Addendum—Wisdom of the Ages
The chapter on “Wisdom” hopefully whetted your appetite with a shortlist of selections from the sages of the past, as well as from more recent icons of wisdom. The addendum below encapsulates the ‘long list’ of compelling quotes from the many philosophers, scientists, folk heroes, historical figures, noted columnists, comedians, and literary geniuses.
“Wisdom is found only in truth.”—Goethe
THE WISDOM OF JOHANN WOLFGANG von GOETHE
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Germany in 1749. He was a prolific author and a highly respected statesman. Goethe wrote poetry and prose, dramas, and an autobiography. His writings covered a wide swath of subjects, including botany, anatomy, and other scientific endeavors. Goethe’s first novel at age 25 was a major success that catapulted him to fame and fortune. Probably his most celebrated work was “Faust”. Goethe has been continuously recognized by the intelligentsia as one of the six most famous writers of all time. In addition to his writing and statesmanship, he had a passion for drawing and art. Considering his birth, over 250 years ago, Goethe was truly a Renaissance man; he remains a giant and timeless icon of wisdom. His keen insights can only be understood and appreciated by carefully reading the extensive anthology below:
“Magic is believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen.”
“In the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm. In the real world, all rests on perseverance.”
“Ignorant men raise questions that wise men answered 1000 years ago.”
“If you treat an individual as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.”
“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.”
“The way you see people is the way that you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.”
“There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is their roots, the other, their wings.”
“He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.”
“I love those who yearn for the impossible.”
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
“Do not give in too much to feelings. An overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.”
“Every day, we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak up few sensible words.”
“Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.”
“Plunge boldly into the thick of life.”
“It is not doing the thing we have to do, but liking the thing we have to do that makes life blessed.”
“I call architecture frozen music.”
“Being brilliant is no great feat if you respect nothing.”
“Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.”
“A man’s manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait.”
“The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection.”
“Dream no small dreams, for they have not proven to move the hearts of men.”
“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.”
“The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes.”
“It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united
“As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.”
“Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.”
“Love does not dominate; it cultivates.”
“Self-knowledge comes from knowing others.”
“Age merely shows what children we remain.”
“First and last, what is demanded of genius, is the love of the truth.”
“No one has ever learned fully to know themselves.”
“Sowing is not as difficult as reaping.”
“Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.”
“Doubt grows with knowledge.”
“The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man, hardly anything.”
“Character is formed in the stormy billows of the world.”
“He only earns his freedom and his life who takes them every day by storm.”
“To rule is easy, the government difficult.”
“This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquered them each day anew.”
“Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.”
“What life gives a man, posterity gives entirely.”
“Death is the co-mingling of eternity with time; in the death of a good man, eternity is seen looking through time.”
THE WISDOM OF BEN FRANKLIN
Ben Franklin was an American icon, patriot, statesmen, writer, scientist, inventor, and philosopher. Franklin is known for many things, but one of his significant contributions was his book, “Poor Richard’s Almanack”. Below are some of his proverbs that are found in that famous book. Although he borrowed freely from others, his proverbs expressed the wisdom of the ages, followed by a few of his most famous quotes.
“Tell me, and I forget. Teach me, and I remember. Involve me, and I learn.
“Without continual growth and progress, such as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”
“Little Strokes, Fell great Oaks!”
“Kings and bears often worry their keepers.”
“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage; half shut afterward.”
“Genius without education is like silver in the mine.”
“Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it is.”
“Search others for their virtues, thy self for thy vices.”
“Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.”
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
“He’s a fool that makes his doctor his heir.”
“To serve the public faithfully, and at the same time please it entirely, is impractical.”
“He that waits upon fortune is never sure of a dinner.”
“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.”
“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.”
“Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.”
“In wine, there is wisdom. In beer, there is freedom. In water, there are bacteria.”
“He who won’t be counseled can’t be helped.”
“Each year, one vicious habit rooted out in time ought to make the worst man good.”
“Lost time is never found again.”
