Category Archives: Notable Quotables

“There’s no real joy in emptiness, in doing nothing, in risk-free living: True success is always the last of a string of failed attempts to get it right.” — Walter Anderson (1903 – 1965) American painter & writer (in book: … Continue reading →

  “No one can be wrong with man and right with God.” — Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878 – 1969) American Protestant pastor

  “True friends are never apart, maybe in distance but never in heart.” — Unknown (but often attributed to Helen Keller)

    “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” — Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014) American poet, memoirist & activist

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.  Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” — Helen Keller (1880 – 1968) American author, political activist, and disability rights advocate  

    “When the only tool you have is a hammer, all problems begin to resemble nails.” — Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970) American humanistic psychologist  

  “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” — Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American statesman; 16th U.S. President (1861-65) Assassinated following the Civil War

  “Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.” (Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace.) —  Benito Juárez (1806 – 1872) 1st indigenous president of Mexico

“Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.” — Storm Jameson (pen name for Margaret Ethel Johnson) (1891 – 1986) English author & journalist

  “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” — Benjamin Disraeli (1804 – 1881) Conservative British statesman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1868; 1874-1880)

  “You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.” — Rosalynn Smith Carter (1927 – 2023) US First Lady (1977 – 1981)

    “Those who wish to sing always find a song.” — Swedish proverb

    “Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule – and both commonly succeed, and are right.” — H.L. Mencken (1880 – 1956) American journalist, satirist, … Continue reading →

  “When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.” — Japanese proverb

  “Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice and need.” — Voltaire (1694 – 1778) French philosopher & writer

  “May we never forget our fallen comrades. Freedom isn’t free.” — Sgt. Major Wilfred “Bill” “Ooorah” Paxton (1938 – 2024) United States Marine Corps 30+ years  

“I shall never stop fighting. I mean this country to survive, to prosper and to be free…I haven’t fought the destructive forces of socialism for more than twenty years in order to stop now, when the critical phase of the … Continue reading →

  “Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” — J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel) Tolkien (1892 – 1973) English writer, poet & scholar

  “As long as you have the opportunity to breathe, breathe.” — Johnny Depp (1963 – ) American actor (in Rolling Stone p. 78, Issue 1186/1187, July 4-18, 2013

  “A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.” — Irish proverb  

  “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” — Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826) 3rd US President (1801 – 1809) American Founding Father & primary author of the Declaration of Independence On National Thomas Jefferson Day, may we learn from … Continue reading →

    “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American statesman 16th US President (1861-1865) Assassinated following the Civil War

  “A good friend is like a four-leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.” — Irish proverb

  “When terrorism strikes, divisive anger is a natural response.” — Mohsin Hamid (1971 – ) British-Pakistani novelist & writer

“Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice and need.” — Voltaire (pen name for Francoise-Marie Arouet  (1694 – 1778) French philosopher & writer

    “What soap is for the body, tears are for the soul.” — Jewish proverb

“When I play with my cat, who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me?” — Michel de Montaigne (1533 – 1592) French philosopher & essayist

  “When two elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled.” — African proverb

  “To know and not to act is not to know.” Wang Yangming (1472 – 1529) Minister of War of Imperial China (also attributed to Chinese philosopher Lao Tse and repeated by many other people in more recent years)

  “You can’t make me what you call me!”  — Alfred Fleishman (1905 – 2002) American businessman, Army veteran, & special consultant to US Secretary of Defense during the Holocaust

  “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”  — Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) German-born theoretical physicist & Nobel laureate

  “The question is not what a man can scorn, or disparage, or find fault with, but what he can love, and value, and appreciate.” — John Ruskin (1819 – 1900) English polymath & writer

    “Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.” — Robert Frost (1874 – 1963) American poet