Nayyirah Waheed

The two parties which divide the state, the party of Conservatism and that of Innovation, are very old, and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made.

The studious class are their own victims: they are thin and pale, their feet are cold, their heads are hot, the night is without sleep, the day a fear of interruption –pallor, squalor, hunger, and egotism.

Nothing does Reason more Right, than the Coolness of those that offer it: for Truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders than from the arguments of its opposers.

You who write, choose a subject suited to your abilities and think long and hard on what your powers are equal to and what they are unable to perform.

It is nobler to be good, and it is nobler to teach others to be good – and less trouble!

What we call education and culture is for the most part nothing but the substitution of reading for experience, of literature for life, of the obsolete fictitious for the contemporary real.

Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow. [Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.Lat.]

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.

Any enlightenment which requires to be authenticated, certified, recognized, congratulated, is false, or at least incomplete.

Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.

Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content.

And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond; that you do what you say you’re going to do. That you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them and even if you don’t agree with them.

Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men’s nurses.

When any calamity has been suffered, the first thing to be remembered is how much has been escaped.

Our impartiality is kept for abstract merit and demerit, which none of us ever saw.