Better Words Than I Got: For To Steal – aka Quotes

What Smart (Mostly Smart) People Said:

These are just a few of the quotes I favor about all parts of life by people more gifted with thoughts and words than I. Seriously the word count on my ongoing collection of quotes is over 60,000 so I'll just pick a few gems from folks who make sense to me and help me make sense of the world.

Quotes Page 1 (This Page) Quotes Page 2 (Earlier Quotes)

“Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.”

Norman Vincent Peale, Positivity Person

“Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.”

Jackie Robinson, Barrier Breaking Person

“Mental health problems do not affect three or four out of every five persons, but one out of one.”

Karl A. Menninger, Psychiatry Person

“It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.”

Rollo May, Psychology Person

”The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.”

Theodore Isaac Rubin, Psychiatrist Person

“Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.”

Mike Ditka, Da Bears Person

“A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.”

John C. Maxwell, Leadership Person

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”

Peter Lindbergh, Fashion Picture Person

“The most boring aspect of contemporary life is people incessantly trying to shock you.”

Dennis Miller, Comedy Person

“It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”

Mahatma Gandhi, Revolutionary Person

“Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.”

Nikola Tesla, Innovator Person

“The success of love is in the loving – it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done.”

Mother Teresa, Giving Person

“Masks are wonderfully paradoxical in this way, while they may hide the physical reality, they can show us how a person wants to be seen.”

Joanna Scott, Story Person

“The world is tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.”

Horace Walpole, Gothic Novel Person

“Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply ask, “What else could this mean?””

Shannon L. Alder, Religious Writer Person

“Humor is a rubber sword – it allows you to make a point without drawing blood.”

Mary Hirsch, Writer Person

“Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.”

Susan Ertz, Writer Person

“We have too many high sounding words and too few actions that correspond with them.”

Abigail Adams, Presidential Family Person

“I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.”

Leo Rosten, Story Person

“Nobody can tell you if what you’re doing is good, meaningful or worthwhile. The more compelling the path, the more lonely it is.”

Hugh McLeod, Creative Person

“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”

Bill Watterson, Comic Person

“Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness.”

Yousuf Karsh, Portrait Person

“You know….a long time ago, being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody’s crazy.”

Charles Manson, Cult Person

“Forget conventionalisms; forget what the world thinks of you stepping out of your place; think your best thoughts, speak your best words, work your best works, looking to your own conscience for approval.”

Susan B. Anthony, Activist Person

“Fools look to tomorrow. Wise men use tonight.”

Scottish proverb

“Only a fool tests the water with both feet.”

African proverb

“Praying kneads no dough.”

Russian proverb

“When a snowball starts to roll, push.”

Peter Falk as Columbo, TV Detective Person

“That’s the funny thing about marriage. You fall in love with this extraordinary person and over time they begin to seem ordinary. I think it’s all the nagging.”

Phil Dunphy, TV Dad Person

“The person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it!”

Agent K, Movie Agent Person

“I’m a nut, but not just a nut.”

Bill Murray, Funny Person

“Jim Jarmusch once told me Fast, Cheap, and Good…pick two. If it’s fast and cheap it won’t be good. If it’s cheap and good it won’t be fast. If it’s fast and good it won’t be cheap. Fast, cheap and good…pick (2) words to live by.”

Tom Waits, Music Person

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”

George Bernard Shaw, Drama Person