Freedom Focused INDEX of Quotes

"You must be change you wish to see in the world

—Gandhi

"What you become inwardly changes your outer reality."

—Plutarch/Otto Rank

"Know thyself!"

—Socrates

Lao Tzu
6th to 5th century BC

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the road less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

—Robert Frost

“There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.”

– Glen Campbell

"Nature does not hurry; yet everything is accomplished."

—Lao Tzu  

"Those who cannot remember the past

are condemned to repeat it."

—George Santayana

"You tell on yourself."

—Anonymous

(sometimes attributed to Marie Losavio)

        

"General [Chamberlain], you have the soul of the lion and the heart of the woman."

—General Horatio G. Sickel

William Gladstone
4-time UK Prime Minister

"Mental health is dedication to reality at all costs."

—M. Scott Peck, M.D. 

"The American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man."

—William Ewart Gladstone

Jordan R. Jensen, Ed.D.

"Nations, States, Communities, Corporations, Organizations, Schools, Families, and Individuals everywhere would do well to follow the example of America's Founding Fathers by establishing similar, principle-centered documents for the guidance and governance of their own lives and the entities they build and lead."

—Jordan R. Jensen

Be a DOER, not a drag; be a CREATOR, not a critic; be an EXAMPLE, not a judge.

—Jordan R. Jensen

"If a [person] is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of Heaven and Earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'"

—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Wisdom is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

—Proverbs 4:7

"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.

If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime."

 —Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie

Ritchie published a similar statement in her 1885 novel, Mrs. Dymond

"Service to many leads to greatness."

—Jim Rohn

"If you live well, you will earn well."

—Jim Rohn

"Be civil to all, sociable to many, familiar with few, friend to one, and enemy to none."

—Benjamin Franklin

"I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong."

—Queen Elizabeth II

"The girls (Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret) will not leave England unless I leave England, and I will not leave England unless their Father (the King) leaves England, and the King is not leaving England! We will stay here with our people and see the thing through, come what may."  

—Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother)

Response when a suggestion was made that she take her family to Canada for safe-keeping during WWII

Advance Britannia!

Long Live the Cause of FREEDOM!

And God Save the King!*  

—Winston Churchill

"Life is pain, Highness!

Anyone who says differently is selling something."

—Wesley

from The Princess Bride

Mark Twain

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

—Mark Twain

"Keep your eyes wide open before marriage,

and half shut afterwards."

—Benjamin Franklin

"Be a light, not a judge."

—Stephen R. Covey 

Thee lift me, and I'll lift thee

And we shall both ascend together.

— Old Quaker Proverb 

"If the present tries to sit in judgment of the past,

it will lose the future." 

—Sir Winston Churchill

"There are no perfect parents, and there are no perfect children,
but there are plenty of perfect moments along the way."

—Dave Willis

"There are times in life when it is important to be right.

But most of the time it is more important to be easy to live with."

—Christoffel Golden

"Your decisions determine your destiny."

—Common Saying

"That which hurts, instructs." 

—Benjamin Franklin

"Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans."

—John Lennon 

"Grace is when God gives you something you don't deserve,

and mercy is when God doesn't give you something you do deserve."   

—Garth Brooks, et al.

"Govern wisely—and as little as possible."

—Sam Houston 

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen
The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'"

—John Greenleaf Whittier 

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

—Robert Frost   

"I have missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost over 300 games. Twenty-six (26) times I was trusted to take the game-winning shot—and missed. I have failed over, and over, and over again in my life; and that is why I SUCCEED."   

—Michael Jordan

"The political leaders with whom we are familiar generally aspire to be superstars rather than heroes. The distinction is crucial. Superstars strive for approbation; heroes walk alone. Superstars crave consensus; heroes define themselves by the judgment of a future they see it as their task to bring about. Superstars seek success in a technique for eliciting support; heroes pursue success as the outgrowth of their inner values"

—Henry Kissinger

"We make a living by what we get.
We make a life by what we give."

—Winston Spencer Churchill

"I wasn't born here,

but I got here as quick as I could!" 

—Folks who move to Texas

(and Florida)

John Donne

"No Man is an Island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away from the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a Promontory were, as well as if a Manor of thy friends, or of thine own were; Any Mans [sic] death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."

—John Donne

"The more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know!"

—Anonymous

"Who is Rich?
"He that rejoiceth in his portion."

—Benjamin Franklin

"Your life does not get better by chance.
It gets better by CHANGE."

John Keats

—Jim Rohn

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

—John Keats

"Success is not one thing.
It's a thousand little things."

—Jeff Allen

Head Athletic Trainer

Alabama Football

"If eyes were meant for seeing,

then beauty is its own excuse for being."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Dost thou love life?
Then do not squander time;

for that's the stuff life is made of."

—Benjamin Franklin

"Gratitude is a sign of maturity. It is an indication of sincere humility.
It is a hallmark of civility."*

—Gordon Hinckley

"YOU are only as great as your NEXT performance."

—Mantra of Champions

School they feelings, O my brother;
Train thy warm, impulsive soul.
Do not its emotions smother
But let wisdom's voice control.

—Charles W. Penrose

Thomas Huxley

"The most valuable result of all education is to make you do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not. It is the first lesson that ought to be learned. And however early a man [or woman's] training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he [or she] learns thoroughly."

—Thomas Huxley

"Nothing is really hard or easy.
There is only your ability (or lack thereof) to do."

—Dr. JJ      


"Things don't change.
We change."

—Thoreau   

"As ye sow, so shall ye reap."

—The Law of the Harvest

"What goes around comes around."

—Old proverb 

"Easy choices, hard life.

               Hard choices, easy life." 

    —Jerzey Gregorek       

"You can always say 'No.'"

—Dorothy Adams

"A burning desire to succeed is not enough [to win in real life]. ... There are two types of burning desire . . . and the one type is phony and hypocritical. This phony type of burning desire is found in the person who is constantly telling his [spouse], his boss, and (worst of all) himself, that he really wants to succeed. [She] reads all the self-help books published and [she] gets her "kicks" from reading about others succeeding just as there are individuals who get their "kicks" from reading pornographic books. Unfortunately for our friends who read either types of these books they never get into action. They live their lives vicariously through their imagined participation in the lives and activities of others. Tomorrow, to this type of dreamer, will be a great day. [The problem is that] tomorrow never comes."

—Og Mandino

Mandino, O. (1972). The Greatest Secret in the World. New York, NY: Bantam Books. Pages 2-3

 

"Big talkers, little doers."

         "None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." 

—Benjamin Franklin   

"When you succeed, you tend to party; but when you fail, you tend to ponder."

—Anthony Robbins    

"A form more fair, a face more sweet,

Ne'er has it been my lot to meet

And her modest answer and graceful air

Show her good and wise as she is fair."

—John Greenleaf Whittier 

"Alas for maiden, alas for Judge,

For rich repiner and household drudge!

