Socrates

Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart’s desire; the other is to get it.

As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent.

Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds.

A multitude of books distracts the mind.

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.

They are not only idle who do nothing, but they are idle also who might be better employed.

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence.

The best armor is to keep out of gunshot.

The older we grow the greater becomes our wonder at how much ignorance one can contain without bursting one’s clothes.

I am who I am today because of the choices I made yesterday.

I was brought up to hate and fear liberty. I came to love it. That is the secret of my whole career.

See one promontory, one mountain, one sea, one river and see all.

If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience!

I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.

Ready are you? What know you of ready?

Nothing flatters a man as much as the happiness of his wife; he is always proud of himself as the source of it.

Leisure and curiosity might soon make great advances in useful knowledge, were they not diverted by minute emulation and laborious trifles.

The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine.

The greatest genius is the most indebted person.

It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable.