c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
what's right? If you want something, you have the right to take it. If you want to do something, you have the right to do it.
— Bret Easton Ellis
In life, the hardest decisions often have to be made more than once. But each time, it gets easier.
— Matthew J. Kirby, Icefall
A shade of sorrow passed over Taliesin's face. 'There are those,' he said gently, 'who must first learn loss, despair, and grief. Of all paths to wisdom, this is the cruelest and longest. Are you one who must follow such a way? This even I cannot know. If you are, take heart nonetheless. Those who reach the end do more than gain wisdom. As rough wool becomes cloth, and crude clay a vessel, so do they change and fashion wisdom for others, and what they give back is greater than what they won.
— Lloyd Alexander, The High King
Your decision to be, have and do something out of ordinary entails facing difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.
— Brian Tracy
The best way to see Faith is to shut the eye of Reason.
— Benjamin Franklin
A virtuos woman is not moved by big names and flamboyance, but only men of profound wisdom and integrity move her.
— Michael Bassey Johnson
The past is our definition. We may strive with good reason to escape it or to escape what is bad in it but we will escape it only by adding something better to it.
— Wendell Berry
It is not until you change your identity to match your life blueprint that you will understand why everything in the past never worked.
— Shannon L. Alder
Only a female could be as calculating and have the foresight that destiny requires,' the gypsy explained. 'Now fate is a man,' he went on, 'no planning, just go with the flow and see what tomorrow brings.
— Traci Harding, The Dragon Queens
learn from the past live in the present plan for the future
— Audrey Farrell
They say you should know your limits and work within them. But how can you really know your limits unless you try to expand them?
— Jonathan Cainer
Fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. Only Fools despise wisdom and discipline." Proverbs 1:7 NLT
— Eddie  Johnson
The world’s greatest achievers have been those who have always stayed focussed on their goals and have been consistent in their efforts.
— Roopleen, Words to inspire the winner in YOU
The weak are dominated by their ego, the wise dominate their ego, and the intelligent are in a constant struggle against their ego.
— Hamza Yusuf
Some people are like thorns. But you have to let them be thorns, because thorns can't turn into petals. The trick is not letting them prick you; never let a thorn prick you!
— C. JoyBell C.
I observe and remain silent.
— Elizabeth I
To know when to be generous and when firm—that is wisdom.
— Edith Wharton
It is because of its emptiness that the cup is useful.
— Carole Wilkinson, Dragon Keeper
Misfortunes make us wise
— Mary Norton, The Borrowers Afield
Ordinary people merely think how they shall 'spend' their time
—  a man of talent tries to 'use' it.
Sometimes, the simple things are more fun and meaningful than all the banquets in the world ...
— E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly
It is a common sentence that knowledge is power
—  but who hath duly considered or set forth the power of ignorance? Knowledge slowly builds up what ignorance in an hour pulls down.
While differing widely in the various little bits we know, in our infinite ignorance we are all equal.
— Karl R. Popper
Don't assume the world evolved in the order in which you discovered it.
— Raymond E. Feist
Wisdom can be gathered on your downtime. Wisdom that can change the very course of your life will come from the people you are around, the books you read, and the things you listen to or watch on radio or television. Of course, bad information is gathered in your downtime too. Bad information that can change the very course of your life will come from the people you are around, the books you read, and the things you listen to or watch on radio or television. One of wisdom's greatest benefits, is accurate discernment- the learned ability to immediately tell right from wrong. Good from evil. Acceptable from unacceptable. Time well spent from time wasted. The right decision from the wrong decision. And many times this is simply a matter of having the correct perspective. One way to define wisdom is THE ABILITY TO SEE, INTO THE FUTURE, THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR CHOICES IN THE PRESENT. That ability can give you a completely different perspective on what the future might look like... with a degree of intelligence and a hint of wisdom, most people can tell the difference between good and bad. However, it takes a truly wise person to discern the oh-so-thin line between good and best. And that line...[gives you the] perspective that allows you to see clearly the long-term consequences of your choices. 
— Andy Andrews, The Noticer: Sometimes, All a Person Needs Is a Little Perspective
Are we being good ancestors?
— Jonas Salk
When we search for "ourselves" in the eyes of others, we have imprisoned our own-selves in believing that our self-worth is nothing unless others validate who we are. Unless we approve of whom we are, what we are, and what we are capable of doing as an individual, only then we will have released "ourselves" from our own imprisonment. We are in charge of our own life's destiny and what we do and become can only be validated by our accomplishments and failures; not by what others may think of us.
— Dahveed, Through The Eyes of A Foster Child: A Poetic Journey
Most people know nothing about learning
—  many despise it. Dummies reject as too hard whatever is not dumb.
What we have to learn, in both meditation and in life, is to be free ofattachment to the good experiences, and free of aversion to the negative ones.
