Quotes on my Mind

Quotations are a thinking man's best friend. How often has it happened that when you are down a single quote has worked wonders for you, motivated you, and has send you back on the journey called life. Quotations in their entirety contain the speaker's life philosophy and come after almost a lifetime of living. As Kant said, you could gain knowledge either by having the experience yourself, or by other people's experiences. And quotations are a nice way of learning from the wisdom of the others. So here is a brief list of the quotes on my mind currently:

...The richest man is not he who has the most, but he who needs the least.

...Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear. —Ambrose Redmoon

...A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends. —Baltasar Gracian
In the same vein, Kabir said:
Nindak niyare rakhiye, aangan kuti chavaye
Bin sabun pani bina, nirmal kare subhaye

...The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Lao Tzu

...Before enlightenment: Chop wood, carry water. After enlightment: Chop wood, carry water.
[No work is too small. Humility. And enlightenment is a way of life, not the raise to pedestral of super humans]

...If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are.
[ In the same vein. Don't think universe revolves around you. In the past there have been many, in the future there will be many. One is but a speck of dust ]

...Behind every brilliant performance there were countless hours of practice and preparation. -Eric Buttterworth

...They can conquer who believe they can. -Virgil

...Get busy living or Get busy dying. [ From Swashank redemption ]

...I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain. Time to die.
[ Another beautiful line from the movie Bladerunner.. All of us are unique. There can be no other human being ever who will be 100% like us. Each of us has certain unique song within us. The one authentic swing ( in the legend of bagger vance), which we fail to recognise...All these moments lost...like tears in the rain.. Crux of all philosophy ]

...100% of the shots you don't take don't go in. Wayne Gretzky

...Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -Mark Twain

...Know thyself. —Socrates

...People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily. Zig Ziggler

...The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes. - Churchill

...The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. MK Gandhi

...Inches make champions. —Vince Lombardi [ So much in so less ]

...When the tiger comes down from the mountain to the plains, it is bullied by the dogs.

...What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy? MK Gandhi

...All that we are is the result of what we have thought. Buddha

...No great thing is created suddenly. —Epictetus

...Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson

...'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where --' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
'--so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation.
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

...There is more to life than simply increasing its speed. MK Gandhi
[ What is this life full of care; we have no time to stand & stare ]

...Sometimes even to live is an act of courage. —Seneca

...Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. -Mark Twain
[ Some people are so negative thaat they begin to develop as soon as they enter a dark room ]

...No wind favors he who has no destined port. —Montaigne

...It is better to do one’s own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins. Gita

...God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

...Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.

...Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.

And last but not the least Sw Vivekananda's call, " Arise! Awake! and stop not till the goal is reached"