Quotations about:
    aspiration


Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.


This is the richest and most powerful country which ever occupied the globe. The might of past empires is little compared to ours. But I do not want to be the President who built empires, or sought grandeur, or extended dominion.
I want to be the President who educated young children to the wonders of their world.
I want to be the President who helped to feed the hungry and to prepare them to be taxpayers instead of tax-eaters.
I want to be the President who helped the poor to find their own way and who protected the right of every citizen to vote in every election.
I want to be the President who helped to end hatred among his fellow men and who promoted love among the people of all races and all regions and all parties.
I want to be the President who helped to end war among the brothers of this earth.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“The American Promise,” speech to a Joint Session of Congress [43:30] (1965-03-15)
    (Source)
 
Added on 12-Jan-24 | Last updated 12-Jan-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Johnson, Lyndon

Everyone has a confused notion of good,
On which he sets his mind, and which he desires;
And therefore everyone tries to attain it.

[Ciascun confusamente un bene apprende
nel qual si queti l’animo, e disira;
per che di giugner lui ciascun contende.]

Dante Alighieri the poet
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 2 “Purgatorio,” Canto 17, l. 127ff (17.127-129) [Virgil] (1314) [tr. Sisson (1981)]
    (Source)

(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:

All follow good; but with uncertain aim.
At once it kindles, and it soothes their flame.
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 32]

All indistinctly apprehend a bliss
On which the soul may rest, the hearts of all
Yearn after it, and to that wished bourn
All therefore strive to tend.
[tr. Cary (1814)]

A good each one confusedly apprehends
The mind to quiet -- satisfy desire;
Hence to attain 't will every one conspire.
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]

Each one confusedly a good conceives
Wherein the mind may rest, and longeth for it;
Therefore to overtake it each one strives.
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]

Each one confusedly apprehends a good wherein his mind may rest, and desires it ; wherefore each one strives to reach Him.
[tr. Butler (1885)]

Some good doth each confusedly apprehend.
In which to rest his spirit's longing fain,
Therefore to reach to it doth each contend.
[tr. Minchin (1885)]

Every one confusedly apprehends a good in which the mind may be at rest, and which it desires; wherefore every one strives to attain it.
[tr. Norton (1892)]

Each one apprehends vaguely a good wherein the mind may find rest, and desires it; wherefore each one strives to attain thereto.
[tr. Okey (1901)]

Everyone confusedly apprehends a good in which the mind may be at rest and desires it, so that each strives to reach it.
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]

Each one confusedly doth apprehend
A longed-for good, wherein the mind may find rest;
And therefore each one strives to attain that end.
[tr. Binyon (1943)]

Everyone vaguely pictures in his mind
A good the heart may rest on, and is driven
By his desire to seek it and to find.
[tr. Sayers (1955)]

All men, though in a vague way, apprehend
a good their souls may rest in, and desire it;
each, therefore, strives to reach his chosen end.
[tr. Ciardi (1961)]

Each one apprehends vaguely a good wherein the mind may find rest, and this it desires' wherefore each one strives to attain thereto.
[tr. Singleton (1973)]

All of you, vaguely, apprehend and crave
a good with which your heart may be at rest;
and so, each of you strives to reach that goal.
[tr. Musa (1981)]

Each apprehends confusedly a Good
in which the mind may rest, and longs for It;
and, thus, all strive to reach that Good.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1982)]

Each confusedly apprehends a Good in which his spirit may be quieted, and desires it, and therefore each strives to reach it.
[tr. Durling (2003)]

Everyone vaguely apprehends a good, where the mind finds rest: and desires it: so everyone labours to attain it.
[tr. Kline (2002)]

We all, confusedly, conceive a good,
desiring that our hearts may rest in that.
And each will strive to make their way to it.
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2007)]

Everyone can vaguely apprehend some good
in which the mind may find its peace.
With desire, each one strives to reach it.
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]

They muddle about, knowing there is goodness
In which their minds can rest, and they wish to have it,
All of them struggling to find what's so desired.
[tr. Raffel (2010)]

 
Added on 12-Jan-24 | Last updated 12-Jan-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Dante Alighieri

Well, it’s no trick to make a lot of money — if all you want to do is make a lot of money.

Joseph Mankiewicz (1909-1993) American screenwriter, director, producer
Citizen Kane [Mr. Bernstein] (1941) [with Orson Welles]
    (Source)
 
Added on 20-Dec-23 | Last updated 20-Dec-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Mankiewicz, Joseph

The writer who considers only the taste of his own time is concerned more with his personal fame than with that of his books: we should always aim at perfection, and then we shall receive from posterity that justice which our contemporaries sometimes deny us.

[Celui qui n’a égard en écrivant qu’au goût de son siècle songe plus à sa personne qu’à ses écrits: il faut toujours tendre à la perfection, et alors cette justice qui nous est quelquefois refusée par nos contemporains, la postérité sait nous la rendre.]

