50 Quotes and Quick Review of Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown
Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brené Brown is an exploration of the growing division, contentions and loneliness that are so prevalent in our cultures today. Brown uses personal anecdotes and research data to support her ideas.
The book encourages readers to defend their individual values and get comfortable with belonging to themselves, rather than striving to fit in at all costs with others.
The need to belong is the first thing we desire right after ensuring our own physical survival, according to Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. It commonly refers to the idea that humans have a fundamental need to be part of social groups and have meaningful relationships with others.
In Braving The Wilderness, Brené Brown tells her own story of how she pursued the satisfaction of this fundamental need for decades with little success, and then she shares with the readers how to avoid common pitfalls while looking to find it. For Brené Brown, belonging is mostly about learning to belong to ourselves.
Brown defines true belonging as being consistently true to who we are, our values, and our beliefs, even when it is difficult to do so and we end up finding ourselves standing alone.
What we are looking for is a place of true belonging, in which we are authentic even when it creates discomfort, it is what Brown calls “the wilderness”, a place that is unforgiving and sacred, dangerous and breathtaking.
Brown then gives us the tools to reach the wilderness, where true belonging lies, through her BRAVING acronym: boundaries, reliability, accountability, vault, integrity, non-judgment, and generosity.
These seven elements are the keys for a person to find both true belonging with themselves and to foster authentic connection with others, eliminating the barriers that make us feel isolated.
50 Quotes from Braving the Wilderness
“Every story matters…We are all worthy of telling our stories and having them heard. We all need to be seen and honored in the same way that we all need to breathe.” Brené Brown
“People are hard to hate close-up. Move in.” – ― Brené Brown
“Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don’t belong. You will always find it because you’ve made that your mission. Stop scouring people’s faces for evidence that you’re not enough. You will always find it because you’ve made that your goal. True belonging and self-worth are not goods; we don’t negotiate their value with the world. The truth about who we are lives in our hearts. Our call to courage is to protect our wild heart against constant evaluation, especially our own. No one belongs here more than you.” ― Brené Brown
“Conflict transformation rather than…conflict resolution. To me, the latter suggests going back to a previous state of affairs, and has a connotation that there may be a winner or a loser. [Conflict transformation has] the opportunity to create something new.” ― Brené Brown
“True belonging is the spiritual practice of believing in and belonging to yourself so deeply that you can share your most authentic self with the world and find sacredness in both being a part of something and standing alone in the wilderness. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.” ― Brené Brown,
“You are only free when you realize you belong no place—you belong every place—no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great.” ― Brené Brown
“When the culture of any organization mandates that it is more important to protect the reputation of a system and those in power than it is to protect the basic human dignity of the individuals who serve that system or who are served by that system, you can be certain that the shame is systemic, the money is driving ethics, and the accountability is all but dead.” ― Brené Brown
“People often silence themselves, or “agree to disagree” without fully exploring the actual nature of the disagreement, for the sake of protecting a relationship and maintaining connection. But when we avoid certain conversations, and never fully learn how the other person feels about all of the issues, we sometimes end up making assumptions that not only perpetuate but deepen misunderstandings, and that can generate resentment.” ― Brené Brown
“But what we know now is that when we deny our emotion, it owns us. When we own our emotion, we can rebuild and find our way through the pain.” ― Brené Brown
“Dehumanizing and holding people accountable are mutually exclusive. Humiliation and dehumanizing are not accountability or social justice tools, they’re emotional off-loading at best, emotional self-indulgence at worst. And if our faith asks us to find the face of God in everyone we meet, that should include the politicians, media, and strangers on Twitter with whom we most violently disagree. When we desecrate their divinity, we desecrate our own, and we betray our faith.” ― Brené Brown
“So if we decide to be brave and stay in the conversation, how do we push through the vulnerability and stay civil? … explicitly address the underlying intentions. What is the conversation about, and what is it really about?” ― Brené Brown
“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain. —JAMES A. BALDWIN” ― Brené Brown
“Sometimes the most dangerous thing for kids is the silence that allows them to construct their own stories—stories that almost always cast them as alone and unworthy of love and belonging.” ― Brené Brown
“Courage is forged in pain, but not in all pain. Pain that is denied or ignored becomes fear or hate.” ― Brené Brown
“Joseph Campbell wrote, “If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path.” ― Brené Brown
“Never underestimate the power of being seen” ― Brené Brown
“Oprah. Her advice is tacked to the wall in my study: “Do not think you can be brave with your life and your work and never disappoint anyone. It doesn’t work that way.” ― Brené Brown
“Not enough of us know how to sit in pain with others. Worse, our discomfort shows up in ways that can hurt people and reinforce their own isolation. I have started to believe that crying with strangers in person could save the world.” ― Brené Brown
“True belonging is not passive. It’s not the belonging that comes with just joining a group. It’s not fitting in or pretending or selling out because it’s safer. It’s a practice that requires us to be vulnerable, get uncomfortable, and learn how to be present with people without sacrificing who we are. We want true belonging, but it takes tremendous courage to knowingly walk into hard moments.” ― Brené Brown
“Pain is unrelenting. It will get our attention. Despite our attempts to drown it in addiction, to physically beat it out of one another, to suffocate it with success and material trappings, or to strangle it with our hate, pain will find a way to make itself known.” ― Brené Brown
“And if our faith asks us to find the face of God in everyone we meet, that should include the politicians, media, and strangers on Twitter with whom we most violently disagree. When we desecrate their divinity, we desecrate our own, and we betray our faith.” ― Brené Brown
“Research shows that playing cards once a week or meeting friends every Wednesday night at Starbucks adds as many years to our lives as taking beta blockers or quitting a pack-a-day smoking habit.” ― Brené Brown
“Carl Jung wrote, ‘Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of life.’ We are complex beings who wake up every day and fight against being labeled and diminished with stereotypes and characterizations that don’t reflect our fullness. Yet when we don’t risk standing on our own and speaking out, when the options laid before us force us into the very categories we resist, we perpetuate our own disconnection and loneliness. When we are willing to risk venturing into the wilderness, and becoming our own wilderness, we feel the deepest connection to our true self and to what matters most. ” ― Brené Brown
“Belonging so fully to yourself that you’re willing to stand alone is a wilderness — an untamed, unpredictable place of solitude and searching. It is a place as dangerous as it is breathtaking, a place as sought after as it is feared. The wilderness can often feel unholy because we can’t control it, or what people think about our choice of whether to venture into that vastness or not. But it turns out to be the place of true belonging, and it’s the bravest and most sacred place you will ever stand.” ― Brené Brown
“The foundation of courage is vulnerability–the ability to navigate uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. It takes courage to open ourselves up to joy…joy is probably the most vulnerable emotion we experience. We’re afraid that if we allow ourselves to feel lit, we’ll get blindsided by disaster or disappointment. That’s why in moments of real joy, many of us dress-rehearse tragedy…I call it foreboding joy. The only way to combat foreboding joy is gratitude.” ― Brené Brown
“When we are in pain and fear, anger and hate are our go-to emotions.” ― Brené Brown
“In order for slavery to work, in order for us to buy, sell, beat, and trade people like animals, Americans had to completely dehumanize slaves. And whether we directly participated in that or were simply a member of a culture that at one time normalized that behavior, it shaped us. We can’t undo that level of dehumanizing in one or two generations. ― Brené Brown
“Stop scouring people’s faces for evidence that you’re not enough. You will always find it because you’ve made that your goal. True belonging and self-worth are not goods; we don’t negotiate their value with the world. The truth about who we are lives in our hearts.” ― Brené Brown
“You will always belong anywhere you show up as yourself and talk about yourself and your work in a real way.” ― Brené Brown
“The mark of a wild heart is living out the paradox of love in our lives. It’s the ability to be tough and tender, excited and scared, brave and afraid—all in the same moment. It’s showing up in our vulnerability and our courage, being both fierce and kind.” ― Brené Brown
“The connection that we forge by judging and mocking others is not real connection,” ― Brené Brown
“When we engage in dehumanizing rhetoric or promote dehumanizing images, we diminish our own humanity in the process. When we reduce Muslim people to terrorists or Mexicans to “illegals” or police officers to pigs, it says nothing at all about the people we’re attacking. It does, however, say volumes about who we are and the degree to which we’re operating in our integrity.” ― Brené Brown
“We are wired for connection. But the key is that, in any given moment of it, it has to be real.” ― Brené Brown
“If I get to be me, I belong. If I have to be like you, I fit in.” ― Brené Brown,
“When we’re suffering, may of us are better at causing pain than feeling it. We spread hurt rather than let it inside.” ― Brené Brown
“There will be times when standing alone feels too hard, too scary, and we’ll doubt our ability to make our way through the uncertainty. Someone, somewhere, will say, “Don’t do it. You don’t have what it takes to survive the wilderness.” This is when you reach deep into your wild heart and remind yourself, “I am the wilderness.” ― Brené Brown
“Spirituality is recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion.” ― Brené Brown
“Most of us are showing up to ensure that people’s basic needs are met and their civil rights are upheld. But we’re also working to make sure that everyone gets to experience what brings meaning to life: love, belonging, and joy. These are essential, irreducible needs for all of us. And we can’t give people what we don’t have. We can’t fight for what’s not in our hearts.” ― Brené Brown
“We can spend our entire life betraying ourself and choosing fitting in over standing alone. But once we’ve stood up for ourself and our beliefs, the bar is higher. A wild heart fights fitting in and grieves betrayal.” ― Brené Brown
“Art has the power to render sorrow beautiful, make loneliness a shared experience, and transform despair into hope.” ― Brené Brown
“Being ourselves means sometimes having to find the courage to stand alone, totally alone.” ― Brené Brown
“True belonging has no bunkers. We have to step out from behind the barricades of self-preservation and brave the wild.” ― Brené Brown
“Living with air pollution increases your odds of dying early by 5 percent. Living with obesity, 20 percent. Excessive drinking, 30 percent. And living with loneliness? It increases our odds of dying early by 45 percent.” ― Brené Brown
“Joy is probably the most vulnerable emotion we experience in our lives.”
