Quotes about try
page 4

“Empathy is not simply a matter of trying to imagine what others are going through, but having the will to muster enough courage to do something about it. In a way, empathy is predicated upon hope.”

Cornel West (1953) African-American philosopher and political/civil rights activist

Hope, Way, Imagination, Courage

“It's you, so I feel that a person who will understand you, a person who will find you is waiting out there. So just keep on trying your best.”

Natsuki Takaya (1973) Manga artist

Feeling, Understanding, Waiting, Personality

“Don't try to make me grow up before my time…”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Women

Source: Little Women

Time

“It is a human defect--to try to know one's self by the self of another.”

Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989) American poet, novelist, and literary critic

“If only I knew what I wanted I could try to see about getting it.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

“Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

Soul, Fashion, Water

“We try to fix the outside so much, but our control of the outer world is limited, temporary, and often, illusory.”

Matthieu Ricard (1946) French writer and Buddhist monk

Source: Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill

World, Peaceful

“Three-fourths of philosophy and literature is the talk of people trying to convince themselves that they really like the cage they were tricked into entering.”

Gary Snyder (1930) American poet

People, Literature

“Oh the thinks you can think up if only you try!”

Dr. Seuss book Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

Variant: Oh, the thinks you can think!
Source: Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!

Thinking, Hope

“I get cross, then sad, and finally end up turning my heart inside out, and keep trying to find a way to become what I'd like to be and what I could be if…. if only there were no other people in the world.”

Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary

Source: The Diary of a Young Girl

People, World, Sadness, Way

“As always after drinking too much, I felt like my own ghost trying to take it's first solo walk outside the body.”

Orhan Pamuk book The Museum of Innocence

Source: The Museum of Innocence

Drink

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

George Bernard Shaw Man and Superman

#124
1900s, Maxims for Revolutionists (1903)
Source: Man and Superman

World, Dependency

“There comes a point when you either embrace who and what you are, or condemn yourself to be miserable all your days. Other people will try to make you miserable; don't help them by doing the job yourself.”

Laurell K. Hamilton (1963) Novelist

People, Help

“Always try to associate yourself with and learn as much as you can from those who know more than you do, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American general and politician, 34th president of the United States (in office from 1953 to 1961)

Source: At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends

Learning

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.”

Beverly Sills (1929–2007) opera soprano

As quoted in Incredible Quotations : 230 Thought-Provoking Quotes with Prompts to Spark Students' Writing, Thinking, and Discussion (1997) by Jacqueline Sweeney

Disappointment, Deep, Inspirational, Life

“Why give up before we try?”

Alicia Keys (1981) American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress

“Our revolution is not a public-speaking tournament. Our revolution is not a battle of fine phrases. Our revolution is not simply for spouting slogans that are no more than signals used by manipulators trying to use them as catchwords, as codewords, as a foil for their own display. Our revolution is, and should continue to be, the collective effort of revolutionaries to transform reality, to improve the concrete situation of the masses of our country.”

Thomas Sankara (1949–1987) President of Upper Volta

Reality, Effort, Country

“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related for better or for worse… and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.”

Rick Riordan book The Sea of Monsters

Source: The Sea of Monsters

Family, Family

“Leisure is only possible when we are at one with ourselves. We tend to overwork as a means of self-escape, as a way of trying to justify our existence.”

Josef Pieper (1904–1997) German philosopher

Source: Leisure: The Basis Of Culture

Way

“Discovery, they believe, is inevitable. So they just try to do it first. That's the game in science.”

Michael Crichton book Jurassic Park

Source: Jurassic Park

Game, Science

“If you and I are to live religious lives, it mustn't be that we talk a lot about religion, but that our manner of life is different. It is my belief that only if you try to be helpful to other people will you in the end find your way to God.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-British philosopher

Life, God, People, Religion

“He was afraid of touching his own wrist. He never attempted to sleep on his left side, even in those dismal hours of the night when the insomniac longs for a third side after trying the two he has.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Pnin

Source: Pnin

Sleep, Night

“Anything or anyone that asks you to be other than yourself is not holy, but is trying only to fill its own need.”

Mark Nepo (1951) American writer

Source: The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have

“The doubters said,
"Man can not fly,"
The doers said,
"Maybe, but we'll try,"
And finally soared
In the morning glow
While non-believers
Watched from below.”

Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker

Flying

“No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.”

George Lucas (1944) American film producer

Source: The Star Wars Trilogy

Motivational, Success, Inspirational, Life

“Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

Universe

“Fate is never fair. You are caught in a current much stronger than you are; struggle against it and you'll drown not just yourself but those who try to save you. Swim with it. and you'll survive”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Fate

“Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them.”

Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist

People, Problem, Time, For Men

“Don’t let yourself be. Find something new to try, something to change. Count how often it succeeds and how often it doesn’t. Write about it. Ask a patient or a colleague what they think about it. See if you can keep the conversation going.”

Atul Gawande (1965) American surgeon

Thinking, Change

“Too many people spend too much time trying to perfect something before they actually do it. Instead of waiting for perfection, run with what you go, and fix it along the way…”

Paul Arden (1940–2008) writer

People, Way, Time, Waiting

“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something… I'm free to choose what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands -- this is not optional -- my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Life, Faith, Religion, Effort

“Anyone who falls in love is searching for missing pieces of themselves. So anyone who's in love gets sad when they think of their lover. It's like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you haven't seen in a long time. It's just a natural feeling. You're not the person who discovered that feeling, so don't go trying to patent it, okay?”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Kafka on the Shore (2002)

Love, Sadness, Feeling, Search

“I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music.”

Joan Miró (1893–1983) Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist

from: Joan Miro: Selected Writings and Interviews, M.Rowell, Thames and Hudson, 1987
1940 - 1960

Music, Color

“If he fancied her anymore,' Saphira said to both Eragon and Roran, 'I'd be trying to kiss Arya myself.'

'Saphira!' Mortified, Eragon swatted her on the leg.”

Christopher Paolini book Brisingr

Source: Brisingr

Kiss

“Besides, I try to judge things for myself; to judge wrong, I think, is more honourable than not to judge at all.”

Henry James book The Portrait of a Lady

Source: The Portrait of a Lady (1881), Ch. XVI.

Thinking

“How do you let go of attachment to things? Don't even try. It's impossible. Attachment to things drops away by itself when you no longer seek to find yourself in them.”

Eckhart Tolle book A New Earth

A New Earth (2005)

“The more you try to be special, the more you get hurt. Just be, just melt and become part of the wind around you, the earth around you, become a part of everything. You’re here only for a while. At least when you’re in a place like this, where nobody is going to trample on you, let your defenses down.”

Sadhguru (1957) Yogi, mystic, visionary and humanitarian

Source: Mystic's Musings

Parting, Hurt

“No” is a word that must never be negotiated, because the person who chooses not to hear it is trying to control you.”

Gavin de Becker (1954) American engineer

Source: The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence

Personality

“Many of us lead family lives. At most, the members of a family stay together for the duration of a lifetime, often much less. While that fleeting moment of being together still lasts, we should try to remain in perfect harmony with each other, while observing the Dharma as much as possible. Night and day, let us turn our minds toward goodness, love, and compassion.”

Dilgo Khyentse (1910–1991) Bhutanese Buddhist Lama

Source: The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most

Love, Family, Perfection, Night

“Sometimes
when you are trying
not to think about something
it keeps popping back in your head
you can't help it
you think about it
and
think about it
and
think about it
until your brain
feels like
a squashed pea.”

Sharon Creech Love That Dog

Source: Love That Dog

Feeling, Thinking, Help

“Why give up before we try
Feel the lows before the highs
Clip our wings before we fly away
I can't say I came prepared
I'm suspended in the air
Won't you come be in the sky with me”

Alicia Keys (1981) American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress

Feeling, Flying

“And what? Accidentally cuts off three fingers postmortem? 'Oops, oh, no, my girlfriend just died! Clumsy me, in trying to perform CPR, I chopped off some fingers! Guess I'll just take them with me…. Oh, darn, where did that middle finger go?”

Barry Lyga (1971) American writer

Source: I Hunt Killers

“I assure you I will not kill you," said Inigo.
"I know that," said Vimes. "But will you try?”

