Charles Dickens

I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.

My meaning simply is, that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; that whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely; that in great aims and in small, I have always been thoroughly in earnest.

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.

There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.

Family not only need to consist of merely those whom we share blood, but also for those whom we’d give blood.

[Credit is a system whereby] a person who can’t pay, gets another person who can’t pay, to guarantee that he can pay.

I lose my respect for the man who can make the mystery of sex the subject of a coarse jest, yet when you speak earnestly and seriously on the subject, is silent.

I only desire sincere relations with the worthiest of my acquaintance, that they may give me an opportunity once in a year to speak the truth.

What you can’t pay back you pay forward.

I can live for two months on a good compliment.

I’m not denyin’ the women are foolish. God Almighty made ’em to match the men.

I encourage you to live with life. Be courageous, adventurous. Give us a tomorrow, more than we deserve.

Pasteboard pies and paper flowers are being banished from the stage by the growth of that power of accurate observation which is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it….

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.

We should distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.

Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.

He that embarks on the voyage of life will always wish to advance rather by the impulse of the wind than the strokes of the oar; and many fold in their passage; while they lie waiting for the gale.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Upon awakening, let the words Thank You flow from your lips, for this will remind you to begin your day with gratitude and compassion.

If God wants us to do a thing, he should make his wishes sufficiently clear. Sensible people will wait till he has done this before paying much attention to him.

If you develop rules, never have more than ten.