― Brené Brown
“An experience of collective pain does not deliver us from grief or sadness; it is a ministry of presence. These moments remind us that we are not alone in our darkness and that our broken heart is connected to every heart that has known pain since the beginning of time.” ― Brené Brown
“When a group or community doesn’t tolerate dissent and disagreement, it forgoes any experience of inextricable connection. There is no true belonging, only an unspoken treaty to hate the same people. This fuels our spiritual crisis of disconnection.” ― Brené Brown
“The definition of vulnerability is uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. But vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our most accurate measure of courage. ― Brené Brown
“A soft and open front is not being weak; it’s being brave, it’s being the wilderness.” ― Brené Brown
Brené Brown
Casandra Brené Brown PhD LMSW (born November 18, 1965) is a research professor at the University of Houston.
She has spent her career studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy and is the author of five #1 New York Times best sellers: The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness, and her latest book, Dare to Lead, which is the culmination of a seven-year study on courage and leadership.
Brown’s TED talk – The Power of Vulnerability – is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world with over 35 million views.
The Prosperity Paradox by Clayton Christensen, Efosa Ojomo and Karen Dillon: Book Review and 25 Great Quotes
The starting point of the book The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty is expressed by this statement in the initial page of the first chapter:
According to the World Bank, more than 750 million people still live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.90 a day. We all want to help. But what might seem to be the most obvious solution to these problems—directly assisting poor countries by investing to fix these visible signs of poverty—has not been as successful as many of us would like. You only have to look at the billions of dollars that have been channeled to these problems over the years with relatively slow progress to conclude that something is not quite right. With these efforts, we may be temporarily easing poverty for some—but we’re not moving the needle enough.
What is needed is a different approach. The problem needs to be considered through different lenses. Instead of trying to fix the visible signs of poverty, we should focus on creating lasting prosperity.
How can we do this? Christensen, Ojomo and Dillon believe that the solution is innovation. But what type of innovation? Sustaining innovation? Efficiency innovation?
In The Prosperity Paradox, the authors argue that while sustaining and efficiency innovations have an important place in the economic development of nations, more market-creating innovation is what is really needed to help raise nations from poverty.
Global poverty is one of the world’s most vexing problems. From education to healthcare, infrastructure to eradicating corruption, the vast majority of solutions rely on trial and error. Essentially, the plan is often to identify areas that need help, flood them with resources, and hope to see change over time.
But this is a mistake, because these solutions are not producing consistent results. “At least twenty countries that have received billions of dollars’ worth of aid are poorer now.”
Christensen and his co-authors offer a new framework for economic growth based on entrepreneurship and market-creating innovation. They use successful examples from the US, including Ford, Eastman Kodak, and Singer Sewing Machines, and others from countries like Japan, South Korea, Nigeria, India, Mexico, and more.
The Prosperity Paradox is not simply a business book for companies who are looking for long-term growth and sustainable progress, but it’s also “a call to action for anyone who wants a fresh take for making the world a better and more prosperous place.
This book is a must read for those who are interested in innovation and for those who work in the development space. It is another masterpiece from Clayton Christensen and colleagues.
25 of My Favorite Quotes
“Innovation is not only about high-tech solutions; it is the change in the processes by which an organization transforms labor, capital, materials, and information into products and services of greater value. That doesn’t necessarily involve cutting-edge technology.”
“It may sound counterintuitive, but our research suggests that enduring prosperity for many countries will not come from fixing poverty. It will come from investing in innovations that create new markets within these countries”
“Market creating innovations do exactly what the name implies, they create new markets. But not just any new markets, new markets that serve people for whom, either no products existed or existing products were neither affordable nor accessible for a variety of reasons. These innovations transform complicated and expensive products into ones that are so much more affordable and accessible that many more people are able to buy and use them.”
“This struggle often presents itself as “non consumption” where would-be consumers are desperate to make progress in a particular aspect of their lives, but there is no affordable and accessible solution to their problem.”
“As a culture of innovation began to emerge in America, one in which entrepreneurs looked to serve more and more nonconsumers, a virtuous cycle of prosperity creation was set in motion.”
“At the core of any market-creating innovation is a business model that profitably democratizes an innovation so that many more people nonconsumers who can benefit from using the innovation—gain access to it. That’s where the transformative power comes into play.”
“Not all innovations are created equal.”
“What we learn from these nations is that prosperity is a process, not an event, one that requires a continuous commitment to innovation.”
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. – Marcel Proust”
“When I come across a Sony product these days, I don’t just see a cool innovation, I see something much more powerful and enduring: the process by which one of the most prosperous nations in the world developed.”
“Eiji Toyoda summarized Toyota’s attitude toward training and providing relevant education for its workforce: “It is people who make things. So we must first make people before we make things.”
“The problem is, it is very difficult to “see” what you are not looking for. Many of our economic forecasts don’t necessarily help, they typically focus on what we call the “consumption economy,” the part of the economy that is most visible through conventional metrics.
“When you look at Mexico’s economy not through the lens of investment dollars, but through the lens of innovation, a pattern becomes clear. Many companies in the country—domestic and international—have invested heavily in efficiency innovations. But in what should be a vibrant economy, flush with resources, there is a disappointing lack of market-creating innovations. And as Mexico painfully illustrates, an overreliance on efficiency innovations can only take an economy so far.”
“People are nonconsumers because they are struggling to accomplish something, but none of the available solutions are good options for them.”
“Development and prosperity take root when we develop innovations that pull in necessary resources a society requires.”
“An efficiency innovation–based strategy—which enables companies to squeeze as much as possible from existing and newly acquired assets—typically sells its products into the “consumption economy,” those who can already afford existing products on the market. Because these innovations are not targeted at nonconsumption, they typically do not create new markets.”
“If we create a market that successfully serves a growing population of nonconsumers, that market is likely to pull in many other resources an economy requires.”
“Once a market is created, however, it is difficult to destroy. Markets fundamentally change the way people live their lives, and when you are responsible for creating a market, the rewards can be abundant.”
“Just because a nation is economically poor does not mean that vast market creation opportunities do not exist within its borders.”
“We cannot fix problems with the law, systems, and institutions by simply adding another law, system, or institution. Effective institutions are not just about rules and regulations. Ultimately, institutions are about culture—how people in a region solve problems and make progress. At their core, institutions reflect what people value. And that, it turns out, has to be homegrown. Innovation can play a critical role in this process.”
“In general, poor countries are overwhelmed with bad institutions, while prosperous countries are filled with good ones, or at least much better ones. Conventional wisdom suggests that countries that want to tackle poverty must first establish rule of law, fix their institutions, and adopt Western-style systems before they can make progress toward prosperity.”
“The problem is, the institutions of a society reflect its values rather than create them. So building strong institutions—ones that will shape and hold a country’s values for generations—is not as simple as “export what works elsewhere, add water, and stir.”
“In focusing on adopting “best practices” that seem to work in other parts of the world we often fail to understand the contextual complexities specific to a particular region. As a consequence, we measure success on how much a system resembles another system that works versus on whether it actually solves a particular problem.””
“An institution is really a reflection of the culture”
“If you build it, they may not come.”
50 Joseph Smith Jr. Quotes
Joseph Smith was the founder and first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He formally organized the Church at Fayette, New York, on 6 April 1830 with five other people. He presided over the Church until 27 June 1844, when he was martyred. Under his leadership, Church membership grew from six to over 26,000.
Joseph Smith Jr. was born 23 December 1805 in Sharon, Vermont, to Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith. Born into a poor farming family, he was the fifth child of 11 — nine of whom survived childhood. Because his family could not afford the luxury of public education, Joseph received only three years of formal schooling. Along with his brothers and sisters, he was educated mainly at home from the family Bible.
Joseph Smith married Emma Hale on 18 January 1827. During their 17-year marriage, they were parents to 11 children, two of whom were adopted. Joseph and Emma’s first three children died within hours of their birth. In 1831, they adopted twins, one of which, a boy, died before reaching his first birthday. Over the next 12 years, Emma gave birth to six more sons, four of whom survived infancy — the youngest was born five months after Joseph’s death.
