Quotable Quotes (2 page)

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.

—
H
ENRY
W
ADSWORTH
L
ONGFELLOW

 

Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they're yours.

—
R
ICHARD
B
ACH

Illusions

 

Morale is self-esteem in action.

—
A
VERY
W
EISMAN,
MD

 

Lack of something to feel important about is almost the greatest tragedy a man may have.

—
A
RTHUR
E
.
M
ORGAN

 

Once in a century a man may be ruined or made insufferable by praise. But surely once in a minute something generous dies for want of it.

—
J
OHN
M
ASEFIELD

 

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.

—
A
LBERT
C
AMUS

Lyrical and Critical Essays

 

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.

—
A
BRAHAM
J
OSHUA
H
ESCHEL

 

The better we feel about ourselves, the fewer times we have to knock somebody else down to feel tall.

—
O
DETTA

 

A man can't ride your back unless it's bent.

—
R
EV.
M
ARTIN
L
UTHER
K
ING
J
R.

 

Never feel self-pity, the most destructive emotion there is. How awful to be caught up in the terrible squirrel cage of self.

—
M
ILLICENT
F
ENWICK

 

Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

—
M
AYA
A
NGELOU

Gather Together in My Name

 

Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.

—
B
ENJAMIN
S
POCK,
MD

Baby and Child Care

 

I
MAGINATION IS A GOOD HORSE TO CARRY YOU . . .

 

Imagination is a good horse to carry you over the ground—not a flying carpet to set you free from probability.

—
R
OBERTSON
D
AVIES

The Manticore

 

Imagination is the true magic carpet.

—
N
ORMAN
V
INCENT
P
EALE

 

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

—
M
UHAMMAD
A
LI

 

Imagination offers people consolation for what they cannot be, and humor for what they actually are.

—
A
LBERT
C
AMUS

 

There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory.

—
J
OSH
B
ILLINGS

 

You can't depend on your judgment when your imagination is out of focus.

—
M
ARK
T
WAIN

 

He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet.

—
J
OSEPH
J
OUBERT

 

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere.

—
C
ARL
S
AGAN

Cosmos

 

Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly.

—
L
AUREN
B
ACALL

Lauren Bacall, By Myself

 

Imagination is as good as many voyages—and much cheaper.

—
G
EORGE
W
ILLIAM
C
URTIS

 

I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.

—
D
UANE
M
ICHALS

Real Dreams

 

The opportunities of man are limited only by his imagination. But so few have imagination that there are ten thousand fiddlers to one composer.

—
C
HARLES
F
.
K
ETTERING

 

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

—
A
LBERT
E
INSTEIN

 

He turns not back who is bound to a star.

—
L
EONARDO DA
V
INCI

 

Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun.

—
G
EORGE
S
CIALABBA

in
Harvard
magazine

 

I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant.

—
U
RSULA
K
.
L
E
G
UIN

The Language of the Night

 

One of the virtues of being very young is that you don't let the facts get in the way of your imagination.

—
S
AM
L
EVENSON

 

If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.

—
M
AYA
A
NGELOU

 

T
HE BEST REASON FOR HAVING DREAMS . . .

 

The best reason for having dreams is that in dreams no reasons are necessary.

—
A
SHLEIGH
B
RILLIANT

 

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.

—
G
.
K
.
C
HESTERTON

 

Hold fast to dreams/For if dreams die/Life is a broken-winged bird/That cannot fly.

—
L
ANGSTON
H
UGHES

The Dream Keeper and Other Poems

 

No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.

—
W
ILLIAM
B
LAKE

 

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.

—
J
.
M
.
P
OWER

 

Nothing happens unless first a dream.

—
C
ARL
S
ANDBURG

Slabs of the Sunburnt West

 

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.

—
A
NTOINE DE
S
AINT-
E
XUPÉRY

Flight to Arras

 

To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.

—
B
ETTE
D
AVIS

The Lonely Life

 

The years forever fashion new dreams when old ones go. God pity a one-dream man!

—
R
OBERT
G
ODDARD

 

A man must have his dreams—memory dreams of the past and eager dreams of the future. I never want to stop reaching for new goals.

—
M
AURICE
C
HEVALIER

 

Dreams and dedication are a powerful combination.

—
W
ILLIAM
L
ONGGOOD

Voices from the Earth

 

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

—
T
HOMAS
J
EFFERSON

 

We all live under the same sky, but we don't have the same horizon.

—
K
ONRAD
A
DENAUER

 

The moment after Christmas every child thinks of his birthday.

—
S
TEPHEN
U
YS

 

Everything starts as somebody's daydream.

—
L
ARRY
N
IVEN

Niven's Laws

 

Rose-colored glasses are never made in bifocals. Nobody wants to read the small print in dreams.

—
A
NN
L
ANDERS

 

How many of our daydreams would darken into nightmares, were there a danger of their coming true!

—
L
OGAN
P
EARSALL
S
MITH

Afterthoughts

 

Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be safely insane every night of the week.

—
D
R.
C
HARLES
F
ISHER

 

E
STABLISHING GOALS IS ALL RIGHT . . .

 

Establishing goals is all right if you don't let them deprive you of interesting detours.

—
D
OUG
L
ARSON

 

Discipline is remembering what you want.

—
D
AVID
C
AMPBELL

 

Goals are dreams with deadlines.

—
D
IANA
S
CHARF
H
UNT

 

The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never scoring.

—
B
ILL
C
OPELAND

 

In the long run men hit only what they aim at.

—
H
ENRY
D
AVID
T
HOREAU

 

Don't bunt. Aim out of the ballpark.

—
D
AVID
O
GILVY

 

Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth thrown in. Aim at Earth and you get neither.

—
C
.
S
.
L
EWIS

 

Keep high aspirations, moderate expectations and small needs.

—
H
.
S
TEIN

 

Goals determine what you're going to be.

—
J
ULIUS
E
RVING

 

The trouble with our age is that it is all signposts and no destination.

—
The War Cry

 

To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.

—
R
OBERT
M
.
P
IRSIG

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

 

When you aim for perfection, you discover it's a moving target.

—
G
EORGE
F
ISHER

 

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

—
C
.
A
RCHIE
D
ANIELSON

 

Whoever wants to reach a distant goal must take many small steps.

—
H
ELMUT
S
CHMIDT

 

I've always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific.

—
L
ILY
T
OMLIN

 

There is nothing worse than being a doer with nothing to do.

—
E
LIZABETH
L
AYTON

 

T
HE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE . . .

 

The most important things in life aren't things.

—Quoted in bulletin of The First Christian Church of Fairfield, Illinois

 

Origins are of the greatest importance. We are almost reconciled to having a cold when we remember where we caught it.

—
M
ARIE VON
E
BNER-
E
SCHENBACH

 

To see what is in front of one's nose requires a constant struggle.

—
G
EORGE
O
RWELL

 

If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.

—
D
OUG
L
ARSON

 

If you can play golf and bridge as though they were games, you're just about as well adjusted as you are ever going to be.

—
Manitoba Co-Operator

 

The only person you should ever compete with is yourself. You can't hope for a fairer match.

—
T
ODD
R
UTHMAN

 

The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.