Words of Wellness
A Treasury of Quotations for Your Well-Being
by
Joseph Sutton
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 by Joseph Sutton
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Introduction
Grouped into 120 alphabetized categories, this collection of over 2,000 highly enlightening, inspiring and often funny quotations covers all aspects of health—be it mental, physical, spiritual or emotional health. Let the great minds of the ages stimulate your well-being with their words of wellness.
Achievement
Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense. —Arnold Bennett
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. —Franklin Delano Roosevelt
My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that's nice, too, but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success. —Helen Hayes
So to conduct one's life as to realize oneself—this seems to me the highest attainment possible to a human being. —Henrik Ibsen
To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die. —Marquis de Vauvenargues
One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done. —Marie Curie
We never do anything well till we cease to think about the manner of doing it. —William Hazlitt
Anybody can be Pope; the proof of this is that I have become one. —Pope John XXIII
Let us then be up and doing
With a heart for every fate
Still achieving, still pursuing
Learn to labor and to wait.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Action
You can't expect to hit the jackpot if you don't put a few nickels in the machine. —Flip Wilson
All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action. —James Russell Lowell
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action. —Benjamin Disraeli
To reach the port of heaven we must sail, sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it—but we must sail, not drift or lie at anchor. —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
What the hell—you might be right, you might be wrong...but don't just avoid. —Katharine Hepburn
Get action. Do things; be sane, don't fritter away your time...take a place wherever you are and be somebody; get action. —Theodore Roosevelt
The man who tried his best and failed is superior to the man who never tried. —Bud Wilkinson
The great end of life is not knowledge, but action. —T.H. Huxley
Make up your mind to act decidedly and take the consequences. No good is ever done in this world by hesitation. —T.H. Huxley
Dare to be wise; begin! He who postpones the hour of living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses. —Horace
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. —Frank Tibolt
The ideal day never comes. Today is ideal for him who makes it so. —Horatio Dresser
The end of man is action, and not a thought, though it were the noblest. —Thomas Carlyle
Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by Action alone. —Thomas Carlyle
Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome. —Samuel Johnson
We are made for action, and for right action—for thought and for true thought. Let us live while we live; let us be alive and doing; let us act on what we have. —John Henry Cardinal Newman
An ounce of practice is worth a pound of preaching. —Old Proverb
Count that day lost whose low descending sun
Views from thy hand no worthy action done.
—Anonymous
Hope in every sphere of life is a privilege that attaches to action. No action, no hope. —Peter Levi
Strong reasons make strong actions. —Shakespeare
A person who believes in something, who acts on what seems really important, always finds the energy to accomplish the task.
—Dennis T. Jaffee
—Cynthia D. Scott
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act. —G.K. Chesterton
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. —Will Rogers
We lose much by fearing to attempt. —J.N. Moffitt
Go ahead with your life, your plans, your preparation, as fully as you can. Don't waste time by stopping before the interruptions have started. —Richard L. Evans
Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events not of words. Trust movement. —Alfred Adler
Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: It might have been.
—John Greenleaf Whittier
And if not now, when? —The Talmud
One must fight for a life of action, not reaction. —Rita Mae Brown
Action is the proper Fruit of Knowledge. —Thomas Fuller
To live is not merely to breathe, it is an act; it is to make use of our organs, senses, faculties, of all those parts of ourselves which give us the feeling of existence. —Jean Jacques Rousseau
Aging
Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. —Jack Benny
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be.
—Robert Browning
If I'd known I was going to live so long, I'd have taken better care of myself. —Leon Eldred
As you get older and the light at the end of the tunnel becomes more obvious, you realize that you need good health to carry you the distance. You realize that it would be hell on earth to be sick, imprisoned in an old body that wasn't quite ready to die yet. —Bob Ryan
Age to me means nothing. I can't get old; I'm working. I was old when I was twenty-one and out of work. As long as you're working, you stay young. —George Burns
The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball. —Doug Larson
Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form. —Andre Maurois
Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative. —Maurice Chavalier
To me old age is always fifteen years older than I am. —Bernard Baruch
I shall grow old, but never lose life's zest,
Because the road's last turn will be the best.
—Henry Van Dyke
Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.