Jean de La Bruyere
Jean de La Bruyère (1645-1696) French essayist, moralist
The Characters [Les Caractères], ch. 1 “Of Works of the Mind [Des Ouvrages de l’Esprit],” § 67 (1.67) (1688) [tr. Stewart (1970)]
    (Source)

(Source (French)). Alternate translations:

He who regards nothing more in his Works than the taste of the Age, has a greater value for his Person than his Writings: He should always aim at Perfection; and tho his Contemporaries refuse him Justice, Posterity will give it him.
[Bullord ed. (1696)]

He who regards nothing more in his Works than the Taste of his own Age, Considers his Person more than his Writings: He should always aim at Perfection, and tho his Contemporaries refuse him Justice, Posterity will give it him.
[Curll ed. (1713)]

He who regards nothing more in his Works than the Taste of the Age, has a greater value for his Person than his Writings: He should always aim at Perfection; and though his Cotempararies refuse him Justice, he will be better used by Posterity.
[Browne ed. (1752)]

He who only writes to suit the taste of the age, considers himself more than his writings. We should always aim at perfection, and then posterity will do us that justice which sometimes our contemporaries refuse.
[tr. Van Laun (1885)]

 
Added on 24-Oct-23 | Last updated 24-Oct-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by La Bruyere, Jean de

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

William Faulkner (1897-1962) American novelist
“The Art of Fiction No. 12,” interview by Jean Stein, The Paris Review (Spring 1956)
    (Source)

On being a good novelist.
 
Added on 17-Jul-23 | Last updated 17-Jul-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Faulkner, William

Consider what you came from: you are Greeks!
You were not born to live like mindless brutes
but to follow paths of excellence and knowledge.

[Considerate la vostra semenza:
fatti non foste a viver come bruti,
ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza.]

Dante Alighieri the poet
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet
The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 1 “Inferno,” Canto 26, l. 118ff (26.118-120) [Ulysses] (1320) [tr. Musa (1971)]
    (Source)

Speaking to his sailors on their final voyage, urging them to explore the unknown.

(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:

On your original reflect, nor think
That you were, made, like Brutes, to only live,
But knowledge and to virtuous acts pursue.
[tr. Rogers (1782)]

Recall your glorious toils, your lofty birth.
Nor like the grov'ling herds, ally'd to earth.
No base despondence quit your lofty claim.
[tr. Boyd (1802), st. 19]

Call to mind from whence we sprang:
Ye were not form’d to live the life of brutes
But virtue to pursue and knowledge high.
[tr. Cary (1814)]

Bethink you of your birth-rank and its dues:
Ye were not thus for brutish life endued.
But Virtue's path and Learning's born to chuse.
[tr. Dayman (1843)]

Consider your origin: ye were not formed to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.
[tr. Carlyle (1849)]

Consider, then, the birth from whence you sprung:
You were not made, like brutes, to live and die:
The path of virtue and of knowledge try.
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]

Consider well the seed from whence you sprung;
You were not made to live as live the beasts,
But to seek virtue and true knowledge grasp.
[tr. Johnston (1867)]

Consider ye the seed from which ye sprang;
Ye were not made to live like unto brutes,
But for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]

Consider your begetting; ye were not made to live as brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.
[tr. Butler (1885)]

Over your noble birthright ye should muse;
To live like senseless brutes ye were not made,
But knowledge to pursue and virtue use.
[tr. Minchin (1885)]

Consider ye your origin; ye were not made to live as brutes, but for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.
[tr. Norton (1892)]

Bethink you of your birth: ye were not made to live the life of brutes, but to obey the call of valour and of knowledge.
[tr. Sullivan (1893)]

Consider ye the seed that ye are sprung from:
Ye were not made to live as the brute creatures,
But that ye virtue might pursue and knowledge.
[tr. Griffith (1908)]

Take thought of the seed from which you spring. You were not born to live as brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]

Think on the seed ye spring from! Ye were made
Not to live life of brute beasts of the field
But follow virtue and knowledge unafraid.
[tr. Binyon (1943)]

Think of your breed; for brutish ignorance
Your mettle was not made; you were made men.
To follow after knowledge and excellence.
[tr. Sayers (1949)]

Greeks! You were not born to live like brutes,
but to press on toward manhood and recognition!
[tr. Ciardi (1954), l. 110]

Consider your origin: you were not made to live as brutes, but to pursue virtue and knowledge.
[tr. Singleton (1970)]

Consider well the seed that gave you birth:
you were not made to live your lives as brutes,
but to be followers of worth and knowledge.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1980)]

Consider then the race from which you have sprung:
You were not made to live like animals,
But to pursue virtue and know the world.
[tr. Sisson (1981)]

