"The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this:

A human creature born abnormally, inhumanely sensitive. To them... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.

Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, their very breath is cut off...

They must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency they are not really alive unless they are creating."
Pearl Buck, US novelist (1892 - 1973)

"Know thyself."
Thales (635 BC - 543 BC), (The Seven Sages) from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers

"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

"It's compassion that makes gods of us."
Dorothy Gilman

"Outings are so much more fun when we can savor them through the children's eyes."
Lawana Blackwell, The Courtship of the Vicar's Daughter, 1998

"To know the road ahead, ask those coming back."
Chinese Proverb

"A man should never be ashamed to own he has been wrong, which is but saying, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday."
Alexander Pope, English poet & satirist (1688 - 1744)

"We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible."
Vince Lombardi, US football coach (1913 - 1970)

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

"Children are natural mimics who act like their parents despite every effort to teach them good manners."
Author Unknown

"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure."
Mark Twain, Letter to Mrs Foote, Dec. 2, 1887
US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 - 1910)

"Here's a message to the new borns, waiting to breathe: if you believe then you can achieve. Just look at me, against all odds 'though life is hard, we carry on, livin' in the projects, broke with no lights on. To all the seeds that follow me- protect your essence, born with less, but you still precious."
Tupac Shakur, Smile

"You can go a long way with bad legs and a good head."
Gavin McDonald, Scottish Bicyclist, 04-15-2006

"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds."
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945), Pan American Day address, April 15, 1939

"It is a wise father that knows his own child."
William Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice", Act 2 scene 2
Greatest English dramatist & poet (1564 - 1616)

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.... Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
Helen Keller (1880 - 1968), The Open Door (1957)

"The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work."
Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), O Magazine

"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know."
Diane Arbus (1923 - 1971)

"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't as all. You can be discouraged by failure - or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember, that's where you will find success."
Thomas J. Watson

"A smile is the shortest distance between two people."
Victor Borge (1909 - 2000)

"All Fords are exactly alike, but no two men are just alike. Every new life is a new thing under the sun; there has never been anything just like it before, never will be again. A young man ought to get that idea about himself; he should look for the single spark of individuality that makes him different from other folks, and develop that for all he is worth. Society and schools may try to iron it out of him; their tendency is to put it all in the same mold, but I say don't let that spark be lost; it is your only real claim to importance."
Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)

"Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another."
Madonna (1958 - )

"If pregnancy were a book, they would cut the last two chapters."
Nora Ephron

"The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them."
Denis Watley

"The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others."
Hasidic Saying

" After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say "I want to see the manager." "
William S. Burroughs (1914 - 1997)

"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it."
Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988)

"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do."
Epictetus (55 AD - 135 AD)

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

"Learn to value yourself, which means: to fight for your happiness."
Ayn Rand (1905 - 1982)

"A mind too active is no mind at all."
Theodore Roethke (1908 - 1963)

"It's foolish to fear what you cannot avoid."
Publilius Syrus (~100 BC)

"The best armor is to keep out of range."
Italian Proverb