—Groucho Marx
Cato learned Greek at eighty; Sophocles
Wrote his grand Oedipus, and Simonides
Bore off the price for verse from his compeers,
When each had numbered more than fourscore years.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
There is no such thing as "on the way out." As long as you are still doing something interesting and good, you're in business because you're still breathing. —Louis Armstrong
Today I have completed 64 Springtimes and I am now in much better health, much stronger, much more active, than I ever was in my youth. It is quite wrong to think of old age as a downward slope. One climbs higher and higher with the advancing years, with surprising strides. —George Sand (Amandine Dupin)
First you forget names, then you forget faces; then you forget to zip your fly, then you forget to unzip your fly. —Branch Rickey
As long as you are useful, you'll never be old. —Leo Buscaglia
I have discovered the secret formula for a carefree Old Age: ICR-FI—"If You Can't Recall It, Forget It."—Goodman Ace
Whatever a man's age, he can reduce it several years by putting a bright-colored flower in his buttonhole. —Mark Twain
If you live long enough, the venerability factor creeps in: you get accused of things you never did and praised for virtues you never had. —I.F. Stone
There's many a good tune played on an old fiddle. —Old Proverb
Age is not a question of years but of constitution and temperament. —Chauncey Depew
At fifty a man's real life begins. He has acquired upon which to achieve; received from which to give; learned from which to teach; cleared upon which to build. —E.W. Bok
Old age, to the unlearned, is winter; to the learned, it is harvest time. —Judah Leib Lazerov
Tranquility is the summum bonum of old age. —Thomas Jefferson
How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was? —Leroy (Satchel) Paige
If you’re going to get old you might as well get as old as you can get. —Wallace Stegner
The riders in a race do not stop short when they reach the goal. There is a little finishing canter before coming to a standstill. There is time to hear the kind voice of friends and to say to one's self: "The work is done." —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Old age is no such uncomfortable thing, if one gives oneself up to it with a good grace. —Horace Walpole
Every age can be enchanting, provided you live within it. —Brigitte Bardot
It's not how old you are, it's how hard you work at it. —Jonah Barrington
Men are like wine—some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age. —Pope John XXIII
Old age takes away from us what we have inherited and gives us what we have earned. —Gerald Brenan
As I approach my middle 70s, they don’t—or I don’t—seem old at all. I am disconcerted to realize how old that seemed to me when I was in my middle 60s. I remember attending friends’ 75th birthdays, astonished that they could still get around. —Page Smith
Alone/Solitude
All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit quiet in a room alone. —Blaise Pascal
They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts. —Philip Sidney
By all means use sometimes to be alone. Salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear. —George Herbert
The capacity to be alone becomes linked with self-discovery and self-realization; with becoming aware of one’s deepest needs, feelings, and impulses. —Anthony Storr
I am never less alone than when alone. —Scipio Africanus
In solitude, where we are least alone. —Lord Byron
I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. —Henry David Thoreau
If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone. —Maxwell Maltz
It is better to be alone than in ill company. —George Pettie
The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude. —Voltaire
Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character. —James Russell Lowell
You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. —Franz Kafka
Solitude: A good place to visit, but a poor place to stay. —Josh Billings (H.W. Shaw)
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinions; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the Great Man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil. —Thomas Edison
Talent is best nurtured in solitude. —Goethe
Solitude, though it may be silent as light, is, like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. —Thomas De Quincey
Solitude makes us love ourselves. —A.B. Alcott
In solitude alone can be known true freedom. —Michel de Montaigne
The thoughtful soul to solitude retires. —Omar Khayyam
Get away from the crowd when you can. Keep yourself to yourself, if only for a few hours daily. —Arthur Brisbane
Anger/Temper
When you are angry say nothing and do nothing until you have recited the alphabet. —Athenodorus Cananites
When angry, count four; when very angry, swear. —Mark Twain
He who restrains his anger overcomes his greatest enemy. —Latin Proverb
We are all crazy when we are angry. —Philemon
If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow. —Chinese Proverb
How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it. —Marcus Aurelius
When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger. —Epictetus
Peace of mind is better than giving them "a piece of your mind."—J.P. McEvoy
Anger is only one letter short of danger. —Anonymous
No man can think clearly when his fists are clenched. —George Jean Nathan
Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one. —Benjamin Franklin
Anger blows out the lamp of the mind. —Robert Ingersoll
People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing. —Will Rogers
You need some positive ways to express and process your anger or it will destroy you. A therapist who uses body release work would be excellent. Writing a "hate letter" and then burning it would help. So would sitting in front of a mirror and telling the person in question all the things you're angry about. Running or playing tennis are also good outlets, as are screaming in the car or beating the bed or kicking pillows. —Louise L. Hay
The best cure for anger is delay. —Seneca
I don't do anything that's bad for me. I don't like to be made nervous or angry. Any time you get upset it tears down your nervous system. —Mae West
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. —Bible, Ecclesiastes
Anger and temper shorten our years. —Jewish Proverb
He who restrains his temper will have all his sins forgiven. —Jewish Proverb
A perverse temper and fretful disposition will make any state of life whatsoever unhappy. —Cicero
Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong. —Baltasar Gracián
All healthy things are sweet-tempered. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Good temper, like a sunny day, sheds a brightness over everything; it is the sweetener of toil and the soother of disquietude. —Washington Irving
Good temper is an estate for life. —William Hazlitt
Apathy/Indifference
What the world needs is some “do-give-a-damn” pills. —William C. Menninger
The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity. —George Bernard Shaw
The opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference. —Elie Wiesel
Mourn not the dead...
But rather mourn the apathetic throng—
The cowed and meek
Who see the world’s great anguish and its wrong,
And dare not speak.
—Ralph Chaplin
Where apathy is the master, all men are slaves. —Anonymous
Neutral men are the devil’s allies. —Edwin Hubbel Chapin
Aspirations/Goals
Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. —Louisa May Alcott
Our aspirations are our possibilities. —Robert Browning
A noble aim, faithfully kept, is as a noble deed. —William Wordsworth
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind can achieve the second. —Logan Pearsall Smith
Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly higher than if aimed at an object on a level with yourself. —Joel Hawes
Climb High
Climb Far
Your goal the sky
Your aim the star.
