Thoughts on Truth - Philosophy

I add this also, that natural ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability. - Cicero, Oratio Pro Licinio Archia

There is no such thing as chance or accident; the words merely signify our ignorance of some real and immediate cause. - Adam Clarke

The man who has accomplished all that he thinks worth while, has begun to die. - E.T. Trigg

Large trees give more shade than fruit. - Old Proverb

People forget how fast you did a job - but they remember how well you did it. - Howard W. Newton

If you add only a little to a little and do this often, soon that little will become great. - Hesiod, Work and Days

Cordell Hull was an extremely cautious speaker, striving always for scientific accuracy. One day on a train a friend pointed to a fine flock of sheep grazing in a field. "Look. Those sheep have just been sheared," he remarked. Hull studied the flock. "Sheared on this side anyway," he admitted. - ?

Whoever tries for great objects must suffer something. - Plutarch, Lives

Nothing great was ever acheived without enthusiasm. - Emerson

The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests. - Epicurus

We put up with being surpassed more easily than being equalled. - A. Vinet

Rome remained great as long as she had enemies who forced her to unity, vision, and heroism. When she had overcome them all she flourished for a moment and then began to die. - Will Durant, Caesar and Christ

Every day the world turns over on someone who has just been sitting on top of it. - ?

It is good to remember that the tea kettle, although up to its neck in hot water, continues to sing. - ?

A codfish lays ten thousand eggs in a single day, but it is done silently. A hen lays one egg and cackles. Nobody eats codfish eggs and nearly everybody eats chicken eggs. - George Bernard Shaw

Some time ago, Edward Wilson, the son of defense secretary Charles E. Wilson, had a chance to invest some money in a small, promising business. In need of working capital, the firm offered him a deal on especially good terms. When Edward, with some pride, mentioned the proposed deal to his father, the Secretary, after pondering a minute, commented, "I don't think its a good deal - it's too favorable to you." The astonished son asked why. "Under your terms," said Wilson, "the company will still be rather hard pressed and may fail. If they succeed, by great effort, they may then feel that you pushed them a bit too hard. If these are the kind of young men you say they are, you'll want them for future friends and associates. Therefore, the terms should be made a little less favorable to you and a little better for them." Edward did this and the father's philosophy unfolded according to plan. - Beverly Smith, quoted in "Keeping Posted" in Saturday Evening Post

It is surprising how many people remember the good advice that they gave you, and how few people remember the bad advice they gave you. - ?

It is easy when we are well to give good advice to the sick. - Terence, Andria

Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. - Chinese Proverb

Anger: an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. - ?

The greatest remedy for anger is delay. - Seneca

He is a fool who cannot be angry; but he is a wise man who will not. - English Proverb

Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind. - Robert G. Ingersoll

When a man is wrong and won't admit it, he always gets angry. - Thomas C. Haliburton

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves. - Thomas Carlyle

The world is governed more by appearances than by realities, so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as it is to know it. - Daniel Webster

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last. - Winston Churchill

People generally do not appreciate what they do not suffer for. A thing is held to be cheap if it did not cost dearly. Honor is lightly worn if it is easily attained. Inherited liberty is too often carelessly used until it is repossessed through sacrifices. - Fred Robert Tiffany, D.D.

Appreciation of what we have is at least one-half the true way of life. - ?

The way to convince another is to state your case moderately and accurately. Then scratch your head, or shake it a little and say that is the way it seems to you, but that of course you may be mistaken about it. This causes your listener to receive what you have to say, and as like as not turn about and try to convince you of it, since you are in doubt. But if you go at him in a tone of positiveness and arrogance, you only make an opponent of him. - Benjamin Franklin

When men are most sure and arrogant, they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities. - David Hume

Nothing more impairs authority than a too frequent or indiscreet use of it. If thunder itself were to be continual, it would excite no more terror than the noise of a mill. - A. Kingston

Do not do unto others as you would they should to unto you. Their tastes may not be the same. - George Bernard Shaw

Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have trying to change others. - ?

As it is the mark of great minds to say many things in a few words, so it is that of little minds to use many words to say nothing. - Rochefoucauld

It is never safe to entrust your business to the man who neglects his own. - ?

If people would dare to speak to one another undeservedly there would be a good deal less sorrow in the world a hundred years hence. - Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh

Attempt only what you are able to perform. - Cato, Distichia

Look before you leap, because snakes among sweet flowers do creep. - Old Proverb

I would rather be adorned by beauty of character than by jewels. Jewels are the gift of fortune, while character comes from within. - Plautus, Poenulus

By nothing do men show their character more than by the things they laugh at. - Goethe

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again. - Stephen Grellet

The only thing which is of lasting benefit to a man is that which he does for himself. Money which comes to him without effort on his part is seldom a benefit and often a curse... And so with regard to money or other things which are given by one person to another. It is only in the exceptional case that the receiver is really benefited. But if we can help people to help themselves, then there is a permanent blessing conferred. - John D. Rockefeller, Sr., Random Reminiscences of Men and Events

There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament. It is a great error to suppose this comes entirely by nature - it comes quite as much by culture. - Henry van Dyke

A man who neglects his duty as a citizen is not entitled to his rights as a citizen. - Tiorio

There was once a village half-wit who was the butt of much ridicule. Whenever people offered him the choice between a nickel and a dime he invariably chose the nickel. After this had gone on for years someone took pity on him and told him a dime was worth more than a nickel. To which he replied: "But if I took the dime, people would stop offering me the money and I wouldn't even get the nickel." - ?

