Accident

I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.
- Thomas Alva Edison

Direction

All the world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going.
-Italian Proverb

Money

There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches; the wrong comes when riches possess men.
- Billy Graham

Troubles

The wise man thinks about his troubles only when there is some purpose in doing so; at other times he thinks about other things.
- Bertrand Russel

Creativity

An uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a creative mind to spot wrong questions.
- A. Jay

Helping

No man can help another who will not try to help himself.

Ambition

To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.
- Kahlil Gibran

Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast that however high we reach we are never satisfied.
- Nicolo Machiaveli

Music

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
- Berthold Auerbach

Music cleanses the understanding; inspires it, and lifts it into a realm which it would not reach if it were left to itself.
- Henry Ward Beecher

Music is the space between the notes.
- Achille-Claude Debussy

Without music life would be a mistake.
- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.
- Sergei Rachmaninoff

Deception

You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.
- Abraham Lincoln

Popularity

Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette—the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace.
- John Tyler

Greatness

A retentive memory is a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness.
- Elbert Huddard

Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; great minds rise above it.
- Washinton Irving

Morality

The young boy and girl trained in the teachings of the Bible have a moral reliance which serves as a moral compass for everyday living. They know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil.
- J. Edgar Hoover

Good Example

The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example.
- Thomas Morell

Ideals

A man's ideal, like his horizon, is constantly receding from him as he advances towards it.
- Richard Whatley

Vocation

The test of vocation is the love of drudgery it involves.
- L.P. Smith

Wisdom

There is not one wise man in twenty that will praise himself.
- Shakespeare

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
- William James

Responsibility

A man of fifty is responsible for his face.
- Stanton

Selfishness

The more anyone speaks of himself, the less he likes to hear another talked of.
- Lavater

Lying

Half the truth will often amount to absolute falsehood.
- Whatley

The more you speak of yourself, the more you are likely to lie.
- Zimmerman

Reputation

A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.
- Joseph Hall

War

It is well that war is so terrible we shouldn't grow too fond of it.
- Robert E. Lee

Youth

It is not possible for civilization to flow backwards while there is youth in the world.
- Hellen Keller

Patience

Patience is a remedy for every sorrow.

Atheism

Some are atheists only in fair weather.
- Thomas Fuller

Crime

Fear follows crime, and is its punishment.
- Voltaire

Admiration

We love in others what we lack ourselves, and would be everything but what we are.
- C. A. Studdard

Positive Attitude

To think and feel we are able is often to be so.
- J. Hawes

Every life needs an atmosphere of positive thoughts if it is to develop a future where faith is a possibility and where dreams are not feared.
- C. Neil Straight

Flattery

It is dangerous crisis when a proud man meets with flattering lips.
- Flavel

Christianity

The Christian life is not merely knowing nor hearing, but doing the will of Christ.
- F. W. Robertson

Wise men searched for the Child Jesus long ago, and wise men are still searching for Him today.
- Phil Rosburg

Whatever makes men good Christians makes them good citizens.
- Daniel Webster

Choices

Life often presents us with a choice of evils, rather than of good.
- Colton

Between two evils, choose neither; between two goods, choose both.
- Tryon Edwards

Children

Better to be driven out from among men than to be disliked by children.
- Dana

Cheerfulness

Burdens become light when cheerfully borne.
- Ovid

A light heart lives long.
- Shakespeare

Singing

Oh, give us a man who sings at his work.
-Carlyle

Leadership

It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep, than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.
- Defoe

Compassion

The dew of compassion is a tear.
- Byron

Humility

Humility is the better part of wisdom, but is most becoming in a man. But let no one disparage self-reliance; it is, of all the rest, the greatest quality of true manliness.
- F. Kossuth

Humility is to make a right estimate of one's self.
- Spurgeon

Humbleness is always grace; always dignity.
- J. R. Lowell

I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility.
- Ruskin

Ungratefulness

Ungratefulness is the very poison of manhood.
- Sir P. Sidney

Faithfulness

The life of a faithful man is a guide to paradise.
- Thomas Kempis

Oppression

Oppression is more easily borne than insult.
- Junius

Conscience

The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.
- Calvin

A quiet conscience makes one so serene.
- Byron

Prayer

He who prays as he ought, will endeavor to live as he prays.
- Owen

Religion

Religious contention is the devil's harvest.
- Fontaine

Contentment

An ounce of contentment is worth a pound of sadness, to serve God with.
- Fuller

Desire

Want of desire is the greatest of riches.
- Vigee

Silence

Silence is one great art of conversation.
- Hazlitt

Freedom

No one is a slave whose will is free.
- Tyrius Maximus

Suffering

He who took humanity upon Himself knows how to sympathize with the sufferings of humanity. Not only does Christ know every soul, and the peculiar needs and trials of that soul, but He knows all the circumstances that chafe and perplex the spirit.
- Ellen G. White

