Socrates

He is rich who is content with the least; for contentment is the wealth of nature.

What a lot of things there are a man can do without.

When desire, having rejected reason and overpowered judgment which leads to right, is set in the direction of the pleasure which beauty can inspire, and when again under the influence of its kindred desires it is moved with violent motion towards the beauty of corporeal forms, it acquires a surname from this very violent motion, and is called love.

If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.

The hour of departure has arrived and we go our ways; I to die, and you to live. Which is better? Only God knows.

Wars and revolutions and battles are due simply and solely to the body and its desires. All wars are undertaken for the acquisition of wealth; and the reason why we have to acquire wealth is the body, because we are slaves in its service.

He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still.

I have thought of a pulley to raise me gradually; but that would give me pain, as it would counteract my natural inclination. I would have something that can dissipate the inertia and give elasticity to the muscles. We can heat the body, we can cool it; we can give it tension or relaxation; and surely it is possible to bring it into a state in which rising from bed will not be a pain.

Quotation is the highest compliment you can pay to an author.

I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance.

Words are finite organs of the infinite mind. They cannot cover the dimensions of what is in truth. They break, chop, and impoverish it.

It doesn’t matter that your dream came true if you spent your whole life sleeping.

When it comes to the story of my heart, I am the villain, locking it away; denying its right be free. The chains are tight, restricting its growth; long enough to see through the window of opportunity, but the only escape it has, is via the pen. Why do I deny myself the opportunities? I know it comes from a place of protection, but also of fear. I think my heart has grown a resentment because of this betrayal, and has decided, enough is enough.

We sing in a church, why can we not dance there?

The quieter you become, you more you are able to hear.

Americans adore me and will go on adoring me until I say something nice about them.

She was taken by surprise at quite how breathtaking the twinkle in her eyes was. She listened and watched attentively, magnetized. As butterflies danced on her lips, her own stomach felt butterflies.

Some look at things that are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not?

Every old poem is sacred.

The Mona Lisa, the Mona Lisa….Leonardo had eye trouble….Art couldn’t explain it….But now we’re safe, since science can explain it. Maybe Milton wrote Paradise Lost because he was blind? And Beethoven wrote the Ninth Symphony because he was deaf…

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.