Only the madman is absolutely sure. 

- Robert Anton Wilson, novelist (18 Jan 1932-2007) 

If you or your parents are immigrants, know that you are part of a proud American tradition, the infusion of new cultures, talents, and ideas, generation after generation, that has made us the greatest country on earth. 

- Michelle Obama, lawyer, First Lady of the US (b. 17 Jan 1964) 

I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth and truth rewarded me. 

- Simone de Beauvoir, author, and philosopher (9 Jan 1908-1986) 

Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest. The maple and the pine may whisper to each other with their leaves. But the trees also commingle their roots in the darkness underground, and the islands also hang together through the ocean's bottom. 

- William James, psychologist, and philosopher (11 Jan 1842-1910)

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness

- Mark Twain 

People who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo.

- Max Eastman, journalist, and poet (4 Jan 1883-1969) 

Not all those who wander are lost.

- J.R.R. Tolkien, novelist, and philologist (3 Jan 1892-1973) 

I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow, and I have borrowed a lot. 

- Woodrow Wilson, 28th US president, Nobel laureate (28 Dec 1856-1924) 

The force which makes for war does not derive its strength from the interested motives of evil men; it derives its strength from the disinterested motives of good men. 

- Norman Angell, lecturer, author, MP, and Nobel laureate (26 Dec 1872-1967)