Charles Francis Adams

No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required, that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction.
- ­Charles Francis Adams

Mahatma Gandhi

"Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or other. If we cultivate the habit of doing this service deliberately, our desire for service will steadily grow stronger, and will make, not only our own happiness, but that of the world at large."
- Mahatma Gandhi

Jack Handey

"Whenever you read a good book, it's like the author is right there, in the room, talking to you, which is why I don't like to read good books."
- Jack Handey

Bob Newhart

I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down'.
- Bob Newhart

Mickey Rooney

"You always pass failure on the way to success."
- Mickey Rooney

William Stafford

A poem is a serious joke, a truth that has learned jujitsu.
- William Stafford

Eric Hoffer

We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.
- Eric Hoffer

Phyllis Diller

When I go to the beauty parlor, I always use the emergency entrance. Sometimes I just go for an estimate.
- Phyllis Diller

Erica Jong

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.
- Erica Jong

Edmund Wilson

Success is just a matter of luck. Ask any failure.
- Edmund Wilson

Ezra Pound

Genius... is the capacity to see ten things where the ordinary man sees one.
Ezra Pound

Aristotle

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
- Aristotle

Daniel Webster

Employment gives health, sobriety, and morals. Constant employment and well-paid labor produce general prosperity, content, and cheerfulness.
- Daniel Webster

Harrison Ford

I am not the first man who wanted to make changes in his life at 60 and I won't be the last. It is just that others can do it with anonymity.
- Harrison Ford

Alice Roosevelt Longworth

I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch what itches.
- Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Dave Barry

Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing.
- Dave Barry

Albert Schweitzer

As we acquire more knowldege, things do not become more comprehensible, but more mysterious.
- Albert Schweitzer

Heinrich Heine

Every man, either to his terror or consolation, has some sense of religion.
- Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) German poet

Joyce Grenfell

I have come to believe that giving and receiving are really the same. Giving and receiving - not giving and taking.
- Joyce Grenfell

Willie Nelson

'I have outlived my dick.'
- Willie Nelson

Earl Warren

I'm very pleased with each advancing year. It stems back to when I was forty. I was a bit upset about reaching that milestone, but an older friend consoled me. 'Don't complain about growing old - many, many people do not have that privilege.
- Earl Warren

Oscar Wilde

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
- Oscar Wilde

O. Henry

There is no well-defined boundary between honesty and dishonesty. The frontiers of one blend with the outside limits of the other, and he who attempts to tread this dangerous ground may be sometimes in one domain and sometimes in the other.
- O. Henry

Robert Frost

The world is full of willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.
- Robert Frost

Lenny Bruce

In the Halls of Justice the only justice is in the halls.
- Lenny Bruce

Alexander Hamilton

Learn to think continentally.
- Alexander Hamilton

George Bernard Shaw

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can't find them, make them.
- George Bernard Shaw

Walt Whitman

I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.
- Walt Whitman

Casey Stengel

I don't believe in predicting, especially about the future.
- Casey Stengel

Thomas Jefferson

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing.
- Thomas Jefferson

Mark Twain

To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence.
- Mark Twain