Next to being witty, 

the best thing is being able to quote another's wit.

--Christian Nestell Bovee

Fire and Smoke

Courage is fire, 

and bullying is smoke.

-- Benjamin Disraeli

Think

Think for yourselves, 

and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.

-- Voltaire

Mediocre Minds

Great spirits 

have always encountered 

violent opposition from mediocre minds.

-- Albert Einstein

Taking Turns

If nature had arranged 

that husbands and wives 

should have children alternatively, 

there would never be more than 

three in a family. 

--Lawrence Housman

My Mother's Hands

My Mother's hands, so thin and work-worn,

      Were loved by me as jewels, rare,

      For they had rocked me in my cradle,

      And, lovingly, they'd stroked my hair.

They worked for me, both night and morning;

      They helped to smooth away my fears,

      For never were these dear hands idle;

      I think of them with love and tears!

My Mother's hands to me were precious:

      I thought their beauty was sublime;

      I felt no harm on earth could touch me

      If they were near me all the time!

--Gertrude Tooley Buckingham

My Mother

Who fed me from her gentle breast

And hushed me in her arms to rest,

And on my cheek sweet kisses prest?

My mother.

Who ran to help me when I fell,

And would some pretty story tell,

Or kiss the place to make it well?

My mother.

--Ann Taylor

Three Words

The sweetest sounds to mortals given

Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.

--William Goldsmith Brown

A Hundred to One

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,

Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,

Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,

But only one mother the wide world over.

--George Cooper

Martyrdom

Although prepared for martyrdom, 

I preferred that it be postponed.

--Winston Churchill

Judgment

Every new concept 

first comes to the mind 

in a judgment.

-- Charles Sanders Peirce, scientist and philosopher 

Look Fear in the Face

You gain strength, courage and confidence 

by every experience in which 

you really stop to look fear in the face.

-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Stupidity

I am patient with stupidity, 

but not with those who are proud of it.

-- Edith Sitwell

Highly Placed

The higher we are placed, 

the more humbly we should walk.

-- Cicero

Be Somebody

All my life, I always wanted to be somebody. 

Now I see that I should have been more specific.

-- Jane Wagner

The Only Force

Love 

is the only force 

capable of transforming an enemy 

into a friend.

-- Martin Luther King Jr

The Sweetest Sound

The sweetest of all sounds is praise.

-- Xenophon

Life's Work

A person will sometimes 

devote all his life 

to the development 

of one part of his body -- 

the wishbone.

-- Robert Frost

Labor Lost

Learning without thought is labor lost; 

thought without learning is perilous.

--Confucius

Success

Success has ruined many a man.

--Benjamin Franklin

The Best Thing

Nothing in life is so exhilarating 

as to be shot at without result.

--Winston Churchill

The Sting of Life

Misfortunes one can endure - 

they come from outside, they are accidents.

But to suffer for one's own faults - 

ah, there is the sting of life.

--Oscar Wilde

Success

Be commonplace and creeping 

and you will be a success.

--Pierre de Beaumarchais

Strength

Calmness and irony 

are the only weapons worthy of the strong.

--Emile Gaboriau

Negative Attitudes

People won't have time for you 

if you are always 

angry or complaining.

-- Stephen Hawking

Interruptions

Never interrupt someone 

doing something 

you said couldn't be done.

-- Amelia Earhart, aviator

Taking Forever?

It does not matter how slowly you go 

as long as you do not stop.

-- Confucius

Spoken from Personal Experience

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. 

The most certain way to succeed 

is always to try 

just one more time.

-- Thomas Edison

How to Get a Quality

Very often

the only way to get a quality in reality

is to start behaving

as if you had it already.

--C.S. Lewis

Rough Diamonds

Rough diamonds 

may sometimes be mistaken for 

worthless pebbles.

-- Thomas Browne

Clenched Fist

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.

-- Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India

St. Patrick's Day Poem

O but we talked at large before

The sixteen men were shot,

But who can talk of give and take,

What should be and what not

While those dead men are loitering there

To stir the boiling pot? 

William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), Irish poet, playwright. "Sixteen Dead Men."