—Inscription on Hopkins Memorial Steps, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.
Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead. If you could see them clearly, naturally you could do a great deal to get rid of them but you can't. You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin. —Kathleen Norris
Before you can score you must first have a goal. —Greek Proverb
Goals are potent. —Will McCoy
The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. —Cecil B. DeMille
Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal. —Elbert Hubbard
To remain healthy, man must have some goal, some purpose in life that he can respect and be proud to work for. —Hans Selye
Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another. —John Dewey
The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows whither he is going. —David Starr Jordan
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. —Epictetus
The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving. —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
We need objectives. We need focus and direction. Most of all, we need the sense of accomplishment that comes from achieving what we set out to do...it's important to make plans, even if we decide to change them, so that at least for the moment we know where we're going and we can have a sense of progress. —Leon Tec, M.D.
Life means to have something definite to do—a mission to fulfill—and in the measure in which we avoid setting our life to something, we make it empty. Human life, by its very nature, has to be dedicated to something. —Jose Ortega y Gasset
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs. —Henry Ford
It is a matter first of beginning—and then following through. —Richard L. Evans
You have to work to make it work. —Alan Blum
Let us be resolute in attaining our ends, and mild in our method of attainment. —Aquaviva
Ideals are like the stars. You will not succeed in touching them with your hands; but, like the seafaring man, you choose them as your guides, and, following them, you will reach your destiny. —Carl Schurz
Don't part with your ideals. They are anchors in a storm. —Arnold H. Glasow
No wind favors him who has no destined port. —Michel de Montaigne
Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is? —Frank Scully
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. —Friedrich Neitzsche
A man without a plan for the day is lost before he starts. —Lewis K. Bendele
Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood....Make big plans, aim high in hope and work. —Daniel H. Burnham
A man needs a purpose for real health. —Sherwood Anderson
The secret of success is constancy to purpose. —Benjamin Disraeli
Have a purpose in life, and having it throw into your work such strength of mind and muscle as God has given you. —Thomas Carlyle
The great and glorious masterpiece of man is how to live with a purpose. —Michel de Montaigne
This is our purpose: to make as meaningful as possible this life that has been bestowed upon us; to live in such a way that we may be proud of ourselves; to act in such a way that some part of us lives on. —Oswald Spengler
Attitude/Disposition
The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances. —Martha Washington
Happiness is an endowment and not an acquisition. It depends more upon temperament and disposition than environment. —John J. Ingalls
When fate hands us a lemon, let's try to make a lemonade. —Dale Carnegie
A man is generally as happy as he makes up his mind to be. —Abraham Lincoln
Lay aside life-harming heaviness
And entertain a cheerful disposition.
—Shakespeare
Sourness spoils men as well as milk. —B.C. Forbes
Disease is a kind of consolidation of a mental attitude, and it is only necessary to treat the mind of a patient and the disease will disappear. —Dr. Edward Bach
Man being made a reasonable, and so a thinking creature, there is nothing more worthy of his being than the right direction and employment of his thoughts; since upon this depends both his usefulness to the public, and his own present and future benefit in all respects. —William Penn
I must say in all honesty that I do not see any technique [cure] that is outstandingly better than any other. So much depends on the individual's temperament and willingness to heal and be healed. —Stephen Levine
It all depends on how we look at things, and not on how they are in themselves. —Carl Jung
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. —Viktor E. Frankl
One thing I have learned is that attitudes should not be underestimated in any assessment of the healing equation. —Norman Cousins
If thou art pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs thee, but thy own judgment about it. And it is in thy power to wipe out this judgment now. —Marcus Aurelius
The fountain of content must spring up in the mind; and he who has so little knowledge of human nature as to see his happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he proposes to remove. —Samuel Johnson
The longer we dwell on our misfortune, the greater is their power to harm us. —Voltaire
The world improves people according to the dispositions they bring into it. —Renier Giustina Michael
Positive attitudes—optimism, high self-esteem, an outgoing nature, joyousness, and the ability to cope with stress—may be the most important bases for continued good health. —Helen Hayes
Why do some people always see beautiful skies and grass and lovely flowers and incredible human beings, while others are hard-pressed to find anything or any place that is beautiful? —Leo Buscaglia
Beauty, madam, pleases the eyes only; sweetness of disposition charms the soul. —Voltaire
What life means to us is determined not so much by what life brings to us as by the attitude we bring to life; not so much by what happens to us as by our reaction to what happens. —Lewis L. Dunnington
Beauty
Beauty, and the most perfect health is the most perfect beauty. —William Shenstone
That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful. —Ninon de Lenclos
I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains....Go outside, to the fields, enjoy nature and the sunshine, go out and try to recapture happiness in yourself and in God. Think of all the beauty that's still left in and around you and be happy. —Anne Frank
Cheerfulness and content are great beautifiers, and are famous preservers of youthful looks. —Charles Dickens
Exuberance is Beauty. —William Blake
Zest is the secret of all beauty. There is no beauty that is attractive without zest. —Christian Dior