Consider well your seed:
You were not born to live as a mere brute does,
But for the pursuit of knowledge and the good.
[tr. Pinsky (1994)]

Consider your sowing: you were not made to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.
[tr. Durling (1996)]

Consider your origin: you were not made to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.
[tr. Kline (2002)]

Hold clear in thought your seed and origin.
You were not made to live as mindless brutes,
but go in search of virtue and true knowledge.
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2006)]

Consider how your souls were sown:
you were not made to live like brutes or beasts,
but to pursue virtue and knowledge.
[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]

Think of your origins, the people you come from:
You were not made to live like wild-toothed beasts,
But for the pursuit of virtue and honest knowledge.
[tr. Raffel (2010)]

Remember now your pedigree.
You were not born to live as brutes. Virtue
And knowledge are your guiding lights.
[tr. James (2013)]

 
Added on 14-Jul-23 | Last updated 14-Jul-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Dante Alighieri

All who strive to live for something beyond mere selfish aims find their capacities for doing good very inadequate to their aspirations. They do so much less than they want to do, and so much less than they, at the outset, expected to do, that their lives, viewed retrospectively, inevitably look like failure.

Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) American abolitionist, activist, journalist, suffragist
Letter to John Fraser (1868)
    (Source)
 
Added on 6-Jun-23 | Last updated 6-Jun-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Child, Lydia Maria

Blest is the man who cheats the stormy sea
And safely moors beside the sheltering quay;
So, blest is he who triumphs over trial.
One man, by various means, in wealth or strength
Outdoes his neighbour; hope in a thousand hearts
Colours a thousand different dreams; at length
Some find a dear fulfilment, some denial.
But this I say,
That he who best
Enjoys each passing day
Is truly blest.

[εὐδαίμων μὲν ὃς ἐκ θαλάσσας
ἔφυγε χεῖμα, λιμένα δ᾽ ἔκιχεν:
εὐδαίμων δ᾽ ὃς ὕπερθε μόχθων
ἐγένεθ᾽: ἑτέρᾳ δ᾽ ἕτερος ἕτερον
ὄλβῳ καὶ δυνάμει παρῆλθεν.
μυρίαι δ᾽ ἔτι μυρίοις
εἰσὶν ἐλπίδες: αἳ μὲν
τελευτῶσιν ἐν ὄλβῳ
βροτοῖς, αἳ δ᾽ ἀπέβησαν:
τὸ δὲ κατ᾽ ἦμαρ ὅτῳ βίοτος
εὐδαίμων, μακαρίζω.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Bacchæ [Βάκχαι], l. 902ff (Stasimon 3, Epode) [Chorus/Χορός] (405 BC) [tr. Vellacott (1973)]
    (Source)

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

Blest is the man who 'scapes the stormy wave.
And in the harbour finds repose:
He too is blest, 'midst dangers brave,
Who soars above the malice of his foes:
And now these, now those possess
Superior talents or success;
Distinct their aims; but hope each bosom fires.
There are, a rich encrease who find,
The vows of some are scatter'd in the wind:
But in my judgement blest are they
Who taste, tho' only for the day.
The joys their soul desires.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

Happy is he who has fled a storm on the sea, and reached harbor. Happy too is he who has overcome his hardships. One surpass another in different ways, in wealth or power. There are innumerable hopes to innumerable men, and some result in wealth to mortals, while others fail. But I call him blessed whose life is happy day today.
[tr. Buckley (1850)]

Who hath 'scaped the turbulent sea,
And reached the haven, happy he!
Happy he whose toils are o'er
In the race of wealth and power!
This one her, and that one there,
Passes by, and everywhere
Still expectant thousands over
Thousands hopes are seen to hover,
Some to mortals end in bliss;
Some have already fled away:
Happiness alone is his
That happy is to-day.
[tr. Milman (1865)]

Happy he, who from the storm,
Has the breaker escaped, and the harbour has reached;
Happy he who after toil
Is the victor, for many the ways in which man
Wins him power, and wins him wealth.
Thousand-fold ever to thousands of men,
Hope follows upon hope,
With some it grows unceasingly,
With some it wastes to nothingness.
But he whose life is ever fresh,
Lives in unbroken happiness.
[tr. Rogers (1872), l. 865ff.]