God pity them both! and pity us all,

Who vainly the dreams of youth recall;

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'

Ah, well, for us all some sweet hope lies

Deeply buried from human eyes;

And, in the hereafter, angels may

Roll the stone from its grave away!

—John Greenleaf Whittier  

Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;

Like twilight's, too, her dusky hair; ...

I saw her upon nearer view,

A spirit, yet a woman too! ...

A countenance in which did meet

Sweet records, promises as sweet; ...

A being breathing thoughtful breath,

A traveler between life and death;

The reason firm, the temperate will,

Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;

A perfect woman, nobly planned

To warn, to comfort, and command;

And yet a spirit still, and bright

With something of angelic light.

— William Wordsworth

"When you fight, you can never get enough;
but when you yield, you get more than expected."

— Dale Carnegie  

"Everything is determined by what you do and [your efforts]

to be your best—so that you can build on positive performance."

"Nothing is acceptable but your best."

—Nick Saban

"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."

—Winston Churchill

"It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds.

In reality our best work is done by keeping things out."

—The Devil

"Things always happen for a reason,

but sometimes that reason is because you are stupid and make bad decisions."

—Anonymous online quote

"Human beings, man!"

— Brian Regan 

"Exceptionally difficult external circumstances give us the opportunity to grow beyond ourselves."

—Viktor Frankl

"Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it."*

— Viktor Frankl   

From Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl

"All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon the sand."

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"Learn to Labor and to Wait."

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow    

"Yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery;

today is a gift—that's why they call it the PRESENT!"

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself; sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof."

— Jesus

"We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves."

— Marie Curie  

"Money isn't everything, but it ranks right up there with oxygen."

—Zig Ziglar

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent,

but the one most responsive to change."

— Charles Darwin  

"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm."

— Winston Churchill

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in-nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

        — Winston Churchill 

"In between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our power to choose our response; and in our response lies our growth and freedom." 

— Stephen R. Covey

This statement has been attributed to both Viktor Frankl as well as Covey himself -- due to the commonality with which he quoted it.  

"Go to work, do your best ... tell the truth ... [and] don't outsmart your common sense."

— Doug Johnson, Tim James, Timothy A. James (songwriters)

"Comparison is the thief of joy."

— Theodore Roosevelt

"In every job that must be done

there is an element of fun.
Find the fun and the job becomes a game."

— Mary Poppins 

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

— Jenkin Lloyd George

Mark Twain

"The [person] who will not read is no better
than the [person] who cannot read."

— Mark Twain 

"Pride goeth before destruction,
and an haughty spirit before a fall.

— Proverbs  

"When mores are sufficient, laws are unnecessary;
[but], when mores are insufficient, laws are unenforceable."

— Èmile Durkheim 

Hyrum W. Smith

When I was just a boy, my father had me memorize a statement that said, "You cannot think any deeper than your vocabulary will allow you to think." If you really examine anyone who has been authentically successful as an entrepreneur—or in any other field—you will discover they have a large vocabulary. As I reflect back over my career, I attribute much of my success to a love of the English language and my commitment to read deeply and widely, and to study speech and language. Anyone who wants to be successful in this world has got to read books, and lots of them. This requires a willingness to set aside electronic devices, social media, video games, and other distractions, and the discipline to stick to the task of reading—even when it seems boring. In order to learn independently of others and expand your vocabulary, you must pay the price to spend time with good books, including the dictionary. There is no other way. The size of your vocabulary will, to a large extent, determine how much success you enjoy—or don't enjoy—in your life. 

        —Hyrum W. Smith

Mount Everest

"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."

— Sir Edmund Hillary 

"The People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are [usually] the ones who do."

— Steve Jobs

"Life is a grindstone; whether it grinds you down or polishes you up is for you and you alone to decide."

— Cavett Robert

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

— Gandhi

"We all know that something is eternal. And it ain't houses and it ain't names, and it ain't earth, and it ain't even the stars ... Everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you'd be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There's something way deep down that's eternal about every human being."

—Thornton Wilder 

(From Act III of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Our Town)

"Life is Difficult."

— M. Scott Peck, M.D.

"Life is Difficult... [but] most do not fully see this truth... Instead they moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly, about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, their difficulties as if life were generally easy, as if life should be easy. They voice their belief ... that their difficulties represent a unique kind of affliction that should not be and that has somehow been especially visited upon them, or upon their families, their tribe, their class, their nation, their race or even their species, and not upon others."

— M. Scott Peck, M.D. 

(The Road Less Traveled. 1978, New York, NY: Touchstone. p. 32-33).

"A [person's] suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the 'size' of human suffering is absolutely relative."

— Viktor Frankl

(Man's Search for Meaning. 2006. Beacon: Boston, MA, p. 44).

"There are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. ... It is not the critic who counts; not the [person] who points out how the strong [one] stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the [person] who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends [oneself] in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if [he or she] fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that [his or her] place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

— Theodore Roosevelt

from his Citizenship in a Republic speech

"We can just as little afford to follow the doctrinaires of an

extreme individualism as of an extreme socialism."

—Theodore Roosevelt

"We cannot solve life's problems except by solving them. This statement may seem idiotic... or self-evident, yet it is seemingly beyond the comprehension of much of the human race. This is because we must accept responsibility for a problem before we can solve it. We cannot solve a problem by saying 'It's not my problem.' We cannot solve a problem by hoping that someone else will solve it for us. I can solve a problem only when I say 'This is my problem and it's up to me to solve it.' But many, so many, seek to avoid the pain of their problems by saying to themselves: 'This problem was caused me by other people, or by social circumstances beyond my control, and therefore it is up to other people or society to solve this problem for me. It is not really my personal problem. [And] the extent to which people will go psychologically to avoid assuming responsibility for personal problems, while always sad, is sometimes almost ludicrous."

— M. Scott Peck, M.D. 

(The Road Less Traveled. 1978, New York, NY: Touchstone. p. 32-33).

Jordan R. Jensen, Ed.D.

"Success is the greatest revenge."

— Dr. JJ

Bad people tear things down.

Good people build things up.

— Dr. JJ

"There is really no such thing as hard or easy. 

There is only your ability (or lack thereof) to do."

— Dr. JJ

"Humility is seeing things as they really were, really are, and really will be

—and then acting in deferent accordance with that knowledge."

—Dr. JJ

"Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as a by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it."

— Viktor Frankl

(Man's Search for Meaning. Foreword/Preface).

Elbert Hubbard

"Next to the bestowal of life itself,

the right to direct that life is God's greatest gift to man."

— David Oman McKay 

"Don't wish life were easier; wish YOU were better!"

— Jim Rohn  

"The reward which life holds out for work is not idleness nor rest,
nor immunity from work, but increased capacity."

— Elbert Hubbard 

"Things don't change; we change!"

— Henry David Thoreau  

The Lincoln Memorial; Washington D.C., USA

"You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time.
But you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

— Abraham Lincoln   

"When you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."