Confused about religion during a time of revival in the state of New York where he lived in 1820, 14-year-old Joseph read a passage in the New Testament and went to the woods to pray. Joseph records that God and Jesus Christ appeared to him. “I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head,” he wrote, “above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.” Within that light, he saw two personages — one of whom spoke Joseph’s name, pointed to the other, and said, “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” Church members refer to this experience as the “First Vision.” It forever changed Joseph Smith and has become a central tenet of Latter-day Saint belief. It began the work of restoring the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth.
Joseph Smith is perhaps best known for his translation of the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Church members believe that Joseph was led to a hill near Palmyra, New York, where he received an ancient record from an angel known as Moroni. The record, engraved on gold plates, gave the history of a people who lived on the American continent during the time of Christ. Joseph translated the plates in about 3 months, and the Book of Mormon was first published in New York by E. B. Grandin in 1830.
Although born a farmer, Joseph worked as an editor, entrepreneur and businessman. In the years he led the fledgling Church, Joseph organized an international missionary program and founded what is today one of the largest women’s organizations in the world. He oversaw the building of three cities and directed the construction of two temples — all the while facing intense persecution from local mobs, who eventually drove Church members from all three cities Joseph settled.
Joseph and his older brother Hyrum were shot to death on 27 June 1844 by a mob of 150 to 200 men. They had been imprisoned in an Illinois jail on false charges of riot and treason after surrendering themselves to the law. Joseph was 38; Hyrum was 44. On 28 June, the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum were prepared and laid out for the estimated 10,000 mourners to view, and on the following day were buried secretly to avoid further attacks or desecration by mobs.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today numbers more than 14 million. Latter-day Saints revere Joseph Smith as a prophet, just as they revere biblical prophets such as Moses and Isaiah. (See the full article)
Joseph Smith Jr. Quotes
“Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason there of until all of the events transpire.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
Take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion? We have none. ― Joseph Smith Jr.
“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“A man is saved no faster than he gains knowledge”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“The best way to obtain truth and wisdom is not to ask from books, but to go to God in prayer, and obtain divine teaching.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“When God commands, do it! ”― Joseph Smith
Our heavenly Father is more liberal in His views, and boundless in His mercies and blessings, than we are ready to believe or receive; and at the same time more terrible to the workers of iniquity, more awful in the executions of His punishments, and more ready to detect in every false way, than we are apt to suppose Him to be. ― Joseph Smith Jr.
“We say that God is true; that the Constitution of the United States is true; that the Bible is true; and that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Christ is true”― Joseph Smith Jr.
I told them I was but a man, and they must not expect me to be perfect; if they expected perfection from me, I should expect it from them; but if they would bear with my infirmities and the infirmities of the brethren, I would likewise bear with their infirmities. ― Joseph Smith Jr.
“Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin as to take them by the hand and to watch over them in tenderness. When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what pow’r it has over my mind.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“You don’t know me; you never knew my heart. No man knows my history. I cannot tell it: I shall never undertake it. I don’t blame any one for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I would not have believed it myself. I never did harm any man since I was born in the world. My voice is always for peace.”― Joseph Smith Jr
“A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.”― Joseph Smith
“Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things, never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation.”― Joseph Smith
Friendship is one of the grand fundamental principles of “Mormonism”; [it is designed] to revolutionize and civilize the world, and cause wars and contentions to cease and men to become friends and brothers. ― Joseph Smith
“The Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on this Earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than any other book.”― Joseph Smith
“God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits. (King Follett Discourse) ”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“God judges men according to the use they make of the light which He gives them.”― Joseph Smith
Many men say there is one God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only one God. I say that is a strange God anyhow—three in one, and one in three! It is a curious organization. ‘Father, I pray not for the world, but I pray for them which thou hast given me.’ ‘Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are.’ All are to be crammed into one God, according to sectarianism. It would make the biggest God in all the world. He would be a wonderfully big God—he would be a giant or a monster.― Joseph Smith
Our missionaries are going forth to different nations, and in Germany, Palestine, New Holland, the East Indies, and other places, the standard of truth has been erected: no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing, persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done. ― Joseph Smith
“It is our duty to concentrate all our influence to make popular that which is sound and good, and unpopular that which is unsound. ”― Joseph Smith, Jr.
“The exaltation and happiness of any community, goes hand in hand with the knowledge possessed by the people, when applied to laudable ends; whereupon we can exclaim like the wise man; righteousness exalteth a nation; for righteousness embraces knowledge and knowledge is power.”― Joseph Smith
“If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves…”If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds the world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by His power, was to make Himself visible, – I say, if you were to see Him today, you would see Him like a man in form – like yourself in all the person, image, and very form as a man.”― Joseph Smith
“Sometimes the Lord brings us low before he can lift us higher.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“Never give up an old tried friend, who has waded through all manner of toil, for your sake, and throw him away because fools may tell you he has some faults.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“The important consideration is not how long we can live but how well we can learn the lesson of life, and discharge our duties and obligations to God and to one another.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“We say, that the Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“The nearer a person approaches the Lord, a greater power will be manifested by the adversary to prevent the accomplishment of His purposes.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.”― Joseph Smith Jr
“Perhaps I am meant to swim in deep waters…. better deep than shallow!”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“If thou art called to pass through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;
If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb;
And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?” ― Joseph Smith Jr., (The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)
“Never be discouraged. If I were sunk in the lowest pits of Nova Scotia, with the Rocky Mountains piled on me, I would hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage, and I would come out on top.” ― Joseph Smith Jr.
“When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what power it has over my mind, while the opposite course has a tendency to harrow up all the harsh feelings and depress the human mind.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another. God said, ‘Thou shalt not kill’; at another time He said, ‘Thou shalt utterly destroy.’ This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted—by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire.”― Joseph Smith
“When we are accomplishing the good, the greatest opposition comes.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“[God] never will institute an ordinance or give a commandment to His people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which He has designed, and which will not end in the greatest amount of good and glory to those who become the recipients of His law and ordinances.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“Kindness is our religion.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.”― Joseph Smith, Jr., The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
“By proving contraries, truth is made manifest.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“It is a false idea that the Saints will escape all the judgments, whilst the wicked suffer; for all flesh is subject to suffer and “the righteous shall hardly escape.” …So that is an unhallowed principle to say that such and such have transgressed because they have been preyed upon by disease or death, for all flesh is subject to death; and the Savior has said, “judge not, lest ye be judged.”― Joseph Smith, Jr.
“Whatever happens, the Lord is in it.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“An angel of God never has wings”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“It must be emphasized that as a father, you are always teaching. For good or ill your family learns your ways, your beliefs, your heart, your ideas, your concerns. Your children may or may not choose to follow you, but the example you give is the greatest light you hold before your children, and you are accountable for that light.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“Even this nation (the US) will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground, and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away from the very verge of destruction.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“Patience is heavenly, obedience is noble, forgiveness is merciful, and exaltation is godly; and he that holds out faithful to the end shall in no wise lose his reward. A good man will endure all things to honor Christ.”― Joseph Smith
“God sees the secret springs of human action, and knows the hearts of all living.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“Great blessings await us at this time, and will soon be poured out upon us, if we are faithful in all things, for we are even entitled to greater spiritual blessings than they [the faithful at the time of Christ] were, because they had Christ in person with them, to instruct them in the great plan of salvation. His personal presence we have not, therefore we have need of greater faith.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“If you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates.”― Joseph Smith
“I am like a huge rough stone…and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force…thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almightly.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
“For a man to be great, he must not dwell on small things, though he may enjoy them.”― Joseph Smith Jr.
Top 50 Quotes From Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by his pseudonym Mark Twain, was born in the small village of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, as the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens.
Twain was an American writer and humorist who has been called the “greatest humorist this country has produced”, and “the father of American literature”.
His famous novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884),
Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to the newspaper of his older brother.
In 1857, the 21-year-old Twain fulfilled his dream of learning how to pilot a steamboat on the Mississippi. After obtaining a license as a steamboat pilot in 1859, he found regular employment.
Twain loved his career, however his service was cut short in 1861 by the outbreak of the Civil War which eliminated most civilian traffic on the river.
In July 1861 headed for Nevada and California, where he would live for the next five years hoping to find silver and gold. However, it didn’t work out, and by the middle of 1862, he was flat broke and in need of a regular job.
Later that year, he went to work as a reporter for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, where he adopted the pen name Mark Twain — steamboat slang for 12 feet of water.
His humorous story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County“, was published in 1865, based on a story that he heard. The short story brought international attention.
In 1867 he took a five-month sea cruise in the Mediterranean, writing humorously about the sights for American newspapers. Out of the trip he published a book in 1869, The Innocents Abroad that became a nationwide bestseller. At 34, he had become one of the most popular and famous writers in America.
Twain earned a large amount of money from his writings and lectures, but he invested in ventures that lost most of it, until he filed for bankruptcy. He later paid all his creditors in full, even if he didn’t have to.
Twain was born shortly after an appearance of Halley’s Comet, and he predicted that he would “go out with it” as well; and in fact, he died the day after the comet returned, on April 21, 1910.
