Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.
Edmund Burke, Irish philosopher and statesman (1729–1797)
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I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.
Edward Everett Hale, American writer (1822–1909)
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What we’re saying today is that you’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem.
[Speech in San Francisco, 1968]
Eldridge Cleaver, American political activist (1935–1998)
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I am here to live out loud.
Émile Zola, French writer (1840–1902)
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Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.
Man for Himself (1947)
Erich Fromm, German philosopher and psychologist (1900–1980)
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You see things; and you say, “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say, “Why not?”
Methuselah (1903)
George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright (1856–1950)
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It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses, we must plant more roses.
George Eliot, English writer (1819–1880)
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What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?
Middlemarch (1871–72)
George Eliot, English writer (1819–1880)
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Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
Let Us Have Faith (1940)
Helen Keller, American writer and social reformer (1880–1968)
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It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
Herman Melville, American writer (1819–1891)
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Time is that wherein there is opportunity, and opportunity is that wherein there is no great time.
Hippocrates, Greek physician (460–370 BC)
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He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.
Epistles (20 BC)
Horace, Roman poet (65–8 BC)
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You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.
John Bunyan, English writer (1628–1688)
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All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
[Inaugural address, 1961]
John F Kennedy, 35th president of the US (1917–1963)
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What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Langston Hughes, American poet (1902–1967)
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The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher (?–533 BC)
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Great fires erupt from tiny sparks.
Libyan proverb
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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (1901–1978)
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We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.
Marie Curie, French-Polish physicist and chemist (1867–1934)
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What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?
Frankenstein (1823)
Mary Shelley, English writer (1797–1851)
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Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: I’m with you kid. Let’s go.
Maya Angelou, American writer (1928–2014)
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Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be fish.
Ovid, Roman poet (43 BC–AD 18)
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I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter (1881–1973)
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Always do what you are afraid to do.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet, essayist and
