If, in my retirement to the humble station of a private citizen, I am accompanied with the esteem and approbation of my fellow citizens, trophies obtained by the bloodstained steel, or the tattered flags of the tented field, will never be envied. The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.

Matisse makes a drawing, then he makes a copy of it. He recopies it five times, ten times, always clarifying the line. He's convinced that the last, the most stripped down, is the best, the purest, the definitive one; and in fact, most of the time, it was the first. In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.

Pablo Picasso

The second album was emotionally exhausting and my life felt like it had become very serious at a very young age.

Delta Goodrem

The sky already fell. Now what?

Steven Wright

Dance like there's nobody watching Love like you'll never get hurtSing like there's nobody listeningLive like it's heaven on earthAnd speak from the heart to be heard.Purkey is the source of this quotation that is attributed to many others: it was made popular in the song Come From The Heart written by Susannah Clark and Richard Leigh. Purkey closed his speeches with this poem and it has now made it into the public domain.

William W. Purkey

I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here.[, 1 November 1996]

Arthur C. Clarke

Any startling piece of work has a subversive element in it, a delicious element often. Subversion is only disagreeable when it manifests in political or social activity. In what we call art, it's one of the most desirable characteristics of a piece of work.

Leonard Cohen

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment.

Mahatma Gandhi

The truth is that relative income is not directly related to happiness. Nonpartisan social-survey data clearly show that the big driver of happiness is earned success: a person's belief that he has created value in his life or the life of others.

Arthur C. Brooks

Because if you don't have a great workforce, a great higher education system, you're not going to have the next eBay, the next AmGen, the next, you know, Miasole, and not only California but America is going to fall behind a whole new competitive context which is obviously China, India, and other countries.

Meg Whitman

Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.

Diogenes

While I slept you stood in thecolorful night marketwith pyramids of brightfruit piled highWhere those who loved you,rushing back to their intimate stalls,held out pears that had beendreamed for youAnd would the dream pear notcome gladlyonce it knew this was youwanting to take it in?The dream pear chose reality,wanting your mouth as I did -Honestly, it was happy to be bitten.

Brenda Hillman