Happy is he who hath escaped the wave from out the sea, and reached the haven; and happy he who hath triumphed o’er his troubles; though one surpasses another in wealth and power; yet there be myriad hopes for all the myriad minds; some end in happiness for man, and others come to naught; but him, whose life from day to day is blest, I deem a happy man.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

Blest who from ravening seas
Hath 'scaped to haven-peace,
Blest who hath triumphed in endeavour's toil and throe.
This man to higher height
Attains, of wealth, of might,
Than that; yet myriad hopes in myriad hearts still glow:
To fair fruition brought
Are some, some come to nought:
Happy is he whose bliss from day to day doth grow.
[tr. Way (1898)]

Happy he, on the weary sea
Who hath fled the tempest and won the haven.
Happy whoso hath risen, free,
Above his striving. For strangely graven
Is the orb of life, that one and another
In gold and power may outpass his brother.
And men in their millions float and flow
And seethe with a million hopes as leaven;
And they win their Will, or they miss their Will,
And the hopes are dead or are pined for still;
But whoe'er can know,
As the long days go,
That To Live is happy, hath found his Heaven!
[tr. Murray (1902)]

-- Blessèd is he who escapes the storm at sea,
who comes home to his harbor.
-- Blessèd is he who emerges from under affliction.
-- In various ways one man outraces another in the race for wealth and power.
-- Ten thousand men possess ten thousand hopes.
-- A few bear fruit in happiness; the others go awry.
-- But he who garners day by day the good of life, he is happiest. Blessèd is he.
[tr. Arrowsmith (1960)]

Happy the man who from the sea
escapes the storm and finds harbor;
happy he who has surmounted
toils; and in different ways one surpasses another
in prosperity and power.
Besides this, for countless men there are countless
hopes -- some of them
reach to the end in prosperity
for mortals, and others depart;
but him whose life day by day
is happy do I count blessed.
[tr. Kirk (1970)]

Happy he from the sea escaping
out of the storm, arriving at anchorage;
happy he fleeing labour's straining;
in many manners may men surpass other men
in prosperity and in power.
Thousand-fold upon thousand-fold
hopes come crowding upon us,
and some finally prosper
for mortals, some are vanish'd:
who day by day has a livelihood of happiness, he is blessed
[tr. Neuburg (1988)]

Happy the man who withstands
life's assaults.
Somehow, in some way, some man surpasses some other
in position and fortune.
For millions of men there are millions of hopes.
For some, these ripen into happiness,
for others into nothing.
Count lucky the man who is happy on this one day.
[tr. Cacoyannis (1982)]

That man is blessed who fled the storm
At sea and reached the bay.
And he is blessed who rose above
His toil. In various ways
One man outstrips in wealth and power
Another: countless men
Have countless hopes: some end in joy,
But others drift way.
The man who day to day has luck
In life -- that man I bless.
[tr. Blessington (1993)]

Happy the man who escapes
the storm at sea and reaches harbor.
Happy, too, is he who overcomes
his toils. And in different ways one man
surpasses another in prosperity and power.
Besides, countless are the hopes
of countless men, Some of those hopes
end in prosperity for mortals, others vanish.
But I count him blessed whose life,
from day to day, is happy.
[tr. Esposito (1998)]

Happy the man who has come away
safe on the beach from a storm at sea,
happy the man who has risen above
trouble and toil. Many are the ways
one man may surpass another
in wealth or power,
and beyond each hope there beckons another
hope without number.
Hope may lead a man to wealth,
hope may pass away;
but I admire a man when he
is happy in an ordinary life.
[tr. Woodruff (1999)]

Happy is he who escapes
A storm at sea and finds safe harbor.
Happy is he who has risen above
Great toils. In different ways,
Some persons outdo others
In their wealth and power.
And hopes are as many as those who hope --
Some will end in rich reward, others in nothing.
But those whose lives are happy
Day by day -- those
I call the blesséd.
[tr. Gibbons/Segal (2000)]

Blessed is he that out of the sea
escapes the storm and wins the harbor;
blessed he who triumphs over
trouble: one man surpasses another
in respect to wealth or power.
Furthermore, in countless hearts
there live countless hopes, some
ending in good fortune,
though some vanish away.
But the man whose life today is happy,
him I count blessed.
[tr. Kovacs (2002)]

Joy of the storm endured,
And the harbour safely reached.
Joy of hardship overcome.
Joy of striving for wealth and power.
Joy of hope. Joy of dreams,
Fulfilled or unfulfilled.
And most blessed they who takes their joy
In the simple detail of the day by day --
[tr. Teevan (2002)]

Happy is the man who has escaped the storms of life’s angry seas and found a harbour; and happy is the man who have endured those storms.
Men are infinite in number and their hopes have no end and some of these hopes bring joy to some and nothing to others.
I say blessed is the man whose life has been happy -- so far.
These are useful pieces of advice. True wisdom.
[tr. Theodoridis (2005)]

Blessed is the one who's fled the
Storm at sea and come to harbour;
And happy is he who rises above
Hardships; for one may sur-
Pass another in wealth or in power,
But these are a lot hopes to a lot of
Different people; and many end in
Happiness while others fail mis’rably
But the one who's happy day-to-day,
Is the one who's truly blessed.
[tr. Valerie (2005)]

