Famous Quotations by Dave Mckay (best short books to read TXT) 📕

Don't worry about people robbing an idea.

If it's your own and it's new,

you will have to force it down their throats.

Howard Aiken (1900-1973), computer inventor

We are prisoners of ideas.

Ralph Waldo emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer

I had rather do and not promise

than promise and not do.

Arthur Warwick (1603-1633), English essayist

It is easier to believe a lie

that one has heard a thousand times

than to believe a truth

that one has never heard before.

Robert S. Lynd (1892-1970), American sociologist

Newspaper writers say a thing

that they know isn’t true,

in the hope that if they

keep on saying it long enough, it will be true.

Arnold Bennett (1867-1931), English novelist, essayist and playwright

He who is not very strong in remembering

should not play with lying.

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), French writer

Be sure your sin will find you out.

The Bible, Numbers 32:23

When you do not know what to say,

tell the truth.

Mark Twain (1835-1910), Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar

It is a good thing to tell the truth,

but it is important, too, to be right.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former British Prime Minister

Some, when talking, would rather that

others see they are able to hold all arguments,

than that they know how to judge

what is true and what is not.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English scientist & lawyer, Of Discourse

Great is Truth, and stronger than anything.

The Bible, I Esdras 4:41

Truth can never be told as to be understood,

and not be believed.

William Blake (1757-1827), English poet and artist

Truth will always stand up against a lie,

as oil does above water.

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), Spanish novelist and playwright

5. Sincerity

The first good quality of all really great men

is that they are sincere.

They drive out hypocrisy from their hearts.

Anotole France (1844-1924), poet, journalist, and novelist

Hateful to me as the gates of hell

is that man who hides one thing in his heart

and speaks another.

Homer (c. 800 BC-700 BC), Greek epic poet, The Iliad

No one can wear a mask for very long.

Seneca (5 BC-65 AD), Roman philosopher, statesman, and dramatist

Honesty is the first chapter

in the book of wisdom.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), third U.S. president

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for

what is right, because they will be filled.

Jesus, Matthew 5:6

Happy are the people with clean hearts,

for they will see God.

Jesus, Matthew 5:8

To the clean all things are clean.

The Bible, Titus 1:15

Confession is good for the soul.

Scottish proverb

I sat at a table where there were rich food and

wine and many nice words, but sincerity and

truth were not; and I went away hungry.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), Walden

The last sin is the greatest treason:

to do the right thing for the wrong reason.

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), British playwright and literary critic

Like an ability or a muscle, hearing your inner

wisdom is made stronger by doing it.

Robbie Gass (1948- ), leadership coach and musician

When there is no enemy inside,

the enemies outside cannot hurt you.

African proverb

6. Integrity

This, above all else: Be true to yourself.

It must follow, as night follows day,

that after doing this,

you cannot be false to anyone.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Hamlet act 1, scene 3

Know yourself.

Plato (429-347 BC), Greek mathematician and philosopher

To be nobody but yourself

in a world which is doing its best, night and day,

to make you someone else

means to fight the hardest battle

which any human being can fight;

and never stop fighting.

E. E. Cummings (1894-1962), American poet, painter, and author

All goes well as long as you run with those who

are like you. But you, who are honest men in

other ways, know that there is alive somewhere

a man whose honesty shall not bend his knee

to false gods, and, on the day when you meet

him, you sink into the world of counterfeits.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer

The best parts of a good person’s life

are the little secret acts of love

that no one remembers.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850),

‘Composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey’ (1798).

The best feeling I know

is to do a good act secretly,

and to have a person find it by accident.

Charles Lamb (1775-1834), The Athenaeum, 4 January, 1834

I was brought up to believe how I saw myself

was more important than how others saw me.

Anwar el-Sadat (1918-1981), former Egyptian president

Our greatest battles

are those with our own minds.

Jameson Frank

Better keep yourself clean and bright;

you are the window

through which you must see the world.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Irish playwright

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we

shape ourselves. It never ends until we die.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), American author, speaker, politician

Being born in a duck yard does not matter,

if you are born from a swan’s egg.

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), Danish fairy tale author

Never follow the crowd.

Bernard Baruch (1870-1965), American financier & political consultant

A few honest men are better than numbers.

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), leader who overthrew the British monarchy

To be an adult is to be alone.

Jean Rostand (1894-1977), Thoughts of a Biologist (1939)

We live, as we dream - alone.

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Polish-born English novelist

They travel fastest who travel alone.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), The Story of the Gadsbys (1890),

Wide is the door and wide is the way

that leads to hell; and many go through it.