— Mark Twain   

"It has been my misfortune to peril my all for the Union. So indissolubly connected is my life, my history, my hopes, my fortunes, with it, that when it falls, I would ask that with it might close my career, that I might not survive the destruction of the shrine that I had been taught to regard as holy and inviolable, since my boyhood. I have beheld it, the fairest fabric of Government God ever vouchsafed to man, more than a half century. May it never be my fate to stand sadly gazing on its ruins! To be deprived of it, after enjoying it so long, would be a calamity, such as no people yet have endured."

— Sam Houston   

"Do what it right; let the consequence follow. Battle for freedom in spirit and might. And with stout hearts look ye forth til tomorrow. God will protect you; then do what is right!"

— From the Hymn: Do What is Right 

"He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson   

"Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway."

—John Wayne

"Courage is more exhilarating than fear. And in the long run, it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it as not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down."

—Eleanor Roosevelt

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

— John Lennon 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery;
today is a gift—that's why they call it the PRESENT."

—Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson

"No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that it is the worst form of government on earth, except for all the others that have been tried from time-to-time."

— Winston Churchill

Socrates before ingesting the hemlock.

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers." 

— Socrates

"We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turn [in thinking, speaking, or acting], then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the [person] who turns back soonest is the most progressive ... We have all seen this when doing arithmetic. When I have started a sum the wrong way, the sooner I admit this and go back and start again, the faster I shall get on. There is nothing progressive about being pig headed and refusing to admit a mistake. ... Going back is the quickest way on."*

— C.S. Lewis

*Lewis, C.S. (2001). Mere Christianity. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. Pages 28-29

Charles Spurgeon

"Humility is to make a right estimate of one's self."

—Charles H. Spurgeon

Be mindful of your weaknesses and be aware of your strengths.

—A Wise Man Dr. JJ once knew

"A healthy discontent is good."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson  

"YOU must be the change you wish to see in the world.  —Gandhi 

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it."

—Proverbs 22:6  

"It is a sign of marked ... weakness ... if the people tend to be carried away by mere oratory, if they tend to value words in and for themselves, as divorced from the deeds for which they are to stand. The phrase-maker, the phrase-monger, the ready talker, however great his power, whose speech does not make for courage, sobriety, and right understanding, is simply a noxious element ... and it speaks ill for the public if he has influence over them. To admire the gift of oratory without regard to the moral quality behind the gift is to do wrong..."   

—Theodore Roosevelt

"The first condition of freedom is its limitation; make it absolute and it dies in chaos."

—Will Durant

“The only real revolution is in the enlightenment of the mind and the improvement of character, the only real emancipation is individual, and the only real revolutionists are philosophers and saints.”

—Will Durant

"A youth boiling with hormones will wonder why he should not give full freedom to his sexual desires; and if he is unchecked by custom, morals, or laws, he may ruin his life before he matures sufficiently to understand that sex is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restraints if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group." 

—Will & Ariel Durant

From: The Lessons of History, Page 35-36.

"Jesus lost a voice vote to a guy named Barabbus. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was put to death. Abraham Lincoln lost more races than he won. How you conduct yourself matters. We are in a society, in a culture, that values winning … [including] cheating to win [and] getting away with committing penalties. I think the way we do things matters. ... I just don’t think winning is the ultimate objective. I think the ultimate objective is to lead an honorable life."

—Trey Gowdy

"We need to be reminded more than we need to be instructed."

—G.K. Chesterton  

"There is at the back of all our lives an abyss of light, more blinding and unfathomable than any abyss of darkness; and it is the abyss of actuality, of existence, of the fact that things truly are, and that we ourselves are incredibly and sometimes almost incredulously real. It is the fundamental fact of being, as against not being; it is unthinkable, yet we cannot unthink it, though we may sometimes be unthinking about it; unthinking and especially unthanking. For he who has realized this reality knows that it does outweigh, literally to infinity, all lesser regrets or arguments for negation, and that under all our grumblings there is a subconscious substance of gratitude.

—G.K. Chesterton  

Chesterton, G. K. (2008). Geoffrey Chaucer. Cornwall, UK: House of Stratus. Page 15.

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."

—Henry David Thoreau


“Cynics do not contribute, skeptics do not create, [and] doubters do not achieve.”

—Bryant S. Hinckley

"Who am I to judge another
When I walk imperfectly?
In the quiet heart is hidden
Sorrow that the eye can’t see."

—From the HYMN: Lord I Would Follow Thee


"A man’s suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly, no matter how big the chamber. Thus suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind, no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore the “size” of human suffering is absolutely relative."

—Viktor Frankl
Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man's Search for Meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Page 44.

William James

“Formal education makes you a living; self-education makes you a legend.”

—Habeeb Akande

“Sow a thought, reap an action; Sow an action, reap a habit;

Sow a habit, reap a character; Sow a character, reap a destiny.”

—William James

Patrick Henry

"Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

—Patrick Henry

“The secret to happiness is freedom.

And the secret to freedom is courage.”

—Thucydides

Know this that every soul is free,

To choose his life, and what he’ll be;

For this eternal truth is giv’n:

That God will force no man to heav’n.

—Anonymous

“In the long run [you] hit only what [you] aim at.”

–Henry David Thoreau

“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving,

and that’s your own self.

–Aldous Huxley

I wanted to change the world,

but I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.”

–Aldous Huxley

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others.’”

–Martin Luther King, Jr.

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

–Pierre Tielhard de Chardin

"It is scary to think that we really don’t know what we’re doing or where we’re going, and that we are intellectual infants stumbling around in the dark. It’s so much more comfortable, therefore, to live in an illusion that we know much more than we actually do. … Were we to wake to the reality of our terrible ignorance, we would either have to think of ourselves as being profoundly stupid or, at the very least, let ourselves in for a lifetime of effortful learning. Since most people don’t like to think of themselves as stupid or let themselves in for a lifetime of effortful anything, it’s just so much more comfortable to live in this nice illusion that we know much more than we actually do."

–M. Scott Peck, M.D. 

Peck, M. S. (1993). Further Along the Road Less Traveled: The Unending Journey Toward Spiritual Growth (The Edited Lectures) New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. Page 75.

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.”

–William Shakespeare

From: As You Like It

“I wouldn’t give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity; 

[But] I would give my right arm for the simplicity on the far side of complexity.”

–Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 

“The reward which life holds out for work is not idleness nor rest, nor immunity from work, but increased capacity, GREATER DIFFICULTIES, MORE WORK.”

–Elbert Hubbard

“Life is a grindstone, and whether it grinds you down or polishes you up
is for you and you alone to decide.”

–Cavett Robert

"[The] tendency to avoid problems and the emotional suffering inherent in them is the primary basis of all human mental illness. Since most of us have this tendency to a greater or lesser degree, most of us are … lacking complete mental health. Some of us will go to quite extraordinary lengths to avoid our problems and the suffering they cause, proceeding far afield from all that is clearly good and sensible in order to try to find an easy way out, building the most elaborate fantasies in which to live, sometimes to the total exclusion of reality. In the succinctly elegant words of Carl Jung, “Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.”