Terry Pratchett book The Fifth Elephant

Source: The Fifth Elephant

“I don't know. They could put up a warning sign or something. Hello. Welcome to Hindstrap. We will murder you in the night and eat your bloody face if you stay past sunset. Try the pies. Martna Maily makes them fresh daily.”

Robert Jordan The Wheel of Time

Source: The Gathering Storm

Past, Night

“Now art should never try to be popular. The public should try to make itself artistic.”

Oscar Wilde book The Soul of Man under Socialism

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)
Context: Art is this intense form of individualism that makes the public try to exercise over it an authority that is as immoral as it is ridiculous, and as corrupting as it is contemptible. It is not quite their fault. The public have always, and in every age, been badly brought up. They are continually asking Art to be popular, to please their want of taste, to flatter their absurd vanity, to tell them what they have been told before, to show them what they ought to be tired of seeing, to amuse them when they feel heavy after eating too much, and to distract their thoughts when they are wearied of their own stupidity. Now Art should never try to be popular. The public should try to make itself artistic.

Art

“Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Love, Feeling, Understanding, Deep

“I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic. I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things. I don't tell truths. I tell what ought to be truth.”

Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire

Source: A Streetcar Named Desire

People, Truth

“I'm not saying it's going to be easy. Nothing in life is easy. But that's no reason to give up. You'll be surprised what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it. After all, you only have one life, so you should try to make the most of it.”

Louis Sachar (1954) American writer of children's books

Life

“I'm trying to remember how you tell the time by looking at the sun." -"I should leave it for a while, it's too bright to see the numbers at the moment.”

Terry Pratchett book The Last Continent

Source: The Last Continent

Time, Sun

“I think reading is a gift. It was a gift that was given to me as a child by many people, and now as an adult and a writer, I'm trying to give a little of it back to others. It's one of the greatest pleasures I know.”

Ann M. Martin (1955) American writer of children's literature

People, Pleasure, Thinking, Reading

“If you try to to take my bananas from me, I will reclaim them from your cold dead hands.”

Terry Pratchett book Unseen Academicals

Source: Unseen Academicals

Dead

“Usually I'm remarkably good natured. Try me on a day that doesn't end in y.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Nature

“By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man's, I mean.”

Mark Twain book Following the Equator

Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar, Ch. XXXIX
Following the Equator (1897)

Learning

“Let me try once more," Milo said in an effort to explain. "In other words--"
"You mean you have other words?" cried the bird happily. "Well, by all means, use them. You're certainly not doing very well with the ones you have now.”

Norton Juster book The Phantom Tollbooth

Source: The Phantom Tollbooth

Bird, Effort

“When my husband died, people kept telling me not to cry. People kept trying to help me to forget. But I didn't want to forget… So I realize, that if it's hard for me, how much harder it must be for you.”

Katherine Paterson book Bridge to Terabithia

Source: Bridge to Terabithia

People, Help, Cry, Forgetting

“What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?”

Ralph Ellison book Invisible Man

Source: Invisible Man (1952), Chapter 13.

“It is no use trying to sum people up.”

Virginia Woolf book Jacob's Room

Source: Jacob's Room

People

“If for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who ever lived. (The Inconvenient Messiah, BYU Speeches, Feb 15, 1982)”

Jeffrey R. Holland (1940) Mormon leader

People, Heart

“To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

People, Behavior, Intelligence

“Thinking. This book contains some. Whether you try it at home is up to you.”

Terry Pratchett book Nation

Source: Nation

Books, Home, Thinking

“He had the kind of real deep tan that rich people spent ages trying to achieve with expensive holidays and bits of tinfoil, when really all you need to do to obtain one is work your arse off in the open air everyday.”

Terry Pratchett book Equal Rites

Source: Equal Rites

People, Age, Holiday

“I'm trying to have a moment o' existential dreed here, right? Crivens, it's a puir lookout if a man canna feel the chilly winds o' fate lashing aroound his netheres wi'out folks telling him he's deid, eh?”

Terry Pratchett book A Hat Full of Sky

Source: A Hat Full of Sky

Fate, Feeling

“I wish I hadn't cried so much!” said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out.
I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears!”

Lewis Carroll book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

Way, Tear

“The absolutist begins a work, others take it up and try to spread it. Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.”