Though compliments should arise naturally out of the occasion, they should not appear to be prompted by the spur of it, for then they seem hardly spontaneous. Applaud a man's speech at the moment when he sits down and he will take your compliment as exacted by the demands of a common civility; but let some space intervene, and then show him that the merits of his speech have dwelt with you, and he will remember your compliment for a much longer time than you have remembered his speech. - Sir Henry Taylor

The surest way to knock the chip off a fellow's shoulder is by patting him on the back. - ?

If you wish to compliment someone, compliment him on a detail. In praising a man's home, avoid a vague generality like "Nice place you've got here." Select something specific, such as the view from a window or a shrewd arrangement of the room. Don't tell a women her hat is merely "becoming." Mention its angle or its color. - Dorothy Walworth

One fact stands out in bold relief in the history of man's attempts for betterment. That is that when compulsion is used, only resentment is aroused, and the end is not gained. Only through moral suasion and appeal to man's reason can a movement succeed. - Samuel Gompers

Whenever nature leaves a hole in a person's mind, she generally plasters it over with self-conceit. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If evil be said of thee and it be true, correct thyself; if it be a lie, laugh at it. - Epictetus

Who lives content with little possesses everything. - Nicolas Boileau

A strong determination to get the best out of life, a keen desire to enjoy what one has, and no regrets if one fails: this is the secret for the Chinese genius for contentment. - Lin Yutang

It is right to be contented with what we have, never with what we are. - ?

Just think how happy you'd be if you lost everything you have right now - and then got it back again. - Leonard M. Leonard

Being "contented" out to mean in English, as it does in French, being pleased. Being content with an attic out not to mean being unable to move from it and resigned to living in it: it ought to mean appreciating all there is in such a position. For true contentment is a real, even an active virtue - not only affirmative but creative. It is the power of getting out of any situation all there is in it. - G. K. Chesterton

When you talk you only say something that you already know - when you listen you learn what someone else knows. - ?

The secret of polite conversation is never to open your mouth unless you have nothing to say. - ?

In theory it is easy to convince an ignorant person; in actual life, men not only object to offering themselves to be convinced, but hate the man who has convinced them. - Epictetus

You may be on top of the heap but remember you are still part of it. - Frances Rodman

Let him not imagine who aims at greatness that all is lost by a single adverse case of fotune; for if fortune has at one time the better of courage, courage may afterwards recover the advantage. He who is prepossessed with the assurance of overcoming at least overcomes the fear of failure; whereas he who is apprehensive of losing loses, in reality, all hopes of subduing. Boldness and power are such inseperable companions that they appear to be born together; and when once divided, the both decay and die at the same time. - Archbishop Venn

Success is never final and failure never fatal. It's courage that counts. - ?

Nothing is ever lost by courtesy. It is the cheapest of the pleasures; costs nothing and conveys much. It pleases him who gives and him who receives, and thus, like mercy, is twice blessed. - Erastus Wiman

The value of compassion cannot be overemphasized. Anyone can criticize. It takes a true believer to be compassionate. No greater burden can be borne than to know no one cares or understands. - Arthur H. Stainback

Better face a danger once than be always in fear. - ?

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. - Dale Carnegie

Undertake something that is difficult; it will do you good. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. - Ronald E. Osborn

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our Attitudes. - Charles Swindoll

How can one conceive of a one-party system in a country that has over two hundred varieties of cheese? - Charles de Gaulle

Treaties are like roses and young girls - they last while they last. - Charles de Gaulle

Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so. - Charles de Gaulle

I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. - Charles de Gaulle

Deliberation is the work of many men. Action, of one alone. - Charles de Gaulle

The graveyards are full of indispensable men. - Charles de Gaulle

I respect those who resist me, but I cannot tolerate them. - Charles de Gaulle

Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him. - Charles de Gaulle

For glory gives herself only to those who have always dreamed of her. - Charles de Gaulle

Silence is the ultimate weapon of power. - Charles de Gaulle

The sword is the axis of the world, and grandeur is indivisible. - Charles de Gaulle

Every man of action has a strong dose of egoism, pride, hardness, and cunning. But all those things will be regarded as high qualities if he can make them the means to achieve great ends. - Charles de Gaulle

France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war. - Charles de Gaulle

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. - Albert Einstein

An empty stomach is not a good political advisor. - Albert Einstein

I never think of the future. It comes soon enough. - Albert Einstein

When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute - and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity. - Albert Einstein

I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right. - Albert Einstein

Solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature. - Albert Einstein

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery everday. Never lose a holy curiosity. - Albert Einstein

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking. - Albert Einstein

Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing. - Albert Einstein

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. - Albert Einstein

Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. - Albert Einstein

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. - Albert Einstein