If you wish to understand a philosopher, do not ask what he says, but find out what he wants

The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations.

Adam Smith

Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.

Thomas Jefferson

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing, that's why we recommend it daily.

Zig Ziglar

As a remedy to life in society I would suggest the big city. Nowadays, it is the only desert within our means.

Albert Camus

The early twenties when we drank wood alcohol and every day in every way grew better and better, and there was a first abortive shortening of the skirts, and girls all looked alike in sweater dresses, and people you didn't want to know said Yes, we have no bananas, and it seemed only a question of a few years before the older people would step aside and let the world be run by those who saw things as they were -- and it all seems rosy and romantic to us who were young then, because we will never feel quite so intensely about our surroundings any more.

Source Unknown

There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tower high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.

J.R.R. Tolkien

The rights of democracy are not reserved for a select group within society, they are the rights of all the people.

Olof Palme

The beginning of thought is in disagreement -- not only with others but also with ourselves.

Eric Hoffer

If you don't change, then what's the point of anything happening to you? It'll still be happening to an unchanged person.

Douglas Coupland

There are lots of things that you can brush under the carpet about yourself until you're faced with somebody whose needs won't be put off.

Angela Carter

I cannot make the universe obey me. I cannot make other people conform to my own whims and fancies. I cannot make even my own body obey me.

Thomas Merton

I believe you can have whatever you really want in this life, in one form or another, sooner or later. All you have to do is take care of your health and be lucky enough to live for a while. But you can't have it all at once and you can't have it forever. No life has the room for everything in it, not on the same day.

Barbara Sher