In the interest of embracing opti­mism, I decided to look up some quotes by famous and not-so-famous people that inspire me to approach life in a pos­i­tive, light-hearted manner. Yes, I know, quotes are some­times looked down upon, and quotes are not the only way to learn any­thing, the con­text mat­ters more in most cases. But a good quote is like a good song, a small morsel of wisdom or wit that can inspire great things in the observer’s mind. Here are some juicy ones from my ever-growing collection:

“Snatching the eternal out of the des­per­ately fleeting is the great mag­ical trick of human exis­tence.” ~Tennessee Williams

“When you per­ceive that an act done to another is done to your­self, you have under­stood the great truth.” ~Taoist saying

“Thousands of can­dles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be short­ened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” ~Buddha

“The most beau­tiful thing we can expe­ri­ence is the mys­te­rious. It is the source of all true art and sci­ence.” ~Albert Einstein

“To the out­side world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sis­ters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share pri­vate family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live out­side the touch of time.” ~Clara Ortega

“Nothing is so strong as gen­tle­ness, and nothing is so gentle as real strength.” ~Ralph Stockman

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~T. Roosevelt

“Great spirits have always encoun­tered vio­lent oppo­si­tion from mediocre minds.” ~Albert Einstein

“Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind.” ~F. Scott Fitzgerald

“He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise.” ~Voltaire

“True love sto­ries never have end­ings.” ~Richard Bach

“Anyone can be pas­sionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.” ~Rose Franken

“What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.” ~Pearl Bailey

“To all of us the thought of heaven is dear–
Why not be sure of it and make it here?
No doubt there is a heaven yonder too,
But ’tis so far away–and you are near.”
~Omar Khayyam

“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” ~Lily Tomlin

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said “Stop! don’t do it!”

“Why shouldn’t I?” he said.

I said, “Well, there’s so much to live for!”

He said, “Like what?”

I said, “Well…are you reli­gious or atheist?”

He said, “Religious.”

I said, “Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?”

He said, “Christian.”

I said, “Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?”

He said, “Protestant.”

I said, “Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?”

He said, “Baptist!”

I said,”Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?”

He said, “Baptist Church of God!”

I said, “Me too! Are you orig­inal Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?”

He said,”Reformed Baptist Church of God!”

I said, “Me too! Are you reformed Baptist Church of God, ref­or­ma­tion of 1879, or reformed Baptist Church of God, ref­or­ma­tion of 1915?”

He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God, ref­or­ma­tion of 1915!”

I said, “Die, heretic scum”, and pushed him off.

By Emo Phillips

I stum­bled across this little brain candy in Wired.com’s archives.

One of my favourites:

TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! … nobody there …
– Harry Harrison

“There is a time to let things happen, and a time to make things happen.”
–Emerson

“Success is get­ting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”
–Dale Carnegie

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.”
–Arthur Schopenhauer

“Different is not nec­es­sarily better but better is always dif­ferent.”
–Hugh Lendrum

“You often meet your des­tiny on the road you’ve taken to avoid it.”

“Imagination is the begin­ning of cre­ation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.”
–George Bernard Shaw

“Don’t believe every­thing you think.”

“It is not the strongest of the species who sur­vive, not the most intel­li­gent, but those who are the most adap­tive to change.”
–Charles Darwin

“We can have peace if we let go of wanting to change the past and wanting to con­trol the future.”
–Lester Levinson

“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll under­stand.”
–Confucius

“Nearly all men can stand adver­sity, but if you want to test a man’s char­acter, give him power.”
–Abraham Lincoln

“Everything that irri­tates us about others can lead us to an under­standing of our­selves.”
–Carl Jung

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks out­side, dreams, who looks inside awakes.”
–Carl Jung

“Wisdom is knowing what path to take next… Integrity is taking it.”

“Carefully watch your THOUGHTS, for they become your WORDS. Manage and watch your WORDS, for they will become your ACTIONS. Consider and judge your ACTIONS, for they have become your HABITS. Acknowledge and watch your HABITS, for they shall become your VALUES. Understand and embrace your VALUES, for they become YOUR DESTINY.”
–Mahatma Gandhi

“Criticism is some­thing we can avoid easily — by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”
–Aristotle

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”
–William Jennings Bryan

“When I despair, I remember that all through his­tory, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and mur­derers, and for a time they seem invin­cible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it, always.”
–Mahatma Gandhi

“To be your­self in a world that is con­stantly trying to make you some­thing else is the greatest accom­plish­ment.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
–Mark Twain

“We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are.”

“It’s easier to fight for one’s prin­ci­ples than to live up to them.”
–Adler

“The greatest decep­tion men suffer is from their own opin­ions.”
–Leonardo da Vinci

“When we are no longer able to change a sit­u­a­tion… we are chal­lenged to change our­selves.”
–Victor Frankl

“There is only one thing more painful than learning from expe­ri­ence and that is not learning from expe­ri­ence.”
–Archibald McLeish

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
–Johann von Goethe

“You don’t get in life what you want. You get what you are.”
–Les Brown

“Anything in life that we don’t accept will simply make trouble for us until we make peace with it.”
–Shakti Gawain

“If you think that edu­ca­tion is expen­sive, try igno­rance.”
–Derek Botz

“He who asks is a fool for five min­utes, but he who does not ask remains a fools for life.”
–Chinese proverb

“Opinions founded on prej­u­dice are always defended with the greatest violence.”

“History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely only after they have exhausted all other alter­na­tives.”
–Abba Eban

“A nation that values it’s priv­i­leges above its prin­ci­ples soon loses both.”
–Eisenhower

“Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.”
–Euripedes

“What luck for the rulers that men do not think.”
–Adolph Hitler

“Those who make peaceful reform impos­sible will make vio­lent rev­o­lu­tion inevitable.”
–J. F. Kennedy

“Injustice any­where is a threat to jus­tice every­where.”
–Martin Luther King

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”
–George Elliot

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember any­thing.”
–Mark Twain

“The deepest longing in the human breast is the desire for appre­ci­a­tion.”
–William James

“Intuition is not con­trary to reason, but out­side the province of reason.”
–Carl Jung

“Life is a daring adven­ture or it is nothing at all.”
–Helen Keller

“Happiness is good health and a bad memory.”
–Ingrid Bergman

“Youth is the gift of nature, but age is the work of art.”
–Garson Kanin

“Lead me not into temp­ta­tion; I can find it myself.”
–Unknown

“Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.”
–Groucho Marx

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
–Mark Twain

“Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the day­time and too sleepy to worry at night.”
–Unknown

“Today is the tomorrow you wor­ried about yes­terday.”
–Unknown

“We are all born naked and screaming and if you’re lucky that sort of thing won’t stop there.”
–Unknown

“You were born an orig­inal. Don’t die a copy.”
–John Mason

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”
–Edith Wharton