Even the ugliest human exteriors may contain the most beautiful viscera. —John B.S. Haldane
Beauty is how you feel inside and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical. —Sophia Loren
I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want—an adorable pancreas. —Jean Kerr
A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness. —John Keats
The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. —Frank Lloyd Wright
What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful. —Sappho
Beauty is its own excuse for being. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is nothing more beautiful than cheerfulness in an old face. —Jean Paul Richter
Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, and creeds follow one another like the withered leaves of Autumn; but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons and a possession for all eternity. —Oscar Wilde
Perfect health, like perfect beauty, is a rare thing. —Peter Mere Latham
Health and wealth create beauty. —H.G. Bohn
Digestion exists for health, and health exists for life, and life exists for the love of music and beautiful things. —G.K. Chesterton
Body
The body never lies. —Martha Graham
Your body knows perfectly well what’s good for it. —Shakti Gawain
The body is a cell state in which every cell is a citizen. —Rudolf Virchow
The body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess baggage, the shorter the trip. —Arnold H. Glasow
But for our body one whole realm of God’s glory—all that we receive through the senses—would go unpraised. For the beasts can’t appreciate it and the angels are, I suppose, pure intelligence. —C.S. Lewis
The best cure for hypochondria is to forget about your body and get interested in someone else’s. —Goodman Ace
The human body is the best picture of the human soul. —Ludwig Wittgenstein
The body mirrors the soul and the mind, and is much more accessible than either. —Dr. George Sheehan
A man ought to handle his body, like the sail of a ship, and neither lower and reduce it much when no cloud is in sight, nor be slack and careless in managing it when he comes to suspect something is wrong. —Plutarch
The human body is the magazine of inventions, the patent office, where the models from which every hint is taken. All the tools and engines on earth are only extensions of its limbs and senses. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
The remarkable life force possessed by the body, the body’s ability to heal its own wounds and mend its broken bones, indeed, the very wisdom shown by the body. —Richard E. DeRoeck
If any thing is sacred, the human body is sacred,
And the glory and sweet of a man is the token
of manhood untainted,
And in man or woman a clean, strong, firm-fibred
body is more beautiful than the most beautiful face.
—Walt Whitman
I try to keep a healthy body, that’s all there is to it. —Elizabeth Taylor
Health and good estate of body are above all good. —Bible, Ecclesiasticus
Body and Soul
Safeguard the health both of body and soul. —Cleobulus
Half the spiritual difficulties that men and women suffer arise from a morbid state of health. —Henry Ward Beecher
A bodily disease which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may, after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part. —Nathaniel Hawthorne
A healthy body is a guest-chamber of the soul; a sick body, its prison. —Francis Bacon
Coddle the body and you harm the soul. —Polish Proverb
Those who see any difference between soul and body have neither. —Oscar Wilde
The physical is the substratum of the spiritual; and this fact ought to give to the food we eat, and the air we breathe, a transcendent significance. —William Tyndale
There are more pernicious diseases of the soul than of the body. —Cicero
The soul is a mere spectator of the movements of its body. —Charles Bonnet
The body is the workhouse of the soul. —H.G. Bohn
There is nothing the body suffers that the soul may not profit by. —George Meredith
Busy
The really idle man gets nowhere. The perpetually busy man does not get much further. —Heneage Ogilvie
None are so busy as the fool and knave. —John Dryden
Ever busy, ever bare. —James Kelly
A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools. —Spanish Proverb
It’s not enough to be busy...the question is: What are we busy about? —Henry David Thoreau
I’m as busy as ever, and that’s the secret when you get older. Don’t stop working, always keep busy and active, that’s important. —Louis J. Lefkowitz
The busy man has few idle visitors; to the boiling pot the flies come not. —Benjamin Franklin
The busier we are, the more acutely we feel that we live, the more conscious we are of life. —Immanuel Kant
Those who have most to do, and are willing to work, will find the most time. —Samuel Smiles
The greatest happiness comes from the greatest activity. —C.D. Bovee
We are so busy, we have so much on our minds, that we don’t feel anything any more. We are also impatient, so we don’t notice what we really feel. —Erich Fromm
Character/Discipline
To keep your character intact you cannot stoop to filthy acts. It makes it easier to stoop the next time. —Katharine Hepburn
When wealth is lost, nothing is lost;
When health is lost, something is lost;
When character is lost, all is lost!
—German Proverb
This above all; to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not be false to any man.
—Shakespeare
The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out. —Thomas Macaulay
The late Babe Didrikson Zaharias once disqualified herself from a tournament for having hit the wrong ball out of the rough. “But nobody would have known,” a friend told her. “I would’ve known,” Babe Didrikson Zaharias replied. —Dave Anderson
I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do: That is character! —Theodore Roosevelt
I am different from Washington. I have a higher, grander standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won’t. —Mark Twain
It is when a man ceases to do the things he has to do, and does the things he likes to do, that the character is revealed. It is when the repressions of society and business are gone and when the goads of money and fame and ambition are lifted, and man’s spirit wanders where it listeth, that we see the inner man, his real self. —Lin Yutang
It matters not what you are thought to be, but what you are. —Publilius Syrus
Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. —Abraham Lincoln
To be persuasive, we must be believable.
