" If something anticipated arrives too late it finds us numb, wrung out from waiting, and we feel – nothing at all. The best things arrive on time. "

Dorothy Gilman, A New Kind of Country, 1978

" In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. "

Aristotle, Parts of Animals Greek critic, philosopher, physicist, & zoologist (384 BC – 322 BC)

" Real glory springs from the silent conquest of ourselves. "

Joseph P. Thompson

" America has never been an empire. We may be the only great power in history that had the chance, and refused

" America will never run… And we will always be grateful that liberty has found such brave defenders. "

George W. Bush 43rd President of US (1946 – )

" The tallest blade of grass is the first to be cut by the scythe. "

Old Russian saying

" Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith but in doubt. It is when we are unsure that we are doubly sure. "

Reinhold Niebuhr US Protestant theologian (1892 – 1971)

" The fellow that agrees with everything you say is either a fool or he is getting ready to skin you. "

Kin Hubbard (1868 – 1930)

" Scent is the soul of flowers, and sea flowers, as splendid as they may be, have no soul! "

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Chapter 34

" The best years are the forties; after fifty a man begins to deteriorate, but in the forties he is at the maximum of his villainy. "

H. L. Mencken US editor (1880 – 1956)

" There exists a false aristocracy based on family name, property, and inherited wealth. But there likewise exists a true aristocracy based on intelligence, talent and virtue. "

Tom Robbins US novelist (1936 – )

" My writing is like a ten gallon spring. It can issue from the ground anywhere at all. On smooth ground it rushes swiftly on and covers a thouasand li in a single day without difficulty. When it twists and turns among mountains and rocks, it fits its form to things it meets: unknowable. What can be known is, it always goes where it must go, always stops where it cannot help stopping — nothing else. More than that, even I cannot know. "

Su Shih

" Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again. "

F. P. Jones

" Any business arrangement that is not profitable to the other person will in the end prove unprofitable for you. The bargain that yields mutual satisfaction is the only one that is apt to be repeated. "

B. C. Forbes

" Jane Austen is the pinnacle to which all other authors aspire. "

J. K. Rowling British fantasy author

" I have not slept one wink. "

William Shakespeare, “Cymbeline”, Act 3 scene 4 Greatest English dramatist & poet (1564 – 1616)

" The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason. "

T. S. Eliot British (US-born) critic, dramatist & poet (1888 – 1965)

" The basis of optimism is sheer terror. "

Oscar Wilde Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 – 1900)

" Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. "

Sydney J. Harris, Strictly Personal

" It is the sign of a weak mind to be unable to bear wealth. "

Seneca Roman dramatist, philosopher, & politician (5 BC – 65 AD)

" Wisdom oft lurks beneath a tattered coat. "

Caecilius Statius (220 BC – 168 BC)

" Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant. "

P.T. Barnum

" I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State; and as for the man who sets private friendship above the public welfare – I have no use for him either. "

Sophocles, Antigone Greek tragic dramatist (496 BC – 406 BC)

" [Medicine is] a collection of uncertain prescriptions the results of which, taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind. "

Napoleon Bonaparte French general & politician (1769 – 1821)

" As soon as we left the ground I knew I myself had to fly! "

Amelia Earhart US aviator (1897 – 1937)

" Viewed from the summit of reason, all life looks like a malignant disease and the world like a madhouse. "

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German dramatist, novelist, poet, & scientist (1749 – 1832)

" Arbeit macht frei. (Work sets you free). "

Major Rudolph Hoss, Auschwitz Gate

" The wise learn many things from their enemies. "

Aristophanes, 450-385 BC, Birds, 414 BC Greek Athenian comic dramatist (450 BC – 388 BC)

" In love there are things — bodies and words. "

Joyce Carol Oates US author (1938 – )

" Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of selling goods, especially if the goods are worthless. "

Sinclair Lewis US novelist (1885 – 1951)

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