— Sogyal Rinpoche
Success equals goals
—  all else is commentary.
Tell no man anything, for no man listensYet hold thy lips ready to speak.
— Carl Sandburg
If you look around to find meaning in everything that happens, you will end up disappointed. Sometimes there aren’t reasons behind the terrible things that go on. I ask myself, If I knew all the answers, would it help? I lie awake and wonder why I don’t have parents and wonder what will become of my brother and me. But when the morning comes, I realize that there’s nothing to be done about what has already happened. I can only get up and do my chores and push through the day and find the good in it.
— Adriana Trigiani, The Shoemaker's Wife
When I start a new seminar I tell my students that I will undoubtedly contradict myself, and that I will mean both things. But an acceptance of contradiction is no excuse for fuzzy thinking. We do have to use our minds as far as they will take us, yet acknowledge that they cannot take us all the way.
— Madeleine L'Engle, A Circle of Quiet
Be beautiful if you can, wise if you want to, but be respected - that is essential.
— Anna Gould
Must I accept the barren Gift?-learn death, and lose my Mastery?Then let them know whose blood and breathwill take the Gift and set them free:whose is the voice and whose the mindto set at naught the well-sung Game-when finned Finality arrivesand calls me by my secret Name.Not old enough to love as yet,but old enough to die, indeed--the death-fear bites my throat and heart,fanged cousin to the Pale One's breed.But past the fear lies life for all-perhaps for me: and, past my dread,past loss of Mastery and life,the Sea shall yet give up Her dead!Lone Power, I accept your Gift!Freely I make death a part of me;By my accept it is boundinto the lives of all the Sea-yet what I do now binds to ita gift I feel of equal worth:I take Death with me, out of Time,and make of it a path, a birth!Let the teeth come! As they tear me,they tear Your ancient hate for aye--so rage, proud Power! Fail again,and see my blood teach Death to die!
— Diane Duane, Deep Wizardry
A person's rightful due is to be treated as an object of love, not as an object for use.
— John Paul II, Love and Responsibility
Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one's awareness of one's ignorance.
— Anthony de Mello, One Minute Wisdom
Fiction is written with reality and reality is written with fiction. We can write fiction because there is reality and we can write reality because there is fiction; everything we consider today to be myth and legend, our ancestors believed to be history and everything in our history includes myths and legends. Before the splendid modern-day mind was formed our cultures and civilizations were conceived in the wombs of, and born of, what we identify today as "fiction, unreality, myth, legend, fantasy, folklore, imaginations, fabrications and tall tales." And in our suddenly realized glory of all our modern-day "advancements" we somehow fail to ask ourselves the question "Who designated myths and legends as unreality? " But I ask myself this question because who decided that he was spectacular enough to stand up and say to our ancestors "You were all stupid and disillusioned and imagining things" and then why did we all decide to believe this person? There are many realities not just one. There is a truth that goes far beyond what we are told today to believe in. And we find that truth when we are brave enough to break away from what keeps everybody else feeling comfortable. Your reality is what you believe in. And nobody should be able to tell you to believe otherwise.
— C. JoyBell C.
Night is certainly more novel and less profane than day.
— Henry David Thoreau
When you come to see you are not as wise today as you thought you were yesterday, you are wiser today.
— Anthony de Mello, One Minute Wisdom
Forget the years, forget distinctions. Leap into the boundless and make it your home!
— Zhuangzi
Wordsare powerfulforces of nature.they are destruction.they are nourishment. they are flesh. they are water.they are flowers and bone.they burn. they cleansethey erase. they etch. they can eitherleave youfeelinghomelessor brimmingwith home.
— Sanober  Khan
Good morning," said the little prince.Good morning," said the merchant.This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst. You need only swallow one pill a week, and you would feel no need for anything to drink.Why are you selling those?" asked the little prince.Because they save a tremendous amount of time," said the merchant. "Computations have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fifty-three minutes in every week."And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?"Anything you like..."As for me," said the little prince to himself, "if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water.
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
Never pause unless you have a reason for it, but when you pause, pause as long as you can.
— W. Somerset Maugham, Theatre
Our wisdom comes from our experience,and our experience comes from our foolishness.
— Sacha Guitry
Remember, young man, experience is not the best teacher. Other people's experience is the best teacher. By reading about the lives of great people, you can unlock the secrets to what made them great.
— Andy Andrews, The Noticer: Sometimes, All a Person Needs Is a Little Perspective
It is a disaster that wisdom forbids you to be satisfied with yourself and always sends you away dissatisfied and fearful, whereas stubbornness and foolhardiness fill their hosts with joy and assurance.
— Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Essays
Men must endureTheir going hence, even as their coming hither.Ripeness is all.
