To do something, say something, see something, before anybody else -- these are things that confer a pleasure compared with which other pleasures are tame and commonplace, other ecstasies cheap and trivial.

There are times that when truth and kindness conflict one ought to chose kindness, especially when a little honesty is better than a lot.

Leroy Jack Syrop

Common sense is genius in homespun.

Alfred North Whitehead

A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some knowledge of these, he may venture to call himself an architect.

Sir Walter Scott

It takes two people to make a lie work: the person who tells it, and the one who believes it.

Jodi Picoult

Blind faith, no matter how passionately expressed, will not suffice. Science for its part will test relentlessly every assumption about the human condition.

E. O. Wilson

Mysterious language is not a sign of wisdom. The wiser a person is, the simpler the language he uses to express his thoughts.

Leo Tolstoy

Great love and great achievements involve great risk.

Anon., Nepalese saying

The colors live a remarkable life of their own after they have been applied to the canvas.

Edvard Munch

I generally wade in blind and trust to fate and instinct to see me through.

Peter Straub

Hitchhiking was such a pure form of existence. You'd wake up in the morning, and you'd have no idea what your day was going to be. And that's something I've never been able to shake. I loved that.

John Hawkes

I'm always interested in looking forward toward the future. Carving out new ways of looking at things.

Herbie Hancock

Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it...

Wilferd Peterson