Good Living 123

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.”

— Plutarch (46-120AD)
Greek philosopher & historian

“Ignorant people are sure of the causes of everything.”

— James Thorpe (1887 – 1953)
American athlete & Olympic gold medalist

“A man is not old until his regrets take the place of dreams.”

— Yiddish proverb

“It is better to be faithful than famous.”

— Theodore Roosevelt (1858 – 1919)
26th U.S. President

“The most beautiful people wear their hearts on their sleeves and their souls in their smiles.”

— Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius) (83BC – 30BC)

Roman politician & general under Julius Caesar

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

— Dalai Lama (1935 – )
14th Buddhist spiritual leader

“I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.”

— Anne Frank (1929 – 1945) Celebrated German-born Jewish diarist,
noted for documenting life in hiding from the Nazis with her family in an Amsterdam attic

“The trouble with too many people is they believe the realm of truth always lies within their vision.”

— Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
American statesman; 16th President 1861-65; assassinated following Civil War

Image by Jorge Vasconez

“Do not despair when the sun sets with sadness, for each new dawn delivers defiant radiance, even when the sun shrouds herself in clouds.”

— Cathy Burnham Martin (1954 – )
Author: “The Bimbo Has Brains… and Other Freaky Facts” 2017

“There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.”

–Plato (427-348 BC)
Greek philosopher

Image by John Hain

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”

— Robert Byrne (1930 – 2016)
American author

“Not the violent conflict between parts of the truth, but the quiet suppression of half of it, is the formidable evil. There is always hope when people are forced to listen to both sides; it is when they attend to only one that errors harden prejudices, and truth itself ceases.”

— John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873)
Naturalist & English language philosopher
Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom

“Heroes never die. They live in the hearts and minds of those who would follow in their footsteps.”

— Emily Potter (1975 – )
Australian author & professor

“It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”

— Joseph Stalin (1878 – 1953)
Soviet politician and revolutionary; former Premier of the Soviet Union

Image by Scott Broome

“When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give us credit for nothing, not even our virtues.”

— Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850)
French novelist & playwright

Image by Chris Curry

Note to self:

Choose to be better and do better every day… today, tomorrow, forever.

“In all things it is better to hope than to despair.”

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
German poet, playwright, & novelist

“The next time you’re in a meeting, look around and identify the yes-butters and the why-notters. The why-notters move the world.”

— Louise Randall Pierson (1890 – 1969)
American author

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

— Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Indian lawyer, spiritual & political leader, and nonviolent resistance advocate

Image by Steve Leisher

“I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.”

— Christopher Hitchens (1949 – 2011)
British-American author

Image by Maxim Hopman

Jefferson’s “Commonplace Book” 1774-1776:

“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms.. Disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes… Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve to encourage rather than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”

— Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
American statesman; 3rd US President: 1801-09; wrote Declaration of Independence

“It takes a long time to become young.”

— Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973)
Spanish painter & sculptor

“Awards become corroded. Friends gather no dust.”

— James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens (1913 – 1980)
American athlete and Olympic track and field multi-gold medalist