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But, when I got to be21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 7 years.”—Mark Twain
THE WISDOM OF MARK TWAIN
Born Samuel Clemens in Florida in 1835, he grew up in Minnesota and wrote under the pen name of Mark Twain. Twain was a masterful model of uncanny wit, homespun charm, insight, and humor. He was a national hero, a profound writer, a cynic, and a humorist extraordinaire. Mark Twain’s profundity was unparalleled by any of his American peers. He was of quick wit and spot on. He lived his 74 years to the maximum. His books are now classics, and his newspaper articles remain a national treasure. He was lauded as “The Greatest American Humorist of His Age”. Writer William Faulkner referred to him as “The Father of True American Literature” Twain is one of the extremely few authors who had bestsellers in three centuries: 19th, 20th, and 21st Centuries. As you will find below, he was my favorite of favorites. As a sidelight, Mark Twain was a savant about the stock market almost as much as he was about many other matters. He said just prior to the huge Wall Street crash of 1894:
“October! This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February.”
“It is sometimes better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re a foo than to open it and remove all doubt.”
“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.”
“The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation.”
“To get the full value of a joy, you must have somebody to divide it with.”
“The only difference between the tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.”
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. Broad, wholesome, charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth.”
“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.”
“The holy passion of friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.”
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”
“To be good is noble, but to teach others to be good is nobler-- and less trouble.”
“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”
“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress…. But then I repeat myself.”
“If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.”
“There is no distinctly Native American criminal class…..save Congress.”
“Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.”
“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.”
“You can’t depend on your judgment when your imagination is out of focus.”
“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.”
“The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you’re in the right.”
“Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister and now wish to withdraw that statement.”
“Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.”
“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things 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!”
“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.”
“Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.”
“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.”
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
“One nice thing about rodeos--- it’s such a relief to see the bull throwing people for a change.”
“Go to heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.”
“I can live for two months on a good compliment.”
“It is not that I believe that there are too many idiots in this world, just that lightning isn’t distributed right.”
“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”
“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.”
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.”—Will Rogers
THE WISDOM OF WILL ROGERS
Will Rogers was a Cherokee cowboy, humorist, columnist, and actor. Born in Oklahoma in 1879, he was a real country boy; simple, honest, and sincere. Will Rogers captured the hearts of the everyday men and women, as well as the elite and the downtrodden. He had a knack for his iconic statements, especially making common-sense out of everyday experiences. His keen observations of politics made him a political sage. He became a stand-in for the remarkable Mark Twain, who had preceded him as an American folk hero. His comments remain practical and humorous. I hope you can read between the lines and chuckle your way through his brief but targeted comments. Americans were deeply distressed to hear of his sudden unexpected death in an airplane crash in 1935.
“I never met a man I didn’t like.”
“We can’t all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.”
“If we got one-tenth of what was promised us in the State of the Union speeches, there wouldn’t be any inducement to go to heaven.”
“Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.”
“There are two theories to arguing with a woman…. Neither works.”
“Never miss a good chance to shut up.”
“If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”
“The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your pocket.”
“There are three kinds of men: the ones that learn by reading; the few who learn by observation; The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.”
“If you’re riding ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.”
“Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back.”
“After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you’re full of bull, keep your mouth shut.”
“Eventually, you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.”
“The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.”
“Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me; I want people to know “why” I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren’t paved.”
“You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.”
“One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it’s such a nice change from being young.”
“Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it’s called Golf!”
“I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.”
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Albert Einstein
THE WISDOM OF ALBERT EINSTEIN
Little explanation needs to be made about Dr. Albert Einstein, brilliant scientist, scholar, inventor, philosopher, theorist, and writer. The quotes below will certainly support his American image.
“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”
“Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.”
“Love is a better teacher than duty.”
“Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.”
“If people are good, only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are indeed a sorry lot.”
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”
“There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
“When you are courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder, a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”
“If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.”
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
“I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.”
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
“A man should look for what is and not for what he thinks it should be.”
“Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.”
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
“Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones, either.”
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
“Anger dwells only in the bosoms of fools.”
“Information is not knowledge!”
“Never lose a holy curiosity.”
“A writer’s job is, to tell the truth!”—Andy Rooney
THE WISDOM OF ANDY ROONEY
Andy Rooney was a man with the gift of glib, a silver-tongued orator. His interest, subjects, and enlightenment had an effect on my psyche. Born in 1919, he lived 92 self-fulfilling years, sharing his insights and experiences with millions of listeners. The most famous was his “60 Minutes” segments and later his “End of Show”. Filled with satire based on everyday issues, he touched the hearts and pocketbooks of the average person. His whimsical list of groceries, presence, brands, mascots, etc., became another of his hallmarks. Andy is missed greatly by his CBS colleagues and collaborators, as well as the general public. He especially was a friend to the underdog, the deprived, the shunted, and those discriminated against. Here are his famous short, but personal and emblematic profundities:
“I LEARNED:
That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
That when you’re in love, it shows.