— William Shakespeare, King Lear
Don't let others box you into their idea of what they think you should be. A confined identity is a miserable way to exist. Be you and live free. Trust that in living true to yourself, you will attract people that support and love you, just as you are.
— Jaeda DeWalt
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off!
— Sarah Ferguson
When every situation which life can offer is turned to the profit of spiritual growth, no situation can really be a bad one.
— Paul Brunton
Once a wolf, always a wolf.
— Aesop, Aesop's Fables
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise
— David Zindell, The Broken God
Perhaps the hardest lesson to learn is not to be attached to the results of your actions.
— Joan Borysenko
There are questions I'm still not wise enough to answer, just wise enough to no longer ask.
— George Jones
....it is of the very essence of Christianity to face suffering and death not because they are good, not because they have meaning, but because the resurrection of Jesus has robbed them of their meaning.
— Thomas Merton
Perhaps there is supranatural: reason beyond the normal definitions of fact or data-based logic
—  something that only makes sense if you can see a bigger picture of reality. Maybe that is where faith fits in.
She was not too young to be wise, but she was too young to know that wisdom shouldn't be spoken aloud when you are happy.
— Graham Greene, Loser Takes All
[Y]ou [man] are fool enough, it seems, to dare to war with [woman=] me, when for your faithful ally you might win me easily.
— Aristophanes, Lysistrata
I remember my youth and the feeling that will never come back any more /the feeling that I could last for ever, outlast the sea, the earth, and all men; the deceitful feeling that lures us on to joys, to perils, to love, to vain effort /to death; the triumphant conviction of strength, the heat of life in the handful of dust, the glow in the heart that with every year grows dim, grows cold, grows small, and expires /and expires, too soon, too soon /before life itself
— Joseph Conrad
Hide yourself in God, so when a man wants to find you he will have to go there first.
— Shannon L. Alder
The most important thing is this: to sacrifice what you are now for what you can become tomorrow.
— Shannon L. Alder
At times the whole world seems to be in conspiracy to importune you with emphatic trifles. Friend, client, child, sickness, fear, want, charity, all knock at once at thy closet door and say,—'Come out unto us.' But keep thy state; come not into their confusion. The power men possess to annoy me I give them by a weak curiosity. No man can come near me but through my act.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Burn worldly love, rub the ashes and make ink of it, make the heart the pen, the intellect the writer, write that which has no end or limit.
— Guru Nanak, Sri Guru Granth Sahib
You tell me: 'Life is hard to bear.' But if it were otherwise why should you have your pride in the morning and your resignation in the evening?Life is hard to bear: but do not pretend to be so tender! We are all of us pretty fine asses and asseses of burden!
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
People of limited intelligence are fond of talking about "these days," imagining that they have discovered and appraised the peculiarities of "these days" and that human nature changes with the times.
— Leo Tolstoy
Where lowland is, that's where water goes. All medicine wants is pain to cure.
— Jalaluddin Rumi
Pull the string and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.
— Dwight D. Eisenhower
The notion of freedom proclaimed by the modern world is anti-discipline. But true freedom cannot be separated from discipline.
— Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Catholicism
There is no competition of sounds between a nightingale and a violin.
— Dejan Stojanovic
[The wives of powerful noblemen] must be highly knowledgeable about government, and wise – in fact, far wiser than most other such women in power. The knowledge of a baroness must be so comprehensive that she can understand everything. Of her a philosopher might have said: "No one is wise who does not know some part of everything." Moreover, she must have the courage of a man. This means that she should not be brought up overmuch among women nor should she be indulged in extensive and feminine pampering. Why do I say that? If barons wish to be honoured as they deserve, they spend very little time in their manors and on their own lands. Going to war, attending their prince's court, and traveling are the three primary duties of such a lord. So the lady, his companion, must represent him at home during his absences. Although her husband is served by bailiffs, provosts, rent collectors, and land governors, she must govern them all. To do this according to her right she must conduct herself with such wisdom that she will be both feared and loved. As we have said before, the best possible fear comes from love. When wronged, her men must be able to turn to her for refuge. She must be so skilled and flexible that in each case she can respond suitably. Therefore, she must be knowledgeable in the mores of her locality and instructed in its usages, rights, and customs. She must be a good speaker, proud when pride is needed; circumspect with the scornful, surly, or rebellious; and charitably gentle and humble toward her good, obedient subjects. With the counsellors of her lord and with the advice of elder wise men, she ought to work directly with her people. No one should ever be able to say of her that she acts merely to have her own way. Again, she should have a man's heart. She must know the laws of arms and all things pertaining to warfare, ever prepared to command her men if there is need of it. She has to know both assault and defence tactics to insure that her fortresses are well defended, if she has any expectation of attack or believes she must initiate military action. Testing her men, she will discover their qualities of courage and determination before overly trusting them. She must know the number and strength of her men to gauge accurately her resources, so that she never will have to trust vain or feeble promises. Calculating what force she is capable of providing before her lord arrives with reinforcements, she also must know the financial resources she could call upon to sustain military action. She should avoid oppressing her men, since this is the surest way to incur their hatred. She can best cultivate their loyalty by speaking boldly and consistently to them, according to her council, not giving one reason today and another tomorrow. Speaking words of good courage to her men-at-arms as well as to her other retainers, she will urge them to loyalty and their best efforts.