To be believable, we must be credible.
To be credible, we must be truthful.
—Edward R. Murrow
Be true to yourself though the heavens fall. —Eugene O’Neill
It is not the brains that matter most, but that which guides them—the character, the heart, generous qualities, progressive ideas. —Feodor Dostoevsky
Man’s character is his fate. —Heraclitus
Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got. —Janis Joplin
You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one. —James A. Froude
Sow a thought, reap an act;
Sow an act, reap a habit;
Sow a habit, reap a character;
Sow a character, reap a destiny.
—Anonymous
Character is simply a habit continued. —Plutarch
Good habits are not made on birthdays, nor Christian character at the new year. The workshop of character is everyday life. The uneventful and commonplace hour is where the battle is lost or won. —Maltbie D. Babcock
Character is nurtured midst the tempests of the world. —Goethe
Character is higher than intellect. Thinking is the function. Living is the functionary. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you hear that a mountain has been moved, believe; but if you hear that a man has changed his character, believe it not. —Mohammedan Proverb
For a man to be a man and not a robot, he is going to have to work at creating his character. He is going to have to work at being true to himself. He is going to have to work at knowing himself and thinking for himself. He is going to have to work at learning, at growing. —Joseph Sutton
The true index of a man’s character is the health of his wife. —Cyril Connolly
You’ve got to learn to survive a defeat. That’s when you develop character. —Richard M. Nixon
No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined. —Harry Emerson Fosdick
Do not consider painful what is good for you. —Euripedes
We have no greater or lesser conquest than over ourselves. —Leonardo da Vinci
There is only one reason why men become addicted to drugs; they are weak men. Only strong men are cured, and they cure themselves. —Martin H. Fischer
What you want to be eventually, that you must be every day; and by and by the quality of your deeds will get down into your soul. —Frank Crave
Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly. —Julie Andrews
Discipline is making sure that you do what is good for you. —Bill Saks
Power over oneself is better than a thousand years of power over others. —Fudail ibn Ayad
Cheerfulness/Joy
Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity. —Joseph Addison
I felt an earnest and humble desire, and shall do till I die, to increase the stock of harmless cheerfulness. —Charles Dickens
Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come. —Amy Lowell
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. —Mark Twain
Cheerfulness is the very flower of health. —Japanese Proverb
Continual cheerfulness is a sign of wisdom. —Irish Proverb
What of the outer drear,
As long as there’s inner light;
As long as the sun of cheer
Shine ardently bright?
—John Kendrick Bangs
Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other. —Joseph Addison
Cheerfulness, sir, is the principal ingredient in the composition of health. —Arthur Murphy
Health is the condition of wisdom, and the sign of cheerfulness. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance. —Bible, Proverbs
Every heart that has beat strong and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world, and bettered the tradition of mankind. —Robert Louis Stevenson
The joyfulness of a man prolongeth his days. —Bible, Ecclesiasticus
A heart full of joy and gladness
will always banish sadness and strife.
So always look for the silver lining
and try to find the sunny side of life.
—Jerome Kern
—Bud De Sylva
Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile. —Wilfred T. Grenfell
The only joy in the world is to begin. —Cesare Pavese
A joy that’s shared is a joy made double. —John Ray
Joy is not in things; it is in us. —Richard Wagner
Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. —Anonymous
Joy comes in our lives when we have something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. —Joseph Addison
One joy scatters a hundred griefs. —Old Proverb
Joy...is found only in the good things of the soul. —Philo
Let joy be your compass heading. —Anonymous
You shall have joy or you shall have power, said God; you shall not have both. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Healing is simply attempting to do more of those things that bring joy into your life. —O. Carl Simonton
Join the whole creation of animate things in a deep, heartfelt joy that you are alive, that you see the sun, that you are in this glorious earth which nature has made so beautiful, and which is yours to conquer and enjoy. —William Osler
Live merrily as thou canst, for by honest mirth we cure many passions of the mind. —Robert Burton
Conscience
My wealth is health and perfect ease;
My conscience clear my chief defense.
—Edward Dyer
Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience, for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of; a blessing that money cannot buy. —Izaak Walton
There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience. —French Proverb
Reason deceives us often; conscience never. —Jean Jacques Rousseau
The only tyrant I accept in this world is the “still small voice” within me. —Gandhi
When conscience discovers nothing wrong, what is there to be uneasy about, what is there to fear? —Confucius
In the midst of all the doubts which we have discussed for four thousand years in four thousand ways, the safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death. —Voltaire
Conscience is a thousand witnesses. —Richard Taverner
A clear conscience needeth no excuse, nor feareth any accusation. —John Lyly
A good conscience is a continual feast. —Robert Burton
Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life. —Karl Barth
Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it. —Albert Einstein
The only religion is conscience in action. —Henry Demarest Lloyd
Conscience is God’s presence in man. —Emanuel Swedenborg
Conscience: the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking. —H.L. Mencken
Be a master of your will and a slave of your conscience. —Jewish Proverb
If you don’t manage your own life how are you going to sleep at night. —Tom Seaver
The first and indispensable requisite of happiness is a clear conscience, unsullied by the reproach or remembrance of an unworthy action. —Edward Gibbon
Cowardice asks the question, Is it safe? Expediency asks the question, Is it politic? Vanity asks the question, Is it popular? But conscience asks the question, Is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right. —Martin Luther King, Jr.