–M. Scott Peck, M.D. 

Peck, M. S. (1978). The Road Less Traveled. New York, NY: Touchstone. Page 16-17.

Sometimes with one I love I fill myself with rage for fear I
effuse unreturn’d love,
But now I think there is no unrerturn’d love, the pay is certain
one way or another,
(I loved a certain person ardently and my love was not return’d,
Yet out of that I have written these songs.) 

–Walt Whitman

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life if your own.

No apologies or excuses.”

–Dan Zadra

“When you rule your mind, you rule your world.”

–Imelda Shanklin

“Highly proactive people … do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling … [For proactive persons, their] honor becomes greater than [their] moods.”

–Stephen R. Covey

Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY: Fireside. Pages 71 & 92.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Henry Thoreau made, last night, the fine remark that, as long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way, governments, society, and even the sun and moon and stars, as astrology may testify.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

From his personal journal, October 1842.

“We are responsible for our own effectiveness, our own happiness, and ultimately, I would say, for most of our circumstances.”

–Stephen R. Covey

Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY: Fireside. Page 93.

Young Winston Churchill

“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

–Winston Churchill

“Before success comes in any[one's] life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps some failure…. Remember that all who succeed in life get off to a bad start, and pass through many heartbreaking struggles before they ‘arrive.’”

–Napoleon Hill

"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve."

—Napoleon Hill

"It is funny how mortals always picture us [devils] as putting things into their minds; in reality our best work is done by keeping things out."

–C.S. Lewis

Lewis, C.S. (1995). The Screwtape Letters. New York: Bantam. Chapter IV, Page 11.

Hyrum W. Smith
1943-2019

“Natural Laws have consistent, predictable consequences. They exist whether or not we recognize them. And they exert their effects on us without our consent or awareness. … If we internalize [them] … we can significantly increase our personal productivity and happiness. … If you apply them, you will find inner peace, perhaps the most desirable gift you can obtain in this life.”

–Hyrum W. Smith

Smith, H.W. (1994) The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management: Proven Strategies for Increased Productivity and Inner Peace.

New York, NY: Warner Books. Pages 14-15.

 

“The major value in life is not what you get…. [It] is what you become.”

–Jim Rohn

“If there be any peace it will come through being, not having.”

–Henry Miller

Plutarch

"For things to change, you must change."

–Jim Rohn

“What you become inwardly changes your outer reality.”

–Plutarch & Otto Rank

"The Abundance Mentality … flows out of a deep inner sense of personal worth and security. It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity."

–Stephen R. Covey

Covey, S.R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY: Fireside. Page 219-220.  

“United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do. For we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds, and split asunder. Let [us] explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us."

–President John F. Kennedy

“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

–President John F. Kennedy

“Wisdom is the principal thing;

therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”

–Proverbs 4:7

“I think, therefore I am.”

–Réne Descartes

Winston Churchill in
uniform at Sandhurst
Military Academy

“The truth is incontrovertible.

Malice may attack it, and ignorance may deride it,

but in the end, there it is.” 

–Winston Churchill

“You become what you think about all day long.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I will simply express my strong belief, that that point of self-education which consists in teaching the mind to resist its desires and inclinations, until they are proved to be right, is the most important of all, not only in things of natural philosophy [science], but in every department of daily life.”

–Michael Faraday

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal.”

–Thomas Jefferson

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

–Dr. Seuss

From: O The Places You'll Go

"God helps those who help themselves."

–Benjamin Franklin

"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Charles Dickens

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

–Charles Dickens

From: A Tale of Two Cities

Geoffrey Chaucer

This fine example to his flock he gave,
That first he wrought and afterwards he taught;
Out of the gospel then that text he caught,
And this figure he added thereunto-
That, if gold rust, what shall poor iron do?
For if the priest be foul, in whom we trust,
What wonder if a layman yield to lust?
And shame it is, if priest take thought for keep,
A shitty shepherd, shepherding clean sheep.
Well ought a priest example good to give,
By his own cleanness, how his flock should live.
He never let his benefice for hire,
Leaving his flock to flounder in the mire…

–Geoffrey Chaucer

Quote from The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

"The effort to prevent [human evil and organizational corruption & malaise] must therefore be directed toward the individual. It is, of course, a process of education … [and I have a dream that] Children will be taught that laziness and narcissism are at the very root of all human evil, and why this is so. They will learn that each individual is of sacred importance. … And they will finally see it as each individual’s responsibility to continually examine himself or herself for laziness and narcissism and then to purify themselves accordingly. They will do this in the knowledge that such personal purification is required not only for the salvation of their individual souls but also for the salvation of their world.”

–M. Scott Peck, M.D. 
 Peck, M.S. (1983). People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil. New York, NY: Touchstone. Page 252-253.

Newton

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

–Sir Isaac Newton

“Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance.

Strong men believe in cause and effect.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I’m a great believer in luck.

I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” 

– Thomas Jefferson 

“People always call it luck when you have acted more sensibly than they have.”

– Anne Tyler

“The Past does not equal the Future.”

– Anthony Robbins

“Don't be lazy in language.”

– Jim Rohn

“This above all: to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst no then be false to any man.”

– William Shakespeare

“Grace is when God gives you something you don't deserve.

And mercy is when God doesn't give you something that you do deserve.”

– Garth Brooks, et al.

“This age, which believes that there is a shortcut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.”

– Henry Miller

Elbert Hubbard

“Men are under the domain of Natural Law as much as bees.

Men succeed only by working with other men and for other men.”

– Elbert Hubbard

“Keep in your heart a shrine to the ideal,

and upon this altar let the fire never die.”

– Elbert Hubbard

“We are too inclined to think of law as something merely restrictive—something hemming us in.  We sometimes think of law as the opposite of liberty.  But that is a false conception. ... [The law] is meant to govern and it is also meant to educate.”

– Cecil B. DeMille

“Next to the bestowal of life itself, the right to direct that life is God's greatest gift to man.

Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession Earth can give.  

Everyone has this most precious of life's endowments—the gift of agency—

man's inherited and inalienable right.”

– David Oman McKay

Jesus washing the feet of His 12 Apostles

“If you want to be great, then find a way to serve ... for service ... leads to greatness.”

– Jim Rohn

“Our ordinary mind always tries to persuade us that we are nothing but acorns and that our greatest happiness will be to become bigger, fatter, shinier acorns; but that is of interest only to pigs.  Our faith gives us knowledge of something much better: that we can become oak trees.”

– E.F. Schumacher

Schumacher, E.F. (1977). A Guide for the Perplexed. New York, NY: Perennial. Page 135.

“The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.”

– Vince Lombardi

“The greatest of all arts is the acquisition of self-knowledge.”

– E.F. Schumacher

“I have but one maxim ... Do right and risk the consequences.”

