WIST Quotations

Leadbeater, C. W. -- The Masters and the Path, ch. 14 (1925)

Dave — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 21:16:33 +0000

Sometimes people grieve when they find old age coming upon them, when they find their vehicles not so strong as they used to be. They desire the strength and the faculties that they once had. It is wise for them to repress that desire, to realize that their bodies have done good work, and if they can no longer do the same amount as of yore, they should do gently and peacefully what they can, but not worry themselves over the change. Presently they will have new bodies; and the way to ensure a good vehicle is to make such use as one can of the old one, but in any case to be serene and calm and unruffled. The only way to do that is to forget self, to let all selfish desires cease, and to turn the thought outward to the helping of others as far as one’s capabilities go.

C. W. Leadbeater (1846–1934) English clergyman, theosophist, author [Charles Webster Leadbeater]
The Masters and the Path, ch. 14 (1925)

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Essay (1951-12), “This I Believe: Growth that Starts from Thinking,” on Edward R. Murrow, This I Believe, CBS Radio

Dave — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:18:33 +0000

And the important thing was that you never let down doing the best that you were able to do — it might be poor because you might not have very much within you to give, or to help other people with, or to live your life with. But as long as you did the very best that you were able to do, then that was what you were put here to do and that was what you were accomplishing by being here.

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Essay (1951-12), “This I Believe: Growth that Starts from Thinking,” on Edward R. Murrow, This I Believe, CBS Radio

Dave — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:58:08 +0000

Perhaps that’s what we all had to do — think out for ourselves what we could believe and how we could live by it. And so I came to the conclusion that you had to use this life to develop the very best that you could develop.

Franklin, Benjamin -- Poor Richard (1747 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:27:47 +0000

Strive to be the greatest Man in your Country, and you may be disappointed; Strive to be the best, and you may succeed: He may well win the race that runs by himself.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American statesman, scientist, philosopher, aphorist
Poor Richard (1747 ed.)

Stevenson, Adlai -- Speech (1952-11-03), “The Good Fight,” Radio and TV Broadcast, Chicago

Dave — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:30:36 +0000

I have said what I meant and meant what I said. I have not done as well as I should like to have done, but I have done my best, frankly and forthrightly; no man can do more, and you are entitled to no less.

Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965) American politician, diplomat, statesman
Speech (1952-11-03), “The Good Fight,” Radio and TV Broadcast, Chicago

Broadcast the night before the election.

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Essay (1951-12), “This I Believe: Growth that Starts from Thinking,” on Edward R. Murrow, This I Believe, CBS Radio

Dave — Wed, 12 May 2004 19:03:47 +0000

I think I am pretty much of a fatalist. You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, activist; First Lady of the US (1933–45)
Essay (1951-12), “This I Believe: Growth that Starts from Thinking,” on Edward R. Murrow, This I Believe, CBS Radio

(Source (Audio); start 3:51). The essay was read without a script.

Apparently this statement (or at least the "fatalist" part of it), coupled with her earlier in the broadcast saying she was unsure "whether I believe in a future life," caused something of a stir. The Archibishop of Los Angeles took it to mean that Roosevelt was an agnostic and publicly declared that she should not sit on the Commission of Civil Rights. Roosevelt clarified the statement in a "My Day" column (1951-12-18):

Of one thing I am quite sure, and that is that I never said I did not believe in immortality. That would not be true. What I was trying to say was that I, like a great many other people, could not definitely state what form immortality would take and that I did not see why people worried about this particular question. There I am a fatalist, for I do not believe in worrying about something I can do nothing about. The important thing is to live your life to the best of your ability here and to have faith that whatever happens hereafter is the will of God.

Collected in Edward P. Morgan (ed.), This I Believe (1952).