Happiness

The strength and happiness of a man consists in finding out the way in which God is going, and going in that direction, too.
- Thomas Moore

We have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume wealth without producing it.
- George Bernard Shaw

It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.
-Agnes Repplier 
 
We all live with the objective of being happy;
our lives are all different and yet the same.
-Anne Frank




 

Greed

There is sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.
- Mohandas Gandhi

Discipline

Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability.
- Roy L. Smith


The seeds of moral discipline must be nurtured from within.. not from without.
- Jose P. Laurel

Change

If you want to make enemies, try to change something.
- Woodrow Wilson

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that has.
- Margaret Mead

Things do not change; we change.
- Henry David Thoreau

If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less.
- Former US Army chief of staff, General Eric Shineski

Big changes in our lives are more or less a second chance.
- Harrison Ford

It is often constancy to change the mind.
- Hoole

A change will do you good.
- Sheryl Crow

The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything ... or nothing.
- Lady Astor, the first woman MP in the British House of Commons

Change... you can change.
- Tears for Fears

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
- John F. Kennedy

Future

People overestimate what will happen in the next two years and underestimate what will happen in ten.
- Bill Gates

Subordination/ Submission

The fellow who never makes a mistake takes his orders from one who does.
- Herbert V. Prochow

Failure

No man is a failure who is enjoying life.
- William Feather

Belief/ Believing

It amazes me to find an intelligent person who fights against something which he does not at all believe exists.
- Mahatma Gandhi, when approached by an atheist to organize and promote an anti-God society

Giving

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.
- Jim Elliot

Past

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.
- Oscar Wilde

Discouragement

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great feel that you, too, can become great.
- Mark Twain

Problems

We can be greater than the sum of all the problems that confront us.
- President Fidel V. Ramos, in his inaugural address

Kindness

There is nothing so nice as doing good and by stealth an being found out by accident.
- Charles Lamb

The good we do is never lost. Some of it remains, if not in material goods, then in deeper experience, a more practiced hand, and a spirit made stronger by that which failed to break it -- stronger to meet greater challenges ahead.
- Corazon C. Aquino, former Philippine President

The service we render others is really the rent we pay for our room on the earth.
-Sir Wilfred Grenfell

Hate

Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat.

Courage

Often the test of courage is not to die but to live.
- Conte Vittorio Alfieri

Courage from hearts and not from numbers grows.
- Dryden

To see what is right and not do it is want of courage.
- Confucius

Courage in danger is half the battle.
- Plautus

One man with courage makes a majority.
- Andrew Jackson

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all the others.
- Sir Winston Churchill

I am not afraid…I was born to do this.
-Joan of Arc

Death / Dying

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.
- Norman Cousins


For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any creature, shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
- Saint Paul in the 8th chapter of his book to the Romans

Criticism

Never answer a critic, unless he is right.
- Bernard M. Baruch

It is easy to criticize an author, but difficult to appreciate him.
- Vauvenargues

To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves.
- Will and Ariel Durant

Environmental

When a man has pity on all living creatures, then only is he noble.
- Buddha

Education

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.
- Mark Twain

Genius is nothing but continued attention.
- Young

Sorrow/ worrying

Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up.
- Guideposts Magazine

The worst delude are the self-deluded.
- Bovee

Health

Cultivate the habit of early rising. It is unwise to keep the head long on a level with the feet.
- Henry David Thoreau

Disabilities

The biggest problem facing the blind is the lack of vision of their sighted friends.
- Helen Keller

The disabled are, indeed, to be pitied not because of what they are but because of how they are treated.
- Art Borjal, Congressional Representative for the Disabled

Sports / Motivational

I started out with weak lungs, slower than the girls. I see myself as someone who's worked hard for what I have.
--Swimmer Eric Buhain, 1991 Athlete of the Year

Family/ Parenting

Never raise your hand to your children; it leaves your midsection unprotected.
- Robert Orben

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
- Theodore Hesburgh

Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.
- Pope

If you must hold yourself up to your children, hold yourself up as an object lesson and not as an example.
-George Bernard Shaw

A man who gives his children habits of industry provides for them better than by giving them fortune.
- W.G.T. Shedd

No matter what you've done for yourself or humanity, if you can't look back on having given the love and attention to your family, what have you accomplished?
- Lee Iacocca

Political

Elections are a must in a democracy. They must not be just a change in men.
- Alejandro R. Roces

To rule is easy, to govern difficult.
- Johann W. Von Goethe

The happiness of society is the end of government.
- John Adams - former US President