– Sam Houston

“What interest, zest, or excitement can there be in achieving the right way, unless we are enabled to feel that the wrong way is also a possible and a natural way, — nay, more, a menacing and an imminent way? And what sense can there be in condemning ourselves for taking the wrong way, unless we need have done nothing of the sort, unless the right way was open to us as well? I cannot understand the willingness to act, no matter how we feel, without the belief that acts are really good and bad.”

– William James

From: The Dilemma of Determinism (1884)

“The decathlon includes ten separate events and they all matter.

You can't work on just one of them.”

– Dan O'Brien

EMERSON

“Give me health and a day,

and I will make the pomp of emperors look ridiculous.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“As more and more artificial intelligence

is entering into the world,

more and more emotional intelligence

must enter into leadership.”

– Amit Ray

“Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy ... [and] compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection — or compassionate action.”

– Daniel Goleman

Goleman, D. (2006). Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships. New York, NY: Arrow Books. Page 54. 

"Words—so innocent and powerless they are as standing in a dictionary—how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them!"

—Nathaniel Hawthorne

“I believe that through knowledge and discipline,

financial peace is possible for all of us.”

– Dave Ramsey

"There is a causal relationship between

self-worth and productivity."

—Hyrum W. Smith

“Just as a car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.”

– Brian Tracy

Kennedy on the $US 50 cent piece

“We do not go to space because it is easy;

we do it because it is hard.”

– President John F. Kennedy

“That's one small step for man; 

one giant leap for mankind.”

– Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong

“Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe ... 

the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”

– Immanuel Kant

“Mental health [is] a process of ongoing dedication to reality at all costs ...

no matter how uncomfortable the reality makes us.”

– M. Scott Peck, M.D. 

Peck, M.S. (1993). Further Along the Road Less Traveled: The Unending Journey Toward Spiritual Growth (The Edited Lectures). 

New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. Page 75.

Sir Walter Scott

“O what a tangled web we weave

When first we practise [sic] to deceive!”

– Sir Walter Scott

“Let us have faith that right makes might,

and in that faith, let us, to the end, 

dare to do our duty as we understand it.”

– Abraham Lincoln

“He who has a why to live

can bear almost any how.”

– Friedrich Nietzsche

“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.”

– John Maynard Keynes

“If we learn personal discipline ... then we have the freedom to live without concern.  Everybody loves freedom, but most people think that discipline leads to bondage.

That isn't true.  Discipline always leads to freedom.”

William Godwin

– Woodrow Kroll

“There is a reverence that we owe to everything in human shape.”

– William Godwin

“More than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm.”

– Buddha

“Man has demonstrated that he is master of everything except his own nature.”

– Henry Miller

“The greatest battle of life is fought within the silent chambers of your own soul.”

– David Oman McKay

“A new philosophy, a new way of life, is not given for nothing.  It has to be paid dearly for and [is] only acquired with much patience and great effort.”

– Fyodor Dostoevsky

“Success is life anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. More important, you must pay the price to stay there.”

– Vince Lombardi

“A price has to be paid for success.  Almost invariably those who have reached the summits worked harder and longer, studied and planned more assiduously, practiced more self-denial, [and] overcame more difficulties

than those of us who have not risen so far.”

– Barry C. Forbes

Benjamin Franklin

“Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seed of an

equivalent or a greater benefit.”

– Napoleon Hill

From Think and Grow Rich

“Half the truth is often a great lie.”

– Benjamin Franklin

“When you change the way

you look at things,

the things you look at change.”

– Wayne Dyer

“Nothing so conclusively proves a man's ability to lead others

as what he does from day to day to lead himself.”

– Thomas Watson

“Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, or a quest for power, 

as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest for meaning. 

The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her life.”

– Harold S. Kushner

Admiral David Farragut

“No one cares what storms you faced, only did you bring in the ship?”

– Admiral David Farragut

“Damn the torpedoes...

full speed ahead!”

– Admiral David Farragut

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

– Galatians 6:7

“Before you can control conditions, you must first control yourself.  Self-mastery is the hardest job you will ever tackle.  If you do not conquer self,

you will be conquered by self.  You may see at one and the same time both your

best friend and your greatest enemy, by stepping in front of a mirror.”

– Napoleon Hill

Lao Tzu

“He who conquers himself is mighty.”

– Lao Tzu

“The strong man is not the good wrestler; the strong man is only the one who controls himself.”

– Muhammad

“One who conquers himself is greater than another who

conquers a thousand times a thousand on the battlefield.”

– Buddha

“Seek education from the cradle to the grave.”

– Muhammad

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead to an understanding of ourselves.”

– Carl Jung

“For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.”

– Benjamin Franklin

“If your life is worth living, it is worth recording.”

– Anthony Robbins

“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence

of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.”

– Jim Rohn

“Whether you like it or not, alone will be something you'll be quite a lot.”

– Dr. Seuss

From O the Places You'll Go!

“When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

– Anonymous

“Good, better, best.

Never let it rest 'til the good is better, and the better is best.”

– St Jerome

“You are the best you. You will always be the second best anyone else.”

– Leo Buscaglia

“Integrity is the essence of everything successful.”

– R. Buckminster Fuller

Benjamin Franklin

“Integrity is the ability to carry out a worthy decision

after the emotion of making that decision has passed.”

– Hyrum W. Smith

“He that won't be counseled can't be helped.”

– Benjamin Franklin

“Fools need advice most, but Wise men only are the better for it.”

– Benjamin Franklin

“Always be humble and kind.”

– Tim McGraw and Lori McKenna

“It is better to prepare and prevent than it is to repair and repent.”

– Jim Rohn et al.

William James

“The simple act of commitment is a powerful magnet for help.

The moment we commit and quit holding back,

all sorts of unforeseen people, events, and circumstances

will rise up and assist us.”

– William James

“[A person's] business is to work—to surmount difficulties,

to endure hardship, to solve problems, to overcome the

inertia of his own nature: to turn chaos into

cosmos by the aid of system—this is to live!”

– Elbert Hubbard

Thomas Carlyle

“Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance,

but to do what lies clearly at hand.”

– Thomas Carlyle

“What you are to be you are now becoming.”

– Carl Rogers

“He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night.”

– Benjamin Franklin

“Deny self for self's sake.”

– Benjamin Franklin

“Success is a few simple disciplines practiced every day.

Failure is a few simple disciplines neglected every day.”

– Jim Rohn

Alfred Lord Tennyson

“The happiness of a man in this life does not consist

in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.”

– Alfred Tennyson

“When all is said and done, more is usually said than done.”

– Lou Holtz

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

– Lao Tzu

“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in-nothing, great or small,

large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.  Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

– Winston Churchill

“Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen;

wherefore, dispute not because ye see not,

for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.”

– Scriptural Injunction

Ether 12:6; The Book of Mormon

Siddhartha Gautama
The Buddha

“As an irrigator guides water to his fields,

as an archer aims an arrow,

as a carpenter carves wood,

the wise shape their lives.”

– Buddha

“Every one of us has in himself

a continent of undiscovered character.

Happy is he who acts the

Columbus to his own soul.”

