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Tag: Mark Twain

Creativity and Life Quotes

Do one thing every day that scares you. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today. – James Dean

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. – Oscar Wilde

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. – Plato

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. – Helen keller

You must be the change you want to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi

Two men looked out through prison bars… One saw mud, the other stars. – Unknown

Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone. – Picasso

Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare. Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth. – Stephen Hawking

You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not. – Isabel Allende

A year from now you may wish you had started today. – Karen Lamb

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? – Unknown

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. – Leonardo da Vinci

creativity and life quotesA goal without a plan is just a wish. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people. – Admiral Hyman G. Rickover

Don’t worry baby. There should be sunshine after rain and love after pain. – Unknown

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. – Mark Twain

Be Who You Are and Say What You Feel Because Those Who Mind Don’t Matter and Those Who Matter Don’t Mind. – Dr. Seuss, originally by Bernard Baruch

For billions of years, since the outset of time, every single one of your ancestors survived, every single person on your mom and dads side successfully looked after and passed on to you life. – Unknown

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. – Laozi

Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they’re doing. Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out. – XKCD 267

From a universal standpoint, there are always bigger and better things to worry about. – Albert Einstein

We know what we are, but not what we may be. – William Shakespeare

What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so. – Mark Twain

You have to take the good with the bad, smile with the sad.
Love what you’ve got, and remember what you had.
Learn to forgive, but never forget.
Learn from your mistakes, but never regret.
People change, things go wrong.
Just remember life goes on. – Unknown

Quotes and Observations

“If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.” ~Mark Twain

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then, I repeat myself. ~Mark Twain

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. ~Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. ~George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. ~G. Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. ~James Bovard, (Civil Libertarian, 1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. ~Douglas Casey *Bill Clinton’s Classmate at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. ~P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. ~Frederic Bastiat, French Economist, 1801-1850

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.~Ronald Reagan 1986

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. ~Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free! ~P.J. O’Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. ~Voltaire 1764

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you! ~Pericles 430 B.C.

No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. ~Mark Twain 1866

Talk is cheap except when Congress does it. ~Unknown

The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. ~Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. ~Winston Churchill

The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. ~Mark Twain

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~Herbert Spencer English Philosopher 1820-1903

There is no distinctly Native American criminal class …save Congress. ~Mark Twain

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. ~Edward Langley Artist,1928-1995

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. ~Thomas Jefferson

Inspiring Life Quotes to Live By

1. “It’s better to be an authentic loser than a false success, and to die alive than to live dead.” –William Markiewicz

2. “Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life… Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.” – Viktor Frankl

3. “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.” –Kahlil Gibran

4. “One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.” – Dale Carnegie

5. “Challenges come so we can grow and be prepared for things we are not equipped to handle now. When we face our challenges with faith, prepared to learn, willing to make changes, and if necessary, to let go, we are demanding our power be turned on.” –Iyanla Vanzant

6. Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live. –Nicolas de Chamfort

7. “Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead; that is where your future lies.” –Ann Landers

8. “Circumstances and situations do color life but you have been given the mind to choose what the color shall be.” –John Homer Miller

9. “You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.” –Jiddu Krishnamurti

10. “Whatever you want in life, start today. Not tomorrow – today. Let it be a small beginning – a tiny beginning. Your happiness depends on starting today – every day.” –Jonathan Lockwood Huie

11. “The only difference between an extraordinary life and an ordinary one is the extraordinary pleasures you find in ordinary things.” –Veronique Vienne

inspiring life quotes to live by12. “For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his or her happiness on major events like a great job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.” –Andy Rooney

13. “The three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.” –Addison

14. “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

15. “Life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming … WOW! What a ride!” –Unknown

16. “To live with the conscious knowledge of the shadow of uncertainty, with the knowledge that disaster or tragedy could strike at any time; to be afraid and to know and acknowledge your fear, and still to live creatively and with unstinting love: that is to live with grace.” –Peter Abrahams

17. “People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life… I think that what we’re really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality, so that we can actually feel the rapture of being alive.” –Joseph Campbell

18. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover” –Mark Twain

19. “Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of.” –Charles Richards

20. “Live life fully while you’re here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You’re going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process.” –Anthony Robbins

21. “It is quite true what Philosophy says: that Life must be understood backwards. But that makes one forget the other saying: that it must be lived –forwards. The more one ponders this, the more it comes to mean that life in the temporal existence never becomes quite intelligible, precisely because at no moment can I find complete quiet to take the backward-looking position.” –Soren Kierkegaard

22. “For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.” –Fr. Alfred D’Souza

23. “I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” –Jack London

24. “Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.” –Mary Anne Radmacher

25. “When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life.” –Greg Anderson

15 Change Quotes

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. – Alan Watts

You have to fight a battle more than once to win it. – Margaret Thatcher

When you come to the edge of all the light you have, and must take a step into the darkness of the unknown, believe that one of two things will happen. Either there will be something solid for you to stand on or you will be taught how to fly. – Patrick Overton

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ – Eleanor Roosevelt

There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth. – Maya Angelou

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. – Albert Einstein

change quotesSo keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about. – Marilyn Monroe

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. – Mark Twain

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass. –Maya Angelou

If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. – Gail Sheehy

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance. – Harrison Ford

Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken. – Frank Herbert

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated. – Maya Angelou

Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts. – Arnold Bennett

Life Quotes by Famous People

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.” – George Washington Carver

“May we never let the things we can’t have, or don’t have, or shouldn’t have, spoil our enjoyment of the things we do have and can have. As we value our happiness, let us not forget it, for one of the greatest lessons in life is learning to be happy without the things we cannot or should not have.” – Richard L. Evans

“Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.” – John F. Kennedy

“An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.” – Winston Churchill

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” – Mother Theresa

“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” – Charles Darwin

“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

“Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.” – Dag Hammarskjold

“Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.” – Oprah Winfrey

” Fate, is an excuse for why we end up where we do! Our ‘Actions’ predetermine our Destiny, our ‘Reactions’ seal that fate!” – Carl Stoynoff

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

life quotes by famous people“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” – Helen Keller

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on.” – Robert Frost

“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“When I hear somebody sigh, “Life is hard,” I am always tempted to ask, “Compared to what?” – Sydney J. Harris

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” –Kahlil Gibran

“One must work and dare if one really wants to live.” – Vincent van Gogh

“Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy

“It’s better to be an authentic loser than a false success, and to die alive than to live dead.” –William Markiewicz

“Life has got to be lived — that’s all there is to it.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

“The principle of life is that life responds by corresponding; your life becomes the thing you have decided it shall be.” – Raymond Charles Barker

“A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself.” – May Sarton

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” – Robert Byrne

What Famous People Have to Say about Love

“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” – John Lennon and Paul McCartney

“Pleasure of love lasts but a moment, Pain of love lasts a lifetime.” – Bette Davis

“The best thing about me is you.” – Shannon Crown

“Men always want to be a woman’s first love. Women have a more subtle instinct: What they like is to be a man’s last romance.” – Oscar Wilde

“What I needed most was to love and to be loved, eager to be caught. Happily I wrapped those painful bonds around me; and sure enough, I would be lashed with the red-hot pokers or jealousy, by suspicions and fear, by burst of anger and quarrels.” – St. Augustine

“All you need is love.” – John Lennon & Paul McCartney

“Love never claims, it ever gives.” – Mohandas K. Gandhi

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” – Lao Tzu

“All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.” – Leo Tolstoy

“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.” – Charles Dickens

“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.” – Mark Twain

“My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.” – Winston Churchill

“Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.” – Mark Twain

“Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy, you must have somebody to divide it with.” – Mark Twain

“If I know what love is, it is because of you.” – Herman Hesse

“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” – John Lennon and Paul McCartney

“At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.” – Plato

“Like the measles, love is most dangerous when it comes late in life.” – Lord Byron

“Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.” – Robert Frost

“I have loved to the point of madness; That which is called madness, That which to me, Is the only sensible way to love.” – Françoise Sagan

“Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it.” – Thomas Fuller

“Who, being loved, is poor?”- Oscar Wilde

“Love in its essence is spiritual fire.” – Emanuel Swedenborg

“A heart that loves is always young.” – Greek Proverb

quotes about love

15 Laughter, Joy and Happiness Quotes

1. [Humanity] has unquestionably one really effective weapon—laughter. Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution—these can lift at a colossal humbug—push it a little—weaken it a little, century by century; but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. — Mark Twain
2. A good laugh heals a lot of hurts. — Madeleine L’Engle
3. A good laugh is a mighty good thing, a rather too scarce a good thing. — Herman Melville
4. A good laugh is sunshine in the house. — William Thackeray
5. With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die. — Abraham Lincoln
6. And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh. – Friedrich Nietzsche
7. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. — Proverbs 17:22
8. A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. — Phyllis Diller
9. A smile starts on the lips, A grin spreads to the eyes, A chuckle comes from the belly; But a good laugh bursts forth from the soul, Overflows, and bubbles all around. – Carolyn Birmingham
10. A well-balanced person is one who finds both sides of an issue laughable. — Herbert Procknow
11. Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand. — Mark Twain
12. Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine. — Lord Byron
13. Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. — W. H. Auden
14. An optimist laughs to forget; a pessimist forgets to laugh. — Tom Nansbury
15. And keep a sense of humor. It doesn’t mean you have to tell jokes. If you can’t think of anything else, when you’re my age, take off your clothes and walk in front of a mirror. I guarantee you’ll get a laugh. — Art Linkletter

Decision Quotes

Every morning is a new beginning, a new chance for you to rewrite the story of your life. ~ Tina Su

Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment. ~ Jim Horning

It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of someone elses life with perfection. ~ Bhagavad Gita

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

I’d rather aim high and miss, than aim low and hit. ~ Les Brown

decision quotesIf you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise. ~ Robert Fritz

‘If only I had more money’ is the easiest way to postpone the intense self-examination and decision-making necessary to create a life of enjoyment – now and not later. ~ Tim Ferriss

When a question is posed ceremoniously, the universe responds. ~ Chinese Proverb

The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. ~ Mark Twain

The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want. ~ Ben Stein

Hope Quotes and Sayings

Hope is that thing that all of us need in tough times. Let me show you some great hope quotes for a better day.

Hope, deceitful as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route. ~François Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Once you choose hope, anything’s possible. ~Christopher Reeve

Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity. ~Robert G. Ingersoll

Things which you do not hope happen more frequently than things which you do hope. ~Titus Maccius Plautus

Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that God gives us to control our fears, not to oust them. ~Vincent McNabb

In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man’s torments. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human, 1878

Hope QuotesWhen the world says, “Give up,”
Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.” ~Author Unknown

There is nothing so well known as that we should not expect something for nothing – but we all do and call it Hope. ~Edgar Howe

If you knew that hope and despair were paths to the same destination, which would you choose? ~Robert Brault

Hope itself is a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords; but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain. ~Samuel Johnson

Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops… at all. ~Emily Dickinson

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. ~Anne Lamott

All it takes is one bloom of hope to make a spiritual garden. ~Terri Guillemets

The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope. ~William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination. ~Marian Zimmer Bradley

You’ve gotta have hope. Without hope life is meaningless. Without hope life is meaning less and less. ~ Author Unknown

Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960

Lord save us all from… a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms. ~Mark Twain

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark. ~George Iles

When hope is hungry, everything feeds it. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960