Confucius

"Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses."

- Confucius, philosopher and social activist

Francois de la Rochefoucauld

"He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks."

- Francois de la Rochefoucauld, author

Norman Cousins

"Death is not the greatest loss in life, the greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live."

- Norman Cousins, journalist, author, professor and activist

John Gay

"Cowards are cruel, but the brave
Love mercy, and delight to save."

- John Gay, poet and playwright

Michelle Branch

"Maybe someday the truth will set you free."

- Michelle Branch, 'Ready To Let You Go'

Mary Shelley

"The beginning is always today."

- Mary Shelley, author, playwright

George Bernard Shaw

"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve."

- George Bernard Shaw, critic and playwright

George Santayana

"There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval."

- George Santayana, philosopher, poet, author

Albert von Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt

"A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind."

- Albert von Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt, scientist

Robert Smith

"Like I can't cry for myself so I will let this song take all of the things inside I can't let anyone else see and offer it up, as if the sound were some kind of god, and my pain is some kind of sacrifice."

- Robert Smith, musician (lead singer/guitarist of The Cure) and songwriter

Steven Wright

"Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time."

- Steven Wright, actor and comedian

eastmountainsouth

"Tell your stories in all your sorrow, take the stage like there was no tomorrow."

- eastmountainsouth, 'All The Stars'

Eric Schmidt

"None of us is as smart as all of us."

- Eric Schmidt, engineer and businessman

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Do not waste yourself in rejection; do not bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, philosopher, poet

W. Somerset Maugham

"It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know they are wretched for they are full of the truthless ideal which have been instilled into them, and each time they come in contact with the real, they are bruised and wounded."

- 'Of Human Bondage' by W. Somerset Maugham

Henry Fielding

"A newspaper consists of just the same number of words, whether there be any news in it or not."

- Henry Fielding, author and playwright

Agatha Christie

"If one sticks too rigidly to one's principles, one would hardly see anybody."

- Agatha Christie, author and playwright

Tecumseh

"When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."

- Tecumseh, Native American leader

Erin McCarley

"Just say what you're feeling."

- Erin McCarley, 'Pony (It's OK)'

Will Rogers

"There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you."

- Will Rogers, comedian, actor, social commentator

J. K. Rowling

"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be."

- J. K. Rowling, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"

Publilius Syrus

"As men, we are all equal in the presence of death."

- Publilius Syrus, ancient Roman writer

Woody Allen

"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred."

- Woody Allen, filmmaker, actor, comedian

Henry David Thoreau

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

- Henry David Thoreau, author, poet, developmental critic

Josh Billings

"About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment."

- Josh Billings, author

Florence + the Machine

"Leave all your love and your longing behind, you can't carry it with you if you want to survive."

- Florence + the Machine, 'Dog Days Are Over'

Ambrose Bierce

"Bore, n.: A person who talks when you wish him to listen."

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

Ellen DeGeneres

"The only thing that scares me more than space aliens is the idea that there aren't any space aliens. We can't be the best that creation has to offer. I pray we're not all there is. If so, we're in big trouble."

- Ellen DeGeneres, comedian

Bertrand Russell

"To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead."

- Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, historian

Lou Holtz

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."

- Lou Holtz, motivational speaker, coach, author

Bill Vaughan

"We learn something every day, and lots of times it's that what we learned the day before was wrong."

- Bill Vaughan, columnist and author