– Sir J. Stevens

“Patriotism is not a short and frenzied

outburst of emotion, but the tranquil and steady

dedication of a lifetime.”

– Adlai E. Stevenson

“We must remember that intelligence is not enough.

Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.”

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

“Civilization depends on morality.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson, R.W. (1888). Society and Solitude.

Boston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin. Google Books. Page 27.

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in: to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who has borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”

– Abraham Lincoln

“True success in life can only come when you are true to the uniqueness in you.”

– Hyrum W. Smith

“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. 

It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.”

– Warren Bennis

Young Longfellow

“Where 'ere thou art,

Act well thy part.”

– Anonymous

“Learn to labour and to wait.”

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“In your patience possess ye your souls.”

– Luke 21:19

The New Testament

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves: 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

– Marianne Williamson

Williamson, M. (1992). A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A COURSE IN MIRACLES. New York, NY: HarperPerennial. Pages 190-191.

“The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass

it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.”

– Henry Miller

“The world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people.

Forget yourself.”

– Henry Miller

“Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.”

– Henry Miller

"We are all worms,

but I do believe I am a glow worm."

—Winston Churchill

No other success can compensate for failure in the home.

—David Oman McKay

"The old paradigm of separating core academic curriculum from leadership, character, and life-skill education in America's schools is gradually beginning to shift. The time is coming when classes in leadership will be equally as important as those in mathematics, biology, or English; and from a career standpoint, possibly more important."

—Jack Zenger

“Hold fast to dreams.”

– Langston Hughes

“Choose you this day.”

– Joshua 24:15

The Old Testament

"There are no perfect men in this world; only perfect intentions."*

—Azeem to Robin in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

"One man defending his home is worth more than ten hired soldiers."*     —Robin Hood to his Merry Men

"Do you want to be free?  Then we must stop fighting amongst ourselves and face the fact that the price for it may be dear!"*     

—Robin Hood to his Merry Men

"Nobility is not a birthright; it is determined by one's actions."*     

—Robin to Marian

"I would die for you."*     

—Robin to Marian

* Screenplay by Pen Densham & John Watson   

"I meant what I said
And I said what I meant....
An elephant's faithful
One hundred percent!"

—Dr. Seuss

Goethe

"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least."

—Johann Wolfgang von Geothe

"Self-knowledge is best learned, not by contemplation, but by action."

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life."

—Jerzy Gregorek

"And ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free."

—Jesus

Jesus washes the feet of the Twelve Apostles

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

—Jesus

"He who is greatest among you shall be your servant."

—Jesus

"Nothing useless is, or low;

    Each thing in its place is best;

And what seems but idle show

    Strengthens and supports the rest."   

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

From his poem, The Builders

Wordsworth

"Every great poet is a teacher;

I wish either to be considered as a teacher or as nothing."

—William Wordsworth

Of all sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these: it might have been!

—John Greenleaf Whittier

In the quiet heart is hidden

Sorrow that the eye can’t see.

—From the HYMN: Lord I Would Follow Thee

“You may think that [psychiatric patients] are more cowardly and frightened than most. Not so. Those who come to psychotherapy are the wisest and most courageous among us. Everyone has problems, but what they often do is to try to pretend that those problems don’t exist, or they run away from those problems, or drink them down, or ignore them in some other way. It’s only the wiser and braver among us who are willing to submit themselves to the difficult process of self-examination that happens in a psychotherapist’s office.” 

–M. Scott Peck, M.D. 

Peck, M.S. (1993). Further Along the Road Less Traveled. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 51-52.

“[A person’s] foremost duty is owed to himself and his family … it is only after this has been done that he can help … the general well-being. He must pull his own weight first, and only after this can his surplus strength be of use to the general public. … The quality of the individual citizen is [therefore] supreme. … Character must show itself in [a person’s] performance both of the duty he owes himself and of the duty he owes the state.” 

—Theodore Roosevelt

"Let those who have, keep, [and] let those who have not, strive to attain, a high standard of cultivation and scholarship (education). Yet let us remember that these stand second to certain other things. There is need of a sound body, and even more of a sound mind. But above mind and above body stands character -- the sum of those qualities which we mean when we speak of a man's force and courage, of his good faith and sense of honor. ... Education must contain much besides book-learning in order to be really good. We must ever remember that no keenness and subtleness of intellect, no polish, no cleverness, in any way make up for the lack of the great solid qualities. Self-restraint, self mastery, common sense, the power of accepting individual responsibility and yet of acting in conjunction with others, courage and resolution -- these are the qualities which mark a masterful people. Without them no people can control itself, or save itself from being controlled from the outside. ... I pay all homage to intellect and to elaborate and specialized training of the intellect; and yet I know ... that more important still are the commonplace, every-day qualities and virtues."

—Theodore Roosevelt

Colonel Roosevelt
Even after he had stepped down
as President of the U.S., Roosevelt
preferred the title "Colonel" to all others.

"The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twister pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes to second achievement. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities - all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part painfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affection of contempt for the achievements of others, to hide from others and from themselves in their own weakness. The role is easy; there is none easier, save only the role of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

"Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride of slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be a cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength. It is war-worn Hotspur, spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who “but for the vile guns would have been a valiant soldier.”

—Theodore Roosevelt

A [person] must be a good patriot before he can be … a good citizen of the world. Experience teaches us that the average man who protests that his international feeling swamps his national feeling, that he does not care for his country because he cares so much for mankind, in actual practice proves himself the foe of mankind. … 

Now, this does not mean in the least that a man should not wish to do good outside his native land. On the contrary, just as I think that the man who loves his family is more apt to be a good neighbor than the man who does not, so I think that the most useful member of the family of nations is normally a strongly patriotic nation. 

—Theodore Roosevelt 

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? – Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! – All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the Earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

—Abraham Lincoln

"Not infrequently you hear this: 'What can I do to help world peace? Here I am, one lone, miserable individual. I cannot have any influence. I cannot do anything which will help. I am powerless.' 

"That, of course, is just nonsense, for the peace of the world rests upon the collective individuals in the world; it does not rest upon nations; it rests upon the individuals in those nations. Do not think that your lives are unimportant. Do not think for a moment that you can exert no influence because you are young or because you are few. 

"We have got to get away from the foolish notion that quantity is the important thing in influence. You know you can go into the laboratories on this campus and you will find that very minute amounts of particular substances can exert tremendous influences. One individual courageously choosing his own conduct in face of all odds, doing right, can exert a tremendous influence. Let us choose so that every event that comes into our lives will be enriching so that we will be bigger than any event, come whatever calamity may. We can so choose that it will not destroy us. [Each of us] can have FREEDOM in his own sphere. Each can contribute importantly to FREEDOM."  

