The quote database

nature makes us free and unrestrained, but we bind and confine immure and force ourselves into small and scanty space

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines

It is injurious to the mind as well as to the body to be always in one place and always surrounded by the same circumstances.

In the course of time, we grow to love things we hated and hate things we loved.

There is no cutting of the Gordian knots of life; each must be smilingly unravelled.

Now dost thou resolve to avoid a fault, and within an hour thou behavest thyself as if thou hadst never resolved at all.

Little by little, through patience and long-suffering, thou shalt conquer by the help of God, rather than by violence and thine own strength of will.

If we would put some slight stress on ourselves at the beginning, then afterwards we should be able to do all things with ease and joy.

If to-day thou art not ready, how shalt thou be ready to-morrow?

There are but few important events in the affairs of men brought about by their own choice.

Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life.

We are all to some degree oppressed, unfree. We don't come to our own. It is there, but we don't get at it. The threshold must be made to shift.

It is notorious that a single successful effort of moral volition, such as saying 'no' to some habitual temptation, or performing some courageous act, will launch a man on a higher level of energy for days and weeks, will give him a new range of power.

Excitements, ideas, and efforts, in a word, are what carry us over the dam.