We have different forms assigned to us in the school of life, different gifts imparted. All is not attractive that is good. Iron is useful, though it does not sparkle like the diamond. Gold has not the fragrance of a flower. So different persons have various modes of excellence, and we must have an eye to all. ~William Wilberforce
#quotes #william-wilberforce #personality

Don't lower your expectations to meet your performance. Raise your level of performance to meet your expectations. Expect the best of yourself, and then do what is necessary to make it a reality. ~Ralph Marston
#quotes #ralph-marston #expectations #performance

The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal. ~C. S. Lewis
#quotes #c-s-lewis #family #eating

Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow. ~Anita Desai
#quotes #anita-desai #travel

Authors are far closer to the truths enfolded in mystery than ordinary people, because of that very audacity of imagination which irritates their plodding critics. As only those who dare to make mistakes succeed greatly, only those who shake free the wings of their imagination brush, once in a way, the secrets of the great pale world. If such writers go wrong, it is not for the mere brains to tell them so ~Gertrude Atherton
#quotes #gertrude-atherton #writing #reality

The inspector ate only two of my tiny sandwiches: the first because he had'nt expected it to taste so awful; the second, I think, because he'd thought surely the first must have been a mistake. ~Karen Marie Moning
#quotes #karen-marie-moning #mistakes #eating

If you are attached to anything, you surely will go far astray. ~Zen Proverb
#proverbs #zen-proverbs #buddhism

We live through books; we have adventures in them, we lead alternative lives through them. We expand our memories through them. And that sometimes art can offer us more intense experiences of the world than life itself can. ~Anthony Doerr
#quotes #anthony-doerr #art #books

Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary. ~Chinese Proverb
#proverbs #chinese-proverbs #tea #medicine

All the seven deadly sins are self destroying, morbid appetites, but in their early stages at least, lust and gluttony, averice and sloth know some gratification, while anger and pride have power, even though that power eventually destroys itself. Envy is impotent, numbed with fear, never ceasing in its appetite, and it knows no gratification, but endless self torment. It has the ugliness of a trapped rat, which gnaws its own foot in an effort to escape. ~Angus Wilson
#quotes #angus-wilson #pride #sin

It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true. ~William James
#quotes #william-james #life #faith #optimism

Man is a creation of desire, not a creation of need. ~Gaston Bachelard
#quotes #gaston-bachelard #human #creation #desire

From this entertainment industry, may the gods of language protect us. ~David Antin
#quotes #david-antin #entertainment #language

All managers are losers, they are the most expendable pieces of furniture on the face of the Earth. ~Ted Williams
#quotes #ted-williams #work #management

My second book, Follow Me Down had some success, got good critical notices, went into a second printing and things like that, but Shiloh was by far the most successful of those first five novels. ~Shelby Foote
#quotes #shelby-foote #writing #books

Out of the choked Devonian waters emerged sight and sound and the music that rolls invisible through the composer's brain. They are there still in the ooze along the tideline, though no one notices. The world is fixed, we say, fish in the sea, birds in the air. But in the mangrove swamps by the Niger, fish climb trees and ogle uneasy naturalists who try unsuccessfully to chase them back to the water. There are things still coming ashore. ~Loren Eiseley
#quotes #loren-eiseley #nature

I shall never get used to not being the most beautiful woman in the room. It was an intoxication to sweep in and know every man had turned his head. It kept me in form. ~Lady Randolph Churchill
#quotes #lady-randolph-churchill #women #beauty

Learn a new language and get a new soul. ~Czech Proverb
#proverbs #czech-proverbs #language #soul

The go-between wears out a thousand sandals. ~Japanese Proverb
#proverbs #japanese-proverbs

Even if a minefield or the abyss should lie before me, I will march straight ahead without looking back. ~Zhu Rongji
#quotes #zhu-rongji #motivation

Some may claim that is it unscientific to speak of the operations of nature as miracles. But the point of the title lies in the paradox of finding so many wonderful things subservient to the rule of law. ~Elisha Gray
#quotes #elisha-gray #nature #law

The success of the dinner depends as much upon the company as the cook. Discordant elements, people invited alphabetically, or to pay off debts, are fatal. ~Ward McAllister
#quotes #ward-mcallister #eating

I am a fervent foe of water pollution, whether it is our own Hudson River or Philadelphia's tap water. ~Gore Vidal
#quotes #gore-vidal #hudson-river #environment #pollution #water

We are the captains of our own ships sailing the sea of life, but in times of a stormy weather, you will discover true friends when they don’t hesitate to be a lighthouse. ~Dodinsky
#quotes #dodinsky #friendship

A man ninety years old was asked to what he attributed his longevity. I reckon, he said, with a twinkle in his eye, it because most nights I went to bed and slept when I should have sat up and worried. ~Garson Kanin
#quotes #garson-kanin #night #thinking