All a man can betray is his conscience. —Joseph Conrad
I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities,
A still and quiet conscience.
—Shakespeare
A good eater must be a good man; for a good eater must have a good digestion, and a good digestion depends upon a good conscience. —Benjamin Disraeli
There is no witness so terrible, no accuser so potent, as the conscience that dwells in every man’s breast. —Polybius
The laws of conscience, though we ascribe them to nature, actually come from custom. —Michel de Montaigne
Friends, books, a cheerful heart, and a conscience clear
Are the most choice companions we have here. —William Mather
My conscience is my crown,
Contented thoughts my rest;
My heart is happy in itself;
My bliss is in my breast.
—Robert Southwell
Contentment
With only plain rice to eat, with only water to drink, and with only an arm for a pillow, I am still content. —Confucius
Fortify yourself with contentment, for this is an impregnable fortress. —Epictetus
The contented mind is the only riches, the only quietness, the only happiness. —George Pettie
Content is more than kingdom. —English Proverb
When we cannot find contentment in ourselves it is useless to seek it elsewhere. —La Rochefoucauld
My crown is in my heart, not on my head;
Not deck’d with diamonds and Indian stones,
Nor to be seen: my crown is called content;
A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.
—Shakespeare
Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another. —Marquis de Condorcet
From labor health, from health contentment springs. —James Beattie
Who lives content with little possesses everything. —Nicolas Boileau
Riches are not from an abundance of worldly goods, but from a contented mind. —Mohammed
In order to be content, men must have the possibility of developing their intellectual and artistic powers to whatever extent accords with their personal characteristics and abilities. —Albert Einstein
Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. —Charles Dickens
We can learn to use our minds rather than be used by them. To do this means learning to practice contentment. —Joan Borysenko
The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment. —Doug Larson
True contentment is a real, even an active virtue—not only affirmative but creative. It is the power of getting out of any situation all there is in it. —G.K. Chesterton
Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty. —Socrates
If you are but content, you have enough to live upon with comfort. —Plautus
True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander. —C.C. Colton
Contentment consisteth not in adding more fuel, but in taking away some fire; not in multiplying wealth, but in subtracting men’s desires. —Thomas Fuller
Content has a kindly influence on the soul of man, in respect of every being to whom he stands related. It extinguishes all murmuring, repining, and ingratitude toward that Being who has alloted us our part to act in the world. It destroys all inordinate ambition; gives sweetness to the conversation, and serenity to all the thoughts; and if it does not bring riches, it does the same thing by banishing the desire of them. —Joseph Addison
If we fasten our attention on what we have, rather than on what we lack, a very little wealth is sufficient. —F. Johnson
He is truly happy who has all that he wishes to have, and wishes to have nothing which he ought not to wish. —St. Augustine
My first goal was spiritual satisfaction. If I was able to have that then that would breed contentment. If I had contentment it wouldn’t matter what I had because I wouldn’t want anything. —Dr. Richard Diamond
I have mental joys and mental health,
Mental friends and mental wealth,
I’ve a wife that I love and that loves me;
I’ve all but riches bodily.
—William Blake
The greatest wealth is contentment with a little. —John Ray
Countryside/Nature
Seldom shall we see in cities, courts, and rich families, where men live plentifully, and eat and drink freely, that perfect health and athletic soundness and vigor of constitution which are commonly seen in the country, where nature is the cook, and necessity the caterer, and where they have no other doctor but the sun and fresh air. —Robert South
Before green apples blush
Before green nuts embrown,
Why, one day in the country
Is worth a month in town.
—Christina Rossetti
I go to Nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in tune once more. —John Burroughs
I have loved the feel of the grass under my feet, and the sound of the running streams by my side. The hum of the wind in the treetops has always been good music to me, and the face of the fields has often comforted me more than the faces of men. —John Burroughs
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk
With dew about my feet may I walk
With beauty may I walk.
—American Indian
It becomes necessary occasionally, simply to throw open the hatches and ventilate one’s psyche, or whatever you choose to call it. This means an excursion to some place where the sky is not simply what you see at the end of the street. —Louis J. Halle
In nature you can hear the beat of your own heart and the sound of your own footsteps. Take yourself there as often as you can—to the sea, to the mountains, to the forests and meadows. In nature you can learn that you are part of a grand and beautiful scheme and that you are as valid a part of life’s masterpiece as is everything that you see around you. —Marilyn Diamond
We must go out and re-ally ourselves to Nature every day. We must take root, send out some little fibre at least, even every winter day. —Henry David Thoreau
You must converse much with the field and woods, if you would imbibe such health into your mind and spirit as you covet for your body. —Henry David Thoreau
The country for a wounded heart. —English Proverb
Climb the mountains and get their tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn. —John Muir
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. —Rachel Carson
Oh, the content, the quiet, the plenty of the Russian open country! Oh, the deep peace and well being. —Ivan Turgenev
The little cares that fretted me,
I lost them yesterday
Among the fields above the sea,
Among the winds at play;
Among the lowing of the herds,
The rustling of the trees,
Among the singing of the birds,
The humming of the bees.
