Socrates

Wars and revolutions and battles are due simply and solely to the body and its desires. All wars are undertaken for the acquisition of wealth; and the reason why we have to acquire wealth is the body, because we are slaves in its service.

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.

The poets are only the interpreters of the Gods.

What a lot of things there are a man can do without.

Happiness is unrepentant pleasure.

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.

Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere.

There are no have-to’s, just choices.

Why should we be cowed by the name of Action?

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?

Many things difficult in design prove easy in performance.

Don’t order any black things. Rejoice in his memory; and be radiant: leave grief to the children. Wear violet and purple. Be patient with the poor people who will snivel: they don’t know; and they think they will live for ever, which makes death a division instead of a bond.

You must not suppose, because I am a man of letters, that I never tried to earn an honest living.

Virtue knows that it is impossible to get on without compromise, and tunes herself, as it were, a trifle sharp to allow for an inevitable fall in playing.

Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.

The rich man is always sold to the institution which makes him rich. Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue.

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.

The wilderness is near as well as dear to every man. Even the oldest villages are indebted to the border of wild wood which surrounds them, more than to the gardens of men. There is something indescribably inspiriting and beautiful in the aspect of the forest skirting and occasionally jutting into the midst of new towns, which, like the sand-heaps of fresh fox-burrows, have sprung up in their midst. The very uprightness of the pines and maples asserts the ancient rectitude and vigor of nature. Our lives need the relief of such a background, where the pine flourishes and the jay still screams.

When Satan makes impure verses, Allah sends a divine tune to cleanse them.

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.