When it comes to experiences of life, among other things, they produce lessons and shape you into the person you are now. Inevitably, we take away something from every experience. And after going through various, often unpleasant, ones, we may start viewing the world in a different light. That might be how many of these wisdom quotes were born.
Life experiences can produce a wide variety of quotes about wisdom. The sayings of Winston Churchill come from rough stages of humanity, hardened by tough character and will. On the other hand, we have wise words by Oscar Wilde, with a dash of artistic spice added to them. These seemingly different worlds can collide yet still make sense. Even though we won’t be going through the exact scenarios these historical figures did, we can still apply their thoughts to our daily lives.
So if you’ve been struggling to find purpose or meaning, learning from paths already traveled could help. This way, we hope your journey of chasing answers will no longer look like a never-ending road. And if you arm yourself with these wisdom quotes about life, no obstacle in front of you will seem unbeatable.
Don’t wait any longer and lose yourself in this list of wisdom quotes, let them inside your heart, and you’ll be one step closer to solving life’s mysteries. Vote for your favorites, and share any sayings you found touching with those around you.
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“The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
Bored Panda got in touch with classical philologist and philosophy doctor Vilius Bartninkas for an interview on all things famous wise quotes and sayings.
"Famous wise quotes need what every product needs—an influencer, who would advertise the idea," elaborated Dr. Bartninkas on how famous wise quotes become famous. "In the past, one famous author would be quoted by another and thus the phrase begins its own life. The phrase usually starts its journey in a good book. The more successful the author, the faster the spread of the idea. It really helped if the person established a school or club of followers, because it is highly likely that the pupils will quote them. Look at Socrates, the Athenian philosopher. He didn't write a thing, but his quotes would probably make a book or two."
“The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back.” ― Abigail Van Buren
“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” ― Mark Twain
I was never fond of his books, but his quotes and epic witty rejoinders make me fond of his humor.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ― Winston S. Churchill
Dr. Bartninkas continued: "Sometimes people would even invent a quote and misattribute it to someone famous. The reason is simple—the chances your idea survives on the shoulders of a giant are much greater. This is precisely how so many philosophical sayings came to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. And after a few hundred years of repetition, a popular phrase may transform into its final form—folk wisdom, when everyone knows the saying, but no one can pinpoint the place of origin."
"The only difference between now and then is that today everyone can do this. Wisdom is much more democratic these days. You can skip the part of becoming a writer or a philosopher and just advertise your wisdom on social media."
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." ― Napoleon Bonaparte
“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” ― Bruce Lee
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell, 1984
Looking at it from a linguo-technical point of view, Dr Bartninkas highlihts at least two key factors necessary for a successful quote: rhetorical appeal and and a certain level of abstractness.
"[First], it has to have a rhetorical punch, so that when you read it, [it feels like it's] 'in your face' or 'oh, that's so inspiring'. A good idea creates an emotional connection and allows us to memorise more easily."
"Second, it needs to be abstract enough to survive the limits of our own culture. You want your idea to leave some room for interpretation in order to resonate with people who will live according to different conditions and values. Otherwise, the future will not understand it and everybody will forget it."
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” ― Marcus Aurelius , Meditations
I see a danger in this quote as it'll lead to people use this quote to equal opinion and facts.
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ― Isaac Asimov
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” ― Albert Einstein
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” ― Albert Einstein
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” ― Albert Einstein
According to Dr. Bartninkas, quotes often revolve around more personal themes, such as individual growth, everyday challenges, deeper misconceptions, valuable choices, and true aims. Thus, the phrase gains power, enough to resonate with the heart and soul. It is as if it wants to become your motto, it wants you to live by them, and it wants you to think that they express who you are.
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” ― Aristotle
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” ― Socrates
"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced." ― Soren Kierkegaard
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” ― Aristotle, Metaphysics
“The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.” ― Lao Tzu, Te Tao Ching
So, here's a question: who has a bigger stake in coining now-famous phrases and quotes: philosophers, thinkers, and theorists, or the likes of politicians, generals, and celebrities? Dr. Bartninkas says it's not about professions, but rather the context:
"Imagine you had a busy day, after which you say to your friend: 'when all has been done, there is still something left to do, when all has been said, there was not yet said enough'. You are probably tired, your friends feel sorry for you, but the phrase looks like a preposterous overstatement."
"Now, imagine that this was said by a general before a battle with epic proportions, after he lost the entire army and crippled the power of his country. The phrase suddenly becomes prophetic, melancholic, even moving."
Fun fact, the aforementioned phrase is one of Dr. Bartninkas' favorites, and it's said by ancient Greek historian Thucydides. "I hope it inspires you to read him. And this is really what wise quotes should do, namely to direct you to the precious works of their authors," elaborates he.
“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.” – Lao Tzu
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” ― Oscar Wilde
“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.” ― Bertrand Russell
While I agree with that, I'm not sure if this is good advice anymore...
“As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.” ― Leonardo da Vinci
“We accept the love we think we deserve.” ― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Dr. Bartninkas is a published author and academic whom you can follow on LinkedIn as well as on Vilnius University's Academia platform.
But before you scurry off to another one of Bored Panda's articles, why not let us know some of your favorite quotes in the comment section below!
"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." ― Confucius
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.” ― Voltaire
“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” ― William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well
“There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.” ― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear
The anger of a gentle man.. reminds me of Dr Who's "When a good man goes to war"
“We have to create culture, don't watch TV, don't read magazines. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you're worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you're giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. That is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told 'no', we're unimportant, we're peripheral. 'Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.' And then you're a player, you don't want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world.” ― Terence McKenna
He lost me at "don't watch TV." If I didn't watch T.V, I wouldn't learn anything! I get my medical knowledge from 'scrubs', my Law enforcement knowledge from 'The Wire' and I have 'Game of Thrones' to thank for my vast knowledge of history. Thanks to 'The Walking Dead', I am well prepared for when the zombie apocalypse arrives and I have no fear of death thanks to 'The Good Place'.
“Every intelligent individual wants to know what makes him tick, and yet is at once fascinated and frustrated by the fact that oneself is the most difficult of all things to know.” ― Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts was an English writer and speaker known for interpreting and popularizing Indian and Chinese traditions of Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, England, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York.
“The mind is everything. What you think you become.” – Buddha
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” ― Plato
We are seeing this everywhere. What a sad lot of "leaders" we had in place when the pandemic started, manifestly unable and even unwilling to actually LEAD and help people adequately. Obviously, there are some exceptions, but Trump? worst American president. Johnson? Among the worst British PMs. Morrison? TERRIBLE Australian prime minister; if "failed up" was a person. Just awful.
“Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.” ― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear
“Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see.” ― Arthur Schopenhauer
"Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is true wisdom, mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power.” ― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” ― Plato
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
"What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens." ― Ellen Glasgow
“People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.” ― Jean Jacques Rousseau
“I have lived with several Zen masters -- all of them cats.” ― Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
“For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?” ― George Orwell, 1984
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ― Rumi
“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” ― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
This was one of the lines that stood out to me in particular when reading TKAM in 9th grade. Essentially, mockingbirds stood for innocent people. Bluejays represented those who were at fault: "Shoot all the bluejays you want, but remember that it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." (might be paraphrasing, but you get the idea)
"An intellectual? Yes. And never deny it. An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself. I like this, because I am happy to be both halves, the watcher and the watched. "Can they be brought together?" This is a practical question. We must get down to it. "I despise intelligence" really means: "I cannot bear my doubts." ― Albert Camus
“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” ― Lao Tzu
"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them." ― Dalai Lama
“He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.” ― Albert Camus
“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.” ― Carl Sagan
"You've heard that it's wise to learn from experience, but it is wiser to learn from the experience of others." ― Rick Warren
"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them--that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like." ― Lao Tzu
“Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else ... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.” ― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, "What's in it for me?” ― Brian Tracy
Yeah, right... I'm sure all people like Jeff Bezos think about is helping others.
"Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” ― Bruce Lee
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” ― George Orwell, 1984
“It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it.” ― Maurice Switzer, Mrs. Goose, Her Book
“It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” ― Albert Einstein
“The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.” ― Marjorie Pay Hinckley
“Never complain, never explain. Resist the temptation to defend yourself or make excuses.” ― Brian Tracy
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“Where wisdom reigns, there is no conflict between thinking and feeling.” ― Carl Gustav Jung
“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” ― Steve Jobs
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” ― Albert Einstein
"The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions." ― Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
"Pain can change you, but that doesn't mean it has to be a bad change. Take that pain and turn it into wisdom." ― Dalai Lama
“Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
“Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.” ― Thomas Jefferson
“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” ― Thomas Szasz
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ― Mark Twain
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
I would, but if the rent isn't paid, I'll be learning what it is to not have a home.
"Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it." ― Colin Powell
In other words, you are not your job. And your job can be done without you.
“Very little is needed to make a happy life, it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” – Marcus Aurelius
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” ― Socrates
And now I have "Dancing Through Life" from Wicked stuck in my head. Thanks.
“We seldom realize, for example that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.” ― Alan Watts
“How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark side also If I am to be whole.” ― C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul
“Conquer the angry one by not getting angry; conquer the wicked by goodness; conquer the stingy by generosity, and the liar by speaking the truth.” ― Siddhārtha Gautama, The Dhammapada
“I don’t think man was meant to attain happiness so easily. Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.” ― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
“Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.” – Eddie Rickenbacker
The impossible is... well, impossible. The issue is we sometimes we don't know what's possible yet.
“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.” ― H.L. Mencken
“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.” ― Gilda Radner
“Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.” ― Alan Wilson Watts
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.” ― Maya Angelou
“Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.” ― John Lennon
“Don't Gain The World & Lose Your Soul, Wisdom Is Better Than Silver Or Gold.” ― Bob Marley
“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
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” ― C. S. Lewis
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ― Albert Einstein
“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.” ― Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold as Love
“One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don't throw it away.” ― Stephen Hawking
work isn't the purpose and meaning of life. Doing something is, an activity, a hobby, somethine you like. Let me put it this way. If you didn't get paid for work, you probably wouldn't do it. And if money was no issue, then you would be spending your time with your hobbies.
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
while this line is good in the book, it doesn't have validity in real life.
“Do not let the memories of your past limit the potential of your future. There are no limits to what you can achieve on your journey through life, except in your mind.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
“Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.”
― Langston Hughes
“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.” ― Leo Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” ― Neil Gaiman, Coraline
"Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance." ― George Bernard Shaw
"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." ― William Arthur Ward
A character in a book series I read(THIRDS by Charlie Cochet) is a full glass type of guy because he says "Who wants half of anything?" I do not have that level of optimism.
"It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them." ― Epictetus
"The wise person feels the pain of one arrow. The unwise feels the pain of two." ― Kate Carne, Seven Secrets Of Mindfulness
"But what I've discovered over time is that some of the wisest people I know have also been some of the most broken people." ― James Prescott, Mosaic of Grace
“At the end of the day, whether or not those people are comfortable with how you’re living your life doesn’t matter. What matters is whether you’re comfortable with it.” — Dr. Phil
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young." – Henry Ford
Someone once explained to me that everything is either in a state of improvement or in a state of decay. Once you stop building the fence and have painted the last drop, it will start to decay. If you don't keep up the improvements it will turn to dust. Look at the pyramids, a fantastic sight, but decay has eroded the marble exterior and golden tips at the top. This doesnt' just apply to your mind, but your body, your world and everything in it.
