Every man is a missionary, now and forever, for good or for evil, whether he intends or designs it or not.
~ Chalmers
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Quotes
A long long time ago I began collecting inspirational quotes and aphorisms which became my collection of quotes.
Questions
The only question that really matters, the only question whose correct answer can exert a civilizing influence on the future specialist, is the question asked by Buddha and Jesus, by Lao-Tsu and Socrates, by Job and Aeschylus, and Chaucer and Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, by every philosopher, every mystic, every great artist: Who am I and what, if anything, can I do about it?
~ Aldous Huxley
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Well-composed
A well-composed song strikes the mind and softens the feelings, and produces a greater effect than a moral work, which convinces our reason, but does not warm our feelings, nor effect the slightest alteration in our habits.
~ Napoleon
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Noticing
All the technique in the world doesn’t compensate for the inability to notice.
~ Elliott Erwitt
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Art
The noblest art is that of making others happy.
~ P.T. Barnum
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Silence
The path to all great things passes through silence.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
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Unnecessary
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself… It has no survival value; Rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.
~ C.S. Lewis
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Communication
A man would have no pleasures in discovering all the beauties of the universe, even in heaven itself, unless he had a partner to whom he might communicate his joys.
~ Cicero
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Hardship
You normally have to be bashed about a bit by life to see the point of daffodils, sunsets and uneventful nice days.
~ Alain de Botton
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Perfectionism
Perfectionism is not as much the desire for excellence, as it is the fear of failure couched in procrastination.
~ Dan Miller
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Feelings
Let everything happen to you: Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
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Possessions
You can’t have everything.
Where would you put it?
~ Steven Wright
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Mystery
I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick
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Ingenuity
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
~ George S. Patton
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Exceptional
The squeaky wheel may get the most oil, but it’s also the first to be replaced.
~ Marilyn vos Savant
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Humor
What a strange world this would be if we all had the same sense of humor.
~ Bern Williams
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Learn something
No day in which you learn something is a complete loss.
~ David Eddings
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Attention
The most sincere compliment we can pay is attention.
~ Walter Anderson
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Play
Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.
~ Fred Rogers
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Decline
Just as I have my own role to play, so does time. And time does its job much more faithfully, much more accurately, than I ever do. Ever since time began (when was that, I wonder?), it’s been moving ever forward without a moment’s rest. And one of the privileges given to those who’ve avoided dying young is the blessed right to grow old. The honor of physical decline is waiting, and you have to get used to that reality.
~ Haruki Murakami
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