—MARY TYLER MOORE
Success is never final and failure never total. It’s courage that counts.
—Success Unlimited
Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.
—CLARE BOOTHE LUCE
It’s when you run away that you’re most liable to stumble.
—CASEY ROBINSON
Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.
—JAMES STEPHENS
Courage is often lack of insight, whereas cowardice in many cases is based on good information.
—PETER USTINOV
Bravery never goes out of fashion.
—WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY
There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.
—GEN. GEORGE S. PATTON
Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage.
—ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
You can’t test courage cautiously.
—ANNIE DILLARD
An American Childhood
Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.
—ALICE MACKENZIE SWAIM
Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened.
—REV. BILLY GRAHAM
The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.
—LADY BIRD JOHNSON
A LITTLE KINDNESS . . .
A little kindness from person to person is better than a vast love for all humankind.
—RICHARD DEHMEL
The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines.
—CHARLES KURALT
On the Road With Charles Kuralt
A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring.
—The Collected Later Poems of William
Carlos Williams
Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in life you will have been all of these.
—BOB GODDARD
The heart is the toughest part of the body. Tenderness is in the hands.
—CAROLYN FORCHÉ
The Country Between Us
You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Life is short and we never have enough time for gladdening the hearts of those who travel the way with us. Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.
—HENRI FRÉDÉRIC AMIEL
There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.
—HAN SUYIN
A Many-Splendored Thing
How sweet it is when the strong are also gentle!
—LIBBIE FUDIM
Kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve.
—JOSEPH JOUBERT
Kindness is never wasted. If it has no effect on the recipient, at least it benefits the bestower.
—S. H. SIMMONS
Write injuries in sand, kindnesses in marble.
—FRENCH PROVERB
Ask any decent person what he thinks matters most in human conduct: five to one his answer will be “kindness.”
—KENNETH CLARK
Two important things are to have a genuine interest in people and to be kind to them. Kindness, I’ve discovered, is everything in life.
—ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER
Always try to be a little kinder than is necessary.
—JAMES M. BARRIE
Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom.
—THEODORE ISAAC RUBIN, MD
One to One
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
—ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL
Praise can give criticism a lead around the first turn and still win the race.
—BERN WILLIAMS
in National Enquirer
How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it.
—GEORGE ELLISTON
One kind word can warm three winter months.
—JAPANESE PROVERB
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
—MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA
Tenderness is passion in repose.
—JOSEPH JOUBERT
Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read.
—MARK TWAIN
Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.
—ERIC HOFFER
The Passionate State of Mind
A pat on the back, though only a few vertebrae removed from a kick in the pants, is miles ahead in results.
—BENNETT CERF
A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.
—WILLIAM ARTHUR WARD
“Reward Yourself”
When we put ourselves in the other person’s place, we’re less likely to want to put him in his place.
—Farmer’s Digest
He best can pity who has felt the woe.
—JOHN GAY
Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?
—HENRY DAVID THOREAU
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.
—HARPER LEE
To Kill a Mockingbird
Feelings are everywhere—be gentle.
—J. MASAI
Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury.
—E. H. CHAPIN
One of the most lasting pleasures you can experience is the feeling that comes over you when you genuinely forgive an enemy—whether he knows it or not.
—O. A. BATTISTA
in Quote Magazine
A forgiveness ought to be like a canceled note, torn in two and burned up, so that it can never be shown against the man.
—HENRY WARD BEECHER
Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved.
—C. S. LEWIS
He who cannot forgive others destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass.
—GEORGE HERBERT
When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive.
—ALAN PATON
Forgiveness is a gift of high value. Yet its cost is nothing.
—BETTY SMITH
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody everything every night before you go to bed.
—ANN LANDERS
Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.
—WILLIAM ARTHUR WARD
Forgive your enemies—if you can’t get back at them any other way.
—FRANKLIN P. JONES
GOODNESS IS THE ONLY INVESTMENT . . .
Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
—HENRY DAVID THOREAU
On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.
—GEORGE ORWELL
All that is worth cherishing in this world begins in the heart, not the head.
—Quoted by SUZANNE CHAZIN in The New York Times
Ten thousand bad traits cannot make a single good one any the less good.
—ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart.
—ALEKSANDR I. SOLZHENITSYN
The Gulag Archipelago
Some people strengthen the society just by being the kind of people they are.
—JOHN W. GARDNER
Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.
—JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE
It’s not true that nice guys finish last. Nice guys are winners before the game even starts.
—ADDISON WALKER
Sincerity resembles a spice. Too much repels you and too little leaves you wanting.
—BILL COPELAND
If you haven’t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.
—BOB HOPE
The work of an unknown good man is like a vein of water flowing hidden underground, secretly making the ground greener.
