Quotes

Ralph Waldo Emerson photo

“Character is higher than intellect…A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

1830s, The American Scholar http://www.emersoncentral.com/amscholar.htm (1837)
Context: Character is higher than intellect... A great soul will be strong to live, as well as strong to think.

Tom Robbins photo
Hans Christian Andersen photo

“Death walks faster than the wind and never returns what he has taken.”

Fairy Tales (1835)
Source: The Story of a Mother

Robert A. Heinlein photo
Chi­ma­man­da Ngo­zi Adi­chie photo
Adam Smith photo
Cecelia Ahern photo

“We all make mistakes, some bigger than others, but none of us is perfect.”

Cecelia Ahern (1981) Irish novelist

Source: One Hundred Names

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow photo

“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) American poet

Source: Kavanagh: A Tale (1849), Chapter 30.

William Makepeace Thackeray photo

“It is best to love wisely, no doubt; but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all.”

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) novelist

Source: The History of Pendennis (1848-1850), Ch. 6.
Context: It is best to love wisely, no doubt; but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all. Some of us can't: and are proud of our impotence, too.

Deb Caletti photo

“Hurt is a weapon. Better weapon than most because it doesn't look like one.”

Deb Caletti (1963) American writer

Source: Stay

F. Scott Fitzgerald photo

“New friends can often have a better time together than old friends.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

Source: Tender is the Night

Thomas Merton photo

“How unhappy does one have to be before living seems worse than dying?”

Source: Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division