— Christine de Pizan, The Treasure of the City of Ladies
But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day.
— Benjamin Disraeli
A day unemployed is like a bagel- even when it's bad, it's still pretty good...
— CrimethInc., Evasion
The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.
— Henry David Thoreau
why can't we control our anger? because we love perfection. make a little room for imperfection in our lives.
— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth. 
— Ludwig Börne
Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent. 
— Samuel Johnson
In the long run what people think about shepherds and bakers becomes more important for them than their own destinies.
— Paulo Coelho
Whatever you want to be in life, you're training for it right now.
— Michael Anderson
If you rest, you rust.
— Helen Hayes
Wisdom says we are nothing. Love says we are everything. Between these two our life flows.
— Jack Kornfield
No matter how tiny you look, you can lead huge men if you have what the huge men don't have.
— Michael Bassey Johnson
Nobody is wired wrong, because there’s no wrong and right in the way we are.
— Hannah Hart
Journeys end in lovers meeting, Every wise man's son doth know.
— William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Earthlings went on being friendly, when they should have been thinking instead.
— Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Breakfast of Champions
Each person you meetis an aspect of yourself,clamoring for love.
— Eric Micha'el Leventhal
Wise men talk because they have something to say; Fools, because they have to say something.
— Plato
Words rich in meaning can be cheap in sound effects.
— Dejan Stojanovic
I've been the oldest child since before you were born
— E.L. Konigsburg, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
The operation of the Church is entirely set up for the sinner; which creates much misunderstanding among the smug.”(August 9, 1955)
— Flannery O'Connor
It is the destiny of the weak to be devoured by the strong.
— Otto von Bismarck
For the wise have always known that no one can make much of his life until self-searching has become a regular habit, until he is able to admit and accept what he finds, and until he patiently and persistently tries to correct what is wrong. – Bill W.
— Bill W.
Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise. 
— Samuel Johnson
They were quiet for a while, eating, then Oromis asked, "Can you tell me, What is the most important mental tool a person can possess?"It was a serious question, and Eragon considered it for a reasonable span before he ventured to say, "Determination."Oromis tore the loaf in half with his long white fingers. "I can understand why you arrived at that conclusion-determination has served you well in your adventures-but no. I meant the tool most necessary to choose the best course of action in any given situation. Determination is as common among men who are dull and foolish as it is among those who are brilliant intellects. So, no, determination cannot be what we're looking for.
— Christopher Paolini, Eldest
Incredibly intelligent people always seem odd to those who are not as sharp.
— Alexei Maxim Russell, Why Not-World
Money is the root of all evil.' Then we hear, 'A fool and his money are soon parted.' What are they talking about? If money is so evil, shouldn't it be, 'A wise man and his money are soon parted'? And another thing, how does a fool get money in the first place? I know some fools who have a lot of money, but they won't tell me how they got it, and I won't tell them.
— George Burns, Doctor Burns' Prescription for Happiness
People talk to old people like they're children.'Oh you're very old aren't you?' Yeah I'm old. I'm not stupid.
— Craig Ferguson
All pain is the same.
— Oprah Winfrey
For my own part, I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await others. I believe that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.
— C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics
The only way to move from your reality to God’s reality is through people who love you.
— Shannon L. Alder
What God says is best, indeed is best, though all men in the world are against it. Seeing, then, that God prefers his religion; seeing God prefers a tender conscience; seeing they that make themselves fools for the kingdom of heaven are wisest; and that the poor man that loveth Christ is richer than the greatest man in the world that hates him: Shame, depart, thou art an enemy to my salvation.
— John Bunyan
What should I do—how should I act now, this very day . . . What she would resolve to do that day did not yet seem quite clear, but something that she could achieve stirred her as with an approaching murmur which would soon gather distinctness.
— George Eliot
When did you get so clever?""When I realized I wasn't as clever as I thought.
— John Connolly, The Infernals
We tend to live up to our expectations.
— Earl Nightingale
Never read a book through merely because you have begun it.
— John Witherspoon
The greater the gap between self perception and reality, the more aggression is unleashed on those who point out the discrepancy.
— Stefan Molyneux
It's not enough to be nice in life. You've got to have nerve.
— Georgia O'Keeffe
Don't believe everything you think. Thoughts are just that - thoughts.
— Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living
Hats have power. Hats can change you into someone else.
— Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Wise men, when in doubt whether to speak or to keep quiet, give themselves the benefit of the doubt, and remain silent.
— Napoleon Hill
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
— Bertrand Russell
I listen with attention to the judgment of all men;but so far as I can remember,I have followed none but my own.
— Michel de Montaigne
Burnout is nature's way of telling you, you've been going through the motions your soul has departed; you're a zombie, a member of the walking dead, a sleepwalker. False optimism is like administrating stimulants to an exhausted nervous system.
— Sam Keen, Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man
there is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument - and that is to avoid it .
— Dale Carnegie
For we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition, and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us.
— Audre Lorde
If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us. But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern, which shines only on the waves behind us.
— Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Talk is free but the wise man chooses when to spend his words.
— Neil Gaiman, Odd and the Frost Giants
If you’re reading these words, perhaps it’s because something has kicked open the door for you, and you’re ready to embrace change. It isn’t enough to appreciate change from afar, or only in the abstract, or as something that can happen to other people but not to you. We need to create change for ourselves, in a workable way, as part of our everyday lives.
— Sharon Salzberg, The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Programme for Real Happiness
What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.
— William Blake
The soul, in its loneliness, hopes only for "salvation." And yet what is the burden of the Bible if not a sense of the mutuality of influence, rising out of an essential unity, among soul and body and community and world? These are all the works of God, and it is therefore the work of virtue to make or restore harmony among them. The world is certainly thought of as a place of spiritual trial, but it is also the confluence of soul and body, word and flesh, where thoughts must become deeds, where goodness must be enacted. This is the great meeting place, the narrow passage where spirit and flesh, word and world, pass into each other. The Bible's aim, as I read it, is not the freeing of the spirit from the world. It is the handbook of their interaction. It says that they cannot be divided; that their mutuality, their unity, is inescapable; that they are not reconciled in division, but in harmony. What else can be meant by the resurrection of the body? The body should be "filled with light," perfected in understanding. And so everywhere there is the sense of consequence, fear and desire, grief and joy. What is desirable is repeatedly defined in the tensions of the sense of consequence.
— Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays
The fool who knows his folly Becomes wise by that fact.But the fool who thinks he's wise - He's called 'a fool' indeed!
— Anonymous, The Dhammapada
Cricket Bell.” I smiled into my phone. “How did you get so wise?
— Stephanie Perkins, Lola and the Boy Next Door
Veganism is an act of nonviolent defiance. It is our statement that we reject the notion that animals are things and that we regard sentient nonhumans as moral persons with the fundamental moral right not to be treated as the property or resources of humans.
— Gary L. Francione
Wisdom is justified by all her children.Luke 7:35
— Anonymous, Holy Bible: New International Version
Behold, the fool saith, "Put not all thine eggs in the one basket" - which is but a matter of saying, "Scatter your money and your attention"; but the wise man saith, "Pull all your eggs in the one basket and - WATCH THAT BASKET." - Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar
— Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson
Love begets wisdom, thus it is, as often misconceived, more than vain layers of tenderness; it is inherently rational and comprehensive of the problem within the problem: for instance, envy is one of the most excused sins in the media of political correctness. Those you find most attractive, or seem to have it all, are often some of the most insecure at heart, and that is because people assume that they do not need anything but defamation.
— Criss Jami, Killosophy
some winterswill never meltsome summerswill never freezeand some things will only... live in poems.
— Sanober  Khan, Turquoise Silence
The very old and the very young have something in common that makes it right that they should be left alone together. Dawn and sunset see stars shining in a blue sky; but morning and midday and afternoon do not, poor things.
— Elizabeth Goudge
You think money can solve any problem, but all it s good for is buying the things it can, and leaving you free to pursue the things it can't.
— Ann Herendeen, Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander
The Master said, “What a worthy man was Yan Hui! Living in a narrow alley, subsisting upon meager bits of rice and water—other people could not have borne such hardship, and yet it never spoiled Hui’s joy. What a worthy man was Hui!”(Analects 6.11)
— Confucius
Wherever you are, however you got there, if it's good, you're meant to be there either because you earned it or life led you there and you were smart enough to hold on.
— Kristen Ashley, Heaven and Hell
errare humanum est, sed perseverare diabolicum: 'to err is human, but to persist (in the mistake) is diabolical.
— Seneca
The closer you come to knowing that you alone create the world of your experience, the more vital it becomes for you to discover just who is doing the creating.
— Eric Micha'el Leventhal
When people want to be liked for what they did, they should stop.
— Karl Lagerfeld
Summer grasses,All that remainsOf soldiers' dreams
— Bashō Matsuo
The one who would be constant in happiness must frequently change.
— Anthony de Mello, Awareness: Conversations with the Masters
A moment of consideration often prevents a thousand apologies
— Kevin J. Anderson
Forever is a really long time, you know? What do you do with forever?""The same thing you do when you don't have forever." He smiled wanly. "Live.
— Amanda Hocking, Wisdom
It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf.
— Walter Lippmann
When love and hate are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the slightest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.
— Hsin Hsin Ming
Every time we start thinking we're the center of the universe, the universe turns around and says with a slightly distracted air, 'I'm sorry. What'd you say your name was again?
— Margaret Maron, Bootlegger's Daughter
It is not what he has, nor even what he does, which directly expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.
— Henri-Frédéric Amiel
Kehidupan lebih nyata daripada pendapat siapapun tentang kenyataan.
— Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Child of All Nations
Listen. Pay attention. Treasure every moment.
— Oprah Winfrey
Ethical veganism represents a commitment to nonviolence.
— Gary L. Francione
Knowledge is like an endless resource; a well of water that satisfies the innate thirst of the growing human soul. Therefore never stop learning... because the day you do, you will also stop maturing.
— Chidi Okonkwo
Many's the man/ who thought himself wise/ but what he needed/ he did not know...
— Richard Wagner, The Ring of the Nibelung
Be aware of the high notes, of the blissful faces and their soft messages, and listen for the silent message of a highly decorated gift.
— Dejan Stojanovic
Balt Van Tassel was an easy indulgent soul; he loved his daughter better even than his pipe, and, like a reasonable man and an excellent father, let her have her way in everything.
— Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
To know how to put what knowledge in which place is wisdom (hikmah). Otherwise, knowledge without order and seeking it without discipline does lead to confusion and hence to injustice to one's self.
— Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Islam: The Concept of Religion and The Foundation of Ethics and Morality
It is, therefore, a great source of virtue for the practiced mind to learn, bit by bit, first to change about in visible and transitory things, so that afterwards it may be possible to leave them behind altogether. The man who finds his homeland sweet is still a tender beginner; he to whom every soil is as his native one is already strong; but he is perfect to whom the entire world is as a foreign land. The tender soul has fixed his love on one spot in the world; the strong man has extended his love to all places; the perfect man has extinguished his. From boyhood I have dwelt on foreign soil and I know with what grief sometimes the mind takes leave of the narrow hearth of a peasant's hut, and I know too how frankly it afterwards disdains marble firesides and panelled halls.
— Hugh of Saint-Victor, The Didascalicon of Hugh of Saint Victor: A Medieval Guide to the Arts
One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts- just mere thoughts- are as powerful as electric batteries- as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison. To let a sad thought or a bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. If you let it stay there after it has got you in you may never get over it as long as you live.
— Frances Hodgson Burnett
The compassionate person does not require other people to be stupid, in order to be intelligent. Their intelligence is for everyone, so as to have a world in which there is less ignorance. (118)
— Jean-Yves Leloup, Compassion and Meditation: The Spiritual Dynamic between Buddhism and Christianity
He is beginning to master wisdom when he tries to learn how not to try.
— Paul Brunton
Habit rules the unreflecting herd.
— William Wordsworth
The main thing about ghosts – most of them have lost their voices. In Asphodel, millions of them wander around aimlessly, trying to remember who they were. You know why they end up like that? Because in life they never took a stand one way or another. They never spoke out, so they were never heard. Your voice is your identity. If you don’t use it,’ Nico said with a shrug, ‘you’re halfway to Asphodel already.’…He hated when his own advice applied to himself.
— Rick Riordan, The Blood of Olympus
The master of the garden is the one who waters it, trims the branches, plants the seeds, and pulls the weeds. If you merely stroll through the garden, you are but an acolyte.
— Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
To believe yourself brave is to be brave
—  it is the one only essential thing.
A craftsman pulled a reed from the reedbed,cut holes in it, and called it a human being.Since then, it's been wailing a tender agonyof parting, never mentioning the skillthat gave it life as a flute
— Jalaluddin Rumi
The best kind of happiness is a habit you're passionate about.
— Shannon L. Alder
Just remember this, my girl, when you look up in the sky you can see the stars and still not see the light.
— Jack Tempchin
Reading is at the threshold of the spiritual life
—  it can introduce us to it. It does not constitute it ... There are certain cases of spiritual depression in which reading can become a sort of curative discipline ... reintroducing a lazy mind into the life of the Spirit.
It’s obvious you kids are smart-school and good teachers will do that for you-but wisdom is something altogether different. Wisdom can be gathered in your downtime. Wisdom that can change the very course of your life will come from the people you are around, the books you read, and the things you listen to or watch on radio or television.
— Andy Andrews, The Noticer: Sometimes, All a Person Needs Is a Little Perspective
Before the fruits of prosperity can come, the storms of life need to first bring the required rains of testing, which mixes with the seeds of wisdom to produce a mature harvest.
