Helen Keller

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."

- Helen Keller, author and activist

Alfred North Whitehead

"The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy."

- Alfred North Whitehead, mathematician and philosopher

George Eliot

"The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice."

- George Eliot, author

Martin Luther King Jr.

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."

- Martin Luther King Jr., social activist and reformer

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, writer, philosopher and intellectual

George Carlin

"Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy."

- George Carlin, comedian, actor, author

Aesop

"It is easy to be brave from a safe distance."

- Aesop, Greek slave and fable author

Henry David Thoreau

"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something."

- Henry David Thoreau, author, poet, developmental critic

Samuel Johnson

"Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble."

- Samuel Johnson, author and poet

The Fray

"Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same"

- The Fray, "All At Once"

Lao-Tzu

"Seek not happiness too greedily, and be not fearful of happiness."

- Lao-tzu, philosopher

Abraham Lincoln

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing."

- Abraham Lincoln, former president of the USA

Francis Bacon

"In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior."

- Francis Bacon, philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, author

Rita Rudner

"Before I met my husband, I'd never fallen in love, though I'd stepped in it a few times."

- Rita Rudner, comedian and actor

William Shakespeare

"In time we hate that which we often fear."

- William Shakespeare, playwright and poet

Fran Lebowitz

"In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra."

- Fran Lebowitz, author

James Thurber

"All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why."

- James Thurber, cartoonist, humourist and author

Steven Wright

"It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it."

- Steven Wright, actor and comedian

J. R. R. Tolkien

"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens."

- J. R. R. Tolkien, author

John Updike

"Our names are used for convenience by others but figure marginally in our own minds, which know ourselves as an entity too vast and vague to name."

- "Gertrude and Claudius" by John Updike

J. K. Rowling

"Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain."

- J. K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets"

Aeschylus

"It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered."

- Aeschylus, Greek playwright

George Bernard Shaw

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one."

- George Bernard Shaw, playwright and critic

Woody Allen

"How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?"

- Woody Allen, filmmaker, actor, comedian

Donald H. Rumsfeld

"If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much."

- Donald H. Rumsfeld, US politician

Harper Lee

"Everybody's gotta learn, nobody's born knowing"

- 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee

Ambrose Bierce

"Politeness, n. The most acceptable hypocrisy."

- "The Devil's Dictionary" by Ambrose Bierce, journalist, author and satirist

Shana Alexander

"The sad truth is that excellence makes people nervous."

- Shana Alexander, journalist

Eavan Boland

"I knew
winter was in store for every leaf
on every tree on that road.
Was inescapable for each one we passed.
And for me."

- 'The Pomegranate' by Eavan Boland

Adrienne Rich

"Weather abroad
And weather in the heart alike come on
Regardless of prediction."

- 'Storm Warnings' by Adrienne Rich

In this poem, Rich uses the metaphor of a storm to represent change and its unpredictability, its inevitability, but also the inevitable and unstoppable nature of human emotions. We can attempt to control or predict our emotions, as we attempt to with the weather, but it is futile - the storms in our heart are as unstoppable as those in the sky overhead.

John Updike

"But how could any world be more glorious than this one? Its defining light, its countless objects and perspectives, its noises of life, of motion."

- "Gertrude and Claudius" by John Updike