My 50 Favorite Quotes from Mark Twain
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” ― Mark Twain
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).” ― Mark Twain
“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” ― Mark Twain
“′Classic′ – a book which people praise and don’t read.” ― Mark Twain
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” ― Mark Twain
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ― Mark Twain
“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” ― Mark Twain
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” ― Mark Twain
“In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.” ― Mark Twain
“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” ― Mark Twain
“God created war so that Americans would learn geography.” ― Mark Twain
“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.” ― Mark Twain
“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” ― Mark Twain
“Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.” ― Mark Twain
“Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.” ― Mark Twain
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” ― Mark Twain
“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” ― Mark Twain
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” ― Mark Twain
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man.” ― Mark Twain
“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” ― Mark Twain
“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.” ― Mark Twain
“Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.” ― Mark Twain
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” ― Mark Twain
“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” ― Mark Twain
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” ― Mark Twain
“I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” ― Mark Twain
“Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.” ― Mark Twain
“The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up.” ― Mark Twain
“Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.” ― Mark Twain
“The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself.” ― Mark Twain
“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure. ” ― Mark Twain
“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.” ― Mark Twain
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” ― Mark Twain
“A clear conscience is the sure sign of a bad memory.” ― Mark Twain
“Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.” ― Mark Twain
“If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.” ― Mark Twain
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” ― Mark Twain
“A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.” ― Mark Twain
“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” ― Mark Twain
“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.” ― Mark Twain
“Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple’s sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then he would have eaten the serpent.” ― Mark Twain
“If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.” ― Mark Twain
“Of all God’s creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat.” ― Mark Twain
“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” ― Mark Twain
“I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won’t.” ― Mark Twain
“It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.” ― Mark Twain
“Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.” ― Mark Twain
“It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.” ― Mark Twain
“There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.” ― Mark Twain
“It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt” ― Mark Twain
40 Quotes by Famous People about Life, Love and Success
Sometimes we need inspiration to help us move forward and reach our goals, or perhaps redefine them. These are 40 quotes from famous people about life, love and success that may reinvigorate your resolve to pursue your passions and chase your dreams.
“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” – Aristotle
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” – Lao Tzu
“I am thankful for all of those who said NO to me. It’s because of them I’m doing it myself.” – Albert Einstein
“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
“If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on.” – Sheryl Sandberg
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anais Nin
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T. S. Eliot
“If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.” – Dhirubhai Ambani
“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
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.“– Robert Louis Stevenson
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” —Warren Buffett
“Pearls don’t lie on the seashore. If you want one, you must dive for it.” – Chinese proverb
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand
“Always go with your passions. Never ask yourself if it’s realistic or not.” – Deepak Chopra
“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one’s ideas, to take a calculated risk and to act.” – Andre Malraux
“If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough.” – Mario Andretti
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” — Charles Darwin
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something; your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” – Steve Jobs
“Every man dies, but not every man really lives.” – Braveheart
“Leap and the net will appear.” – Zen Proverb
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb
“The universe has no restrictions. You place restrictions on the universe with your expectations.” – Deepak Chopra
“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”
– Dolly Parton
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” – Mark Twain
“it always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” – William Shakespeare
“Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” – Mother Teresa
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” – Dalai Lama
I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan
“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” – Albert Einstein
“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“A great man is always willing to be little.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair
“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” – Nelson Mandela
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” – Oscar Wilde
“I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact.” – Elon Musk
24 Top Quotes: How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It
I decided to listen to the audiobook How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It by Patricia Love and Steven Stosny because I couldn’t find anything else interesting (and available) that I hadn’t already listened to in the online library. My marriage is great, but it is a topic that interests me, and I see many couples around me who struggle. However, initially I was a little skeptical about this book.
But as soon as I started listening to this audiobook, I realized that there was a lot that I could learn from it. Some of its ideas are not necessarily new to me, but others are, or at least, they are presented in a way that helped me understand better certain differences between men and women, and how I could deal better with those differences, not only in my marriage, but also with other members of the family, friends, coworkers, and so on. In other words, even if you marriage is great, some of the ideas of this book may still help you understand better even yourself, and then other people in your life, not just your spouse.
Main Idea of the Book
Men are right. The “relationship talk” does not help. Dr. Patricia Love’s and Dr. Steven Stosny’s How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It reveals how to achieve marital happiness: Love is not about better communication. It’s about connection.
In other words, if you are a woman, forget what you have heard about sharing your feelings or getting him to express his. New research into the male mind makes it clear that discussion may be the fastest way to shut down communication.
The number one myth about relationships is that talking helps. The truth is, more often than not, it makes things worse. While talking about their feelings helps women, it makes men physically uncomfortable. Even with the best of intentions, talking about their relationship doesn’t bring necessarily spouses together, and it may even drive them apart.
The reason for this problem is that there is a biological difference between men and women. Women’s stronger vulnerability to fear and anxiety makes them draw closer to their spouse, while men’s sensitivity to shame makes them pull away in response. This is why so many married couples fall into the classical roles of nagging wife and stonewalling husband, and why improving a marriage it’s almost impossible to achieve through words.
But if talking about relationships doesn’t really help, then what’s the alternative? According to Love and Stosny’s, what matter is the connection. People need to learn that before they can communicate with words, they need to connect nonverbally. This can be done do in simple ways, through touch, sex, or doing things together, because the deepest moments of intimacy actually occur when they are not talking.
How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It helps couples to get closer in ways that don’t require “trying to turn a man into a woman.” In the book there are plenty of stories of couples who have turned their marriages around, and practical advice about the kind of behaviors that make and break marriages.
7 Short Quotes
You’ll never get a closer relationship with your man by talking to him like you talk to one of your girlfriends.
Men want closer marriages just as much as women do, but not if they has to act like a woman.
Talking makes women move closer; it makes men move away.
The secret of the silent male is this: his wife supplies the meaning in his life.
The stunning truth about love is that talking doesn’t help.
Have you ever had this conversation with your spouse? Wife: “Honey, we need to talk about us.” Husband: “Do we have to?”
Male emotions are like women’s sexuality: you can’t be too direct too quickly. There are four ways to connect with a man: touch, activity, sex, routines.
3 Quotes about How We’re Different: Fear and Pain
The differences that underlie male and female vulnerabilities are biological and present at birth. Baby girls, from day one, are more sensitive to isolation and lack of contact… When a woman feels close, she can relax; when she feels distant, she gets anxious. This is why a baby girl can hold your gaze for a long period of time. She is comforted by the closeness the eye–to–eye contact provides. It also explains why, left alone for the same period of time, a girl baby will fuss and complain before a boy baby. This heightened sensitivity to isolation makes females react strongly to another person’s anger, withdrawal, silence, or other sign of unavailability. It is more frightening to her to be out of contact than it is for a male. This is not to say that males prefer isolation or distance; it’s just that females feel more discomfort when they are not in contact.
Gender Difference in the Frequency and Intensity of Fear
Men have a hard time understanding a woman’s fear and the pain associated with it. One reason is that a woman’s fear provokes shame in a man: “You shouldn’t be afraid with me as your protector!” This is why he gets angry when she gets anxious or upset. But there’s another reason men just don’t get women’s fear. They don’t know what it feels like. Research shows the single biggest sex difference in emotions is in the frequency and intensity of fear—how often you get afraid and how afraid you get.
Girls and women both experience and express far more fear, as measured in social contexts and in laboratory experiments that induce fear. Newborn girls are more easily frightened than boys. Girls and women are more likely to feel fear in response to loud noises and sudden changes in the environment. They have more anxiety and worry a lot more than boys and men. Women have a markedly higher fear of crime, even though they are far less often the victims of it.
Females Feel More Pain
Another reason that females have more fear of harm may be that they feel more pain. The scientific data suggest that women suffer quite a bit more physical pain than males, not counting childbirth. As early as two weeks old, girls cry louder and more vigorously than boys in response to mild pain stimulus. The higher anxiety levels of females only ratchet up their sensitivity to pain. Around 90 percent of chronic pain disorders afflict women. Men have a hard time empathizing with the pain and fear of their wives, both because they’re conditioned from toddlerhood to suck it up, and because it doesn’t hurt them as much!
9 Quotes About How We’re Different: Hyperarousal and Shame
Hyperarousal in Boy Babies
Although boy babies feel less fear and pain than girls, they have a heightened sensitivity to any type of abrupt stimulation, which gives them a propensity for hyperarousal, that is, hair–trigger reactions. Male infants startle five times more often than female infants and are provoked by a much lower stimulus—a loud stomach gurgle will do it.
Intimacy in Small Doses
Because of their high sensitivity to arousal, newborn boys have to guard against the discomfort of overstimulation. This is why boy babies have to take eye contact and other intimate contact in small doses. If you have a boy and a girl, you may have noticed this difference. Your baby girl was able to hold eye contact almost as soon as you brought her home from the hospital. You could gaze into her big eyes (she widens them to draw in your gaze) for hours on end.
But your little boy was less likely to hold that kind of eye contact before six to nine months of age, if at all. When you looked deeply into his eyes, he probably looked down, then back at your eyes, then up, then back at your eyes, then down the other side, then back at your eyes, then up the other side, then back at your eyes.
