The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.
—Thucyides, 460 BC – 400 BC
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Humor Friday
I am always at a loss at how much to believe my own stories. —Washington Irving (daguerreotype by Mathew Brady, reverse of original by John Plumbe; Public domain)
Derive Pleasure From the Here and Now
Though we seem grieved at the shortness of life in general, we are wishing every period of it at an end. The minor longs to be at age, then to be a man of business, then to make up an estate, then...
Your Perception Will Greatly Dictate Your Emotional State
It is not what you look at that matters; it is what you see. —Henry David Thoreau (Image licensed by Penn Wealth)
Putting Your Subconscious to Work on the Matter
It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it. —John Steinbeck (1939, by McFadden Publications; Public Domain)
The Resilient Mind
Some minds seem almost to create themselves, springing up under every disadvantage and working their solitary but irresistible way through a thousand obstacles. —Washington Irving (daguerreotype...
Humor Friday: Will Rogers on Hubris
It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so. —Will Rogers (Image licensed by Penn Wealth)
Faded Wisdom
When ancient opinions and rules of life are taken away, the loss cannot possibly be estimated. From that moment we have no compass to govern us. Nor can we know distinctly to what port to steer....
Our Faithful Companion, Humility
Humility must accompany all of our actions and be our companion everywhere; for as soon as we glory in our good works, they are of no further value to our advancement in virtue. —Saint Augustine...
Welcome the Antagonists
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. —Edmund Burke (Image licensed by Penn Wealth)
Temper Your Opinions with Critical Thought Borne by Sincere Humility
When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities. —David Hume...
Humor Friday: A Speaker’s Worst Nightmare
Hell is a half-filled auditorium. —Robert Frost (Image licensed by Penn Wealth)
Progress Takes a Creative Mind…and an Unwillingness to Yield to the Critics
Progress in every age results only from the fact that there are some men and women who refuse to believe that what they knew to be right cannot be done. —Russell Davenport, American author and...
Filling the Void
Whenever nature leaves a hole in a person’s mind, she generally plasters it over with a thick coat of self-conceit. —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1868, by Julia Margaret Cameron, Public Domain)
Designing the Bridge
The wise person bridges the gap by mapping out the path by which they can get from where they are now to where they desire to go. —John Pierpont Morgan (Image licensed by Penn Wealth)
The Unencumbered Journey
If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Shed your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. —Glenn Clark (Image licensed by Penn Wealth)
Humor Friday
Obsession is a young man’s game, and my only excuse is that I never grew old. —Michael Caine (1979, Israeli Government Press Office photo, Creative Commons)
The Intrinsic Power of the Gifted Writer
The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new. —William Makepeace Thackeray, British novelist (Image licensed by Penn Wealth)
The Fulcrum Point of Every Virtue
Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. —C.S. Lewis (Image licensed by Penn Wealth)
The Prescient Application of Knowledge
To live is not to learn, but to apply. —Ernest Legouvé, French dramatist (1875, by photographer Nadar; Public domain)
The Spirit of a Nation
The greatest asset of any nation is the spirit of its people, and the greatest danger that can menace any nation is the breakdown of that spirit—the will to win and the courage to work. —George B....