Benjamin Franklin

"The problem with doing nothing is not knowing when you're finished."

- Benjamin Franklin

Edward de Bono

"Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations."

- Edward de Bono, physicist, author, inventor

Barbara De Angelis

"Love's greatest gift is its ability to make everything it touches sacred."

- Barbara De Angelis, author and relationships consultant

Henry David Thoreau

"We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn."

- Henry David Thoreau, author, poet, development critic

William James

"Philosophy is at once the most sublime and the most trivial of human pursuits."

- William James, philosopher and psychologist

Michel de Montaigne

"I am myself the matter of my book."

- Michel de Montaigne, statesman and author

Dag Hammmarskjold

"Never, "for the sake of peace and quiet," deny your own experience or convictions."

- Dag Hammarskjold, diplomat, economist, author

John Wooden

"Nothing will work unless you do."

- John Wooden, basketball coach

Carl Rogers

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."

- Carl Rogers, psychologist

Brian Tracy

"I've found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often."

- Brian Tracy, self-help author and motivational speaker

Khalil Gibran

"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them."

- Kahlil Gibran, artist, poet, writer

Mark Twain

"To cease smoking is the easiest thing I ever did; I ought to know because I've done it a thousand times."

- Mark Twain, author

Willa Cather

"Oh this is the joy of the rose:
That it blows
And goes."

- Willa Cather, author

Marian Wight Edelman

"If you as parents cut corners, your children will too. If you lie, they will too. If you spend all your money on yourselves and tithe no portion of it for charities, colleges, churches, synagogues, and civic causes, your children won't either. And if parents snicker at racial and gender jokes, another generation will pass on the poison adults still have not had the courage to snuff out."

- Marian Wright Edelman, children's rights activist

Will Durant

"The trouble with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than with their minds."

- Will Durant, author, historian and philosopher

Harper Lee

"In our courts all men are created equal"

- 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee

Corinne Bailey Rae

"The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same"

- Corinne Bailey Rae, "Put Your Records On"

Eavan Boland

"Love had the feather and muscle of wings
and had come to live with us,
a brother of fire and air."

- 'Love' by Eavan Boland

I really like this line - it's from a poem in which Boland discusses her changing relationship with her husband. This particular line is from the part of the poem where Boland discusses the initial intensity of their love and I think the image is incredible, so tangible, which I think is exactly the way that Boland was trying to portray their love - delicate and strong all at once, as pure and essential as the elements themselves.

Arundhati Roy

"Not only is another world possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."

- Arundhati Roy, writer and activist

Heywood Broun

"The tragedy of life is not that man loses, but that he almost wins."

- Heywood Broun, journalist

Leo Buscaglia

"What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life."

- Leo Buscaglia, author and motivational speaker

Walter Weckler

"Revenge has no more quenching effect on emotions than salt water has on thirst."

- Walter Weckler

John Steinbeck

"If we could learn to like ourselves, even a little, maybe our cruelties and angers might melt away."

- John Steinbeck, author

Euripides

"The fiercest anger of all, the most incurable,
Is that which rages in the place of dearest love"

- 'Medea' by Euripides

Albert Einstein

"The important thing is to not stop questioning."

- Albert Einstein, physicist

Eleanor Roosevelt

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

- Eleanor Roosevelt, US diplomat and reformer

Orson Welles

“We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.”

- Orson Welles, actor, director, writer, producer

Henry Drummond

“You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.”

- Henry Drummond, writer and lecturer

Buddha

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”

- Buddha

William Jennings Bryan

“Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”

- William Jennings Bryan, politician