Authors and Writers

"Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbour, tho' he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Life is a long lesson in humility."

— J.M. Barrie

"Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate; to have it makes some difference that you have lived and lived well."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"When it is dark enough, you can see the stars."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Blame is safer than praise."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"It is of the most beautiful compensation of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"What we aspire to be is more than what we are, yet less than what we are capable of"

— Don Williams, Jr

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it."

— Maya Angelou

"When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate."

— Ann Landers

"There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self."

— Aldous Huxley

"Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow."

— Anthony J. D'Angelo

"The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards."

— Anatole France

"If one does not constantly improve, one stays behind. People must always stay on top of their game, whether through forward thinking or innovative actions. We live in a remarkable age in which technology is evolving rapidly and assisting us in continually improving ourselves and our work methods. Immerse yourself in change. Don't be afraid of it."

— Ayelet Noff, Carpe diem

"A man is what he thinks about all day long"

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The one thing that matters is the effort."

— Antoine de Saint Exupery

"Some Scientists & Technologists like Stokes, Green, Helmholtz, Cavendish, Clausius, Poincar', Rayleigh are men of undeniable genius."

— Malcolm Gladwell

"Significance should be your goal, not survival."

— Bob Gass

"This a wonderful day. I've never seen this one before."

— Maya Angelou

"I have no right, by anything I do or say, to demean a human being in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him; it is what he thinks of himself. To undermine a man's self-respect is a sin."

— Antoine de Saint Exupery

"People like Wayne Gretzky or Yo-Yo Ma or Charlie Wilson all have talents and an affinity for translating thought into action. They're what we might call physical geniuses."

— Malcolm Gladwell

"Run your own race, don't compare yourself to others rather compare your past achievements to your present, and always try to improve yourself."

— Attoh-Dedei

"We May Encounter Many Defeats But We Must Not Be Defeated."

— Maya Angelou

"I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just be alive is a grand thing."

— Agatha Christie

"I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Success is getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame."

— Webster dictionary

"This kind of obsessive preparation does two things. It creates consistency. Practice is what enables Greg Rusedski to hit a serve at a hundred and twenty-five miles per hour again and again. It's what enables a pianist to play Chopin's double-thirds 'tude at full speed, striking every key with precisely calibrated force. More important, practice changes the way a task is perceived."

— Malcolm Gladwell

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

— Alvin Toffler

"Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If you serve an ungrateful master serve him the more. Put God in your debt. Every stroke shall be repaid. The longer the payment is withheld, the better for you, for compound interest on compound interest is the rate and usage of this exchequer."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If you believe success is simply making (or having) a lot of money, you may be setting yourself up for failure."

— Geoffrey James

"Wayne Gretzky would frequently stay behind after practice, long after everyone had left, flipping pucks to a specific spot in the crease, or aiming shot after shot at the crossbar or the goal post."

— Malcolm Gladwell

"Our envy of others devours us most of all."

— Alexander Solzhenitsyn

"You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you."

— Maya Angelou

"Jealousy in romance is like salt in food. A little can enhance the savor, but too much can spoil the pleasure and, under certain circumstances, can be life-threatening."

— Maya Angelou

"A great man is always willing to be little."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"One of the things that set Rusedski apart from lesser players, in other words, is that he is the kind of person who is willing to stand out in the summer sun, repeating the same physical movement again and again, in single-minded pursuit of some fractional improvement in his performance."

— Malcolm Gladwell

"I believe that every person is born with talent."

— Maya Angelou

"Creativity is never the creation of something from nothing. Instead, consciously or not, people refashion things. They do this for the most part in three ways: by bending, breaking and blending, Bending involves taking something and altering a property, breaking involves taking a whole part and assembling something new from fragments. And blending involves mixing multiple sources together in new ways."

— Anthony Brandt and David Eagleman

"Envy is ignorance."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The men who have done big things are those who were not afraid to attempt big things, who were not afraid to risk failure in order to gain success."

— B. C. Forbes

"Gratitude turns what we have into enough."

— Aesop

"Thank you is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, and understanding."

— Alice Walker

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Employ the 90/10 rule. When 90 percent of the circumstances are uncontrollable, focus on the 10 percent you can do something about."

— Bob Gass

"We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated."

— Maya Angelou

"Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good."

— Maya Angelou

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."

— Aldous Huxley

"God answers all prayers. Sometimes his answer is no, when his answer is no, we don't immediately understand, but in due course we will understand and be grateful he said no."

— Attoh-Dedei

"It is with our heart that one sees rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye."

— Antoine de Saint Exupery, The little Prince

"To accomplish great things we must dream as well as act."

— Anatole France

"Judgement can be acquired only by acute observation, by actual experience in the school of life, by ceaseless alertness to learn from others, by study of the activities of men who have made notable marks, by striving to analyse the everyday play of causes and effects, by constant study of human nature"

— B. C. Forbes

"Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver."

— Barbara De Angelis

"The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them."

— Antoine de Saint Exupery

"A positive attitude is never automatic. You have to work at it."

— Geoffrey James

"Gratitude is one of the sweet shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside. No matter what is going on outside of us, there's always something we could be grateful for."

— Barry Neil Kaufman

"Call the roll in your memory of conspicuously successful giants and you will be struck by the fact that almost every one of them encountered inordinate difficulties sufficient to crush all but the gamest of spirits. Edison went hungry many times before he became famous."

— B. C. Forbes

"Poverty, Frost, Famine, Rain, Disease, are the beadles and guardsmen that hold us to common sense."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the fates."

— J.K. Rowling

"I really believe that everyone has a talent, ability, or skill that he can mine to support himself and to succeed in life."

— Dean Koontz

"Most top performers practice for around 10,000 hours per year."

— Malcolm Gladwell

"My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors."

— Maya Angelou