Quotes worth reading

“In the morning, when thou art sluggish at rousing thee, let this thought be present; ‘I am rising to a man’s work.’”

Marcus AureliusMeditations, Book V, 1 (George Long translation), as given in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (1919)

“Work first and then rest. Work first, and then gaze, but do not use golden ploughshares, nor bind ledgers in enamel.”

John RuskinThe Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849), Chapter IV: The Lamp of Beauty, section 19

“A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly.”

Samuel JohnsonThe Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785), (16 August 1773)

“Employment, sir, and hardships prevent melancholy.”

Samuel JohnsonLife of Johnson (Boswell), (1777)

“Nothing ever comes to me, that is worth having, except as the result of hard work.”

Booker T. WashingtonUp From Slavery (1901), Chapter XII: Raising Money

“There are plenty of good people, but only a very, very few are precise and disciplined.”

Anton ChekhovLetter to V.A. Posse (February 15, 1900)

“Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.”

HoraceHorace, Satires, Book I, satire 9, line 59 (English translation as given on Wikiquote)

“Before entering any occupation, diligent preparation is to be undertaken.”

CiceroCicero, De Officiis (On Duties), 44 BC (English translation as given on Wikiquote)

“It is not industry, but idleness, that is degrading.”

Calvin CoolidgeThe Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, Cosmopolitan Book Corporation (1929), p. 68.

“A journey of a thousand miles started with a first step.”

LaoziTao Te Ching, ch. 64

“Every noble work is at first impossible.”

Thomas CarlyleFrom Past and Present (1843), Chapter XI : Labour

“Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.”

John RuskinThe Two Paths (1859), Lecture IV: The Influence of Imagination in Architecture, section 137

“Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.”

Abraham LincolnSpeech in the House of Representatives (20 June 1848)

“I never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself.”

Florence NightingaleLetter to a friend, quoted in The Life of Florence Nightingale Vol. II (1914) by Edward Tyas Cook, p. 406

“Going was easy. Keep on going was hard.”

Ursula K. Le GuinThe Eye of the Heron (1978), Chapter 7 (p. 95)

“Don't turn back when you are just at the goal.”

Publilius SyrusSentences — The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave, Maxim 580

“This discipline and rough treatment are a furnace to extract the silver from the dross. This testing purifies the gold by boiling the scum away.”

RumiMasnavi, I, 232-3 (tr. Helminski, 1990)

“The thing done avails, and not what is said about it. An original sentence, a step forward, is worth more than all the censures.”

Ralph Waldo EmersonEnglish Traits (1856), First Visit to England

“Restlessness is discontent — and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man — and I will show you a failure.”

Thomas EdisonThe Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas Alva Edison (1948), p. 110

“Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.”

Albert EinsteinAs quoted by LIFE magazine (2 May 1955)

“It is not possible to run a course aright when the goal itself has not been rightly placed.”

Francis BaconNovum Organum (1620) — Book I, Aphorism 81

“We are born / Not with purpose, / But with potential.”

Octavia ButlerParable of the Talents (1998), Chapter 1 (p. 1)

“Whenever anything is being accomplished, it is being done, I have learned, by a monomaniac with a mission.”

Peter DruckerAdventures of a Bystander (1979) (Autobiography)

“Success is the child of audacity.”

Benjamin DisraeliThe Rise of Iskander ch. 4 (1833)

“Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.”

Nelson MandelaNelson Mandela on determination, From a letter to Makhaya Ntini on his 100th Cricket Test (17 December 2009). Source: From Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations © 2010 by Nelson R. Mandela and The Nelson Mandela Foundation

“Find time still to be learning somewhat good, and give up being desultory.”

Marcus AureliusMeditations, Book II, 7 (George Long translation), as given in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (1919)

“For the things we have to learn before we can do, we learn by doing.”

AristotleNicomachean Ethics — Book II, Book II, 1103a.33: Cited in: Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (2005), 21:9

“Shall I tell you the secret of the true scholar? It is this: Every man I meet is my master at some point, and in that, I learn of him.”

Ralph Waldo EmersonLetters and Social Aims (1876), Greatness

“Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.”

Samuel JohnsonThe Rambler (1750–1752), No. 103 (12 March 1751)

“The way for a young man to rise, is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that any body wishes to hinder him.”

Abraham LincolnLetter to William H Herndon (10 July 1848)

“It takes people a long time to learn the difference between talent and genius, especially ambitious young men and women.”

Louisa May AlcottLittle Women (1868), Ch. 22 : Artistic Attempts

“We learn about life not from pluses alone, but from minuses as well.”

Anton ChekhovLetter to A.S. Suvorin (December 23, 1888)

“Since I would rather make of him an able man than a learned man, I would also urge that care be taken to choose a guide with a well-made rather than a well-filled head.”

Michel de MontaigneEssais (wr. 1571–92; pub. 1580–95) — Book I, Ch. 26. On the Education of Children

“Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.”