But narrow is the door and narrow is the way

that leads to life; and very few find it.

The Bible, Matthew 7:13-14

The pot should not call the kettle black.

William Penn (1644-1718), Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693

People who live in glass houses

should not throw stones.

Geoffery Chaucer (1343-1400), Toilus and Criseyde

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

Dr. Seuss (1904-1991), Oh! The Places You'll Go!

Conscience is what makes a boy tell his mother

before his sister does.

Evan Esar (1899-1995), American humourist

Do what you should,

and leave the end of it to the gods.

Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), Horace (1640), act 2, scene 8

Here I stand. I can do no other.

God help me.

Martin Luther (1483-1546), at the Diet of Worms, 18 April 1521

Get up, stand up! Stand up for the right.

Get up, stand up! Do not give up the fight.

Bob Marley (1945-1981), Get Up, Stand Up (1973 song).

7. Good vs Evil

Some opposition is a great help to a man.

Kites rise against, not with, the wind.

John Neal (1893-1976), American author, lawyer, boxer, architect

You cannot run away from a weakness;

you must sometime fight it out or perish.

If that is so, why not now, and where you stand?

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Scottish novelist and writer

You can chain me, you can torture me,

you can even destroy this body,

but you will never control my mind.

Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948), leader of Indian independence

Oh wise man, wash your hands of that friend

who is friends with your enemies.

Saadi (1184-1291), Persian poet

Better fifty enemies

outside the house

than one inside.

Irish proverb

If you are near the enemy,

make him believe you are far from him.

If you are far from the enemy,

make him believe you are near.

Sun Tzu (about 400 BC), The Art of War

You can’t blame the innocent.

All you can do

is control them or destroy them.

Graham Green (1904-1991), The Quiet American

He seems to be right on top of things

and very alert.

We’ve always had trouble with him.

Rick Comley (1947- ), collegiate ice hockey coach

The cruelest lies are often told

by saying nothing.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Scottish novelist and writer

8. Fear

No spirit robs the brain of its ability

to act and think clearly, as does fear.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Irish stateman and philosopher,

On the Sublime and Beautiful (1757).

There is no fear in love,

for perfect love forces out all fear.

The Bible, I John 4:18

And perfect fear forces out all love.

Cyril Connolly (1903-1974), English intellectual, literary critic, writer

Present dangers

are less than future fears.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth act 1, scene 3

If you want to overcome fear, don’t sit at home

and think about it. Go out and get busy.

Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), American self-improvement lecturer

Understand fear; watch it, learn about it,

come into close touch with it

instead of running away from it.

J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986), writer and speaker on spiritual issues

Feel the fear and do it anyway.

Susan Jeffers (circa 1940- ), author of several self-help books

We must travel in the direction of our fear.

John Berryman (1914-1972), American poet and scholar

He has no hope that never had a fear.

William Cowper (1731-1800), English poet and hymn-writer

It’s only those who do nothing

who make no mistakes.

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Polish-born English novelist

Cry no more, sad fountains;

Why do you run so fast?

Sixteenth-Century proverb

Dream the impossible dream.

Joe Darion (1917-2001), American musical theatre lyricist

and author

9. Courage

The big thing to be learned in life

is never be scared of anyone or anything.

Fear is the enemy of clear thinking.

Frank Sinatra (1915-1998), American singer and actor

Either you choose to stay in the shallow end of

the pool or you go out in the ocean.

Christopher Reeve (1952-2004), American actor, film producer, director,

and author, who became a quadriplegic in 1995.

A small rock holds back a great wave.

Homer (c. 800 BC-700 BC), Greek epic poet, The Odyssey

When a dog runs at you, whistle for him.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), author, poet and philosopher

Whoever rescues even one life

has as much worth

as though he had rescued the whole world.

The Talmud, Mishna. Sanhedrin

Where there is life, there is danger.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Society and Solitude

If you’re never scared or embarrassed or hurt,

it means you never take any chances.

Julia Sorel, american author

who co-wrote Rocky with Sylvester Stallone

People who have been hurt are dangerous.

They know they can survive.

Josephine Hart

Twenty years from now

you will be more upset

about the things you didn’t do

than by the ones you did do.

Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist

When there is no danger in the fight,

there is no happiness in the winning.

Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), Le Cid (1637), act 2, scene 2

Don’t be afraid of the space

between your dreams and the real world.

If you can dream it, you can make it so.

Belva Davis (1932- ), Arican-American journalist and author

10. Don't Give Up!

Winners never quit and quitters never win.

