God is a comedian with an audience that is afraid to laugh – voltaire

I am more convinced that our happiness or unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life, that on the nature of those events themselves – alexander von humboldt

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar – sigmund freud

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more previous, than to be able to decide – napoleon bonaparte

If someone tells you he is going to make a “realistic decision” you immediately know he is going to do something bad – mary mcCarthy

An enemy can partly ruin a man, but it takes a good-natured injudicious friend to complete the thing and make it perfect – mark twain

When I was a young man I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. I didn’t want to be a failure, so I did ten times more work – george bernard shaw

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone – bill cosby

Anything I’ve ever done that ultimately was worthwhile initially scared me to death – betty bender

it was high counsel that i once heard given to a young person “Always do what you are afraid to do.” – ralph waldo emerson

Yeah, though I walk through the valley of death I will fear no evil, for I am the meanest son of a bitch in the valley. – joel rosenberg

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you – eric hoffer

Adversity is the only balance to weigh friends – plutarch

Waste no time arguing what a good man should be. Be one – marcus aurelius

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit – aristotle

Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking – marcus aurelius

Happiness is a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you – nathaniel hawthorne

Happiness is when you think, what you say, and what you do are all in harmony – mahatma gandhi

By ignorance the truth is known – heinrich suso

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle – plato

Some drink deeply from the river of knowledge. Others only gargle – woody allen

I learned that a great leader is a man who has the ability to get other people to do what they don’t want to do and like it – harry s. truman

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it – andrew carnegie

“Life,” wrote a friend of mine, “is a public performance on the violin, in which you must learn the instrument as you go along.” – e.m. forster

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on. –  robert frost

Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: “I am with you, kid. Let’s go.” maya angelou

When people talk, listen and listen completely. Most people never listen – ernest hemingway

The art of living is more like that of wrestling that of dancing; the main thing is to stand firm and be ready for an unforseen attack – marcus aurelius

Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life – seneca

The world is ruled by letting things take their course – Laozi

Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes of playing a poor hand well – robert louis stevenson

Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgement difficult – hippocrates

A mind all logic is like a knife all blade – rabindranath tagore

If the world were a logical place, men would ride side-saddle – rita mae brown

Loneliness is the way by which destiny endeavors to lead man to himself – hermann hesse

Logic, like whiskey, loses its beneficial effect when take in too large quantities – lord dunsany

He gave her a look you could have poured on a waffle – ring lardner

Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other – carl jung

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have – thomas jefferson

Lying is done with words and also with silence – adrienne rich

We tell lies when we are afraid…afraid of what we don’t know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger – tad williams

The most common lie is that which one lies to himself; lying to others is relatively an exception – friedrich nietzche

The moral high ground is wreathed in fog – arthur miller

Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits –  thomas edison

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish – john quincy adams

The greatest and noblest pleasure which men can have in this world is to discover new truths; and the next is to shake off old prejudices – frederick the great

The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do – walter bagehot

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart – mahatma gandhi

Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive – the risk to be alive and express what we really are. – don miguel ruiz

I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much – mother teresa

I love those decadent wenches who do so trouble my dreams – rembrandt