That just one person saying to me: “You’ve made my day” makes my day.
That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feeling in the world.
That being kind is more important than being right.
That sometimes, all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.
That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
That we should be glad, we don’t get everything we asked for.
That money doesn’t buy class.
That it’s those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
That love, not time, heals all wounds.
That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.
That opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.
That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
That one should keep words both soft and tender because tomorrow he/she may have to eat them.
That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.
That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done
He also was credited with the following quotations:
“It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.”
“Most of us end up with no more than 5 or 6 people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.”
“If dogs could talk, it would take a lot of the fun out of owning one.”
“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor, and hurt.”—Erma Bombeck
THE WISDOM OF ERMA BOMBECK
As mentioned in an earlier chapter, Erma Bombeck was one of my favorite journalists and humorists. She was born in Ohio in 1927 and died at age 69 in San Francisco (1996). Erma never failed to entertain and enlighten me. I religiously read her column and loved her homespun humor. She was scintillating, motivating, deliriously witty, and whimsical. Erma was eloquent, even when chronicling her life as a Midwestern housewife. Here are some of her not to be forgotten pronouncements:
“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.”
“It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.”
“Never have more children than you have car windows.”
“When your mother asks, do you want a piece of advice?’ It is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.”
“The only reason I take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.”
“I come from a family where gravy is considered a beverage.”
“My theory on housework is, if the item doesn’t multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?”
“Do you know what you call those who use towels and never wash them, eat meals and never do the dishes, sit in rooms they never clean, and are entertained till they drop? If you have just answered,’ a houseguest’, you’re wrong because I have just described my kids.”
“Some say our national pastime is baseball. Not me. It’s gossip.”
“When humor goes, there goes civilization!”
“I’ve exercised with women so thin that buzzards followed them to their cars.”
“Did you ever notice that the first piece of luggage on the carousel never belongs to anyone?”
“God created man… But I could do better.”
“It’s not until you become a mother that your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding.”
“Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth.”
“Being a child at home alone in the summer is a high-risk occupation. If you call your mother at work thirteen times an hour, she can hurt you!”
“My kids always perceived the bathroom as a place where you can wait it out until all the groceries are unloaded from the car.”
“Don’t confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.”
“If you can’t make it better, you can laugh at it.”
“Stop sweating the small stuff!! Don’t worry about who doesn’t like you, who you are, or who’s doing what. Instead, let’s cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us. Let’s think about what God has blessed us with and what we are doing each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, and emotionally. Have a great day, and know that someone loves you.”
THE WISDOM OF OTHER GREAT PHILOSOPHERS AND WRITERS
Below in alphabetical order are some of the greatest minds that have ever lived. Their wisdom is timeless. Their insight and understanding of life, liberty, growth, maturity, and the essence of the universe are uncanny. On your journey, you will need to know many of their thoughts. By utilizing their insights, you can, in turn, expedite the development of wisdom, unchallenged by any previous generation. The anthology below captures the depth and greatness of some of the most ardent thinkers of all time.