—Anonymous
The divinest things—religion, love, truth, beauty, justice—seem to lose their meaning and value when we sink into lassitude and indifference....It is a signal that we should quit meditation and books, and go out into the open air, into the presence of nature, into the company of flocks and children, where we may drink new health and vigor from the clear and full flowing fountains of life, afar from the arid wastes of theory and speculation; where we may learn again that it is not by intellectual questionings, but by believing, hoping, loving, and doing that man finds joy and peace. —John Lancaster Spalding
The outdoors is what you have to pass through to get from your apartment into a taxicab [in New York City]. —Fran Lebowitz
The love of Nature...helps us greatly to keep ourselves free from those mean and petty cares which interfere so much with calm and peace of mind. —John Lubbock
The country life is to be preferred, for there we see the works of God....The country is both the philosopher’s garden and library, in which he reads and contemplates the power, wisdom, and goodness of God. —William Penn
...the sanctuary and special delight of kings, where, laying aside their cares, they withdraw to refresh themselves with a little hunting; there, away from the turmoils inherent in a court, they breathe freedom. —Richard FitzNigel
I want to go fishing! somewhere on a stream
I want to give way to the longing to a dream
Away from the tumult of motor and mill
I want to be care-free; I want to be still!
I’m weary of doing things; weary of words
I want to be one with the blossoms and birds.
—Edgar A. Guest
Cure
The best cure for worry, depression, melancholy, brooding, is to go deliberately forth and try to lift with one’s sympathy the gloom of somebody else. —Arnold Bennett
To cure bad health, think nothing unclean. —Publilius Syrus
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book. —Irish Proverb
Who pays the physician does the cure. —George Herbert
The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. —Voltaire
It is part of the cure to wish to be cured. —Seneca
Here is a mental treatment guaranteed to cure every ill that flesh is heir to: sit for half an hour every night and mentally forgive everyone against whom you have any ill will or antipathy. —Charles Fillmore
The wise, for cure, on exercise depend. —John Dryden
Learning to let go of negative emotions is key. —Dr. Bernie Siegel
I believe that all genuine healing addresses the problem of unblocking negativities in one way or another. —Sun Bear
For me, the healing process is made up of unconditional love, forgiveness, and letting go of fear. It is that simple. —Gerald Jampolsky
Nature, time and patience are the three great physicians. —Chinese Proverb
Keep your head cool, your feet warm, and you’ll make the best doctor poor. —Dr. Herman Boerhave
Purge the blood of its poisons and it becomes a flowing fountain of youth. —Alexis Carrell, M.D.
The cure for grief is motion. —Elbert Hubbard
There is no cure for birth and death, save to enjoy the interval. —George Santayana
Many dis-eases come from polluting our bodies. We all need to go back to more natural ways of living. Nutritionally, this includes eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. It also encompasses deep breathing, getting adequate exercise, and loving ourselves. —Louise L. Hay
It is certain that the personality without conflict is immune from illness. —Dr. Edward Bach
The presence of the doctor is the first part of the cure. —French Proverb
Death
It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens. —Woody Allen
I think of death only with tranquility, as an end. I refuse to let death hamper life. Death must enter life only to define it. —Jean Paul Sartre
Thus that which is the most awful of evils, death, is nothing to us, since when we exist there is no death, and when there is death we do not exist. —Epicurus
Perhaps the best cure for the fear of death is to reflect that life has a beginning as well as an end. There was a time when we were not; this gives us no concern—why then should it trouble us that a time will come when we shall cease to be? —William Hazlitt
I adore life but I don’t fear death. I just prefer to die as late as possible. —Georges Simenon
He that fears death lives not. —George Herbert
It is true that I am carrying out various methods of treatment recommended by doctors and dentists in the hope of dying in the remote future in perfect health. —George Santayana
I want to be healthy when I die. —Joseph Sutton
Two out of every three deaths are premature; they are related to loafer’s heart, smoker’s lung and drinker’s liver. —Dr. Thomas J. Bassler
Death...is no more than passing from one room into another. But there’s a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see. —Helen Keller
If you do not know how to die, don’t worry. Nature herself will teach you in the proper time; she will discharge that work for you; don’t trouble yourself. —Michel de Montaigne
Everybody has got to die, but I have always believed an exception would be made in my case. Now what? —William Saroyan
When a man dies, he does not just die of the disease he has, he dies of his entire life! —Charles Péguy
You learn something the day you die. You learn how to die. —Katherine Anne Porter
I don’t believe in dying. It’s been done. I’m working on a new exit. Besides, I can’t die now—I’m booked. —George Burns
Shrinking away from death is something unhealthy and abnormal which robs the second half of life of its purpose. —Carl Jung
To die will be an awfully big adventure. —James M. Barrie
Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life. —Bertolt Brecht
Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. —Norman Cousins
Death is not a failure. Not choosing to take on the challenge of life is. —Dr. Bernie Siegel
If we can learn to view death from a different perspective, to reintroduce it into our lives so that it comes not as a dreaded stranger but as an expected companion to our life, then we can also learn to live our lives with meaning—with full appreciation of our finiteness, of the limits on our time here. —Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
