Great authors

What I like in a good author isn't what he says, but what he whispers. -Logan Pearsall Smith, essayist (1865-1946)

Language

You can never understand one language until you understand at least two. -Ronald Searle, artist (1920-2011)

Books

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. -Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman

Past & Future

Every saint has a past and every sinner a future. -Oscar Wilde, writer

Saying no

It is kindness immediately to refuse what you intend to deny. -Publilius Syrus, writer (c. 1st century BCE)

Corruption

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. -Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher

Possibility

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. ~Arthur C. Clarke

Choice

You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you’re going to live. Now. ~Joan Baez

Priority

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. ~Steve Jobs

Mind

The human mind is our fundamental resource. -John F. Kennedy

Judging

We judge ourselves by our intentions, and other by their behaviour - Stephen R Covey

Life

One day, you’re 17 and you’re planning for someday. And then quietly, without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And then someday is yesterday. And this is your life.” John Green

The Human Mind

Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external world." -Albert Einstein

The English Language

Standard English is a convenient abstraction, like the average man. -George Leslie Brook, English professor, author (1910-1987)

Life

A profound unmitigated loneliness is the only truth of life. -R.K. Narayan, writer (1906-2001)

Life

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. -Crowfoot, Native American warrior and orator

Manners

Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use. -Emily Post, author and columnist (1872-1960)

Dissent

The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity -- much less dissent. -Gore Vidal, author (1925-2012)

Waiting

If you wait, all that happens is you get older.  ~Larry McMurtry

Team playing

Sometimes a player’s greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team. ~Scottie Pippen

Blossom

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~ Anais Nin

Decisions

"We should make decisions in life with our hearts, not our brains. Not only in music, but in daily life." ~ André Rieu

Music

The best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with. -Bruce Springsteen, musician (b. 1949)

Battle

No battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. -William Faulkner, novelist (1897-1962)

Self-importance

Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm but the harm does not interest them. -T.S. Eliot, poet (1888-1965)