many others. The earliest occurrence so far located in research for Wikiquote was published in A Calendar of Doubts and Faiths (1930) by William Marias Malisoff.
Misattributed
“Things change, and they don’t change back.”
Source: The Night We Buried Road Dog (1993), p. 488
“Be the change that you want to see in the world.”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India
“A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician
“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. 'Til your good is better and your better is best.”
Jerome (345–420) Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church
“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
Tenzin Gyatso (1935) spiritual leader of Tibet
“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.”
Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism
“Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations.”
Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) Motivational speaker, writer
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) 32nd President of the United States
“Silence is deep as Eternity, Speech is shallow as Time.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
“All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope.”
Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) French writer and dramatist, father of the homonym writer and dramatist
“Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.”
Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism
“If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”
Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) American psychologist
“It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
Epictetus (50–138) philosopher from Ancient Greece
“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort.”
John Ruskin (1819–1900) English writer and art critic
“Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.”
John Barrymore (1882–1942) American actor of stage, screen and radio
“When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.”
Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply!”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician
“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.”
Tenzin Gyatso (1935) spiritual leader of Tibet
“The mind is everything. What you think you become.”
Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism
Albert Camus (1913–1960) French author and journalist
Widely attributed, but likely apocryphal. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/08/23/friend/ Researchers have searched for this quote unsuccessfully in Camus' extant works. <br class="br">Disputed
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”
Adam Silvera book They Both Die at the End
John Shedd, p. 81
They Both Die at the End (2017)
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that's all.”
Adam Silvera book They Both Die at the End
Oscar Wilde, p. 1
They Both Die at the End (2017)
“But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.”
Albert Camus book A Happy Death
A Happy Death (1971)
“There is value in NOT doing a thing.”
Greg McKeown (author) book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Popular Quotes, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Twitter