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” ― Confucious
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” ― Joseph Campbell
“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.” ― Maya Angelou
“Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“It is wise to direct your anger towards problems -- not people; to focus your energies on answers -- not excuses.” ― William Arthur Ward
“Never respond to an angry person with a fiery comeback, even if he deserves it...Don't allow his anger to become your anger.” ― Bohdi Sanders, Warrior Wisdom: Ageless Wisdom for the Modern Warrior
“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” ― Andre Gide, Autumn Leaves
“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” ― Albert Einstein
“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
“Always forgive, but never forget, else you will be a prisoner of your own hatred, and doomed to repeat your mistakes forever.” ― Wil Zeus, Sun Beyond the Clouds
"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." ― Henry Van Dyke
"Meditation is about viewing the world with great clarity so you can make wise decisions. It will help you make the appropriate action with regard to things that you have to change." ― Mia Conrad, Social Anxiety
"The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up." ― John C. Maxwell
"Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact." ― William James
“Be courageous. Challenge orthodoxy. Stand up for what you believe in. When you are in your rocking chair talking to your grandchildren many years from now, be sure you have a good story to tell.” — Amal Clooney
“The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
“There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them. But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them will we understand why they were there.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain
“Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.” ― Leo F. Buscaglia
“When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness sake. But don't make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion faster than adults, and evasion simply muddles 'em.” ― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” ― Theodore Roosevelt, Strenuous Life
“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.” ― Socrates
Sorry, I first read that as "improve other men's writings" and I was like "be an editor?"
“You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.” ― Alan Watts
“You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us. And the world will live as one.” ― John Lennon
“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”
― George Orwell, 1984
“If there's a single lesson that life teaches us, it's that wishing doesn't make it so.” ― Lev Grossman, The Magicians
“You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go and see what happens.” — Mandy Hale
“Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.” – Earl Nightingale
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It
“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
“This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor... Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honorably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.” ― Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi
“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude
toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather
than allowing it to master you.” ― Brian Tracy
“Devotion to the truth is the hallmark of morality; there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking.” ― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
Obi-Wan Kenobi told Luke that "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view." No one embodies that subjectivist, middle-class-welfare-dependency philosophy more than Ayn Rand.
“Take responsibility of your own happiness, never put it in other people’s hands.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
“Though nobody can go back and make a new beginning... Anyone can start over and make a new ending.” ― Chico Xavier
"That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing." ― Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it." ― George Orwell
“Life is from the inside out. When you shift on the inside, life shifts on the outside.” – Kamal Ravikant
“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” – Mary Engelbreit
“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
“God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas but for scars.” ― Elbert Hubbard
“The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.” ― Thomas Paine, A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal on the Affairs of North America
I think enlightenment is more of a process than an achievement. The lightbulb over your head can easily blind you.
"We tend to think of great thinkers and innovators as soloists, but the truth is that the greatest innovative thinking doesn't occur in a vacuum. Innovation results from collaboration." ― John C. Maxwell
"Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go." ― Hermann Hesse
"Reading is one of the most important activities, which helps to educate genius and develop creative abilities." ― Samuel Greenberg, Think like Einstein, earn like Bill Gates
Geniuses usually like to read. And reading doesn't turn you into a genius. However, reading does prevent you from stupidity.
"If we manage ego wisely, we get the upside it delivers followed by strong returns." ― Dave Marcum, Egonomics
"Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life." – John F. Kennedy
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).” ― Mark Twain
“Follow your heart, listen to your inner voice, stop caring about what others think.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?” ― John Keats, Letters of John Keats
“You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself.” ― Galileo
“Madame, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you.” ― Hemingway, Ernest
“It doesn't matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are
going.” ― Brian Tracy
"Self-Improvement and success go hand in hand. Taking the steps to make yourself a better and more well-rounded individual will prove to be a wise decision." ― Frank Long, A Better You
"When looking for wise words, the best ones often come from our elders." ― Catherine Pulsifer
"What you do and say lives on in the hearts and minds of others, to some degree, with a definite result or consequence." ― Charles F. Stanley
"What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds." ― Wayne Dyer
“You do not write your life with words…You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.” – Patrick Ness
"Dude, suckin' at something is the first step to being sorta good at something." ― Jake the Dog
“One small fact: you are going to die. Despite every effort, no one lives forever. Sorry to be such a spoiler. My advice is when the time comes, don't panic. It doesn't seem to help.” - Roger Allen (The Book Thief)
"Dude, suckin' at something is the first step to being sorta good at something." ― Jake the Dog
“One small fact: you are going to die. Despite every effort, no one lives forever. Sorry to be such a spoiler. My advice is when the time comes, don't panic. It doesn't seem to help.” - Roger Allen (The Book Thief)
