Sarto (1855)
Robert Browning, English poet (1812–1889)
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To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.
Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (1850–1894)
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At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.
Salvador Dalí, Spanish surrealist painter (1904–1989)
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Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.
Samuel Johnson, English writer, critic and lexicographer (1709–1784)
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If you are not criticised, you may not be doing much.
Human Life (1819)
Samuel Rogers, English poet (1763–1855)
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To show your true ability is always, in a sense, to surpass the limits of your ability, to go a little beyond them.
Simone de Beauvoir, French writer (1908–1986)
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One sometimes finds what one is not looking for.
Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish physician (1881–1955)
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Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. When it does not exist, design it.
Sir Henry Royce, English engineer (1863–1933)
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Either I will find a way, or I will make one.
Sir Philip Sidney, English poet (1554–1586)
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Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
Sun Tzu, Chinese strategist (545–470 BC)
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Believe you can and you’re halfway there.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the US (1858–1919)
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I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life.
[Speech in Chicago, 1899]
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the US (1858–1919)
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Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in that grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
[The Strenuous Life speech, 1899]
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the US (1858–1919)
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As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think.
[Commencement speech at Sarah Lawrence College, 1988]
Toni Morrison, American writer (1931–)
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What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?
[Letter to his brother Theo, 1881]
Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (1853–1890)
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The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
[Interview with The Paris Review, 1956]
William Faulkner, American writer (1897–1962)
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You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.
The Mansion (1959)
William Faulkner, American writer (1897–1962)
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Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in the doing.
Troilus and Cressida (1602)
William Shakespeare, English poet and dramatist (1564–1616)
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I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately triumph than to triumph in a cause that will ultimately fail.
[Campaign speech at New York State Fair Grounds, Syracuse, 1912]
Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the US (1856–1924)
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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
[Attr.]
Sir Winston Churchill, prime minister of the UK, historian and Nobel Prize winner (1874–1965)
It is often said that there is no such thing as a free lunch. The universe, however, is a free lunch.
Harper’s Magazine (1994)
Alan Guth, American theoretical physicist (1947–)
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Zen … does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.
The Way of Zen (1957)
Alan Watts, British teacher and writer (1915–1973)
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My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right!
[Speech to the US Senate, 1872)
Carl Schurz, German revolutionary and American statesman (1829–1906)
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Men will wrangle for religion; write for it; fight for it; die for it; anything but live for it.
Lacon (1820)
Charles Caleb Colton, English cleric (1780–1832)
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Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
Douglas Adams, English humourist and dramatist (1952–2001)
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Not things, but opinions about things, trouble men.
The Enchiridion of Epictetus (c. 125)
Epictetus, Greek philosopher (50–135)
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At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.
Bernice Bobs her Hair (1920)
F Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (1896–1940)
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All good moral philosophy is but a handmaid to