It is not only the prisoners who grow coarse and hardened from corporal punishment, but those as well who perpetrate the act or are present to witness it. 

~ Anton Chekhov, short-story writer and dramatist (1860-1904) 

Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility. 

~ James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (1894-1961) 

A fellow of mediocre talent will remain a mediocrity, whether he travels or not; but one of superior talent (which without impiety I cannot deny that I possess) will go to seed if he always remains in the same place. 

~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer and musician (1756-1791) 

There are two kinds of light - the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures. 

~ James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (1894-1961) 

There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with. 

~ Harry Crews, novelist and playwright (1935-2012) 

I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it. 

~ Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790) 

Memoir is not an act of history but an act of memory, which is innately corrupt. 

~ Mary Karr, (b. 1955) poet and memoirist 

Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way. 

~ Martin Luther King Jr., civil-rights leader (1929-1968)

Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind. 

~ Albert Schweitzer, philosopher, physician, musician, Nobel laureate (1875-1965) 

Several excuses are always less convincing than one. 

~ Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. 

~ Robert A. Heinlein, science-fiction author (1907-1988) 

To be capable of embarrassment is the beginning of moral consciousness. Honor grows from qualms. 

~ John Leonard, critic (1939-2008) 

We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.

~ Will Rogers 

My own experience and development deepen every day my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual joy. 

~ George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), novelist (1819-1880) 

Never confuse motion with action. 

~ Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790) 

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change, and to preserve change amid order. 

~ Alfred North Whitehead, mathematician and philosopher (1861-1947) 

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. 

~ Carl Sandburg, poet (1878-1967)