Tyler Warwick

“Oh, distance is like the future! An enormous glimmering oneness lies before our soul, our feeling blurs in it along with our eyes, and we long to let go of our whole being, to let ourselves be filled with all the bliss of a single great, glorious feeling.—But alas! When we hasten there, when there becomes here, everything is as it was, and we stand in our poverty, in our finiteness, our soul thirsting for the refreshment that has slipped away.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Whenever you go out-of-doors, draw the chin in, carry the crown of the head high, and fill the lungs to the utmost; drink in the sunshine; greet your friends with a smile, and put soul into every handclasp. Do not fear being misunderstood and do not waste a minute thinking about your enemies. Try to fix firmly in your mind what you would like to do; and then, without veering off direction, you will move straight to the goal.
Keep your mind on the great and splendid things you would like to do, and then, as the days go gliding away, you will find yourself unconsciously seizing upon the opportunities that are required for the fulfillment of your desire, just as the coral insect takes from the running tide the element it needs.
Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful person you desire to be, and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular individual. ... Thought is supreme. Preserve a right mental attitude the attitude of courage, frankness, and good cheer. To think rightly is to create. All things come through desire and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on which our hearts are fixed. Carry your chin in and the crown of your head high. We are gods in the chrysalis.”
― Elbert Hubbard

“Well, and then?' asks the other voice again. 'Supposing a dozen times you escape being wounded or killed or betrayed — well, what then?' ‘Why, then ...’ Prince Andrei answered himself, ‘I don't know what will happen then. I can't know, and have no wish to; but if I want glory, want to be famous and beloved, it's not my fault that I want it, that it's the only thing I care for, the only thing I live for. Yes, the only thing! I shall never tell anyone, but, oh God, what am I to do if all I care for is fame and the affections of my fellow-men? Death, wounds, the loss of my family — nothing holds any terrors for me. And precious and dear as many people are to me — father, sister, wife — those I cherish most — yet dreadful and unnatural as it seems, I would exchange them all immediately for a moment of glory, of triumph over men, of love from men I don't know and never shall know, for the love of those men there’ he thought. … All the same, the only thing I love and prize is triumph over all of them. I care for nothing but this mysterious power and glory which I seem to feel in the haze that hangs above my head!”
― Leo Tolstoy

“The interdiction anent tasting the fruit of the tree of knowledge comes out more conspicuously in historical events than anywhere. It is only subconscious activity that bears fruit, and a man who plays a part in an historic event never understands its import. As soon as he tries to realize its significance his actions become sterile.”
― Leo Tolstoy