Richard FeynmanPerfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005), From a letter to Ms. J. M. Szabados of Victoria, Australia (30 November 1965)

“What I cannot create, I do not understand.”

Richard FeynmanWritten on his blackboard at Caltech at the time of his death, February 1988 (Caltech Archives)

“It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.”

Nelson MandelaNelson Mandela on character, Foreign Correspondent's Association's Annual Dinner, Johannesburg, South Africa (21 November 1997). Source: From Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Book of Quotations © 2010 by Nelson R. Mandela and The Nelson Mandela Foundation

“Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”

Eleanor RooseveltPreface (December 1960) to The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt (1961), p. xix

“Practice is the best of all instructors.”

Publilius SyrusSentences — The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave, Maxim 439

“If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you, and you'll never learn.”

Ray BradburyFahrenheit 451 (1953), Part 2, "The Sieve and the Sand"

“There is no education like adversity.”

Benjamin DisraeliEndymion (1880), Ch. 61.

“Even today, I dare not say that I have reached a state of achievement. I'm still learning, for learning is boundless.”

Bruce LeeJeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee’s Commentaries on the Martial Way (1997), Part 6 — from his personal notes, published posthumously

“To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.”

Benjamin DisraeliSybil (1845), Book 1, chapter 5

“Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality.”

John RuskinLectures on Art (1870), Lecture III

“The first and last thing demanded of genius is love of truth.”

Johann Wolfgang von GoetheMaxims and Reflections (1833), Maxim 382, trans. Stopp

“There's nothing clever that hasn't been thought of before — you've just got to try to think it all over again.”

Johann Wolfgang von GoetheMaxims and Reflections (1833), Maxim 441, trans. Stopp

“All my life I've looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.”

Ernest HemingwayLetter (9 April 1945); published in Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”

John SteinbeckInterview with Robert van Gelder (April 1947), as quoted in John Steinbeck: A Biography (1994) by Jay Parini

“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.”

John SteinbeckSweet Thursday (1954), Ch. 20

“Do not say, ‘It is morning,’ and dismiss it with a name of yesterday. See it for the first time as a new-born child that has no name.”

Rabindranath TagoreStray Birds (1916), 235

“Nothing is particularly hard if you subdivide it into small jobs.”

Henry FordInterview in Industrial Management (October 1927)

“It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. To begin with, it usually seems unreasonable.”

Isaac Asimov"How Do People Get New Ideas?" (1959)

“To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.”

Isaac AsimovThe Foundation series (1951–1993) — Foundation (1951), Part V, The Merchant Princes, section 3

“You are right to demand that an artist engage his work consciously, but you confuse two different things: solving the problem and correctly posing the question.”

Anton ChekhovLetter to A.S. Suvorin (October 27, 1888)

“I think I have learned that the best way to lift one's self up is to help someone else.”

Booker T. WashingtonThe Story of My Life and Work, vol. I (1900), ch. XV: Cuban Education and the Chicago Peace Jubilee Address

“The blessed work of helping the world forward, happily does not wait to be done by perfect men.”

George Eliot"Janet's Repentance" Ch. 10 in Scenes of Clerical Life (1858); this has appeared in paraphrased form as: "The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men."

“The purpose of an organization is to enable common men to do uncommon things.”

Peter DruckerMANAGEMENT: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (1973) — Part 2, p. 455

“It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”

Eleanor RooseveltVoice of America broadcast (11 November 1951)

“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”

Mahatma GandhiHarijan (19 November 1938) p. 343

“A superior who works on his own development sets an almost irresistible example.”

Peter DruckerMANAGEMENT: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (1973) — Part 2, p. 427

“It is not that we have a short space of time, but that we waste much of it.”

SenecaOn the Shortness of Life, ch. 1 (trans. John W. Basore)

“Be not as one that hath ten thousand years to live; death is nigh at hand: while thou livest, while thou hast time, be good.”

Marcus AureliusMeditations, Book IV, 17 (George Long translation), as given in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (1919)

“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”

Charles DarwinThe Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887), volume I, chapter VI: "The Voyage", page 266; letter to sister Susan Elizabeth Darwin (4 August 1836)

“The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.”

Leo TolstoyWar and Peace (1865–1867; 1869), Bk. X, ch. 16

“It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity.”

Publilius SyrusSentences — The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave, Maxim 780

“If you are wholly perplexed and in straits, have patience, for patience is the key to joy.”

RumiMasnavi, I, 2908 (tr. Helminski, 1990)

“Patience is a necessary ingredient of genius.”

Benjamin DisraeliContarini Fleming (1832), Part 4, Chapter 5.

“Let what will be said or done, preserve your sang-froid immovably, and to every obstacle, oppose patience, perseverance, and soothing language.”

Thomas JeffersonLetter to William Short (18 March 1792)

“Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.”