—Joseph Fielding Smith

(Dr. JJ's Grandad)

"Under other forms of government, under the rule of one man or very few men, the quality of the leaders is all-important. ... But with ... us the case is different. With ... us [Americans] ... in the long run, success or failure will be conditioned upon the way in which the average man, the average woman, does his or her duty, first in the ordinary, every-day affairs of life, and next in those great occasional cries which call for heroic virtues. The average citizen must be a good citizen if our republics are to succeed. The stream will not permanently rise higher than the main source; and the main source of national power and national greatness is found in the average citizenship of the nation. Therefore it behooves us to do our best to see that the standard of the average citizen is kept high; and the average cannot be kept high unless the standard of the leaders is very much higher."

—Theodore Roosevelt

"It is a sign of marked political weakness in any commonwealth if the people tend to be carried away by mere oratory, if they tend to value words in and for themselves, as divorced from the deeds for which they are supposed to stand. The phrase-maker, the phrase-monger, the ready talker, however great his power, whose speech does not make for courage, sobriety, and right understanding, is simply a noxious element in the body politic, and it speaks ill for the public if he [or she] has power over them."

—Theodore Roosevelt

"America is the only nation founded on an idea—not an identity. That idea is the notion that the condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life. Our rights are natural. They come from God, not government."

—Paul Ryan

"Ability is nothing without Opportunity."

—Napoleon Bonaparte

from a Denzel Washington Graduation Speech

"I've found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks; nothing! Nelson Mandela said, 'There is no passion to be found playing small and settling for a life that's less than the one you're capable of living. ...

"Do what you feel passionate about; take chances; don't be afraid to fail. ... Don't be afraid to think outside the box; don't be afraid to fail big; to dream big. 

"But remember: dreams without goals are just dreams. 

"Reggie Jackson struck out 2,600 times in his career—the most in the history of baseball—but you don't hear about the strikeouts; people remember the home runs. ...

"Every failed experiment is one step closer to success. You've got to take risks. ... and I want to talk to you about why that is so important. 

"You will fail at some point in your life; accept it, you will lose. You will embarrass yourself; you will suck at something, there is no doubt about it. ... I'm telling you, embrace it because it is inevitable. ...

"Early on in my career I auditioned for a part in a Broadway musical—a perfect role for me I thought, except for the fact that I can't sing. I didn't get the job. But here's the thing: I didn't quit. I didn't fall back. I walked out of there to prepare for the next audition and the next audition and the next audition. I prayed; I prayed; and I prayed! But I continued to fail, and fail, and fail; but it didn't matter because you know what, there's an old saying: You hang around the barbershop long enough sooner or later you're gonna get a haircut. So you will catch a break, and I did catch a break. Last year I did a play called Fences on Broadway. But here's the kicker: it was at the Court Theatre—it was at the same theatre that I failed that first audition 30 years prior. ...

"Every graduate here has the training and the talent to succeed; but do you have the guts to fail? If you don't fail, you're not even trying. I'll say it again: if you don't fail, you're not even trying! To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did. So imagine you're on your deathbed, and standing around your deathbed are the ghosts representing your unfulfilled potential—the ghosts of the ideas you never acted on; the ghosts of the talents you never used. And they're standing around your bed angry, disappointed, and upset. They said we came to you because you could have brought us to life; and now we have to go to the grave together. So I ask you today: "How many ghosts are gonna be around your bed when your time comes?"

General George Washington

From George Washington's Rules for Civility...

Rule 1. EVERY Action done in Company ought to be with Some Sign of Respect to those that are Present.

Rule 6. SLEEP not when others Speak, Sit not when others stand, Speak not when you Should hold your Peace, walk not on when others Stop.Rule 22. Show not yourself glad at the Misfortune of another though he were your enemy.

Rule 48. WHEREIN you reprove Another be unblameable yourself; for example is more prevalent than Precepts.

Rule 49. USE no Reproachful language against any one. Neither Curse nor Revile.

Rule 50. BE not hasty to believe flying Reports to the Disparagement of any.

Rule 56. ASSOCIATE yourself with Men of good Quality if you Esteem your own Reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.

Rule 58. LET your conversation be without Malice or Envy....

Rule 73. THINK before you Speak. Pronounce not imperfectly nor bring out your Words too hastily, but orderly and Distinctly.

Rule 82. UNDERTAKE not what you cannot Perform, but be Careful to keep your Promise.Rule 108. WHEN you Speak of God or his Attributes, let it be Seriously & [with] Reverence. Honour & obey your Natural Parents [even if] they be Poor.

Rule 109. LET your Recreations be Manful not Sinful.

Rule 110. LABOR to keep alive in your breast that Little Spark of Celestial fire called Conscience.

Thomas Jefferson's 10 Rules for Life

1. Never put off til tomorrow what you can do to-day.

2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself. 

3. Never spend your money before you have it.

4. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.

5. Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold. 

6. We never repent of having eaten too little.

7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 

8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened!

9. Take things always by their smooth handle.

10. When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.

Winston Churchill Wartime Quotes

Self-action leaders never give up 

"Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict."  (1)

"What is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be."  (2)

"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!"  (3)

"Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'" (4)    

"You do your worst—and we will do our best."  (5)

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."  (6). 

 

Great QUOTES from American History...

"Always stand on principle, even if you stand alone." 

"If conscience disapproves, the loudest applauses of the world is of little value."

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

"To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do."

"Move or die is the language of our Maker in the constitution of our bodies."

"The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know. ... Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. This is enough." 

—John Adams (1732-1826), 2nd President of the United States

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Abigail Adams
1744-1818

"Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought after with ardor and diligence."

"I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic."

"We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond to them."

"If we mean to have heroes, statesmen, and philosophers, we should have learned women."

"Wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues." 

—Abigail Adams (1744-1818), First Lady of the United States

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Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826

"If you want something you've never had, you must do something you've never done."

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."

"The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money."

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; and that His justice cannot sleep forever."

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

"Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far." 

"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as reason for withdrawing from a friend."

Thomas Jefferson on the US $2.00 bill

"He who knows best knows how little he knows."

—Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd President of the United States

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George Washington
1732-1799

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."

"Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light."

"It is far better to be alone, than in bad company."

Washington Monument

"Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected."

"The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon."

"It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being."

—George Washington (1732-1799, 1st President of the United States

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Benjamin Franklin
1706-1790

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of."

"Love your enemies, for they will tell you your faults."

"He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas."

"Well done is better than well said."

"A right heart exceeds all."

"He that can have patience can have what he will."

"The things which hurt, instruct."

"Diligence is the mother of good luck."

"None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing."

"One today is worth two tomorrows."

"Haste makes waste."

Benjamin Franklin on the US $100 bill

"God gives all things to industry."

"Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve."

"He that won't be counseled can't be helped."

"He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night."

"Let thy vices die before thee."

"Search others for virtues, thyself for vices."

"Who has deceived thee so oft as thyself?"

"Tomorrow every fault is to be amended; but that Tomorrow never comes."

"For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned."

"Trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee."

"Fools need advice most, but Wise men only are the better for it."

"O lazybones! Dost thou think God would have given thee arms and legs, if He had not designed thou should'st use them?

