Authors: Editors of Reader's Digest
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L
ORRAINE
H
ANSBERRY
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If you're strong enough, there are no precedents.
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F
.
S
COTT
F
ITZGERALD
The Crack-Up
, edited by Edmund Wilson
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The more original a discovery, the more obvious it seems afterward.
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A
RTHUR
K
OESTLER
The Act of Creation
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To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can perform.
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T
HEODORE
H
.
W
HITE
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Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers.
â
M
IGNON
M
C
L
AUGHLIN
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Everyone has talent; what is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.
â
E
RICA
J
ONG
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To do what others cannot do is talent. To do what talent cannot do is genius.
â
W
ILL
H
ENRY
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When there is an original sound in the world, it wakens a hundred echoes.
â
J
OHN
A
.
S
HEDD
Salt from My Attic
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The cynic says, “One man can't do anything.” I say, “Only one man can do anything.” One man interacting creatively with others can move the world.
â
J
OHN
W
.
G
ARDNER
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Everything has been thought of before, but the difficulty is to think of it again.
â
J
OHANN
W
OLFGANG VON
G
OETHE
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Inspiration is never genuine if it is known as inspiration at the time. True inspiration always steals on a person, its importance not being fully recognized for some time.
â
S
AMUEL
B
UTLER
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The work of the individual still remains the spark that moves mankind forward.
â
I
GOR
S
IKORSKY
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The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.
â
F
ERDINAND
F
OCH
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Whatever comes from the heart carries the heat and color of its birthplace.
â
O
LIVER
W
ENDELL
H
OLMES
S
R.
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We might define an eccentric as a man who is a law unto himself, and a crank as one who, having determined what the law is, insists on laying it down to others.
â
L
OUIS
K
RONENBERGER
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No two men are alike, and both of them are happy for it.
â
M
ORRIS
M
ANDEL
in
The Jewish Press
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Some people march to a different drummerâand some people polka.
âLos Angeles Times Syndicate
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T
HE REAL SECRET OF PATIENCEÂ
. . .
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The real secret of patience is to find something else to do in the meantime.
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Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games
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I endeavor to be wise when I cannot be merry, easy when I cannot be glad, content with what cannot be mended and patient when there be no redress.
â
E
LIZABETH
M
ONTAGU
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If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.
â
C
HINESE EPIGRAM
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He that can have patience can have what he will.
â
B
ENJAMIN
F
RANKLIN
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The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.
â
A
RNOLD
H
.
G
LASOW
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Patience! The windmill never strays in search of the wind.
â
A
NDY
J
.
S
KLIVIS
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Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.
â
A
BRAHAM
L
INCOLN
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In any contest between power and patience, bet on patience.
â
W
.
B
.
P
RESCOTT
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Beware the fury of a patient man.
â
J
OHN
D
RYDEN
Â
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
â
J
EAN
J
ACQUES
R
OUSSEAU
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Patience is the art of hoping.
â
V
AUVENARGUES
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Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself.
â
S
T.
F
RANCIS DE
S
ALES
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Patience is the ability to put up with people you'd like to put down.
â
U
LRIKE
R
UFFERT
Â
There is a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.
â
E
DMUND
B
URKE
Â
Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead.
â
M
AC
M
C
C
LEARY
Â
Waiting is worse than knowing. Grief rends the heart cleanly, that it may begin to heal; waiting shreds the spirit.
â
M
ORGAN
L
LYWELYN
The Wind from Hastings
Â
There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an idiot.
â
S
TEVEN
W
RIGHT
Â
Regardless of how much patience we have, we would prefer never to use any of it.
â
J
AMES
T
.
O
'
B
RIEN
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A man without patience is a lamp without oil.
â
A
NDRÃS
S
EGOVIA
Â
Impatience can be a virtue, if you practice it on yourself.
â
R
OD
M
C
K
UEN
1985 Book of Days
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He who is impatient waits twice.
â
M
ACK
M
C
G
INNIS
Â
One of the great disadvantages of hurry is that it takes such a long time.
â
G
.
K
.
C
HESTERTON
Â
We may be willing to tell a story twice but we are never willing to hear it more than once.
â
W
ILLIAM
H
AZLITT
Â
How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners, and instant cameras teach patience to its young?
â
P
AUL
S
WEENEY
Â
Patience often gets the credit that belongs to fatigue.
â
F
RANKLIN
P
.
J
ONES
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T
HE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HERO AND A COWARDÂ
. . .
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The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways.
â
G
ENE
H
ACKMAN
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Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.
â
The Diary of Anaïs Nin
edited by Gunther Stuhlmann
Â
Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.
â
H
ARPER
L
EE
To Kill a Mockingbird
Â
Courage is being scared to deathâand saddling up anyway.
â
J
OHN
W
AYNE
Â
It is often easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.
â
A
DLAI
E
.
S
TEVENSON
Â
Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death.
â
E
ARL
W
ILSON
Â
Facing itâalways facing itâthat's the way to get through. Face it!
â
J
OSEPH
C
ONRAD
Â
Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you.
â
M
ARY
T
YLER
M
OORE
Â
Success is never final and failure never total. It's courage that counts.
â
Success Unlimited
Â
Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.
â
C
LARE
B
OOTHE
L
UCE
Â
It's when you run away that you're most liable to stumble.
â
C
ASEY
R
OBINSON
Â
Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.
â
J
AMES
S
TEPHENS
Â
Courage is often lack of insight, whereas cowardice in many cases is based on good information.
â
P
ETER
U
STINOV
Â
Bravery never goes out of fashion.
â
W
ILLIAM
M
AKEPEACE
T
HACKERAY
Â
There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.
â
G
EN.
G
EORGE
S
.
P
ATTON
Â
Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage.
â
R
OBERT
L
OUIS
S
TEVENSON
Â
You can't test courage cautiously.
â
A
NNIE
D
ILLARD
An American Childhood
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Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.
â
A
LICE
M
ACKENZIE
S
WAIM
Â
Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened.
â
R
EV.
B
ILLY
G
RAHAM
Â
The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.
â
L
ADY
B
IRD
J
OHNSON
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A
LITTLE KINDNESSÂ
. . .
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A little kindness from person to person is better than a vast love for all humankind.
â
R
ICHARD
D
EHMEL
Â
The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines.
â
C
HARLES
K
URALT
On the Road With Charles Kuralt
Â
A profusion of pink roses bending ragged in the rain speaks to me of all gentleness and its enduring.
â
The Collected Later Poems of William
Carlos Williams
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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.
â
B
OB
G
ODDARD
Â
The heart is the toughest part of the body. Tenderness is in the hands.
â
C
AROLYN
F
ORCHÃ
The Country Between Us
Â
You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.
â
R
ALPH
W
ALDO
E
MERSON
Â
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.
â
H
ENRI
F
RÃDÃRIC
A
MIEL
Â
There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.
â
H
AN
S
UYIN
A Many-Splendored Thing
Â
How sweet it is when the strong are also gentle!
â
L
IBBIE
F
UDIM