Ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th U.S. President,
Inaugural address, 20 January, 1961, Vital Speeches 1 February, 1961
The whole country is not in flames;
there are people in the country besides
politicians, entertainers, and criminals.
Charles Kuralt (1937-1997), American journalist
I don’t want to cover myself in the flag,
because I’m afraid I’ll get burned.
Warren Burger (1907-1995), 15th Chief Justice of the United States
The power to tax brings the power to destroy.
John Marshall (1755-1835), former Chief Justice of the U.S.
The reason there are so few female politicians
is that it is too much trouble
to put makeup on two faces.
Maureen Murphy (1952-2008), American politician
Like Caesar’s wife, all things to all men.
A newly-elected mayor, saying that he would be fair to all.
When I gave food to the poor,
they called me a saint.
When I asked why the poor were hungry,
they called me a communist.
Helder Camara (1909-1999), Roman Catholic Archbishop
I am just one thing only, and that is a clown.
It puts me far above any politician.
Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), English comic actor, composer, director
One who does not vote
has no right to complain.
Louis L’Amour (1908-1988), American author
If presidents wouldn’t do it to their wives,
then why would they do it to their countrymen?
Arthur Tugman (1938- ), American author of books on success
Who will guard the guards?
Juvenal (55-127 AD), Roman poet and satirist
When the President says something on Monday,
he still believes it on Wednesday--
no matter what happened on Tuesday.
Stephen Colbert (1964- ), American actor, writer, and TV host,
speech at White House correspondents' dinner, April 30, 2006
These politicians are all about
sending people to war,
but they don’t know what it’s all about,
having bombs go off, hearing bullets fly by.
They have no idea what that’s like.
Antonio Molina, returned soldier
We Americans, we’re a simple people...
but make us angry, and we’ll bomb your cities.
Robin Williams (1951- ), American actor and comedian
Choose the right weapon for the job.
You cannot change people’s hearts with guns.
Author unknown
Strength lies not in defense but in attack.
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), German dictator
There is no honour in battle
worth the blood it costs.
Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969), arny general & 34th U.S. President
Force is not an answer.
John Bright (1811-1889), The Times 17 November, 1880
What can wars give us
but more wars?
John Milton (1608-1674), English poet and civil servant
On the Lord General Fairfax at the Siege of Colchester (1648)
In war there are no winners.
All are losers.
Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940), British Prime Minister, 1937-1940
speech at Kettering, in The Times 4 July, 1938
They that live by the sword
will die by the sword.
The Bible, Matthew 26:52
All is fair in love and war.
John Lyly (1553-1606), English writer, Euphues (1578)
Where do wars come from?
They come from your greed.
When you cannot get what you want,
you fight and kill for it.
The Bible, James 4:1-2
When war starts,
Truth is the first to die.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English writer and lexicographer
The Idler number 30 (11 November, 1785)
The fastest way to end a war
is to lose it.
George Orwell (1903-1950), Irish playwright,
Polemic May, 1946 ‘Second Thoughts on James Burnham’
They say that a book is important
if it is about men at war;
but it is not important if it is about
the feelings of women in their living rooms.
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), English writer
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 (1879-1955), German physicist
Some day they will give a war
and nobody will come.
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), American writer,The People, Yes (1936),
Sleep before you fight.
It’s not too late tomorrow to be brave.
John Armstrong (1709-1779), Scottish doctor and poet,
The Art of Preserving Health
We should not talk out of fear,
but we should not fear to talk.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th President of the United States,
Vital Speeches, 1 February, 1961
I think that people want peace so much
that one of these days
governments had better get out of the way
and let them have it.
Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969), army general & 34th U.S. President
If everyone wanted peace instead of another
television, then there’d be peace.
John Lennon (1940-1980), English musician, singer, and songwriter
While you are talking peace with your lips, be
careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), Italian Catholic preacher
If we are to teach real peace in this world,
and if we are to carry on a real war against war,
we shall have to begin with the children.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), pacifist & ideological leader of India
There was never a good war or a bad peace.
Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790), inventor, statesman, philosopher
War is the business of kings.
John Dryden (1631-1700), English writer, literary critic and translator
There is no need to go to India
or anywhere else to find peace.
You will find that right in your room.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1926-2004), American psychiatrist
If you cannot find peace inside yourself,
you will never find it anywhere else.
Marvin Gaye (1939-1984), American singer and songwriter
'There is no rest,' says God,
'for evil people.'
The Bible, Isaiah 48:22
The greatest happiness for the most people
is the bottom line for what is right,
and for making the rules of any country.
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), Commonplace Book
in J. Bowring (ed.), Works volume 10 (1843), page 142
The place to be happy is here.
The time to be happy is now.
The way to be happy
is to make others happy.
Ma Yogashakti Saraswati (1927- ), Indian yoga teacher
Ask yourself if you are happy,
and you will stop being happy.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), in his autobiography (1873), ch. 5
What can be added to the happiness
of a man who is in good health,
out of debt, and has a clear conscience?
Adam Smith (1723-1790), social philosopher
The secret to living the happiest life
is to live dangerously.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), poet, philosopher, composer
Die Fröhliche Wissenschaft (1882), book 3, section 116
One swallow does not make a summer.
In the same way, one day of happiness
does not make a person fully happy.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C), philosopher & teacher of Alexander the Great
I never think of the future.
It comes soon enough.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Austrian physicist
Help your brother’s boat across, and look!
your own has reached the other side.
Hindu Proverb
Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on
others without getting some on yourself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
To be stupid, selfish, and healthy
are needed for happiness,
but if one is not stupid, all is lost.
Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French writer
The happiness of your life
is built on the quality of your thoughts.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121-180 AD), Roman emperor from 161 AD
When someone does something good, clap!
You will make two people happy.
Samuel Goldwyn (1879-1974), American film producer and executive
You are happiest
if you do not try to be happier.
John Milton (1608-1674), English poet, Paradise Lost (1667), book 5
One has no better thing to do under the sun
than to eat and to drink and to be happy.
Bible, Ecclesiastes 8:15
Happiness is losing all that you have... and after
a time... receiving it back again.
Anonymous
Yesterday is dead. Tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet.
I have just one day, today,
and I’m going to be happy in it.
Groucho Marx (1890-1977), American comedian and film star
Happiness always comes after pain.
Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), French writer, Le Pont Mirabeau
Happiness makes up in height
what it does not have in length.
Robert Frost (1874-1963), American poet, title of a poem (1942),
People take different roads
looking for happiness.
Just because they’re not on your road
doesn’t mean they’re lost.
Jackson Brown, Jr., American author
Be happy while you’re living,
for you’re a long time dead.
Scottish proverb
For every minute you are angry
you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer
The only person who cannot be helped
is that person who blames others.
Carl Rogers (1902-1987), American psychologist
To be wronged is nothing
unless you go on remembering it.
Confucius (551 BC- 459 BC), Chinese philosopher
Being bitter is like cancer.
It eats the one who has it.
Maya Angelou (1923- ), American author and poet
Hate does not stop in this world by hating,
but by not hating; this is an eternal truth.
Guatama Buddha (c. 563 BC - c. 483 BC), Indian spiritual leader
Hate destroys the one who hates
more than the one who is hated.
Anonymous
Those who hate you don’t win
unless you hate them.
And then you destroy yourself.
Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994), 37th President of the United States
You can’t shake hands with a closed fist.
Indira Gandhi (1917-1984), third Prime Minister of the Republic of India
Fighting fire with fire only gets you ashes!
Abigail van Buren (Pauline Phillips), (1918- ),
American advice columnist ("Dear Abby"), and Radio Show host
Anger is being crazy for a short time.
Horace (65-8 BC), Roman lyric poet, Epistles, book 1, number 2
If you hate a person,
you hate something in that person
that is part of yourself.
What is not a part of us
does not make us angry.