Albert EinsteinLetter to high school student Barbara Lee Wilson (7 January 1943), Einstein Archives 42-606

“In short, in life, as in a football game, the principle to follow is: Hit the line hard; don't foul and don't shirk, but hit the line hard!”

Theodore Roosevelt"The American Boy", published in St. Nicholas 27, no. 7 (May 1900), p. 574

“I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

Theodore RooseveltAddress in Des Moines, Iowa (4 November 1910)

“Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”

Maya AngelouAs quoted in USA Today (5 March 1988)

“I'm proof against that word failure. I've seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure of cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.”

George EliotFelix Holt, the Radical (1866)

“Lovely weather so far; I don't know how long it will last, but I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.”

Louisa May AlcottLittle Women (1868), Amy, in Ch. 44 : My Lord and Lady; part of this has sometimes been slightly misquoted as: "I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship."

“Life is difficult for those who have the daring to first set out on an unknown road. The avant-garde always has a bad time of it.”

Anton ChekhovLetter to A.S. Suvorin (May 14, 1889)

“Things are not so painful and difficult of themselves, but our weakness or cowardice makes them so.”

Michel de MontaigneEssais (wr. 1571–92; pub. 1580–95) — Book I, Ch. 14 (tr. Cotton, rev. W. Carew Hazlitt, 1877)

“Injustice makes the rules, and courage breaks them.”

Ursula K. Le GuinEarthsea Books — Tales from Earthsea (2001), “Dragonfly” (p. 201)

“If a marker were to be erected today, it might read, in homage to his scientific courage: ‘He preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions.’”

Carl SaganCosmos (1980), On the character of Johannes Kepler, p. 67

“The time is always right to do what's right.”

Martin Luther King Jr."The Future of Integration", address in Finney Chapel at Oberlin College (22 October 1964), as quoted in "When MLK came to Oberlin" by Cindy Leise, The Chronicle-Telegram (21 January 2008); he also used a slight variant of this "the time is always right to do right" in a later speech "Remaining Awak

“Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.”

William JamesThe Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy (1897), "Is Life Worth Living?"

“Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again. There is no disgrace in honest failure; there is disgrace in fearing to fail.”

Henry FordMy Life and Work (1922), pp. 19–20. Quoted in Samuel Crowther, "Henry Ford's Problem," The Magazine of Business, vol. 52 (1927), p. 182

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

Annie DillardThe Writing Life (1989)

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Will DurantThe Story of Philosophy (1926), p. 87

“You will find rest from vain fancies if you perform every act in life as though it were your last.”

Marcus AureliusMeditations, Book II, 5

“Therefore only an utterly senseless person can fail to know that our characters are the result of our conduct.”

AristotleNicomachean Ethics — Book III, Book III, 5.12

“Human Felicity is produc'd not so much by great Pieces of good Fortune that seldom happen, as by little Advantages that occur every Day.”

Benjamin FranklinThe Autobiography (1818), Part III, p. 108

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”

Ralph Waldo EmersonSociety and Solitude (1870), Works and Days

“‘Do the Duty which lies nearest thee,’ which thou knowest to be a Duty! Thy second Duty will already have become clearer.”

Thomas CarlyleSartor Resartus (1833–1834), Bk. II, ch. 9.

“Resolve to spend a certain number of hours every day amongst your books.”

Samuel JohnsonLetter to James Boswell (8 Dec 1763)

“Remember that there is always a limit to self-indulgence but none to self-restraint, and let us daily progress in that direction.”

Mahatma GandhiArticle in Young India (2 February 1928, Volume 10, Page 35)

“When asked, ‘How do you write?’ I invariably answer, ‘one word at a time.’”

Stephen KingThe Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition (1990), preface

“Powerful indeed is the empire of habit.”

Publilius SyrusSentences — The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave, Maxim 305

“There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.”

William JamesThe Principles of Psychology (1890), Ch. 4

“Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.”

Bruce LeeJeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee’s Commentaries on the Martial Way (1997), Part 6 — from his personal notes, published posthumously

“It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?”

Henry David ThoreauLetter to Harrison Blake, 16 November 1857

“To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.”

ConfuciusAnalects — Chapter VI, § 6.20

“Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.”

Henry David ThoreauLife Without Principle (1863), p. 486

“Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness.”

Thomas CarlylePast and Present (1843), Bk. III, ch. 11.

“Many persons have a wrong of idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”

Helen KellerHelen Keller's Journal: 1936-1937 (1938), p. 57

“It is a nice thing to be working and believing in my work again. I hope I can keep the drive. I only feel whole and well when it is this way.”

John SteinbeckLetter to Elizabeth Otis, once he had begun The Grapes of Wrath (1 June 1938)

“He who is too busy doing good finds no time to be good.”

Rabindranath TagoreStray Birds (1916), 184