Everyone confesses in the abstract that exertion which brings out all the powers of body and mind is the best thing for us all; but practically most people do all they can to get rid of it, and as a general rule nobody does much more than circumstances drive them to do.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.

Aristotle

Few men have been admired of their familiars.

Michel de Montaigne

He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, That dares not put it to the touch, To gain or lose it all.

James Graham

The further a mathematical theory is developed, the more harmoniously and uniformly does its construction proceed, and unsuspected relations are disclosed between hitherto separated branches of the science.

David Hilbert

Are you not ashamed of caring so much for the making of money and for fame and prestige, when you neither think nor care about wisdom and truth and the improvement of your soul?

Socrates

Every American, regardless of their background, has the right to live free of unwarranted government intrusion. Repealing the worst provisions of the Patriot Act will reign in this gross abuse of power and restore to everyone our basic Constitutional rights.

Pete Stark

He speaks to Me as if I was a public meeting.

Queen Victoria

I would love to be the poet laureate of Coney Island.

Thornton Wilder, attributed

The season of love is the carnival of egoism and it brings a touchstone to our natures.

George Meredith

It is better to lose health like a spendthrift than to waste it like a miser.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Perhaps our supercilious disgust with existence is a cover for a secret disgust with ourselves; we have botched and bungled our lives, and we cast the blame upon the environment or the world, which have no tongues to utter a defense. The mature man accepts the natural limitations of life; he does not expect Providence to be prejudiced in his favor; he does not ask for loaded dice to play the game of life. He knows, with Carlyle, that there is no sense in vilifying the sun because it will not light our cigars. And perhaps, if we are clever enough to help it, the sun will even do that; and this vast neutral cosmos may turn out to be a pleasant place enough if we bring a little sunshine of our own to help it out. In truth, the world is neither with us or against us; it is but raw material in our hands, and can be heaven or hell according to what we are.

Will Durant

It seems not more reasonable to leave the right of printing unrestrained, because writers may be afterwards censured, than it would be to sleep with doors unbolted, because by our laws we can hang a thief.

Samuel Johnson