“The charm of all power is modesty.”—Louisa May Alcott
“Experience which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it.”—James Baldwin
“If I ever let the muse go to sleep, it is only that she may wake refreshed.”—Ludwig von Beethoven
“Think big thoughts, but relish small pleasures.”—H. Jackson Brown
“Light tomorrow with today.”—Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“Our aspirations are our possibilities.” —Robert Browning
“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain—and most of them do.”—Dale Carnegie
“Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.”—Norman Cousins
“It is better to wear out than to rust out.”—Richard Cumberland
“Truth is such a rare thing, it is delightful to tell it.”—Emily Dickinson
“Life is too short to be little.”—Benjamin Disraeli
“It is much easier to be critical than to be correct.”—Benjamin Disraeli
“I like the silent church before the service begins better than any preaching.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The first wealth is health.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson
“We are always getting ready to live, but never living.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson
“There is a giant asleep within every man. When the giant awakes, miracles happen.”—Frederick Faust
“The true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time.”—F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Every rule in the book can be broken, except one—being who you are, and become all you were meant to be.”—Sydney J. Harris
“Good, and quickly, seldom meet.”—George Herbert
“It is not who is right, but what is right, that is important.”—Thomas Huxley
“What men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.”—Aldous Huxley
“Great minds have purposes; little minds have wishes. Little minds are subdued by misfortunes; great minds rise above them.”—Washington Irving
“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.”—William James
“The human heart refuses to believe in a universe without a purpose.”—Immanuel Kant
“Teach us DELIGHT in simple things, and MIRTH that has no bitter springs.”—Rudyard Kipling
“Experiences are savings which a miser put aside. Wisdom is an inheritance which a wastrel cannot exhaust.”—Karl Kraus
“The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.”—C. S. Lewis
“There are better things that lie ahead than any we leave behind.”—C. S. Lewis
“It is one thing to show a man that he is in error and another to put him in possession of truth.”—John Locke
“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”—Longfellow
“Let us be of good cheer remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.” —James Russell Lowell
“Readers are plentiful: thinkers are rare.”—Harriet Martineau
“The great truths are too important to be new.”—W. Somerset Maugham
“It’s a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.”—W. Somerset Maugham
“There is only one thing about which I am certain, and that is that there is very little about which one can be certain.”—W. Somerset Maugham
“One person with a belief is a social power equal to ninety-nine who have only interests.”—John Stuart Mill
“He who reigns within himself and rules passions, desires, and fears is more than a king.”—John Milton
“We are drowning in information, but starved for knowledge.”—James Naisbitt
“It’s amazing what you don’t get when you don’t ask.”—Berney Neufeld
“By losing your goal, you have lost your way.”—Fredrich Nietzsche
“On the whole, human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.”—George Orwell
“Like is the first gift, love is a second, and understanding is the third.”—Marge Piercy
“If you realize how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.”—Peace Pilgrim
“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”—Edgar Allen Poe
“A positive thinker does not refuse to recognize the negative; he refuses to dwell on it.”—Anna Quindlen
“Thoughtful people, creative people, people who try, who care, people who are concerned, pay the price, but the rewards are indescribable. It is these rewards which are returned from respect from one’s own values, one’s own way of living in trying to be incorruptible, at least in trying not to be corrupted.”—Leo Rosten
“The more we realize our minuteness and our impotence in the face of cosmic forces, the more astonishing becomes what human beings have achieved.”—Bertrand Russell
“This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”—William Shakespeare
“The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.”—George Bernard Shaw
“All Hope cannot be pinned on science, technology, economic growth. The victory of technological civilization has also instilled a spiritual insecurity in us. Its gifts enrich but enslave us as well. All is a struggle for material things, but an inner voice tells us that we have lost something pure, elevated, and fragile. We have ceased to see the purpose. Let us admit, even if in a whisper, and only to ourselves: in this bustle of life at breakneck speed what are we living for?”—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”—Robert Louis Stevenson
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”—Robert Louis Stevenson
“Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Give us courage, and gaiety and a quiet mind, spare to us our friends, softened to us our enemies.”—Robert Louis Stevenson
“The latter part of a wise person’s life is occupied with curing the follies, prejudices and false opinions they contracted earlier.”—Jonathan Swift
“Heaven is under our feet, as well as over our heads.”—Henry David Thoreau
“Goodness is the only investment which never fails.”—Henry David Thoreau
“It is better to know some of the questions than all the answers.”—James Thurber
“Shortcuts make long delays.”—J. R. R. Tolkien
“Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.”—Leo Tolstoy
“There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness, and truth.”—Leo Tolstoy
“Apathy can only be overcome by enthusiasm….”—Arnold Toynbee
“Paradise is where I am.”—Voltaire
“Following the path of least resistance is what makes men and rivers crooked.”—Voltaire
“A long dispute means that both parties are wrong.”—Voltaire
“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”—Voltaire
“Common sense is not so common.”—Voltaire
“Shun idleness. It is a rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant of metals.”—Voltaire
“One always begins with the simple, then comes the complex, and by superior enlightenment, one often reverts in the end to the simple. Such is the course of human intelligence.”—Voltaire
“When a person realizes their littleness, their greatness can appear.”—H. G. Wells
“I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.”—Oscar Wilde
“To be free is to have achieved life.”—Tennessee Williams
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”—W. B. Yeats