“I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it”

“Take the unpopular route. Use the road no one travels by. Think of doing what is uncommon but remarkable. You have absolutely nobody to overtake you on the empty road!”

“If you are trying to force someone to change, it will steal your peace.

“She was as easy to recognize in that crowd as a rose among nettles.”

“The beauty of trust is that it erases worry and frees you to get on with other matters. Trust means confidence.”

“Show me a man’s closest associates,” said Thomas A. Edison, “and I will tell you what sort of character the man has and where he is going in life.”

“The rule for J.O.Y is Jesus, Others and You. You can’t have a perfect joy if all you think about is about how to groom your life!”

“The Bible is a living Book and can be trusted for its advice and direction and knowledge of God.”

“It was a great surprise to me when I discovered that most of the ugliness I saw in others, was but a reflection of my own nature.”

“There's a world of difference between a person who has a big problem and a person who makes a problem big.”

“Keep in mind, hurting people often hurt other people as a result of their own pain. If somebody is rude and inconsiderate, you can almost be certain that they have some unresolved issues inside. They have some major problems, anger, resentment, or some heartache they are trying to cope with or overcome. The last thing they need is for you to make matters worse by responding angrily.”

“We can offer thanksgiving at all times—in every situation, in all things—and by so doing, enter into the victorious life Jesus died to give us. It may require a sacrifice of praise or thanksgiving, but a person who consciously takes the time to be grateful is always happier than someone who does not.”

“...never [enter] into dispute or argument with another. I never saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many, on their getting warm, becoming rude, & shooting one another. ... When I hear another express an opinion which is not mine, I say to myself, he has a right to his opinion, as I to mine; why should I question it? His error does me no injury, and shall I become a Don Quixote, to bring all men by force of argument to one opinion? ... There are two classes of disputants most frequently to be met with among us. The first is of young students, just entered the threshold of science, with a first view of its outlines, not yet filled up with the details & modifications which a further progress would bring to their knoledge. The other consists of the ill-tempered & rude men in society, who have taken up a passion for politics. ... Consider yourself, when with them, as among the patients of Bedlam, needing medical more than moral counsel. Be a listener only, keep within yourself, and endeavor to establish with yourself the habit of silence, especially on politics. In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle. They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act. Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal.”

“Um ein tadelloses Mitglied einer Schafherde sein zu können, muß man vor allem ein Schaf sein.”

“What can I say to get others involved around the table? How can I draw them in?”