— Lincoln Patz
I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,Stuffed with the stuff that is course, and stuffed with the stuff that is fine, one of the nation, of many nations, the smallest the same and the the largest
— Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
Boy, the solid things you can hold in your hands are never all you've got. They're the least of what belong to you. The qualities inside you, those are what you've really got to defend yourself with.
— Traci L. Slatton, Immortal
Aeschylus writes, "In our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grade of God.
— Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art
For the most part wisdom comes in chips rather than blocks. You have to be willing to gather them constantly, and from sources you never imagined to be probable. No one chip gives you the answer for everything. No one chip stays in the same place throughout your entire life. The secret is to keep adding voices, adding ideas, and moving things around as you put together your life. If you’re lucky, putting together your life is a process that will last through every single day you’re alive.
— Ann Patchett, What Now?
Peaceful disputes are maintained when men sincerely believe that they are morally, logically correct about the issues at hand. It is when neither side is really certain that wars are instigated.
— Criss Jami, Killosophy
The failure mode of clever is “asshole.
— John Scalzi
Wind is renewable. Turbines are not.
— Ozzie Zehner, Green Illusions
Mirrors that hide nothing hurt me. But this is the hurt of purging and precious renewal - and these are the mirrors of dangerous grace.
— Walter Wangerin Jr.
I love you , Valentine’ is actually a popular phrase used in greeting cards.”If you were sending me one, what would it say?” he asks.I love you, too, Roman.”And there it is, words that I dread to say and do mean, because with them comes the responsibility of owning it, moving forward together and deciding for real who we are to each other. Now we’re not just lovers discovering what we like and sharing what we know. In this mutual declaration, we’re accountable to each other. We’re in love, and now, our relationship has to build slowly and beautifully in order to hold all the joy and misery that lies ahead.
— Adriana Trigiani, Very Valentine
We are losing the ability to understand anything that's even vaguely complex.
— Chuck Klosterman, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
Believe in yourself. Under-confidence leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy that you are not good enough for your work.
— Roopleen
I would have liked to come into the grocery some morning and see them all, even the Elberts and the children, lying there crying with the pain of dying. I would help myself to groceries, I thought, stepping over their bodies, taking whatever I fancied from the shelves, and go home, with perhaps a kick for Mrs.Donell while she lay there. I was never sorry when I had thoughts like this; I only wished they would come true.
— Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Why so much grief for me? No man will hurl me down to Death, against my fate. And fate? No one alive has ever escaped it, neither brave man nor coward, I tell you - it’s born with us the day that we are born.
— Homer, The Iliad
And, as always happens, and happens far too soon, the strange and wonderful becomes a memory and a memory becomes a dream. Tomorrow it's gone.
— Terry Pratchett, Wintersmith
Knowledge that is acquiredis not like this. Those who have it worry ifaudiences like it or not.It's a bait for popularity.Disputational knowing wants customers.It has no soul...The only real customer is God.Chew quietlyyour sweet sugarcane God-Love, and stayplayfully childish.
— Jalaluddin Rumi, The Essential Rumi
What do we any of us have but our illusions? And what do we ask of others but that we be allowed to keep them?
— W. Somerset Maugham
If you argue and rankle and contradict, you may achieve a victory sometimes; but it will be an empty victory because you will never get your opponent's good will.
— Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People
You must become the producer, director and actor in the unfolding story of your life.
— Wayne W. Dyer
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.
— Isaiah Berlin
Para ser grande, sê inteiro: nadaTeu exagera ou exclui.Sê todo em cada coisa. Põe quanto ésNo mínimo que fazes.Assim em cada coisa a Lua todaBrilha, porque alta vive.
— Ricardo Reis
All those years I thought that it was power that brought responsibility. It's not. I was wrong.It's responsibility that brings power. It's knowing what needs to be done that brings strength. And courage.
— Peter Parker
Remember, purpose is about giving...All you can do with your life is to give it away in the service of others.
— Wayne W. Dyer
it's a rare day when she speaks in anything but platitudes--all those exhausted phrases and hand-me-down ideas that cram the dump sites of contemporary wisdom
— Paul Auster, The Brooklyn Follies
Those who try to juggle wisdom, power and greed, drop one of the balls, every time.”—Zarost
— Greg Hamerton, The Riddler's Gift
That was courage, Keller thought. Not doing something without being afraid, but doing something even though you were afraid.
— L.J. Smith, Witchlight
The most important thing in life is to dare. The most complicated thing in life is to be afraid. The smartest thing in the world is to try to be a moral person.
— Shimon Peres
For this is Wisdom; to love, to liveTo take what fate, or the Gods may give.To ask no question, to make no prayer,To kiss the lips and caress the hair,Speed passion's ebb as you greet its flowTo have, -to hold -and -in time, -let go!
