Wretch, you are carrying about a god with you, and you know it not.
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It is the act of an ill-instructed man to blame others for his own bad condition; it is the act of one who has begun to be instructed, to lay the blame on himself; and of one whose instruction is completed, neither to blame another, nor himself.
Attribution contested
The fifth maxim is the source of the modern slogan it is not what happens to you but how you react to it, which translates nothing Epictetus wrote and has no attested author. The paraphrase stops halfway. Epictetus opens by saying men are disturbed by their opinions about things rather than by the things, but he ends here -- taking the blame yourself is only the middle stage, and the finished man blames nobody at all.
No man can rob us of our Will--no man can lord it over that!
I am by Nature made for my own good; not for my own evil.
If you have assumed a character beyond your strength, you have both played a poor figure in that, and neglected one that is within your powers.
When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful.
The demons of depression could find no foothold when he was around
Human effort is not futile, but man fights against the giant forces of Nature in a spirit of humility.
The more experience we gain, the more progress we can make.
For us who Nurse, our Nursing is a thing, which, unless in it we are making progress every year, every month, every week, take my word for it we are going back.
Let us try this--every woman to work as though success depended on herself.
The vision and action must go hand in hand.
Man can only receive what he sees himself receiving.
If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the situation he has prepared for.
Nothing stands between man and his highest ideals and every desire of his heart, but doubt and fear.
It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free.
Once awakened by the silver trump of knowledge, my spirit was roused to eternal wakefulness.
A man's troubles are always half disposed of, when he finds endurance his only remedy.
We have more will than wallet; but will is what we need.
I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character.
the best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor even touched, but just felt in the heart
Attribution contested
The words are Keller's, but two things in the popular version are not. The wording is smoothed -- it usually appears as they must be felt with the heart -- and, more importantly, Keller does not present the thought as her own: she writes that her teacher explained it to her. On her own account the sentence belongs at least as much to Anne Sullivan.
Life is a fair field, and the right will prosper if we stand by our guns.
The optimist cannot fall back, cannot falter; for he knows his neighbor will be hindered by his failure to keep in line.
Each halt in his progress has been but a pause before a mighty leap forward.
Optimism that does not count the cost is like a house builded on sand.