He was interested in you—or he wouldn’t have kept looking back—and he certainly wasn’t afraid of you. His intermittent attention was his way of staying in contact with you without becoming overwhelmed.
Trying to Avoid a Cortisol Hangover
When it comes to relationships, women often mistake this guarded response, which many males retain throughout life, for lack of interest or even loss of love. Most of the time, he hasn’t lost interest; he’s merely trying to avoid the overwhelming discomfort of a cortisol dump that comes with hyperarousal. Cortisol is a hormone secreted during certain negative emotions. Its job is to get your attention by making you uncomfortable so that your discomfort drives you to do something to make the situation better. The pain a woman feels when her man shouts at her is caused by the sudden release of cortisol. A man feels this same discomfort when he is confronted with her unhappiness or criticism. He may look like he is avoiding her, but he is essentially trying to avoid a cortisol hangover for the next several hours.
How Hyperarousal Translates Into Hypersensitivity to Shame?
Boys and girls both experience shame, which is a stop–and–hide response. The root meaning of the word shame is “to cover or conceal.” When you’re embarrassed you want to crawl into a hole, and a child feeling shame wants to cover his face because he can’t bear to look at you. If you are playing with a boy or girl infant and you suddenly break eye contact and turn away, he or she will experience the physical displays of shame: reddened face, contorted facial expressions, writhing muscles, and other signs of more general distress, especially if he/she was interested in or enjoying the eye contact. In this way, shame is an auxiliary of interest and enjoyment—babies have to be interested in something or feel enjoyment to experience shame when it stops abruptly.
Because little girls are more comfortable with longer periods of eye contact, caregivers tend to stay engaged and break contact with them less often, meaning little girls experience the shame response associated with abrupt disconnection far less often. On the other hand, if parents or caregivers don’t understand a little boy’s need for smaller doses of eye contact, they will break the intimate contact abruptly when the little boy looks away, constantly reinforcing the shame response, which is amplified by the extra kick of cortisol that the response produces.
Males who experience this over and over develop a hypersensitivity to shame. Studies show that parents gaze into the eyes of their little girls (and talk sweetly to them while doing it) 50 percent more than they look into the eyes of their little boys. With their sons they laugh and make nonverbal utterances, wave toys in front of them, tickle them, or pick them up to shake and roughhouse with them. Both kinds of play are of high quality—children and parents enjoy them immensely. But they are qualitatively different.
Little boys need the intimate contact—albeit in small doses—just as much as they need the active play. Little girls need active play as much as they need intimate contact.
Intimacy is riskier for little boys when they have consistently felt shame in conjunction with it—if I like it too much, the boys learn, they’ll take it away, because I don’t do it right. From the very beginning, many little boys don’t feel like they can measure up in intimate relationships. Little girls can hold eye contact, while little boys are easily overwhelmed and have to look away. The eye–contact gap is especially sad because eye contact is our principal source of intimacy throughout our lives. Boys and men are deprived of the very intimacy that would help them overcome their vulnerability to shame.
If you have a baby boy, you must understand that he likes eye contact, but you have to be more patient with him and not start tickling him when he looks away from you. The best thing you can do for your infant son to help him manage shame in the future is allow him to feel the comfort of eye contact gradually, at his pace. Keep looking at him, and you should notice that he will stay focused on your eyes for longer and longer periods. Just being sensitive to the invisible differences in male and female vulnerabilities can shift your perception and deepen your connection—without talking about it.
5 Quotes About How We Avoid Fear and Shame
Most of the time a woman’s fear and a man’s shame are unconscious—outside awareness. You can live a lifetime without ever hearing a man say, “I feel ashamed when you get scared of my driving” or a woman say, “I want that Gucci bag to keep my fear of deprivation at bay.” Instead you will see the tip–off indicators of fear and shame: resentment and anger (blaming your shame or fear on someone else); materialism (providing illusions of status for a man and security for a woman); people pleasing (doing things detrimental to the self to gain the admiration or approval of others); obsessions (thoughts you can’t get out of your mind); and compulsive behavior like impulsive shopping, overeating, and binge drinking. All the above have temporary pain–relieving effects that work for both shame and fear.
It is not our innate differences in fear and shame that drive us apart; it is how we manage the differences. If you manage them with criticism, defensiveness, withdrawal, or blame, your relationship will fail; it’s as simple as that. If you manage them with the inspiration to improve, appreciate, connect, or protect—as you’ll learn to do in this book—your relationship will flourish. But it will take conscious attention for a while to overcome the force of habits that began forming very early in your life.
From early childhood, girls avoid fear by building alliances and forging emotional bonds—there is comfort and strength in numbers… This predominant female coping mechanism is called tend and befriend. Women respond to stressful situations by protecting themselves and their young through nurturing behaviors—the tend part of the model—and forming alliances with others, particularly women—the befriend part. Women bond around helping one another through troubled times. The more they talk about their troubles, the closer they feel.
Because emotional bonds serve as a woman’s primary source of comfort, it appalls women when men try to cope with stress in ways that seem to threaten emotional bonds, for example: distraction (work, TV, computer, hobbies); status seeking (work, sports, acquiring expensive toys); emotional shutdown (if you feel nothing, you won’t feel inadequate); anger (if you numb the pain you won’t feel it); and aggression (if you exert power and control, you won’t feel the powerlessness of failure and inadequacy).
What women have an even harder time understanding is this: For the average male, relationships are not a reliable source of comfort. A man’s greatest pain comes from shame, due to the inadequacy he feels in relationships; therefore, going to the relationship for comfort is like seeking solace from the enemy. Talking about the relationship, which is guaranteed to remind him of his inadequacy, is the last method he would use for comfort, in the same category as choosing a bed of nails for a good night’s sleep. This is why he often goes to a fight–or–flight response to ease his distress and not to a heart–to–heart talk with the woman in his life. Fight or flight is the male equivalent of tend and befriend.
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson – Review and Quotes
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is a somewhat controversial book by Canadian clinical psychologist and professor Jordan Peterson. It is a “belligerent self-help” style book that uses ideas and examples from history, religion, psychology, mythology, science, and philosophy to give advise on how to be a successful and better human being.
He believes strongly in human hierarchy and gender roles, and in the importance of truth telling.
Each chapter’s title in the book represents a specific rule for life explained in an essay. The basic idea is that “suffering is built into the structure of being,” but although it can be unbearable, people have a choice either to withdraw, which is a “suicidal gesture”, or to face and transcend it.
According to Peterson, people are born with the instinct for ethics and meaning, and should take responsibility to search for meaning above their own interests. Much of the ancient wisdom come from religious scripture, but Peterson uses also the scientific research to support his strong religious beliefs.
The book was published in 2018 and it was a best-seller in Canada, the U.S. and the UK. It has sold more than two million copies. The style of the book is atypical, humorous, surprising and very interesting.
Peterson’s ideas can easily generate controversy. For The Guardian, for example, Peterson is an
internet celebrity with contentious views on gender, political correctness, good and evil, (who) offers hectoring advice on how to live
and…
He is acerbic, combative and openly contemptuous of his opponents, particularly Marxists and “Postmodernists”, for whom he harbours a special animus. He is an enthusiastic and prolific culture warrior, who has no truck with “white privilege”, “cultural appropriation” and a range of other ideas associated with social justice movements. — (see 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B Peterson review – a self-help book from a culture warrior)
The book was born out of Peterson’s hobby of answering questions on Quora, like, for example, “What are the most valuable things everyone should know?” Originally there were 40 rules, but Peterson has condensed them into a more manageable list of 12 total rules that he includes in the book.
The 12 Rules
Rule 1: Stand up straight with your shoulders back
“Standing up straight with your shoulders back is something that is not only physical, because you’re not only a body, you’re a spirit so to speak, a psyche as well. Standing up physically also implies and invokes and demands standing up metaphysically. Standing up means voluntarily accepting the burden of being.”
Rule 2 Treat yourself like you would someone you are responsible for helping
“Strengthen the individual. Start with yourself. Take care with yourself. Define who you are. Refine your personality. Choose your destination and articulate your being.”
Rule 3 Make friends with people who want the best for you
“People create their worlds with the tools they have directly at hand. Faulty tools produce faulty results. Repeated use of the same faulty tools produces the same faulty results.”