— Laurence Hope
As we grow detached from things, we come (with God's help) to master our desires, and we give the mastery over to God. Discipline and divine grace heal the intellect and the will of the effects of concupiscence. We can begin to see things clearly.
— Scott Hahn, Lord, Have Mercy: The Healing Power of Confession
Hardest of all, as one becomes older, is to accept that sapient remarks can be drawn from the most unwelcome or seemingly improbable sources, and that the apparently more trustworthy sources can lead one astray.
— Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22: A Memoir
People love answers, but only as long as they are the ones who came up with them.
— Criss Jami, Killosophy
Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them. 
— Henry David Thoreau
Childbirth is normal until proven otherwise.
— Peggy Vincent, Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife
Women particularly should concern themselves with peace because men by nature are more foolhardy and headstrong, and their overwhelming desire to avenge themselves prevents them from foreseeing the resulting dangers and terrors of war. But woman by nature is more gentle and circumspect. Therefore, if she has sufficient will and wisdom she can provide the best possible means to pacify man.
— Christine de Pizan, The Treasure of the City of Ladies
And someone, somewhere, was having an even worse time of it than me. I tried to keep that in mind. No matter how crappy your life, someone will probably beat you in the my-life-is-crap category. Not that I don't let myself whine a little now and then, but sometimes it's good to keep your misery in perspective
— Lish McBride, Necromancing the Stone
Friendship, as has been said, consists in a full commitment of the will to another person with a view to that person's good.
— John Paul II, Love and Responsibility
‎They are angry with me, because I know what I am." Said the little eagle. "How do you know that they are angry with you?" "Because, they despise me for wanting to soar, they only want me to peck at the dirt, looking for ants, with them. But I can't do that. I don't have chicken feet, I have eagle wings." "And what is so wrong with having eagle wings and no chicken feet?" Asked the old owl. "I'm not sure, that's what I'm trying to find out." "They hate you because you know that you are an eagle and they want you to think you are a chicken so that you will peck at the ground looking for ants and worms, so that you will never know that you are an eagle and always think yourself a chicken. Let them hate you, they will always be chickens, and you will always be an eagle. You must fly. You must soar." Said the old owl.
— C. JoyBell C.
But neither infinite power nor infinite wisdom could bestow godhood upon men. For that there would have to be infinite love as well.
— Walter M. Miller Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz
She wished she could visit Mariam's grave, to sit with her awhile, leave a flower or two. But she sees now that it doesn't matter. Mariam is never very far.... Mariam is in her own heart, where she shines with the bursting radiance of a thousand suns.
— Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns
We must not only obtain Wisdom: we must enjoy her.
— Marcus Tullius Cicero, Selected Works
Sometimes we have to soak ourselves in the tears and fears of the past to water our future gardens.
— Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
Heavenly bodies are nests of invisible birds.
— Dejan Stojanovic, The Creator
Cheap booze is a false economy.
— Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22: A Memoir
There are two goddesses in your heard. The Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone thinks they need to get wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of Wisdom, giver her all your love and attention, and the Goddess of Wealth will become jealous, and follow you.
— Joe Vigil
The Shaod, it was called. The Transformation... When it came, the fortuante person's life ended and began anew; he would discard his old, mundane existence and move to Elantris. Elantris, where he could live in bliss, rule in wisdom, and be worshiped for eternity.Eternity ended ten years ago.
— Brandon Sanderson, Elantris
To come to nothing through something is the way to outside from both sides.
— Dejan Stojanovic, The Sign and Its Children
We all have scars, Mia; they are supposed to make you stronger, not paralyze you.” ~Cole
— Tina Carreiro, Power of the Moon
The Christian religion asks us to put our trust not in ideas, and certainly not in ideologies, but in a God Who was vulnerable enough to become human and die, and Who desires to be present to us in our ordinary circumstances.
— Kathleen Norris
...ducks and geese are foolish things, and must be looked after, but girls can take care of themselves.
— Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Words of Wisdom (wow): Be Still. Let Go.Flow.Breathe.Believe.Allow.Grow.Align.Be the Light.Be Awake.Be Aware.Anticipate.Participate.Embrace Change.Take that...Chance.Love.You Are Loved.Rise to the Occasion.Fuel your Motivation & make the world become a better place ☯
— Pablo
If love goes too far, it turns into cruelty.
— Haruo Shirane, Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900
Life changes us. To wish otherwise is pointless.
— Nalini Singh, Angels Of Darkness
A house divided cannot stand.
— Abraham Lincoln
Life after love was possible. I was proof. Loss taught you about yourself, burrowed in the dark parts of your soul and ate you from the inside out.
— Hailey Edwards
We judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions. We need to offer grace to all, because we all need a little grace.
— Jayce O'Neal