Whoever has escaped a storm at sea
is a happy man in harbour,
whoever overcomes great hardship
is likewise another happy man.
Various men outdo each other
in wealth, in power,
in all sorts of ways.
The hopes of countless men
are infinite in number.
Some make men rich;
some come to nothing,
So I consider that man blessed
who lives a happy life
existing day by day.
[tr. Johnston (2008), l. 1106ff]

Lucky is the man who escapes a storm at sea
and finds his way home to safe harbour --
the man delivered from hardship.
We all compete for wealth and power,
and for every thousand hearts a thousand hopes.
Some wither, some bear fruit.
But the one who lives from day to day,
finding good where he can:
he is happy --
he is a lucky man.
[tr. Robertson (2014)]

Fortunate is the one who flees
The swell of the sea and returns to harbor.
Fortunate is the one who survives through troubles.
One is greater than another in different things,
He surpasses in fortune and power --
But in numberless hearts still
Are numberless hopes: some result
In good fortune, but other mortal dreams
Just disappear.
Whoever has a happy life to-day,
I consider fortunate.
[tr. @sentantiq (2018)]

Happy is the one who escapes a sea-storm
and comes home to the harbor.
And happy is the one who stands against their hardships.
Happy are they who endure.
One man may exceed another, in his own way.
In wealth.
In power.
Countless hopes for yet-more-countless people.
Sometimes hope wins out, gives us riches --
And sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes we fail.
But the one who can live in spite of this,
who is happy day to day.
That one is blessed.
[tr. Pauly (2019)]

Blessed is the one who finds a harbour safe from the winter sea. Blessed is the one who travels beyond affliction. Blessed is the one who wins great joy. Numberless more have their dreams. Some hopes are fulfilled, some vanish. Whoever lives happily from day to day I bless.
[tr. Behr/Foster (2019)]

Fortunate [eudaimōn] is he who has fled a storm on the sea and reached harbor. Eudaimōn too is he who has overcome his toils. Different people surpass others in various ways, be it in wealth [olbos] or in power. Mortals have innumerable hopes, and some come to telos in prosperity [olbos], while others fail. I deem him blessed whose life is eudaimōn day by day.
[tr. Buckley/Sens/Nagy (2020)]

 
Added on 23-May-23 | Last updated 11-Jul-23
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Euripides

I remind young people everywhere I go, one of the worst things the older generation did was to tell them for twenty-five years “Be successful, be successful, be successful” as opposed to “Be great, be great, be great”. There’s a qualitative difference.

Cornel West
Cornel West (b. 1953) American philosopher, political activist, social critic
“Democracy Matters,” speech, San Francisco (1 Oct 2004)
 
Added on 10-Nov-22 | Last updated 10-Nov-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by West, Cornel

My theory has always been that if we are to dream, the flatteries of hope are as cheap, and pleasanter than the gloom of despair.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter to François de Marbois (14 Jun 1817)
    (Source)
 
Added on 24-Oct-22 | Last updated 24-Oct-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Jefferson, Thomas

I felt I’d really grasped the concept when I saw him as Everyman, or rather as the dreamself of Everyman. That “S” is the radiant emblem of divinity we reveal when we rip off our stuffy shirts, our social masks, our neuroses, our constructed selves, and become who we truly are.

Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison (b. 1960) Scottish comic book writer and playwright
“All Star Memories: Grant Morrison on All Star Superman, Part 1,” Interview with Zack Smith, Newsarama.com (21 Oct 2008)
    (Source)
 
Added on 3-Sep-22 | Last updated 3-Sep-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Morrison, Grant

HELENA: All’s well that ends well. Still the fine’s the crown.
Whate’er the course, the end is the renown.

Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 4, sc. 4, l. 39ff (4.4.39-40) (1602?)
    (Source)
 
Added on 17-Aug-22 | Last updated 9-Feb-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Shakespeare, William

Humanity will ever seek but never attain perfection. Let us at least survive and go on trying.

Dora Russell
Dora, Countess Russell (1894-1986) British author, feminist, social activist [Dora Russell, née Black]
The Religion of the Machine Age (1983)
 
Added on 7-Apr-22 | Last updated 7-Apr-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Russell, Dora

I don’t believe there is any finer mission on earth than just to make people laugh.

Fatty Arbuckle
Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle (1887-1933) American silent film actor, comedian, director, screenwriter
“Fatty Off Guard,” interview by Elizabeth Sears (1916)
    (Source)
 
Added on 22-Sep-21 | Last updated 22-Sep-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Arbuckle, Fatty

What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1963)
    (Source)
 
Added on 29-Jul-21 | Last updated 10-Mar-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by McLaughlin, Mignon

Every man is in some sort a failure to himself. No one ever reaches the heights to which he aspires.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
“Table-Talk”
    (Source)
 
Added on 25-Jun-21 | Last updated 25-Jun-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

Don’t be yourself — be someone a little nicer.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 4 (1966)
    (Source)
 
Added on 6-May-21 | Last updated 10-Mar-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by McLaughlin, Mignon

I’m filled with a desire for clarity and meaning within a world and condition that offers neither.