"At the workingman's house hunger looks in, but dares not enter."

"Wink at small faults—remember that thou has great ones.

"Keep thou from the Opportunity, and God will keep thee from the Sin."

"Are you angry that others disappoint you?  Remember that you cannot depend upon yourself."

"The sleeping fox catches no poultry.  UP!  UP!"

"You may delay, but Time will not."

"The idle Man is the Devil's hireling, whose Livery is Rags, whose Diet and Wages are Famine and Disease."  

"Deny self for self's sake."

"Fly pleasures, and they'll follow you."

"He that would live in peace and at ease, Must not speak all he knows nor judge all he sees."

"What's more valuable than gold?

Diamonds.  Than Diamonds?  Virtue."

"A true friend is the best possession."

—Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Signer of the Declaration of Independence & Constitution

..................................................

"The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty."

"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary."

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

"The essence of government is power, and power, lodged as it must be, in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse."

"The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived."

"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood."

—James Madison (1751-1836), 4th President of the United States

..................................................

Sam Houston
General, President, Senator, Governor

"Do right and risk the consequences."

"Govern wisely — and as little as possible."

"I am aware that in presenting myself as an advocate of the [Native Americans] and their rights, I shall stand very much alone."

"Texas is the finest portion of the globe that has ever blessed my vision!"

"We view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are nerved for contest, and must conquer or perish. It is vain to look for present aid: none is at hand. We must act now or abandon all hope! Rally to the standard, and be no longer the scoff of mercenary tongues! Be men, be free men, that your children may bless their father's name."

Sam Houston Museum w/ my favorite Texan, Frank McLane.
Huntsville, Texas; April 13, 2019

"Let me tell [The Southern States] what is coming. After the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives you may win Southern independence, but I doubt it. The North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to move in a given direction, they move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche."

"To be a good man, an affectionate husband, a kind parent, ... a true patriot, and to leave my family and the world a spotless reputation, comprise all the objects of my earthly ambition!"

—Sam Houston (1786-1863), General (Army of Texas), President of the Republic of Texas, Governor of the State of Texas

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Abraham Lincoln
1809-1865

"You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time."

"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."

"How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg? Four. Saying that a tail is a leg doesn't make it a leg." 

"The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next." 

"I will prepare and someday my chance will come."

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."

Statue of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

"My dream is of a place and time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of Earth." 

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan  — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace for ourselves and for all nations."

"All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction is to be our lot, we ourselves must be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

—Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 16th President of the United States

..................................................

Frederick Douglass
1818-1895

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."

"I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs."

"One and God make a majority."

"The soul that is within me no man can degrade."

"I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own ridicule."

"The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous."

"A gentleman will not insult me, an no man not a gentleman can insult me."

—Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), Early Civil Rights Leader

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General/President U.S. Grant
1822-1885

"I have never advocated war except as a means for peace."

"Hold fast to the Bible. To the influence of this book we are indebted for all the progress made in ... civilization and to this we must look as our guide in the future."

"Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate." 

President U.S. Grant on the US $50.00 bill

"Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions."

"Everyone has his superstitions. One of mine has always been when I started to go anywhere, or to do anything, never to turn back until the thing intended was accomplished."

"Let us have peace."

—Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), Full General of the U.S. Army and 18th President of the United States

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1803-1882

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

"Life is a journey, not a destination."

"Be silly. Be honest. Be kind."

"Hitch your wagon to a star."

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."

"To be great is to be misunderstood."

"You become what you think about all day long."

"Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"One of the most beautiful compensations in life is that no person can help another without helping themselves."

"Knowledge is the antidote to fear."

"Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods."

"He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life."

"Every person I meet is in some way my superior — in that I learn of them."

"Character is higher than intellect."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Scholar, Philosopher, Essayist, Poet

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Henry David Thoreau
1817-1862

"It's not what you look at that matters; it's what you see."

"Rather than love, than money, than fame; give me truth."

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."

"Goodness is the only investment that never fails."

Sketch of Thoreau's Cabin near Walden Pond

"Things do not change; we change."

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

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor."

"None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm."

"Life your beliefs and you can turn the world around."

—Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), Philosopher, Essayist, Friend of Emerson's

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Theodore Roosevelt
1858-1919

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." 

"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

"I am part of everything that I have read."

"To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society."

"Never throughout history has a person who has lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering."

"The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with other people."

"With self-discipline, almost anything is possible."

"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."

"Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive."

"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."

"The only person who never makes mistakes is the person who never does anything."

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

—Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President of the United States.

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"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on."

"I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues."

"It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."

"If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships — the ability of peoples, of all kinds, to live together in the same world in peace."

"Confidence ... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live."

—Franklin Roosevelt (1884-1945), 32nd President of the United States.

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Eleanor Roosevelt
1884-1948

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

"You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude." 

"No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful."

"Life is what you make it. Always has been, and always will be."

"It is not fair to ask of others what you are unwilling to do yourself."

Eleanor with her husband, Franklin

"It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1948), First Lady of the United States.

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Martin Luther King, Jr.
1929-1968

"We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope."

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

"Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude."

"Life's most persistent and pressing question is: what am I doing for others." 

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

"Never succumb to the temptation to bitterness."

"Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education."

—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), Civil Rights Leader

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Ronald Reagan
1911-2004

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."

"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone."

"Trust, but verify."

"If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under."

"There are no easy answered, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what is morally right."

"The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away."

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a close resemblance to the first."

"They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong." 

—Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), 40th President of the United States.

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"I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition."

—Martha Washington (1731-1802), First Lady of the United States

"There ain't no ticks like poly-ticks. Bloodsuckers all."

"You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas."

"Remember these words when I am dead. First, be sure you're right; then go ahead."

—Davy Crockett (1786-1836), Soldier, Frontiersman, Soldier

"They may take our lives (or liberty),

but they will never take our freedom!"

—William Wallace

(As depicted by Mel Gibson in the 1995 Hollywood movie, Braveheart)

"I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his honor and that of his Country; Victory or death."

—William Barrett Travis (1809-1836), Soldier, Army Lieutenant Colonel

"Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost."

—Helen Keller (1880-1968), Political activist, disability rights advocate, author and lecturer

"There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can circumvent, hinder, or control, the firm resolve of a determined soul."

—Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919), Poet

"Be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."

—Judy Garland (1922-1969), Hollywood Actor

"I'm a big believer that eventually everything comes back to you. You get back what you give out." 

—Nancy Reagan (1911-2004), First Lady of the United States.

"Love and hope can conquer hate." 

"The best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats its women."

—Barack Obama (1961-Present), 44th President of the United States.

"Always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody says distract you from your goals."

—Michelle Obama (1964-Present), First Lady of the United States

"There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling. It's why you were born."

—Oprah Winfrey (1954-Present), Billionaire Media Mogul

—Dr. JJ

February 1, 2023
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 306th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 132nd consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 305 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Current Events, Cultural, Philosophical, & Miscellaneous Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

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