My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces.

The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.

John W. Gardner

There is one thing one has to have: either a soul that is cheerful by nature, or a soul made cheerful by work, love, art, and knowledge.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Miss Mary, having been a journalist, had splendid powers of invention. I had never heard her tell a story in the same way twice and always had the feeling she was remolding it for the later editions.

Ernest Hemingway

Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles, but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.

Norman Vincent Peale

The whole house seemed to exhale a melancholy breath of emptiness

Michael Chabon

My definition of success is to live your life in a way that causes you to feel a ton of pleasure and very little pain -- and because of your lifestyle, have the people around you feel a lot more pleasure than they do pain.

Anthony Robbins

There is no pleasure in having nothing to do. The fun is in having lots to do and not doing it.

Mary Little

In the rush to become all things to all people, the federal government has lost sight of its core responsibilities. As a result we're stuck in this frustrating paradox where Washington actually neglects things it's clearly supposed to be doing, while interfering in other areas where they are neither welcome nor authorized.

Rick Perry

I was really lucky that I came to puberty at a time when music and politics were completely intertwined.

Bob Geldof

Action should culminate in wisdom.

Bhagavad Gita

A supreme love, a motive that gives a sublime rhythm to a woman's life, and exalts habit into partnership with the soul's highest needs, is not to be had where and how she wills.

George Eliot

The formula for achieving a successful relationship is simple: you should treat all disasters as if they were trivialities but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster.

Quentin Crisp