No matter how full a reservoir of maxims one may possess, and no matter how good one's sentiments may be, if one have not taken advantage of every concrete opportunity to act, one's character may remain entirely unaffected for the better. With good intentions, hell proverbially is paved.http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/tt8.html

Nothing is so soothing to our self esteem as to find our bad traits in our forebears. It seems to absolve us.

Van Wyck Brooks

The best books for a man are not always those which the wise recommend, but often those which meet the peculiar wants, the natural thirst of his mind, and therefore awaken interest and rivet thought.

William Ellery Channing

The American grips himself, at the very sources of his consciousness, in a grip of care: and then, to so much of the rest of life, is indifferent. Whereas, the European hasn't got so much care in him, so he cares much more for life and living.

David Herbert Lawrence

I never saw anything funnier than Texas politics.

Molly Ivins

Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.

John Kenneth Galbraith

That which is in locomotion must arrive at the half-way stage before it arrives at the goal.

Aristotle

What is truth? said jesting Pilate and would not stay for an answer.

Francis Bacon

By its very nature, the novel indicates that we are becoming. There is no final solution. There is no last word.

Carlos Fuentes

Only you should decide for you what is perfect.

Ellen Hopkins

I do not find it easy to articulate thoughts about religion. I remain the sort of person who turns off 'Thought for the Day' when it comes on the radio.

A. N. Wilson

I take people very seriously. People are all I take seriously, in fact. Therefore, I have nothing but sympathy for how people behave - and nothing but laughter to console them with.

John Irving

Unwilling service earns no thanks.

Danish proverb