Rule 4 Compare yourself with who you were yesterday, not with who someone else is today
Rule 5 Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them
Rule 6 Set your house in perfect order before you criticise the world
Rule 7 Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)
Rule 8 Tell the truth – or, at least, don’t lie
Rule 9 Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t
Rule 10 Be precise in your speech
Rule 11 Do not bother children when they are skate-boarding
Rule 12 Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street
37 Quotes From 12 Rules for Life
“It took untold generations to get you where you are. A little gratitude might be in order. If you’re going to insist on bending the world to your way, you better have your reasons.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“You can only find out what you actually believe (rather than what you think you believe) by watching how you act. You simply don’t know what you believe, before that. You are too complex to understand yourself.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“When you have something to say, silence is a lie.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“So, attend carefully to your posture. Quit drooping and hunching around. Speak your mind. Put your desires forward, as if you had a right to them—at least the same right as others. Walk tall and gaze forthrightly ahead. Dare to be dangerous. Encourage the serotonin to flow plentifully through the neural pathways desperate for its calming influence.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“In the West, we have been withdrawing from our tradition-, religion- and even nation-centred cultures, partly to decrease the danger of group conflict. But we are increasingly falling prey to the desperation of meaninglessness, and that is no improvement at all.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Don’t underestimate the power of vision and direction. These are irresistible forces, able to transform what might appear to be unconquerable obstacles into traversable pathways and expanding opportunities. Strengthen the individual. Start with yourself. Take care with yourself. Define who you are. Refine your personality. Choose your destination and articulate your Being. As the great nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche so brilliantly noted, “He whose life has a why can bear almost any how.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Ideologies are substitutes for true knowledge, and ideologues are always dangerous when they come to power, because a simple-minded I-know-it-all approach is no match for the complexity of existence.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“You must determine where you are going in your life, because you cannot get there unless you move in that direction. Random wandering will not move you forward. It will instead disappoint and frustrate you and make you anxious and unhappy and hard to get along with (and then resentful, and then vengeful, and then worse).” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Perhaps you are overvaluing what you don’t have and undervaluing what you do.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“To suffer terribly and to know yourself as the cause: that is Hell.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“So, listen, to yourself and to those with whom you are speaking. Your wisdom then consists not of the knowledge you already have, but the continual search for knowledge, which is the highest form of wisdom.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“And if you think tough men are dangerous, wait until you see what weak men are capable of.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Every bit of learning is a little death. Every bit of new information challenges a previous conception, forcing it to dissolve into chaos before it can be reborn as something better. Sometimes such deaths virtually destroy us.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“We require routine and tradition. That’s order. Order can become excessive, and that’s not good, but chaos can swamp us, so we drown— and that is also not good. We need to stay on the straight and narrow path.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“The better ambitions have to do with the development of character and ability, rather than status and power. Status you can lose. You carry character with you wherever you go, and it allows you to prevail against adversity.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“The successful among us delay gratification. The successful among us bargain with the future.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Don’t ever underestimate the destructive power of sins of omission.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“if you cannot understand why someone did something, look at the consequences—and infer the motivation.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“If your life is not what it could be, try telling the truth. If you cling desperately to an ideology, or wallow in nihilism, try telling the truth. If you feel weak and rejected, and desperate, and confused, try telling the truth. In Paradise, everyone speaks the truth. That is what makes it Paradise. Tell the truth. Or, at least, don’t lie.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Always place your becoming above your current being.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Sometimes it seems the only people willing to give advice in a relativistic society are those with the least to offer.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“It is my firm belief that the best way to fix the world—a handyman’s dream, if ever there was one—is to fix yourself,” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“There are many systems of interaction between brain, body and social world that can get caught in positive feedback loops. Depressed people, for example, can start feeling useless and burdensome, as well as grief-stricken and pained. This makes them withdraw from contact with friends and family. Then the withdrawal makes them more lonesome and isolated, and more likely to feel useless and burdensome. Then they withdraw more. In this manner, depression spirals and amplifies” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Nietzsche said that a man’s worth was determined by how much truth he could tolerate” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“People organize their brains with conversation. If they don’t have anyone to tell their story to, they lose their minds. Like hoarders, they cannot unclutter themselves.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“You are by no means only what you already know. You are also all that which you could know, if you only would. Thus, you should never sacrifice what you could be for what you are. You should never give up the better that resides within for the security you already have—and certainly not when you have already caught a glimpse, an undeniable glimpse, of something beyond.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“To straddle that fundamental duality is to be balanced: to have one foot firmly planted in order and security, and the other in chaos, possibility, growth and adventure. When life suddenly reveals itself as intense, gripping and meaningful; when time passes and you’re so engrossed in what you’re doing you don’t notice—it is there and then that you are located precisely on the border between order and chaos.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“It is far better to render Beings in your care competent than to protect them.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“What you aim at determines what you see.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“If you betray yourself, if you say untrue things, if you act out a lie, you weaken your character.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Here’s a straightforward initial idea: rules should not be multiplied beyond necessity. Alternatively stated, bad laws drive out respect for good laws. This is the ethical—even legal—equivalent of Occam’s razor, the scientist’s conceptual guillotine, which states that the simplest possible hypothesis is preferable.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“If you remember that something bad happened, and you can figure out why, then you can try to avoid that bad thing happening again. That’s the purpose of memory. It’s not “to remember the past.” It’s to stop the same damn thing from happening over and over.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“we are increasingly falling prey to the desperation of meaninglessness,” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“And you must be cautious, because making your life better means adopting a lot of responsibility, and that takes more effort and care than living stupidly in pain and remaining arrogant, deceitful and resentful.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Mark Twain once said, “It’s not what we don’t know that gets us in trouble. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“When you decide to learn about your faults, so that they can be rectified, you open a line of communication with the source of all revelatory thought. Maybe that’s the same thing as consulting your conscience. Maybe that’s the same thing, in some manner, as a discussion with God.” — Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
BUY ON AMAZON: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
Top 30 Best Quotes From Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was famous when I still lived in Italy, close to the big “monster” that was in those days (the 70s and early 80s) the Eastern Bloc of countries on the east side of Europe. All those countries where separated from Western Europe by the so called Iron Courtain, the 7.000 km long physical barrier of fences, walls, and minefields that separated the “east” from the “west”. Those 7.000 km also included the infamous Berlin Wall. But the Iron Courtain was also the non-physical barrier created by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its satellite states from any open contact with the West countries after the end of World War II in 1945. It was created to block the influence of ideas about freedom coming from the West, all too dangerous for the Soviet Regime.
In those days of great ideological conflict between the West and the East, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn became famous for his denunciation of the Soviet Regime. Born in 1918, he was a Russian novelist and historian, and he became an outspoken critic of the Soviet Union and communism and helped to raise global awareness of its Gulag forced labor camp system.
He was able to publish only one novel in the Soviet Union, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962). All his other books had to be published in the West, including The Gulag Archipelago (1973), a literary and historical masterpiece that documents Soviet repression from 1918 to 1956. Solzhenitsyn secretly worked on this epic book for ten years (1958-1968), and then it circulated illegally in the USSR before being officially published. The KGB was so worried by The Gulag Archipelago that it tried to locate copies and identify readers.
Solzhenitsyn was awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature, but he was afraid to go to Stockholm to receive his award for fear that he would not be allowed to reenter. He was eventually expelled anyway from the Soviet Union in 1974, but was able to return in 1994 after the end of the Soviet Union. He died in 2008
Men have forgotten God
Regarding atheism, Solzhenitsyn declared:
Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.
Top 30 Quotes From Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
“It’s a universal law– intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains … an un uprooted small corner of evil. ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Since then I have come to understand the truth of all the religions of the world: They struggle with the evil inside a human being (inside every human being). It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
“You only have power over people as long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything, he’s no longer in your power—he’s free again.” ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Cancer Ward
“Only those who decline to scramble up the career ladder are interesting as human beings. Nothing is more boring than a man with a career.” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
“… Do not pursue what is illusionary -property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade, and is confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life -don’t be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn for happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn’t last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing. It is enough if you don’t freeze in the cold and if thirst and hunger don’t claw at your insides. If your back isn’t broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes can see, if both ears hear, then whom should you envy? And why? Our envy of others devours us most of all. Rub your eyes and purify your heart -and prize above all else in the world those who love you and who wish you well. Do not hurt them or scold them, and never part from any of them in anger; after all, you simply do not know: it may be your last act before your arrest, and that will be how you are imprinted on their memory.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
“You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.” ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul.” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
“It is in the nature of the human being to seek a justification for his actions.” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956
“To stand up for truth is nothing. For truth, you must sit in jail.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“Can a man who’s warm understand one who’s freezing?” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
“Human rights’ are a fine thing, but how can we make ourselves sure that our rights do not expand at the expense of the rights of others. A society with unlimited rights is incapable of standing to adversity. If we do not wish to be ruled by a coercive authority, then each of us must rein himself in…A stable society is achieved not by balancing opposing forces but by conscious self-limitation: by the principle that we are always duty-bound to defer to the sense of moral justice.” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, Rebuilding Russia: Reflections and Tentative Proposals
“A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.” ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“Do not pursue what is illusory – property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and can be confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life – don’t be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is after all, all the same: the bitter doesn’t last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing. ” ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
“Our envy of others devours us most of all.” ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century.” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
“A great writer is, so to speak, a second government in his country. And for that reason no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.” ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“You should rejoice that you’re in prison. Here you have time to think about your soul.” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
“Sometimes I feel quite distinctly that what is inside me is not all of me. There is something else, sublime, quite indestructible, some tiny fragment of the Universal spirit. Don’t you feel that?” ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?” ― Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The First Circle
“Freedom! To fill people’s mailboxes, eyes, ears and brains with commercial rubbish against their will, television programs that are impossible to watch with a sense of coherence. Freedom! To force information on people, taking no account of their right not to accept it or their right of peace of mind. Freedom! To spit in the eyes and souls of passersby with advertisements.” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
“We didn’t love freedom enough. ” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956
“There is no point asserting and reasserting what the heart cannot believe.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage . . . . Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elite, causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society.” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
“What is the most precious thing in the world? I see now that it is the knowledge that you have no part in injustice. Injustice is stronger than you, it always was and always will be, but let it not be done through you.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Top 50 Best Quotes From Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He helped to draft the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and he also negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War.
