James > James's Quotes

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
― Neil Gaiman, Coraline

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it's yours.”
― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.”
― Ayn Rand

“The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.”
― Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

“If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.”
― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

“Is it advisable to spread out all the conveniences of culture before people to whom a few steps up a stair to a library is a sufficient deterrent from reading?”
― Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

“The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast,
and you miss all you are traveling for.”
― Louis L'Amour

“No one can "get" an education, for of necessity education is a continuing process.”
― Louis L'Amour

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.”
― Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

“Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use; and keep thy friend
Under thy own life's key: be check'd for silence,
But never tax'd for speech.”
― William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
― William Shakespeare

“Our doubts are traitors,
and make us lose the good we oft might win,
by fearing to attempt.”
― William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

“Do. The. Work. Every day, you have to do something you don’t want to do. Every day. Challenge yourself to be uncomfortable, push past the apathy and laziness and fear.”
― Tim S. Grover, Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

“In anything you do, it takes no talent to work hard. You just have to want to do it.”
― Tim S. Grover, Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

“People who don’t pursue their own dreams probably won’t encourage you to pursue yours;”
― Tim S. Grover, Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

“Don’t tell me the glass is half-full or half-empty; you either have something in that glass or you don’t.”
― Tim S. Grover, Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

“Mental dominance is what ultimately makes you unstoppable”
― Tim S. Grover, Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

“Tell yourself what to do, and stop waiting for others to lay it all out.”
― Tim S. Grover, Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

“The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lighting. For some, it's a Broadway spotlight; for others, a lamplit desk. Use your natural powers -- of persistence, concentration, and insight -- to do work you love and work that matters. Solve problems. make art, think deeply.”
― Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

“Walk slowly and you’ll go far.”
― Hector Garcia Puigcerver, Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

“Life is not a problem to be solved. Just remember to have something that keeps you busy doing what you love while being surrounded by the people who love you.”
― Hector Garcia Puigcerver, Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life

“The power of fasting to rebalance a man is usually combined with prayer and was used by powerful men such as Aristotle, Socrates, Jesus, Mohammad, Ghandi, Moses, Marcus Aurelius, and many others. These men would fast for up to 40 days on just water, and this was a major source of their spiritual power, clarity, and reasoning.”
― Stefan Aarnio, Hard Times Create Strong Men: Why the World Craves Leadership and How You Can Step Up to Fill the Need

“Socialism is an alternative to capitalism as potassium cyanide is an alternative to water.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics

“He who only wishes and hopes does not interfere actively with the course of events and with the shaping of his own destiny.”
― Ludwig Von Mises, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics

“The body of economic knowledge is an essential element in the structure of human civilization; it is the foundation upon which modern industrialism and all the moral, intellectual, technological, and therapeutical achievements of the last centuries have been built. It rests with men whether they will make the proper use of the rich treasure with which this knowledge provides them or whether they will leave it unused. But if they fail to take the best advantage of it and disregard its teachings and warnings, they will not annul economics; they will stamp out society and the human race.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics

“Only very few men have the gift of thinking new and original ideas and of changing the traditional body of creeds and doctrines.”
― Ludwig von Mises, Human Action: Scholar's Edition