Vince Lombardi (1913-1970), American football coach

When you get to the end of your rope,

tie a knot and hang on.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), Kansas City Star, June 5, 1977

If you only knock long enough and loud enough

at the gate, you are sure to wake up someone.

Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882), American poet and educator

Most of the important things in the world

have been done by people who have kept on

trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

Dale Carnegie (1888-1955), American self-improvement lecturer

No matter how long the night,

the morning will come.

African proverb

Come what will, time and the hour

run through the roughest day.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Macbeth act 1, scene 3

If you’re going through hell, keep going.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965), former British Prime Minister

If you pump long enough, hard enough

and enthusiastically enough,

sooner or later it will bring the reward.

Zig Ziglar (1926- ), American salesman and motivational speaker

This one step,

choosing a target and sticking to it,

changes everything.

Scott Reed (1938- ), African-American author

One of the best experiences we can ever have

is to wake up feeling healthy

after we have been sick.

Harold Kushner (1935- ), American Rabbi and author

The wisest person

is not the one who fails the least, but the one

who turns those failings to best account.

Richard R. Grant

Look at the turtle. He makes progress

only when he sticks his neck out.

James Bryant Conant (1893-1978), American educator and chemist

11. Helping Others

There are two ways of showing one’s strength:

one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

African American educator, author, speaker, and political leader

It is always easier to tear down

than it is to build up.

Author unknown

Each person has a place to fill in the world,

and is important in some way,

whether he chooses to be so or not.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864),

American novelist and short story writer

If you’re afraid to let someone else see your

weakness, take heart: Nobody’s perfect.

Besides, trying to hide your weaknesses

does not work as well as you think it does.

Julie Morgenstern, O Magazine, April 2004

If we had no winter, spring would not be so good:

if we did not sometimes taste of troubles,

success would not be so welcome.

Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), Meditations Divine and Moral, 1655

Don’t let the bastards get you down.

British Army Intelligence saying during World War II

Sadness is for one night,

but happiness comes in the morning.

The Bible, Psalm 30:4

After all, tomorrow is another day.

Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949), Gone With The Wind

Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings

while the morning is still dark.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Bengali poet, artist, and musician

There is good in seeing good in others.

William Congreve (1670-1729), to Sir Godfrey Kneller

Those who are lifting the world

up higher and on farther

are those who encourage more than criticise.

Elizabeth Harrison (1849-1927), American educator

I've tried not to laugh at the actions of people,

not to cry over them, not to hate them,

but to understand them.

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677),

Tractatus Politicius (1677), chapter 1, section 4

12. Kindness

Speaking with kindness builds confidence,

thinking with kindness builds wisdom,

giving with kindness builds love.

Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism (about 500 BC)

Kindness is the language which

the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

Mark Twain (1835-1910), American author and humourist

You have two hands.

One for helping yourself,

the other for helping others.

Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993), American actress and humanitarian

Those who bring sunlight to the lives of others

cannot keep it from themselves.

James M. Barrie (1860-1937), Scottish author and dramatist

Love and kindness always make a difference.

They bless the one who receives them,

and they bless you, the giver.

Barbara De Angelis (1951- ), author and lecturer on relationships

Do good and care not to whom.

Italian Proverb

Instead of trying to be right,

why don’t we try being kind?

Wayne Dyer (1940- ), American self-help author and lecturer

Trust men and they will be true to you;

act toward them as if they are great

and they will show themselves great.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer

Simple kindness to yourself and all that lives

is the most powerful changing force of all.

David R. Hawkins (1927- ), American psychiatrist, author and lecturer

A kind word is never thrown away.

Arthur Helps (1813-1875), English writer and dean of the Privy Council

All you need is love.

But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.

Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000), American cartoonist

If you know what hurts yourself,

you know what hurts others.

Author unknown

No act of kindness is ever wasted.

Aesop (c. 620-564 BC), Greek fable teller

Before you judge me, walk a mile in my shoes.

Author unknown

The art of being kind

is all that this sad world needs.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1855-1919), The World’s Need

No man can sincerely try to help another

without helping himself.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer and lecturer

You will get more bees with honey

than with vinegar.

Author unknown

Be good to people on the way up,

because you will meet them

on the way down.

Wilson Mizner (1876-1933),

in A. Johnston's The Legendary Mizners (1953), chapter 4

I and the people know

what all school children learn:

If you are cruel to another,

they will be cruel in return.

W. H. Auden (1907-1973), ‘September 1, 1939’ (1940)

A soft answer turns away anger.

The Bible, Proverbs 15:1

Smile. It is the key

that fits the lock of everybody’s heart.

Anthony J. D’Angelo. American self-help author

I have witnessed the hardest of hearts

become soft