There have been those who magnificently dared. There have been bearers of the truth, men who groped in the world's tumult, trying to make plain order of it. They discover what we did not yet know; chiefly they discover what we no longer knew.

One day you finally knewwhat you had to do, and began,though the voices around youkept shoutingtheir bad advice--though the whole housebegan to trembleand you felt the old tugat your ankles.Mend my life!each voice cried.But you didn't stop.You knew what you had to do,though the wind priedwith its stiff fingersat the very foundations,though their melancholywas terrible.It was already lateenough, and a wild night,and the road full of fallenbranches and stones.But little by little,as you left their voices behind,the stars began to burnthrough the sheets of clouds,and there was a new voicewhich you slowlyrecognized as your own,that kept you companyas you strode deeper and deeperinto the world,determined to dothe only thing you could do--determined to savethe only life you could save.(copyrighted material)

Mary Oliver, The Journey

However great an evil immorality may be, we must not forget that it is not without its beneficial consequences. It is only through extremes that men can arrive at the middle path of wisdom and virtue.

Karl Wilhelm Von Humboldt

I never thought of politics as a profession.

Georgios A. Papandreou

It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy of life lies in having no goal to reach.

Benjamin E. Mays

Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.

Stevie Wonder

Nonsense and beauty have close connections.

E. M. Forster

Man maintains his balance, poise, and sense of security only as he is moving forward.

Maxwell Maltz

Banks have a new image. Now you have 'a friend,' your friendly banker. If the banks are so friendly, how come they chain down the pens?

Alan King

No totalitarians, no wars, no fears, famines or perils of any kind can really break a man's spirit until he breaks it himself by surrendering. Tyranny has many dread powers, but not the power to rule the spirit.

Edgar Sheffield Brightman

True religion... is giving and finding one's happiness by bringing happiness into the lives of others.

William J. H. Boetcker

To be free is to have achieved your life.

Tennessee Williams

A tragedy is a representation of an action that is whole and complete and of a certain magnitude. A whole is what has a beginning and middle and end.

Aristotle