—THOMAS CARLYLE
Generosity always wins favor, particularly when accompanied by modesty.
—JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
People want to know how much you care before they care how much you know.
—JAMES F. HIND
in The Wall Street Journal
Goodwill is earned by many acts; it can be lost by one.
—DUNCAN STUART
GRATITUDE IS A SOMETIME THING . . .
Gratitude is a sometime thing in this world. Just because you’ve been feeding them all winter, don’t expect the birds to take it easy on your grass seed.
—BILL VAUGHAN
in Kansas City Star
Gratitude is the memory of the heart.
—J. B. MASSIEU
Swift gratitude is the sweetest.
—GREEK PROVERB
The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.
—ERIC HOFFER
Reflections On The Human Condition
Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone.
—G. B. STERN
Robert Louis Stevenson
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
—WILLIAM ARTHUR WARD
One must be poor to know the luxury of giving.
—GEORGE ELIOT
To know the value of generosity, it is necessary to have suffered from the cold indifference of others.
—EUGENE CLOUTIER
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that thankfulness is indeed a virtue.
—WILLIAM J. BENNETT
The Moral Compass
Appreciation is like an insurance policy. It has to be renewed every now and then.
—DAVE MCINTYRE
PERSEVERANCE IS NOT A LONG RACE . . .
Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.
—WALTER ELLIOTT
The Spiritual Life
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
—JAPANESE PROVERB
Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.
—LOUIS PASTEUR
Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.
—SAMUEL JOHNSON
Vitality shows not only in the ability to persist but in the ability to start over.
—F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
By perseverance the snail reached the ark.
—CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON
In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins—not through strength but by perseverance.
—H. JACKSON BROWN
A Father’s Book of Wisdom
What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight—it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
—DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn’t feel like it.
—ALISTAIR COOKE
The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
—CHINESE PROVERB
If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.
—FRANK A. CLARK
Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.
—NEWT GINGRICH
Go the extra mile. It’s never crowded.
—Executive Speechwriter Newsletter
Lord, give me the determination and tenacity of a weed.
—MRS. LEON R. WALTERS
WE ALL KNOW A FOOL . . .
We all know a fool when we see one—but not when we are one.
—ARNOLD H. GLASOW
It is wise to remember that you are one of those who can be fooled some of the time.
—LAURENCE J. PETER
Peter’s Almanac
There is a foolish corner in the brain of the wisest man.
—ARISTOTLE
You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.
—COLETTE
April 1 is the day upon which we are reminded what we are on the other 364.
—MARK TWAIN
Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.
—AFRICAN PROVERB
Anyone can make a mistake. A fool insists on repeating it.
—ROBERTINE MAYNARD
A fool judges people by the presents they give him.
—CHINESE SAYING
Astrology proves one scientific fact, and one only; there’s one born every minute.
—PATRICK MOORE
Only a fool argues with a skunk, a mule or the cook.
—HARRY OLIVER
Desert Rat Scrap Book
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
—HERBERT SPENCER
Essays
The surprising thing about young fools is how many survive to become old fools.
—DOUG LARSON
Self-delusion is pulling in your stomach when you step on the scales.
—PAUL SWEENEY
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain—and most do.
—DALE CARNEGIE
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Anybody with money to burn will easily find someone to tend the fire.
—Pocket Crossword Puzzles
Follies change their type but foolishness remains.
—ERICH KASTNER
I’m not denyin’ the women are foolish: God Almighty made ’em to match the men.
—GEORGE ELIOT
Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.
—MARK TWAIN
Everybody has the right to express what he thinks. That, of course, lets the crackpots in. But if you cannot tell a crackpot when you see one, then you ought to be taken in.
—HARRY S. TRUMAN
Some people get lost in thought because it’s such unfamiliar territory.
—G. BEHN
A fanatic is someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
—WINSTON CHURCHILL
While intelligent people can often simplify the complex, a fool is more likely to complicate the simple.
—GERALD W. GRUMET, MD
in Readings
There are 40 kinds of lunacy, but only one kind of common sense.
—AFRICAN PROVERB
A bore is someone who persists in holding his own views after we have enlightened him with ours.
—MALCOLM S. FORBES
Bores bore each other, too, but it never seems to teach them anything.
—DON MARQUIS
Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can in a week.
—WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS
A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one-and-a-half times his own weight in other people’s patience.
—JOHN UPDIKE
Assorted Prose
Everyone is a bore to someone. That is unimportant. The thing to avoid is being a bore to oneself.
—GERALD BRENAN
A bore is a fellow talker who can change the subject to his topic of conversation faster than you can change it back to yours.
Quotable Quotes Page 9