Samuel Butler
All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
A man should have any number of little aims about which he should be conscious and for which he should have names, but he should have neither name for, nor consciousness concerning, the main aim of his life.
We all love best not those who offend us least, nor those who have done most for us, but those who make it most easy for us to forgive them.
To live is like to love, all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it.
It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.
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To gain more abundance a person needs more skills and needs to be more creative and cooperative.
Take heed : you do not find what you do not seek.
Go ahead, make my day.
Excellence is more fun than mediocrity.
Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.
If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings.
Love is a mutual self-giving which ends in self-recovery.
There are two things to aim at in life , first to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind has achieved the second.
Be courageous ! Whatever setbacks America has encountered, it has always emerged as a stronger and more prosperous nation. Be brave as your fathers before you. Have faith and go forward !
Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.
"I can't do it" never accomplished anything ; "I will try" has performed miracles.
There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.
Understanding can overcome any situation, however mysterious or insurmountable it may appear to be.
It's a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.
Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
There is no remedy for love but to love more.
Much as we may wish to make a new beginning, some part of us resists doing so as though we were making the first step toward disaster.
When one door closes another opens, but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
You may be on the right track, but if you just sit there you'll get run over.
Obstacles are those frightful things you can see when you take your eyes off your goal.
Work spares us from three evils boredom, vice, and need.
The more you venture to live greatly, the more you will find within you what it takes to get on top of things and stay there.
The dove is my emblem... . I want to save and advance human life, not destroy it... . I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.
The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
The only abnormality is the incapacity to love.
You are today where your thoughts have brought
Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way, and never again.
The art of love, is largely the art of persistence.
My life is my message.
Can miles truly separate you from friends. If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there ?
Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father.
A dream unrealized is a dream imprisoned by that enemy of all enemies - the fear of failure. Set that you will make it happen ! -
To live for results would be to sentence myself to continuous frustration. My only sure reward is in my actions and not from them.
Great oaks from little acorns grow
You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough ! You must take action.
Watch your manner of speech if you wish to develop a peaceful state of mind. Start each day by affirming peaceful, contented and happy attitudes and your days will tend to be pleasant and successful.
If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever.
To succeed... you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you.
You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however.
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone.
If you didn't know me, would you think I was a stranger ?
Love is like playing the piano. First you must learn to play by the rules, then you must forget the rules and play from your heart.
If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else.
You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however.
How you respond to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.
His eyes have made love to me all evening.
Experience is not what happens to a man, it's what a man does with what happens to him.
The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don't agree with.
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face.
A good idea is never lost. Even though its originator or possessor may die, it will someday be reborn in the mind of another.
Procrastination is the thief of time.
My heart shall be thy garden.
The best and most beautiful things in this world can not be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.
Be Here Now.
It is always your next move.
Luck is when opportunity knocks, and you answer.
Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.
Let those love now who never loved before. Let those who always loved, now love the more.
Condemn none. If you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.
I am your father.
The heart that loves is always young.
When I give a minister an order, I leave it to him to find the means to carry it out.
Here's looking at you, kid.
Resolve to be a master of change rather than a victim of change.
If I am not for myself, who will be for me ? Yet if I am for myself alone, of what good am I ?
To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.
You make me want to be a better man. As good as it gets.
There's no place like home.
Friendship doubles joy and halves grief.
Inch by inch, it's a cinch.
What you are is god's gift to you, what you become is your gift to god.
Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
One man with courage is a majority.
If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
Badges ? We ain't got no badges ! We don't need no badges ! I don't have to show you any stinking badges !
Many hands make light work.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
It is in the small decisions you and I make every day that create our destiny.
All love is sweet, given or returned.
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.
Treasure the love you receive above all. It will survive long after your good health has vanished.
The one thing that separates winners from losers is, winners take action!
O Captain ! My Captain ! our fearful trip is done.
I have noticed that folks are generally about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Men spend their lives in anticipations, in determining to be vastly happy at some period when they have time. But the present time has one advantage over every otherit is our own. Past opportunities are gone, future have not come. We may lay in a stock of pleasures, as we would lay in a stock of wine , but if we defer the tasting of them too long, we shall find that both are soured by age.
The brain and muscles must develop simultaneously. Iron nerves with an intelligent brain - and the whole world is at your feet.
Romance should never begin with sentiment. It should begin with science and end with a settlement.
Act or accept.
Love in its essence is spiritual fire.
The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.
Talent is formed in solitude, character in the bustle of the world.
The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Hard work often leads to success. No work seldom does.
Boldness, more boldness, and always boldness !
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.