As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, the first rocking chair, flexible catheter, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. Franklin also organized the first successful American lending library.
Franklin earned the title of “The First American” for his campaigning for the union of the colonies. He was also the first United States Ambassador to France, where he represented and promoted the emerging American nation. Franklin was key in defining the American ethos as a union of the values of hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment.
To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin “the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become.”
Top 50 Best Quotes From Benjamin Franklin
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“He that can have patience can have what he will.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned” ― Benjamin Franklin
“You may delay, but time will not.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Well done is better than well said.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Lost Time is never found again.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“I am for doing good to the poor, but…I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed…that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn’t know how to read.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”― Benjamin Franklin
“Never confuse Motion with Action.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen.
Keep in the sunlight.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Whatever is begun in anger, ends in shame.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“There was never a bad peace or a good war.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“When you are finished changing, you’re finished.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“When you’re testing to see how deep water is, never use two feet.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“To find out a girl’s faults, praise her to her girlfriends.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Trouble knocked at the door, but, hearing laughter, hurried away” ― Benjamin Franklin
“…but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Life biggest tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Security without liberty is called prison.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Contentment makes poor men rich, Discontent makes rich men poor.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move. ” ― Benjamin Franklin
“If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“Those things that hurt, instruct.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“To be humble to superiors is a duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“A Brother may not be a Friend, but a Friend will always be a Brother.” ― Benjamin Franklin
“The only thing that is more expensive than education is ignorance.” ― Benjamin Franklin
Top 51 Best Quotes From Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 – 1948) was the leader of the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule. Employing non violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: “high-souled”, “venerable”) was applied to him first in 1914 in South Africa and is now used worldwide.
Born and raised in a Hindu family in western India, Gandhi was later trained in law in London. He first employed nonviolent civil disobedience while living as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, during the struggle for civil rights of the resident Indian community. After his return to India in 1915, he started organizing peasants, farmers, and urban laborers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. After becaming the leader of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi directed nationwide campaigns for several social causes and to obtain Swaraj or self-rule.
After leading Indians in challenging the British-imposed salt tax and later in calling for the British to quit India, Gandhi was imprisoned for many years, several times, in both South Africa and India. He lived modestly and ate simple vegetarian food, and he also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and political protest.
Gandhi’s vision of an independent India was based on the principle of religious pluralism, but that vision was opposed and challenged by Muslim nationalism which wanted a separate Muslim homeland separated from India.
When Britain granted independence, the British Indian Empire was divided between a Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. When displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs were making their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out. In the following months, Gandhi started several hunger strikes to stop religious violence. However, some Indians thought Gandhi was too accommodating and one of them, a Hindu nationalist, killed Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest.
Top 51 Quotes
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
― Mahatma Gandhi – All Men are Brothers: Autobiographical Reflections
“Where there is love there is life.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Hate the sin, love the sinner.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:
– I shall not fear anyone on Earth.
– I shall fear only God.
– I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
– I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
– I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“The future depends on what you do today.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Truth never damages a cause that is just.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Action expresses priorities.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“My Life is My Message” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“You don’t know who is important to you until you actually lose them.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” ― Mahatma Gandhi The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas
“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Love is the strongest force the world possesses and yet it is the humblest imaginable.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.” ― Mahatma Gandhi – Gandhi: An autobiography
“There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever. ” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to them.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“In doing something, do it with love or never do it at all.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“Speak only if it improves upon the silence.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
“I call him religious who understands the suffering of others.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
Top 24 Best Quotes From Martin Luther
Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) was a priest and monk, and a German professor of theology, and one the most important figures in the Protestant Reformation.
In his days, the Catholic church was heavily involved in politics and in the practice of selling ‘indulgences‘. According to thee Catholic church, those who felt they had sinned could simply buy a pardon and, in exchange for their money, a prayer would be said or a candle lit to ‘absolve‘ them of their sins. The more money people paid for the indulgences, the more years – they believed – were taken off their time in purgatory .
Increasingly resentful of the ways of the Catholic Church, Martin Luther sent 95 Theses enclosed with a letter to Albert of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz, on 31 October 1517, a date now considered the start of the Reformation. The 95 Theses attacked the corrupt practices of the papacy and essentially sparked the biggest revolution the Christian faith had ever seen. Luther may have also posted the Theses on the door of All Saints’ Church and other churches in Wittenberg,
Six Interesting Fact About Martin Luther
1. The famous story of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church may be just a legend
The story tells that Luther went to the Castle Church in Wittenburg, hammer in hand, and nailed his incendiary document to the front door. There were no eye-witnesses and Martin Luther himself was unclear on what he actually did to spread his 95 Theses, other than sending them to the local archbishop.
2. A near death experience may have inspired Luther to become a monk
Martin Luther’s father had planned for him to study law in order to help with the family business, but Luther had other plans. At age 21 he was caught up in a large storm and according to tradition, he prayed to St. Anna to save his life, promising to become a monk if he survived. Luther survived and honored his promise and became a monk two years later.
3. Luther was ‘kidnapped’ by a friend to avoid severe persecution from the Catholic Church
After publishing his 95 Theses, Luther was called to Rome to answer for his heresy. Since he did not comply, he was excommunicated, but that didn’t stop him, and in fact he burned the paper which announced his excommunication in a pit used to burn old rags.
He was able to avoid execution because of his great popularity with the general public, but in 1521 he was called to a Diet in the town of Worms, an assembly of the Holy Roman Empire, to explain himself. In Worms, Luther stated that he would only retract his criticisms of the church if they could show him sufficient evidence from the holy scripture that he was wrong. While he was traveling back, Frederick the Wise, Luther’s protector, ordered a group of knights to “kidnap” and hide him until the the danger of being arrested and even executed by the catholic church would pass.
4. Luther translated the New Testament from Greek to German in just 11 weeks
While living in an isolated castle, Luther spent 11 weeks of his 10 months as a “kidnapped” prisoner translating the New Testament at an astonishing rate of 1,800 words a day. Luther later translated also the old testament from Hebrew. Many consider his version of the Bible the most beautifully written. It was also the most popular.
5. Martin Luther not only had a big impact on the church, but also on the German language
Luther was a prolific writer who wrote more than 100 works in his lifetime. He was born just 10 years after the invention of the printing press and so his works reached thousands of people at a time when literature was sparse. Most of his writing was in Early New High German and experts believe that Luther’s writing, and especially his translation of the bible, strongly contributed to making this dialect popular.
6. Luther’s wife was the one who proposed
One Catholic tradition Luther didn’t support was celibacy in priests and in 1525 he married Katharina von Bora, an ex-nun whom he had met her while helping a group of nuns who had recently left a Cistercian convent to follow the reformation. Apparently she proposed marriage to him, to which he agreed.
Best 24 Quotes From Martin Luther
“I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.” ― Martin Luther
“Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.” ― Martin Luther
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” ― Martin Luther
“Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.” ― Martin Luther
“There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.” ― Martin Luther
“Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in him unless he knew where his believers are?” ― Martin Luther
“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” ― Martin Luther
“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.” ― Martin Luther
“Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.” ― Martin Luther
“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” ― Martin Luther
“If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.” ― Martin Luther
“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” ― Martin Luther
“My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.” ― Martin Luther
“There never yet have been, nor are there now, too many good books.” ― Martin Luther
“The gospel cannot be truly preached without offense and tumult.” ― Martin Luther
“Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved.” ― Martin Luther
“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say” ― Martin Luther
“God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does.” ― Martin Luther
“There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage.” ― Martin Luther
“They are trying to make me into a fixed star. I am an irregular planet.” ― Martin Luther
“Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness.” ― Martin Luther
“Pray, and let God worry.” ― Martin Luther
“The fewer the words, the better the prayer.” ― Martin Luther
“You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair” ― Martin Luther
Top 50 Best Quotes From Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918 – 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and political leader. Mandela studied law before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg where he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the African national Congress (ANC) in 1943.
After the National Party’s white-only government established the apartheid regime, Mandela and the ANC decided to fight and overthrow it. Mandela was appointed President of the ANC’s Transvaal branch and became a prominent figure in the organization. He was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities until he finally was imprisoned in 1962 for treason and conspiracy against the government and was sentenced to life in prison, where he became a symbol for the oppressed in South Africa who were fighting for their rights.
Mandela ended up serving 27 years in prison, but after growing domestic and international pressure, and with fears of a racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk later led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led his party to victory and became president.
Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 as its first black president of South Africa, and the first president to be elected in a fully representative election. Nelson Mandela’s government focused on eliminating the Apartheid government in the country. Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993.
Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life: some denounced him as a communist terrorist and others criticized him for negotiating and trying to reconcile with apartheid’s supporters. However, he ended up gaining international acclaim for his activism, becoming an icon of democracy and social justice. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is considered the “Father of the Nation“.
