Every man’s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself.

– Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English Writer

The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.

– Chinese proverb

One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.

– Sigmund Freud

The greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising up every time we fall.

– Confucius (551-479 BC) Chinese Philosopher

The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.

– Chinese proverb

The self is not something that one finds.
It is something that one creates.

– Thomas Szasz (1920-) American Psychiatrist

The three great essentials to achieving anything worthwhile are; first, hard work, second, stick-to-it-iveness, and third, common sense.

– Thomas A. Edison (1847-1931) American Inventor

Courage is the greatest of all the virtues. Because if you haven’t
courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.

– Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English Author

The hero is the one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by.
The saint is the man who walks through the dark paths of the world, himself a light.

– Felix Adler

He who finds diamonds must grapple in mud and mire because diamonds
are not found in polished stones. They are made.

– Henry B. Wilson