For those who seek to understand it, death is a highly creative force. The highest spiritual values of life can originate from the thought and study of death. —Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
If you can live your life and die as natural a death as possible, I think this is what we should work for. This is the only reason to have any good health at all, so we don’t have to retire before we die. —Bernard Jensen
The goal in life is to die young—as late as possible. —Ashley Montagu
You ought to be afraid to die until you’ve contributed something great back to humanity. —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
If you don’t go to other men’s funerals, they won’t go to yours. —Clarence Day
Of all escape mechanisms, death is the most efficient. —H.L. Mencken
Die, my dear doctor—that’s the last thing I shall do. —Lord Palmerston
A good life has a peaceful death. —French Proverb
It is a poor thing for anyone to fear that which is inevitable. —Tertullian
To die well is to die willingly. —Seneca
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is of no importance, it lasts so short a time. —Samuel Johnson
The more you think of dying the better you will live. —Italian Proverb
A long illness between life and death makes death a comfort to those who die and to those who remain. —Jean de La Bruyère
Digestion
If you want to clear your system out, sit on a piece of cheese and swallow a mouse. —Johnny Carson
Digestion is the great secret of life. —Sydney Smith
His sleep was aery light, from pure digestion bred. —John Milton
To eat is human; to digest, divine. —Charles Townsend Copeland
I have finally come to the conclusion that a good reliable set of bowels is worth more to a man than any quantity of brains. —Josh Billings (H.W. Shaw)
The fate of a nation has often depended upon the good or bad digestion of a prime minister. —Voltaire
We aren’t what we eat. We are what we don’t shit. —Wavy Gravy (Hugh Romney)
Now good digestion wait on appetite,
And health on both!
—Shakespeare
Disability
Cripple is beautiful! —David Averbuck, a paraplegic
Each of us must find out for himself that his handicaps, his failures, and shortcomings must be conquered or else he must perish....My weakness—my handlessness—my sense of inferiority has turned out to be my greatest strength. It’s not what you have lost, but what you have left that counts....I was able to meet the challenge of utter disaster and master it. For me, this was and is the all important fact—that the human soul, beaten down, overwhelmed, faced by complete failure and ruin, can still rise up against unbearable odds and triumph. —Harold Russell
Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune. —William James
The first thing you have to do after suffering a stroke is to tell yourself you won’t give up, that you don’t want to die, or be cared for like a baby the rest of your life....Now I’m healthy and have only a slight limp and some trouble remembering the names of people and places. But I get better every year, and I’m still working. —Patricia Neal
One day a classmate asked him what had caused him to become so badly crippled. “Infantile paralysis,” said the young man on crutches. “With a misfortune like that,” said his friend, “how can you face the world so confidently and happily?” “Because,” replied the polio victim, “the disease never reached my heart.” —Edward Gibbon
You are not crippled at all unless your mind is in a splint. —Frank Scully
If I could give a message to the physically disabled, it would be this: Overcome self-pity by reaching out to others like you and giving them courage and support. Lift others and you lift yourself. Meet each challenge that your handicap brings with faith; don’t give up, no matter what. Be as independent and self-reliant as possible. Educate yourself. And lastly, discover your talents and use them! —Virl Osmond
Disease/Sickness
The beginning of health is to know the disease. —Miguel de Cervantes
Disease is an experience of so-called mortal mind. It is fear made manifest on the body. —Mary Baker Eddy
Every disease is a doctor. —Irish Proverb
What we call disease is nothing more than the body’s own effort to cleanse itself of toxins. —Dr. John H. Tilden
The causes of all diseases are to be found in the blood. —Jewish Proverb
Life is in the blood, health is in the blood. When the blood does not properly circulate, cells die or become abnormal. This leads to disease. —Dr. Nathaniel S. Wirt
Nature, in the production of disease, is uniform and consistent, so much so, that for the same disease in different persons the symptoms are for the most part the same; and the selfsame phenomena that you would observe in the sickness of a Socrates you would observe in the sickness of a simpleton. —Thomas Sydenham
There is a common argument that is both false and fatal. “So-and-so,” one hears, “has been cured by such-and-such a treatment, and I have his disease; ergo, I must try his remedy.” How many people die by reasoning thus! What they overlook is that the diseases which afflict us are different as the features of our faces. —Voltaire
We do not see disease as occurring the same way in every person. Disease is as individual as individuals are. —Dr. Trivedi, Ayurvedic teacher
Sometimes it is more important to know what kind of patient has a disease than what kind of disease the patient has. —William Osler
The most costly disease in America is not cancer or coronaries. The most costly disease is boredom—costly for both individual and society. —Norman Cousins
It requires great and long-continued abuse of the body to reduce its functions sufficiently to produce the state of impaired health known as disease. —Harvey Diamond
Disease is an energy crisis of the body. —Marilyn Diamond
The diseases of the present have little in common with the diseases of the past save that we die of them. —Agnes Repplier
Seriousness is a fatal disease. —Paul Zamarian
Serious illness doesn’t bother me for long because I am too inhospitable a host. —Albert Schweitzer