The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take.

~ C. Northcote Parkinson, author and historian (1909-1993)

There's nothing impossible in this world for a heart full of desires.

~ Abraham Lincoln

To keep your marriage brimming, With love in the loving cup, Whenever you're wrong, admit it; Whenever you're right, shut up. 

~ Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971) 

The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready he is to claim all excellence for his nation, his religion, his race, or his holy cause. A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business. 

~ Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (1902-1983)

So I accept these awards on behalf of the cake bakers and all of those other women who can do some things quite as important, if not more important, than flying, as well as in the name of women flying today. 

~ Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) 

If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint. 

~ Edward Hopper, painter (1882-1967) 

People hate as they love, unreasonably.

~ William Makepeace Thackeray, novelist (1811-1863) 

There are stars whose radiance is visible on Earth though they have long been extinct. There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for humankind. 

~ Hannah Senesh, poet, playwright, and paratrooper (1921-1944) 

In any free society, the conflict between social conformity and individual liberty is permanent, unresolvable, and necessary. 

~ Kathleen Norris, novelist and columnist (1880-1966) was a popular American 

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

 ~ Winston Churchill 

We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile. 

~ Earl Nightingale

Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong.

~ Peter Drucker

Every reader finds himself. The writer's work is merely a kind of optical instrument that makes it possible for the reader to discern what, without this book, he would perhaps never have seen in himself. 

~ Marcel Proust, novelist (1871-1922)

Any life, no matter how long and complex it may be, is made up of a single moment - the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.

~ Jorge Luis Borges, writer (1899-1986)

The best way to be more free is to grant more freedom to others. 

~ Carlo Dossi, author and diplomat (1849-1910) 

So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.

~ Franz Kafka, novelist (1883-1924)

The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis.

~ Thurgood Marshall, US Supreme Court Justice (1908-1993)

One is happy as a result of one's own efforts once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness: simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience.

~ George Sand [pen name of Amantine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin], novelist (1804-1876)

The test of a democracy is not the magnificence of buildings or the speed of automobiles or the efficiency of air transportation, but rather the care given to the welfare of all the people.

~ Helen Adams Keller, lecturer and author (1880-1968)

Our society must make it right and possible for old people not to fear the young or be deserted by them, for the test of a civilization is the way that it cares for its helpless members.

~ Pearl S. Buck, Nobelist novelist (1892-1973)