Dorothy Day (1897–1980) Social activist

As quoted in Women on War : Essential Voices for the Nuclear Age (1988), by Daniela Gioseffi, p. 103
Variant: A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, words and deeds is like that. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There's too much work to do.
As quoted in Singing the Living Tradition (1993) by the Unitarian Universalist Association, p. 560
Context: What I want to bring out is how a pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. And each one of our thoughts, words and deeds is like that. Going to jail for distributing leaflets advocating war tax refusal causes a ripple of thought, of conscience among us all. And of remembrance too. …. There may be ever improving standards of living in the U. S., with every worker eventually owning his own home and driving his own car; but our modern economy is based on preparation for war. … The absolutist begins a work, others take it up and try to spread it. Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.

Problem

“In his early twenties, a man started collecting paintings, many of which later became famous: Picasso, Van Gogh, and others. Over the decades he amassed a wonderful collection. Eventually, the man’s beloved son was drafted into the military and sent to Vietnam, where he died while trying to save his friend. About a month after the war ended, a young man knocked on the devastated father’s door. “Sir,” he said, “I know that you like great art, and I have brought you something not very great.” Inside the package, the father found a portrait of his son. With tears running down his cheeks, the father said, “I want to pay you for this.ℍ “No,” the young man replied, “he saved my life. You don’t owe me anything.ℍ The father cherished the painting and put it in the center of his collection. Whenever people came to visit, he made them look at it. When the man died, his art collection went up for sale. A large crowd of enthusiastic collectors gathered. First up for sale was the amateur portrait. A wave of displeasure rippled through the crowd. “Let’s forget about that painting!” one said. “We want to bid on the valuable ones,” said another. Despite many loud complaints, the auctioneer insisted on starting with the portrait. Finally, the deceased man’s gardener said, “I’ll bid ten dollars.ℍ Hearing no further bids, the auctioneer called out, “Sold for ten dollars!” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But then the auctioneer said, “And that concludes the auction.” Furious gasps shook the room. The auctioneer explained, “Let me read the stipulation in the will: “Sell the portrait of my son first, and whoever buys it gets the entire art collection. Whoever takes my son gets everything.ℍ It’s the same way with God Almighty. Whoever takes his Son gets everything.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Source: Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President

Life, God, War, People

“this satsangh?’ You just drop that. You don’t have to get anything, okay? You don’t have to benefit from this. Just waste half a day and go. (Laughter) Really. ‘What should I get out of my meditation?’ Nothing. Just waste fifteen-twenty minutes every day. So do not meditate; just learn to waste some time. Nothing needs to happen. This is not about resting; this is not about becoming healthy; this is not about becoming enlightened; this is not about reaching heaven. All this is just wasting time. When you are not trying to be anything, not trying to get anywhere, you are being.”

Sadhguru (1957) Yogi, mystic, visionary and humanitarian

Source: Himalayan Lust

Laughter, Learning, Time

“Perhaps it would be simpler if you just did what you're told and didn't try to understand things.”

Terry Pratchett book Sourcery

Source: Sourcery

Understanding

“He used to say to his melancholia patients:
"You can be cured in fourteen days if you follow this prescription. Try to think every day how you can please someone.”

Alfred Adler (1870–1937) Medical Doctor, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, Personality Theorist

Thinking

“No, I won't try to escape myself by losing myself in artificial chatter 'Did you have a nice vacation?' 'Oh, yes, and you?' I'll stay here and try to pin that loneliness down.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Loneliness

“Don't squander the gold of your days, listening to the tedious, trying to improve the hopeless failure, or giving away your life to the ignorant, the common, and the vulgar”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Source: The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Life, Failure

“If you are with the quality, or at a funeral, or trying to go to sleep when you ain't sleepy - if you are anywheres where it won't do for you to scratch, why you will itch all over in upwards of a thousand places.”

Mark Twain book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Source: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Sleep

“Somebody said once or wrote, once: 'We're all of us children in a vast kindergarten trying to spell God's name with the wrong alphabet blocks!”

Tennessee Williams Suddenly Last Summer

Source: Suddenly Last Summer

God, Children

“There is an old American saying 'He who lives in a glass house should not try to kill two birds with one stone.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Pnin

Source: Pnin

Bird, Housing

“My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

People, Feeling

“Can you look without the voice in your head commenting, drawing conclusions, comparing, or trying to figure something out?”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

Drawing

“A sort of transaction went on between them, in which she was on one side, and life was on another, and she was always trying to get the better of it, as it was of her.”