Hermann Hesse (1877-1962), German poet and painter Demian ch. 6
In time, we hate what we often fear.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright,
Antony and Cleopatra act 1, scene 3
Two wrongs do not make one right.
B. Rush, a letter written in 1783
Good people give and forgive.
Bad people get and forget.
Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1993), Indian Hindu spiritual leader
He who asks for mercy, but shows none,
burns the bridges over which
he himself must later pass.
Thomas Adams (1871-1940), English pioneer of urban planning
Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness
forces you to grow bigger than what you were.
Cherie Carter-Scott (1949- ), American self-help author
Forgiveness is our most important gift
to the healing of the world.
Marianne Williamson (1952- ), American author, and spiritual activist
Forgiving those who hurt us
is the key to inner peace.
G. Weatherly (1865-1940), a founder of American Sociological Society
If someone hits you on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also.
Jesus, Matthew 5:39
Give him enough rope and he will hang himself.
Emily Bronte (1818-1848), English author of Wuthering Heights
Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea,
until they have something to forgive.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Irish writer, academic, & Christian apologist
Forgiveness is a funny thing.
It warms the heart and cools the burn.
William Arthur Ward (1921-1924), American writer of short sayings
Love is living. Hate is dying.
Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), Hindu philosopher
It is kind to forgive, but stupid to forget.
Anonymous
Forgive your enemies,
but never forget their names.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th President of the United States
Most of our so-called reasoning
is made up of us finding arguments
for going on believing as we already do.
James Harvey Robinson (1863-1936), American historian
I learned long ago never to roll with a pig. You
get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.
Cyrus Ching (1876-1967), Canadian industrialist and union mediator
The only argument available against an east wind
is to put on your coat.
James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), American poet, editor, and diplomat
Use soft words and hard arguments.
English proverb
I am not arguing with you;
I am telling you!
James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), American artist,
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies (1890), page 51
When you are right, no one remembers;
when you are wrong, no one forgets.
Irish Saying
Stupid people feel
it makes them look better
if they can say others are not perfect.
Isaac D’Israeli (1766-1848), British writer and scholar,
and father of British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli
A rat who chews at a cat’s tail
is asking for destruction.
Chinese Proverb
When you have an elephant by the back leg,
and he is trying to run away,
it’s best to let him run.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), 1809-1865, 16th U.S. President
A good listener tries to understand
what the other person is saying.
In the end he may disagree sharply,
but because he disagrees, he wants to know
very clearly what it is he is disagreeing with.
Kenneth A. Wells, American author, Guide to Good Leadership (1956)
One does not need to understand things
to argue about them.
Pierre Beaumarchais (1732-1799), French watchmaker, arms dealer,
inventor, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, financier, and revolutionary
He that has patience can have what he will.
Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790), inventor, statesman, philosopher
With love and patience, nothing is impossible.
Daisaku Ideda (1928- ), Japanese Buddhist lay leader
You must first have a lot of patience
to learn to have patience.
Stanislaw J. Lec (1909-1966), Polish poet, Unkempt Thoughts
Never discourage anyone who is getting better,
no matter how slowly.
Plato (429-347 BC), Greek mathematician and philosopher
The hurrier I go the behinder I get.
Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), American author, Alice in Wonderland
Never cut what you can untie.
Joseph Joubert (1754-1824), French moralist and essayist
Patience is the friend of wisdom.
St Augustine of Hippo (354-430), philosopher and theologian
Rome wasn't built in a day.
translated from French, Le Proverbe au Vilain (c. 1190)
A teacher affects eternity.
Henry Adams (1838-1918), American writer, historian, and academic,
The Education of Henry Adams
I am patient with stupid people,
but not with those who are proud of it.
Edith Sitwell (1887-1964), English poet
Not to know is bad.
Not to wish to know is worse.
African proverb
People need to be helped to remember
more often than they need to be taught.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English writer and lexicographer
It is easier to make a camel jump a channel
than to make a fool listen to reason.
Turkish Proverb
Teachers open the door, but you must go
through by yourself.
Chinese Proverb