Albert Camus (1913-1960) Algerian-French novelist, essayist, playwright
The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942)
 
Added on 7-Jan-21 | Last updated 7-Jan-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Camus, Albert

THERE ARE BETTER THINGS IN THE WORLD THAN ALCOHOL, ALBERT.
“Oh, yes, sir. But alcohol sort of compensates for not getting them.”

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Death’s Domain (1999)
    (Source)

Death speaking with his manservant, Albert.
 
Added on 5-Jan-21 | Last updated 2-Feb-24
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Pratchett, Terry

Go we seek that we shall not find.

No picture available
Thomas Malory (c. 1415-1471) English writer
Le Morte d’Arthur, Book 16, ch. 2 (1485)
    (Source)

Ector to Lancelot (or vice versa) in Ector's dream. Often paraphrased/modernized to "We shall now seek that which we shall not find."
 
Added on 1-Dec-20 | Last updated 10-Feb-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Malory, Thomas

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

[Si hortum in bibliotheca habes, deerit nihil.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Epistulae ad Familiares [Letters to Friends], Book 9, Letter 4 “To Varro” (9.4) (46-45 BC)

In June 708 AUC. Sometimes rendered "nihil deerit."

Alt. trans.: "If you have a garden in your library, everything will be complete." [Source].

Original Latin in context.
 
Added on 12-Oct-20 | Last updated 11-Aug-22
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Cicero, Marcus Tullius

To be a writer is to accept failure as a profession — which of us is Dante or Shakespeare? — and could they return, wouldn’t they fall at once to revising, knowing they could make the work better? In our own dwarfed way, we are trying for something like perfection, knowing it is unachievable (except of course that trying and failing is a better way of living than not trying).

John Ciardi (1916-1986) American poet, writer, critic
In Vince Clemente, “‘A Man Is What He Does With His Attention’: A Conversation with John Ciardi,” Poesis, Vol. 7 #2 (1986)
    (Source)
 
Added on 26-Aug-20 | Last updated 26-Aug-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Ciardi, John

Our children give us the opportunity to become the parents we always wished we’d had.

Louise Hart (contemp.) American educator, psychologist, author, speaker
The Winning Family, ch. 1, epigraph (1987)
 
Added on 22-Apr-20 | Last updated 22-Apr-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Hart, Louise

Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.

Four be the things I’d been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.

Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.

Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) American writer
“Inventory,” Life (11 Nov 1926)
    (Source)

Reprinted in Enough Rope (1926).
 
Added on 23-Mar-20 | Last updated 22-Jun-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Parker, Dorothy

The universe could have been created ugly, and would have functioned. And yet there is beauty everywhere in creation. Beauty gives us an ache, to be worthy of that creation.

Mary Oliver (1935-2019) American poet
Comments at Wellesley College (20 Oct 2010)
    (Source)

The last phrase is frequently paraphrased, "We need beauty because it makes us ache to be worthy of it."
 
Added on 25-Feb-20 | Last updated 25-Feb-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Oliver, Mary

Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations. There were people who said, “You can’t go into space. You can’t go to the moon.” If you adopt their attitudes, then the possibility won’t exist because you’ll have already shut it out. Yes, you can hear other people’s wisdom, but you’ve got to re-evaluate the world for yourself.

Mae Jemison (b. 1956) American engineer, physician, astronaut
Interview, Chicago Sun-Times (May 1994)
    (Source)
 
Added on 14-Feb-20 | Last updated 14-Feb-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Jemison, Mae

It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.

Paulo Coelho (b. 1947) Brazilian spiritual writer
The Alchemist, ch. 1 (1988)
    (Source)
 
Added on 3-Feb-20 | Last updated 3-Feb-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Coelho, Paulo

If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.

Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) American boxer, activist [b. Cassius Clay]
(Attributed)
 
Added on 27-Jan-20 | Last updated 27-Jan-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Ali, Muhammad

Is there anything in life so disenchanting as attainment?

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
“The Adventure of the Hansom Cabs” (1878)
    (Source)
 
Added on 16-Aug-19 | Last updated 16-Aug-19
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Stevenson, Robert Louis

Every man is in some sort a failure to himself. No one ever reaches the heights to which he aspires.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet
“Table-Talk”
    (Source)
 
Added on 9-Jun-19 | Last updated 16-Apr-21
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.

Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) German-American psychologist, writer
Man’s Search for Meaning, Part 2 (1946)
    (Source)
 
Added on 16-Apr-19 | Last updated 16-Apr-19
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Frankl, Viktor

I want
to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.

Mary Oliver (1935-2019) American poet
“Starlings in Winter”
    (Source)
 
Added on 16-Apr-19 | Last updated 16-Apr-19
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Oliver, Mary

It was better, he thought, to fail in attempting exquisite things than to succeed in the department of the utterly contemptible.

Arthur Machen (1863-1947) Welsh author and mystic
The Hill of Dreams, ch. 5 (1907)
    (Source)
 
Added on 26-Jan-19 | Last updated 26-Jan-19
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Machen, Arthur

I’m working at trying to be a good Christian, and that’s serious business. It’s like trying to be a good Jew, a good Muslim, a good Buddhist, a good Shintoist, a good Zoroastrian, a good friend, a good lover, a good mother, a good buddy — it’s serious business. It’s not something where you think, Oh, I’ve got it done. I did it all day, hotdiggety. The truth is, all day long you try to do it, try to be it, and then in the evening if you’re honest and have a little courage you look at yourself and say, Hmm. I only blew it eighty-six times. Not bad.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014) American poet, memoirist, activist [b. Marguerite Ann Johnson]
“The Art of Fiction,” Paris Review, #116, Interview with George Plimpton (1990)
    (Source)
 
Added on 3-Jan-19 | Last updated 3-Jan-19
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Angelou, Maya

Most of us stand poised at the edge of brilliance, haunted by the knowledge of our proximity, yet still demonstrably on the wrong side of the line, our dealings with reality undermined by a range of minor yet critical psychological flaws (a little too much optimism, an unprocessed rebelliousness, a fatal impatience or sentimentality). We are like an exquisite high-speed aircraft which for lack of a tiny part is left stranded beside the runway, rendered slower than a tractor or bicycle.

Alain de Botton (b. 1969) Swiss-British author
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, ch. 4 (2009)
    (Source)
 
Added on 4-Oct-18 | Last updated 4-Oct-18
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by De Botton, Alain

A virtuous, ordinary life, striving for wisdom but never far from folly, is achievement enough.

Alain de Botton (b. 1969) Swiss-British author
The Consolations of Philosophy, ch. 4 “Consolation for Inadequacy” (2000)
    (Source)

Summarizing Montaigne.
 
Added on 5-Apr-18 | Last updated 5-Apr-18
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by De Botton, Alain

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition.

Barack Obama (b. 1961) American politician, US President (2009-2017)
Commencement Address, Knox College, Galesburg, IL (4 Jun 2005)
    (Source)
 
Added on 6-Sep-17 | Last updated 6-Sep-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Obama, Barack

Ambition hath one heel nailed in hell, though she stretch her finger to touch the heavens.

John Lyly (c. 1553-1606) was an English writer [also Lilly or Lylie]
Midas: A Comedy, Act 2, sc. 1 [Sophronia] (1592)
    (Source)

Sometimes misquoted as "nailed in well." Sometimes misattributed to Lao-tzu.
 
Added on 23-Aug-17 | Last updated 5-Sep-17
Link to this post | 2 comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Lyly, John

Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to “jump at de sun.” We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) American writer, folklorist, anthropologist
Dust Tracks on a Road, ch. 2 “My Folks” (1942)
    (Source)
 
Added on 23-Aug-17 | Last updated 23-Aug-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Hurston, Zora Neale

… a noble aim,
Faithfully kept, is as a noble deed,
In whose pure sight all virtue doth succeed.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) English poet
“Brave Schill! By Death Delivered, Take Thy Flight” (1809; pub. 1815)
    (Source)

Sometimes misquoted "is a noble deed".
 
Added on 21-Jul-17 | Last updated 21-Jul-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Wordsworth, William

The greatest evil which fortune can inflict on men is to endow them with small talents and great ambition.

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715-1747) French moralist, essayist, soldier
Reflections and Maxims [Réflexions et maximes], #562 [tr. Stevens] (1746)
    (Source)
 
Added on 14-Jun-17 | Last updated 14-Jun-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Vauvenargues, Luc de

A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man by one which is lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other, ambition. Ambition is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) American clergyman and orator
Life Thoughts (1858)
    (Source)

Sometimes misattributed to Marcus Aurelius.
 
Added on 17-May-17 | Last updated 17-May-17
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Beecher, Henry Ward

It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) South African revolutionary, politician, statesman
Long Walk to Freedom (1995)
 
Added on 12-Sep-16 | Last updated 12-Sep-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Mandela, Nelson

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.

Lombardi - we can catch excellence - wist_info quote

Vince Lombardi (1913-1970) American football coach
(Attributed)
 
Added on 2-Sep-16 | Last updated 2-Sep-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , ,
More quotes by Lombardi, Vince

Dreadful will be the day when the world becomes contented, when one great universal satisfaction spreads itself over the world. Sad will be the day for every man when he becomes absolutely contented with the life that he is living, with the thoughts that he is thinking, with the deeds that he is doing, when there is not forever beating at the doors of his soul some great desire to do something larger which he knows that he was meant and made to do because he is a child of God.

Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) American clergyman, hymnist
Daily Thoughts from Phillips Brooks (1893)
 
Added on 10-Aug-16 | Last updated 10-Aug-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Brooks, Phillips

Do you remember the ’60s and ’70s? You didn’t have to go more than a week before there was an article in Life magazine — “The Home of Tomorrow,” “The City of Tomorrow,” “Transportation of Tomorrow.” All that ended. In the 1970s, after we stopped going to the Moon, it all ended. We stopped dreaming. And so I worry that decisions that Congress makes doesn’t factor in the consequences of those decisions on tomorrow. Tomorrow’s gone. They’re playing for the quarterly report, they’re playing for the next election cycle, and that is mortgaging the actual future of this nation, and the rest of the world is going to pass us by.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (b. 1958) American astrophysicist, author, orator
Real Time with Bill Maher, Ep. 223 (5 Aug 2011)
    (Source)
 
Added on 19-Feb-16 | Last updated 19-Feb-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Tyson, Neil deGrasse

I could wile away the hours
Conferrin’ with the flowers,
Consultin’ with the rain;
And my head I’d be scratchin’
While my thoughts were busy hatchin’,
If I only had a brain.

E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
“If I Only Had a Brain,” The Wizard of Oz (1939)
 
Added on 3-Feb-16 | Last updated 3-Feb-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Harburg, E. Y.

It’s a sad fact of modern life that sooner or later you will end up on YouTube doing something stupid. The trick, according to my dad, is to make a fool of yourself to the best of your ability.

Ben Aaronovitch (b. 1964) British author
Broken Homes (2013)
 
Added on 27-Jan-16 | Last updated 27-Jan-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Aaronovitch, Ben

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Time Enough for Love [Lazarus Long] (1973)
 
Added on 20-Oct-15 | Last updated 20-Oct-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Heinlein, Robert A.

To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) Lebanese-American poet, writer, painter [Gibran Khalil Gibran]
(Attributed)
    (Source)
 
Added on 14-May-15 | Last updated 16-Aug-19
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Gibran, Kahlil

Whenever men cease fighting through necessity, they go to fighting through ambition, which is so powerful in human breasts that, whatever high rank men climb to, never does ambition abandon them.

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) Italian politician, philosopher, political scientist
The Discourses on Livy, Book 1, ch. 37 (1517) [tr. Gilbert (1958)]
    (Source)

Alt. trans.:
  • "[Ambition] is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied."
  • "For when no longer urged to war on one another by necessity, they are urged by ambition, which has such dominion in their hearts that it never leaves them to whatsoever heights they climb." [tr. Thomson (1883)]
  • "Whenever the necessity for fighting is taken away from them, they fight for the same of ambition, which is so powerful a passion in the human breast that, no matter the rank to which a man may rise, he never abandons it." [tr. Bondanella (1997)]
 
Added on 22-Apr-15 | Last updated 27-Jan-20
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Machiavelli, Niccolo

Knowledge is happiness, because to have knowledge — broad, deep knowledge — is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low. To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man’s progress is to feel the great heart-throbs of humanity through the centuries; and if one does not feel in these pulsations a heavenward striving, one must indeed be deaf to the harmonies of life.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) American author and lecturer
The Story of My Life, pt. 1, ch. 20 (1903)
 
Added on 30-Mar-15 | Last updated 30-Mar-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Keller, Helen

To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.

Anatole France (1844-1924) French poet, journalist, novelist, Nobel Laureate [pseud. of Jaques-Anatole-François Thibault]
Speech, Académie Française (24 Dec 1896)
 
Added on 26-Mar-15 | Last updated 26-Mar-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by France, Anatole

If this is a dream, then perhaps our dreaming
Can touch life’s height to a finer fire:
Who knows but the heavens and all their seeming
Were made by the heart’s desire?

Edwin Markham (1852-1940) American poet
“The Crowning Hour” (2), The Shoes of Happiness, and Other Poems (1913)
 
Added on 20-Mar-15 | Last updated 20-Mar-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Markham, Edwin

Doubtless he had an ideal, but it was the ideal of a practical statesman, — to aim at the best, and to take the next best, if he is lucky enough to get even that.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet
“Abraham Lincoln, 1864-1865” (1869)
    (Source)

Printed in The North American Review, #222 (Jan 1869) under the title "Before and After." Sometimes given as "The idea of a practical statesman is to aim ...."
 
Added on 2-Jul-14 | Last updated 2-Jul-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , , ,
More quotes by Lowell, James Russell