Top 50 Best Quotes from Nelson Mandela
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ― Nelson Mandela
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” ― Nelson Mandela
“A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.” ― Nelson Mandela
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” ― Nelson Mandela
“I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” ― Nelson Mandela
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” ― Nelson Mandela
“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” ― Nelson Mandela
“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front.” ― Nelson Mandela
“I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.” ― Nelson Mandela
“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.” ― Nelson Mandela
“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” ― Nelson Mandela
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” ― Nelson Mandela
“As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself… Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, and humility.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.” ― Nelson Mandela
“ As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” ― Nelson Mandela
“A leader. . .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” ― Nelson Mandela
“I am the captain of my soul.” ― Nelson Mandela
“A winner is a dreamer who never gives up” ― Nelson Mandela
“Where you stand depends on where you sit.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Appearances matter — and remember to smile.” ― Nelson Mandela
“One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.” ― Nelson Mandela
“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Courage is not the absence of fear — it s inspiring others to move beyond it.” ― Nelson Mandela
“A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it’s lowest ones” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” ― Nelson Mandela
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” ― Nelson Mandela
“You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.” ― Nelson Mandela
“One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.” ― Nelson Mandela
“And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
“I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, Henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
“Nothing is black or white.” ― Nelson Mandela
“In my country we go to prison first and then become President. ” ― Nelson Mandela
“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiograpy of Nelson Mandela with Connections
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” ― Nelson Mandela
“There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires” ― Nelson Mandela
“It is not where you start but how high you aim that matters for success.” ― Nelson Mandela
“I am not an optimist, but a great believer of hope.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?” ― Nelson Mandela
“Quitting is leading too.” ― Nelson Mandela
“It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.” ― Nelson Mandela
“Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
“There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status.” ― Nelson Mandela, Conversations With Myself
“When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.” ― Nelson Mandela
Top 57 Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. Born in Atlanta, King is best known for advancing civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, tactics his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi helped inspire.
He helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
On October 14, 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War.
In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People’s Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee.
I Have a Dream Speech
“I Have a Dream” was delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in which he called for civil and economic rights and an end to racism in the United States. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the speech was a defining moment of the civil rights movement and among the most iconic speeches in American history.
Beginning with a reference to the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed millions of slaves in 1863, King said “one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. Toward the end of the speech, King departed from his prepared text for a partly improvised conclusion on the theme “I have a dream”, prompted by Mahalia Jackson‘s cry: “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” In this part of the speech, which most excited the listeners and has now become its most famous, King described his dreams of freedom and equality arising from a land of slavery and hatred. The speech was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century in a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.
Top Quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World
“Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“It is a cruel jest to say a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps“ ― Martin Luther King Jr.
If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies. (from “Loving Your Enemies”)” ― Martin Luther King Jr., A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream
“Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr
“We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Wars are poor chisels for crying out peaceful tomorrows.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“the time is always right to do the right thing” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr.
“On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right?There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr.
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“The choice is not between violence and nonviolence but between nonviolence and nonexistence.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But…the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars… Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That’s the time you must do it. That is the meaning of love. In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It’s not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.” ― Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Lightning makes no sound until it strikes.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can’t Wait
“One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
Top 25 Best Quotes from Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (1847 – 1931) was an American inventor and businessman, who many consider as America’s greatest inventor.
Some of his greatest inventions were the phonograph, the light bulb, the motion picture, the electrographic vote recorder, the quadruplex telegraph, the electric pen, the electric generator, the stock ticker, and the storage battery.
Edison was a savvy businessman, he held more than 1,000 patents for his inventions. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.
Edison was raised in the American Midwest and early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where many of his early inventions would be developed. He would later establish a botanic laboratory in Florida in collaboration with businessmen Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, and a laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey that featured the world’s first film studio, the Black Maria. Edison married twice and had six children. He died of complications of diabetes.
A Few Interesting Facts About Thomas Edison
At the age of seven, Edison attended school for only a short period of 12 weeks. Being a hyperactive child and prone to distraction, Edison’s teachers were not able to handle him. His mother then removed Thomas from school and tutored him at home until the age of 11. Therefore, Edison had very little formal education as a child, but the removal from school proved very beneficial for his career, because he developed self-learning skills with his growing interest for knowledge.
Thomas Edison even made a device to kill cockroaches with electricity.
The biggest failure of Edison’s life was trying to invent a method for separating ore from rock. Those failed experiments cost him millions of dollars.
Thomas Edison was the first person in the world to project successfully a motion picture. He did so on April 23, 1896.
Edison nicknamed two of his children he had with his first wife “Dot” and “Dash” to remember his early telegraph days.
Thomas Edison didn’t just hold 1093 US patents in his name, but many more in other countries, including France, Germany, and the U.K.
Edison, about his hearing loss in 1885, wrote, “I haven’t heard a bird sing since I was twelve years old.”
Thomas Edison designed a battery for the self-starter for the Model T developed by Henry Ford.
Top 25 Quotes from Thomas Edison
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work” ― Thomas A. Edison
“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“To have a great idea, have a lot of them.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“If we all did the things we are really capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this – you haven’t.” ― Thomas Edison
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” ― Thomas Edison
“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“There are no rules here — we’re trying to accomplish something.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“To do much clear thinking a person must arrange for regular periods of solitude when they can concentrate and indulge the imagination without distraction.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“Unfortunately, there seems to be far more opportunity out there than ability…. We should remember that good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.” ― Thomas Edison
“I find out what the world needs. Then I go ahead and try to invent it” ― Thomas A. Edison
“I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“I am proud of the fact that I never invented weapons to kill.” ― Thomas Edison
“The first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“Nearly every person who develops an idea works at it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged.” ― Thomas Edison
“Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing” ― Thomas A. Edison
“We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles.” ― Thomas A. Edison
“There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the real labor of thinking.” ― Thomas A. Edison
Top 52 Best Quotes from Albert Einstein
In almost all lists of the most famous or influential people of all times, Albert Einstein is among the top 10. He was the most influential physicist of the 20th century, and is probably the most famous scientist to have ever lived. He is particularly famous for his ground-breaking special theory of relativity and his famous equation, E = mc², which maintain that matter can be changed into energy. Since the time of Isaac Newton, no scientist had so profoundly changed our understanding of the universe.
For his contributions, Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. He moved to the United States in 1933, because the Nazis were on the rise in his native Germany, and being a Jew, Einstein was in danger. In the United States he worked at Princeton University in New Jersey, where he became a central figure in the fight to restrict the use of the atom bomb, while also raising his voice against racism and nationalism.
Innovation Requires Work
Although the stories of him failing in math are apocryphal, Albert Einstein was not an exceptional student. Very few, if any, ever noticed anything exceptional about him when he was in school.
What made Einstein different was how long he was able to keep working on a problem in his mind. While certain genetic gifts may give people a head start, to accomplish anything of value, they still need to work diligently and intensely over a long period of time to develop their talent and be successful.
Top 52 Best Quotes
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” ― Albert Einstein
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ― Albert Einstein
“I am by heritage a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss, and by makeup a human being, and only a human being, without any special attachment to any state or national entity whatsoever.” ― Albert Einstein
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” ― Albert Einstein
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” ― Albert Einstein
“If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.”
― Albert Einstein
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
― Albert Einstein
“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.”
― Albert Einstein
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
― Albert Einstein
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
― Albert Einstein
“I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.” ― Albert Einstein
“Never memorize something that you can look up.” ― Albert Einstein
“When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.” ― Albert Einstein
“A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.” ― Albert Einstein
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” ― Albert Einstein
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” ― Albert Einstein
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” ― Albert Einstein
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” ― Albert Einstein
“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” ― Albert Einstein
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day. ― Albert Einstein
“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” ― Albert Einstein
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” ― Albert Einstein
“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” ― Albert Einstein
“You never fail until you stop trying.” ― Albert Einstein
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” ― Albert Einstein
“Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.” ― Albert Einstein
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” ― Albert Einstein
“It is not that I’m so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.” ― Albert Einstein
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” ― Albert Einstein
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” ― Albert Einstein
“If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut” ― Albert Einstein
“Black holes are where God divided by zero.” ― Albert Einstein
“Everything must be made as simple as possible. But not simpler.” ― Albert Einstein
“The best way to cheer yourself is to cheer somebody else up.” ― Albert Einstein
What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.” ― Albert Einstein
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters” ― Albert Einstein
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” ― Albert Einstein
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” ― Albert Einstein
“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.” ― Albert Einstein
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” ― Albert Einstein
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” ― Albert Einstein
“Time is an illusion.” ― Albert Einstein
“I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.” ― Albert Einstein
“It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.” ― Albert Einstein
“Love is a better master than duty.” ― Albert Einstein
“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” ― Albert Einstein
“I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking” ― Albert Einstein
“We all know that light travels faster than sound. That’s why certain people appear bright until you hear them speak.” ― Albert Einstein
“Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.” ― Albert Einstein
“Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent hard work…” ― Albert Einstein
“I’d rather be an optimist and a fool than a pessimist and right.” ― Albert Einstein
“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”― Albert Einstein
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