A collection of my favourite quotations, some of them are brilliant, others simply wise and all the remaining ones - pure gems.
Important to know: if you end up reading all of them at once, the impact is likely to be very diminished. Instead, try going through a few of them, no more than eight, at once and sleep over it. Come back and repeat from where you left.
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"A friend doesn't go on a diet because you are fat." - Erma Bombeck
"A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." - Lao Tzu
"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw
"A scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar." - Lao Tzu
"A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer." - Bruce Lee
"A witty saying proves nothing." - Voltaire
"Actors search for rejection. If they don't get it they reject themselves." - Charlie Chaplin
"All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. " - Albert Einstein
"Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating." - Karl Von Clausewitz
"Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends." - George Bernard Shaw
"Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking." - Albert Einstein
"Anybody amuses me for once. A new acquaintance is like a new book. I prefer it, even if bad, to a classic." - Benjamin Disraeli
"As the soft yield of water cleaves obstinate stone, So to yield with life solves the insolvable: To yield, I have learned, is to come back again." - Lao Tzu
"As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot." - John Lennon
"At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want." - Lao Tzu
"Be kind whenever possible.It is always possible." - Dalai Lama
"Beer: The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems." - Homer Simpson
"Before I speak, I have something important to say." - Groucho Marx
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." - Lao Tzu
"Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else." - Mark Twain
"But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?" - Mark Twain
"Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. " - Abraham Lincoln
"Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice" - Henry Ford
"Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them." - Abraham Lincoln
"Critics are the men who have failed in literature and art." - Benjamin Disraeli
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King
"Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong." - Calvin Coolidge
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." - Mark Twain
"Doubt is the origin of wisdom" - Rene Descartes
"Effective action is always unjust." - Maya Angelou
"Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for." - Viktor Frankl
"Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else." - Will Rogers
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." - Marcus Aurelius
"Failure is the foundation of success, and the means by which it is achieved." - Lao Tzu
"Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase." - Martin Luther King
"Fashion changes, but style endures." - Coco Chanel
"For every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"For the bureaucrat, the world is a mere object to be manipulated by him." - Karl Marx
"Freedom lies in being bold." - Robert Frost
"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." - Karl Marx
"Go on, get out. Last words are for fools who haven't said enough." - Karl Marx
"Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company." - Mark Twain
"Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life." - Mark Twain
"Great acts are made up of small deeds." - Lao Tzu
"He has a brilliant mind until he makes it up." - Margot Asquith
"He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty." - Lao Tzu
"He who has no faith in others shall find no faith in them." - Lao Tzu
"Here's all you have to know about men and women: women are crazy, men are stupid. And the main reason women are crazy is that men are stupid." - George Carlin
"History is a set of lies agreed upon." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"How can I go forward when I don't know which way I'm facing?" - John Lennon
"I could die for you. But I couldn't, and wouldn't, live for you." - Ayn Rand
"I don't do fashion, I AM fashion." - Coco Chanel
"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better." - Abraham Lincoln
"I don't want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there." - Oscar Wilde
"I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice." - Abraham Lincoln
"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." - Martin Luther King
"I have nothing to declare except my genius." - Oscar Wilde
"I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?" - Ernest Hemingway
"I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be." - Douglas Adams
"I think God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability." - Oscar Wilde
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didnt know." - Mark Twain
"I will prepare and some day my chance will come. " - Abraham Lincoln
"I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back." - Abraham Lincoln
"If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank." - Woody Allen
"If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time." - Zig Ziglar
"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading." - Lao Tzu
"If you don't love yourself, you cannot love others. You will not be able to love others. If you have no compassion for yourself then you are not able of developing compassion for others." - Dalai Lama
"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed." - Mark Twain
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man." - Mark Twain
"If you want a thing done well, do it yourself." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"If you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow." - John Wayne
"Im the one who's gonna die when its time for me to die...so let me live my life the way I want to..." - Jimi Hendrix
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. " - Albert Einstein
"In Heaven, all the interesting people are missing." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield." - Warren Buffett
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King
"Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education." - Martin Luther King
"It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste" - Henry Ford
"It is always advisable to perceive clearly our ignorance." - Charles Darwin
"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend." - William Blake
"It is not the strength, but the duration, of great sentiments that makes great men." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles." - Niccolo Machiavelli
"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"It is the cause, not the death, that makes the martyr." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go." - Jim Rohn
"It takes a great man to be a good listener." - Calvin Coolidge
"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson
"Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do." - Bruce Lee
"Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment." - Lao Tzu
"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens" - Jimi Hendrix
"Landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed." - Karl Marx
"Let no man pull you low enough to hate him." - Martin Luther King
"Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides." - Lao Tzu
"Life has got to be lived-that's all that there is to it." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot." - Charlie Chaplin
"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced." - Soren Kirkegaard
"Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid." - John Wayne
"Listen if you want to be heard" - John Wooden
"Love is a serious mental disease." - Plato
"Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses." - Lao Tzu
"Loyalty to country always. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it." - Mark Twain
"Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." - Thomas A. Edison
"Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest" - Napoleon Bonaparte
"Men become wise just as they become rich, more by what they save than by what they receive." - Wilbur Wright
"Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them." - Henry Ford
"Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident." - Mark Twain
"Nature is not human-hearted." - Lao Tzu
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow." - Mark Twain
"Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it." - Mark Twain
"Never tell your problems to anyone.. 20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them." - Lou Holtz
"Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly." - Mother Teresa
"No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks." - James Allen
"No good deed goes unpunished." - Oscar Wilde
"No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care" - Theodore Roosevelt
"No power is strong enough to be lasting if it labors under the weight of fear." - Cicero
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. " - Albert Einstein
"Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it." - Lao Tzu
"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals." - Henry Ford
"One of the greatest discoveries a person makes, one of their great surprises, is to find they can do what they were afraid they couldn't do." - Henry Ford
"Our life is what our thoughts make it." - Marcus Aurelius
"Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength." - Sigmund Freud
"People think I'm a miserable sod but it's only because I get asked such bloody miserable questions." - Nick Cave
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it." - George Bernard Shaw
"Proverbs are short sentences drawn from long experience." - Miguel de Cervantes
"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination." - John Lennon
"Religion is the impotence of the human mind to deal with occurrences it cannot understand" - Karl Marx
"Religion is the opium of the masses." - Karl Marx
"Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck." - Dalai Lama
"Resist much. Obey little." - Walt Whitman
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. " - Albert Einstein
"Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue." - Confucius
"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." - Carl Sagan
"Strong hope is a much greater stimulant of life than any single realized joy could be." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose." - Bill Gates
"The absent are never without fault, nor the present without excuse." - Benjamin Franklin
"The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. " - Albert Einstein
"The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion" - Karl Marx
"The future starts today, not tomorrow." - Pope John Paul II
"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts." - Marcus Aurelius
"The lonely one offers his hand too quickly to whomever he encounters." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism." - Karl Marx
"The more I see, the less I know for sure." - John Lennon
"The more you let yourself go, the less others let you go." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." - Henry Ford
"The purpose of our lives is to be happy." - Dalai Lama
"The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection." - Thomas Paine
"The reality of the building does not consist in the roof and walls, but in the space within to be lived in." - Lao Tzu
"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made." - Groucho Marx
"The shifts of fortune test the reliability of friends." - Cicero
"The social principles of Christianity preach cowardice, self-contempt, abasement, submission, humility, in a word all the qualities of the canaille" - Karl Marx
"The starting point of all achievement is desire." - Napoleon Hill
"The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property" - Karl Marx
"The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool." - Stephen King
"The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for." - Bob Marley
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference" - Charles Darwin
"The way to know life is to love many things." - Vincent Van Gogh
"The word 'good' has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man." - G.K Chesterton
"The world does not pay men for that which they 'know'. It pays them for what they do, or induce others to do." - Napoleon Hill
"There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for." - Albert Camus
"There are no facts, only interpretations." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live." - John Adams
"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them...well I have others." - Groucho Marx
"Though I love my country, I do not love my countrymen." - Lord Byron
"Thought is free." - William Shakespeare
"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted." - John Lennon
"To See a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour." - William Blake
"To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it." - Confucius
"To go too far is as bad as to fall short." - Confucius
"To throw away an honest friend is, as it were, to throw your life away" - Sophocles
"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't." - Mark Twain
"Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan." - John F. Kennedy
"We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims." - R. Buckminster Fuller
"We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection." - Dalai Lama
"What do you want meaning for? Life is desire, not meaning." - Charlie Chaplin
"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it ...." - Henry Ford
"When prosperity comes, do not use all of it." - Confucius
"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." - Buddha
"When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on" - Theodore Roosevelt
"When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do." - Walt Disney
"When you're drowning you don't think, 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would notice I'm drowning and come and rescue me.' You just scream." - John Lennon
"Why, look at me. I've worked my way up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty." - Groucho Marx
"Women are made to be loved not understood." - Oscar Wilde
"Wrong life cannot be lived rightly." - Theodor Adorno
"You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind." - Mohandas Gandhi
"You can have it all. Just not all at once." - Oprah Winfrey
"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." - Henry Ford
"You can't learn in school what the world is going to do next year." - Henry Ford
"You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb." - Andrew Carnegie
"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." - Marcus Aurelius