Quote: Animals

At his best, man is the noblest of all animals;

separated from law and justice, he is the worst. 

-- Aristotle

Quote: Be Prepared

To be prepared is half the victory.

 

-- Miguel de Cervantes

 

Quote: A Failure

No man is a failure who is enjoying life.

 

-- William Feather, American publisher

Quote: Homer

Son, if you really want something in this life,

you have to work for it.

 

Now quiet!

They're about to announce the lottery numbers.

--Homer Simpson

Quote: Amateur

Every artist was first an amateur.

 

 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote: What Isn't Said

The most important thing in communication

is hearing what isn't said.

 

-- Peter Drucker

Quote: Flowers

Flowers grow out of dark moments.

 

-- Corita Kent, American nun and artist

Quote: On Your Side

If the law is on your side, argue the law.

If the facts are on your side, argue the facts.

If neither the law nor the facts are on your side,

pound the table.

 

-- James Taranto

Quote: Necessary Evil

It may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil,

but one must never label a necessary evil as good.

 

-- Margaret Mead

Quote: Old Ideas

The difficulty lies,

not in new ideas,

but in escaping from old ones.

 

 --John Keynes

Quote: Failure

I can accept failure; everyone fails at something.

But I can't accept not trying.

 

 -- Michael Jordan

Quote: On a Limb

You've got to go out on a limb sometimes

because that's where the fruit is.

 

-- Will Rogers

Quote: Caw

The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw.

-- Jack Handy

 

Quote: All the Good

In the time we have, it is surely our duty

to do all the good we can

to all the people we can

in all the ways we can.

 

-- William Barclay

Quote: Impulse

Great things are not done by impulse,

but by a series of small things brought together.

 

-- Vincent van Gogh

Quote: Motion

Never mistake motion for action.

 

-- Ernest Hemingway

Quote: A Good Book

Whenever you read a good book,

it’s like the author is right there, in the room talking to you,

which is why I don’t like to read good books.

 

-- Jack Handy

Quote: The Future

The future cannot be predicted,

but futures can be invented.

 

-- Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-British electrical engineer and physicist

Quote: Ideas

Bring ideas in and entertain them royally,

for one of them may be the king.

 

-- Mark Van Doren

Quote: Pebbles

Men stumble over pebbles, never over mountains.

-- H. Emilie Cady

Quote: Doctors

Isn’t it a bit unnerving

that doctors call what they do

“practice”?

 

-- George Carlin

Quote: Mountain

It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.

-- Edmund Hillary

Quote: The Great Geniuses

The great geniuses are those

who have kept their childlike spirit

and have added to it breadth of vision and experience.

 

-- Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer

Quote: Rules

Learn the rules like a pro,

so you can break them like an artist.

 

-- Pablo Picasso

Quote: Darkness & Hate

Darkness cannot drive out darkness,

only light can do that. 

Hate cannot drive out hate;

only love can do that.

 

--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quote: Observation

You can observe a lot by just watching.

--Yogi Berra

Quote: Impromptu

It usually takes more than three weeks

to prepare a good impromptu speech.

--Mark Twain

Quote: Potential

Continuous effort -

not strength or intelligence -

is the key to unlocking our potential.

--Winston Churchill

Quote: Sorrow

Sorrow makes men sincere.

--Henry Ward Beecher

Quote: Solitude

The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude.

--Voltaire

Quote: Sacks

To me, it’s always a good idea 

to carry two sacks of something when you walk around. 

That way, if anybody says, ‘Hey, can you give me a hand?’

You can say, ‘Sorry, got these sacks.’

  

--Jack Handy

Quote: Charlie Hebdo

I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees.

 

--Stephane Charbonnier (1967 – 2015), publisher, Charlie Hebdo

Quote: Art of Conversation

The real art of conversation is

not only to say the right thing in the right place

but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

 

 

-- Lady Dorothy Nevill

 

Quote: Stained-Glass Windows

People are like stained-glass windows.

They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,

but when the darkness sets in,

their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.

 

 -- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Quote: Toasters

Never put a sock in a toaster.

 

 

-- Eddie Izzard