Virginia Woolf book To the Lighthouse

Source: To the Lighthouse

Life

“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.”

Terry Pratchett book Diggers

The Nome Trilogy (1989 - 1990)
Variant: The problem with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and putting things in it.
Source: Diggers (1990)

People, Funny

“All he knew was that you couldn't hope to try for the big stuff, like world peace and happiness, but you might just about be able to achieve some tiny deed that'd make the world, in a small way, a better place. Like shooting someone.”

Terry Pratchett book The Fifth Elephant

Source: The Fifth Elephant

Happiness, World, Peace, Hope

“Some Will Hate You Pretend They Love You Now Then Behind They Try To Eliminate You”

Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician

Love, Hate

“I try not to speak about all the charities and people I help, because I believe we can only be truly generous when we expect nothing in return.”

Muhammad Ali book The Soul of a Butterfly

Source: The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey

People, Help

“Why can’t I try on different lives, like dresses, to see which fits best and is more becoming?”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

“One of the most poisonous of all Satan’s whispers is simply, “Things will never change.” That lie kills expectation, trapping our heart forever in the present. To keep desire alive and flourishing, we must renew our vision for what lies ahead. Things will not always be like this. Jesus has promised to “make all things new.” Eye has not seen, ear has not heard all that God has in store for his lovers, which does not mean “we have no clue so don’t even try to imagine,” but rather, you cannot outdream God. Desire is kept alive by imagination, the antidote to resignation. We will need imagination, which is to say, we will need hope.”

John Eldredge

Source: The Sacred Romance Drawing Closer To The Heart Of God

God, Lie, Hope, Imagination

“Death and disaster are at our shoulders every second of our lives, trying to get at us. Missing, a lot of the time. A lot of miles on the motorway without a front wheel blow-out. A lot of viruses that slither through our bodies without snagging. A lot of pianos that fall a minute after we've passed. Or a month, it makes no difference.
So unless were going to get down on our knees and give thanks every time disaster misses, it makes no sense to moan when it strikes.”

Hugh Laurie book The Gun Seller

Source: The Gun Seller (1996)

Death, Sense, Time

“She got on with her education. In her opinion, school kept on trying to interfere with it.”

Terry Pratchett book Soul Music

Source: Soul Music

Education, School

“There is no excuse for not trying.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

“Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

Wise, Deep, Inspirational, Life

“Anyone can slay a dragon… but try waking up every morning and loving the world all over again. That's what takes a real hero.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Love, World

“Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

Thinking

“Trying to please everybody is impossible - if you did that, you'd end up in the middle with nobody liking you. You've just got to make the decision about what you think is your best, and do it.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

Source: The Beatles Anthology

Thinking, Decision

“Why am I fighting to live,
If I am just living to fight
Why am I trying to see.
When there aint nothing in sight
Why am I trying to give,
When no one gives me a try
Why am I dying to live,
If I am just living to die?”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

Fight

“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor

Variant: Success is not measured by the position one has reached in life, rather by the obstacles one overcomes while trying to succeed
Source: 1900s, Up From Slavery (1901), Chapter II: Boyhood Days
Source: Up From Slavery: An Autobiography
Context: I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Looked at from this standpoint, I almost reached the conclusion that often the Negro boy's birth and connection with an unpopular race is an advantage, so far as real life is concerned. With few exceptions, the Negro youth must work harder and must perform his tasks even better than a white youth in order to secure recognition. But out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of birth and race.

Life, Learning, Success, For Team

“Someone once said that every man is trying to live up to his father's expectations or make up for their father's mistakes….”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Source: The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

For Father

“The Auditors fluttered anxiously. And, as always happens in their species when something goes radically wrong and needs fixing instantly, they settled down to try to work how who was to blame.”

Terry Pratchett book Hogfather

Source: Hogfather

“Lothaire is very much alive.”
“You swear?”
“Often. Though not as much as foul-mouthed Regin. I try not to in front of Bertil.” She petted the bat.
“I meant—will Lothaire live?”
“He will.”

Kresley Cole American writer

Source: Lothaire