Quotations Database
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Quotations Database
16 years in the making, this 36,000 motivational quote search engine can identify quotations by the name of the author, keyword, gender, general ethnicity, and by phrase. It’s yours to use for free. I think it is the most diverse, deep, and far-reaching quotation search engine on values, ethics, and wisdom anywhere in the Milky Way galaxy. Enjoy! – Jason
It is hardly a secret that I never attended Harvard or Oxford. The only formal education I ever had was what little I was able to acquire at the night school I attended while working in a factory during the days. Although I do not pretend to be a Shakespearean scholar, I have always considered [William Shakespeare’s] words [“To thine own self be true,”] as one of the soundest possible guides to successful living. And when I say successful I mean it in every sense of the word. The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope. Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance? Suit the action to the word, the word to the action. Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. In idle wishes fools supinely stay; Be there a will, then wisdom finds a way. Strong reasons make strong actions. Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course. Time’s glory is to calm contending kings, to unmask falsehood, and to bring truth to light. Bow, stubborn knees! While you live, tell the truth and shame the devil. Truth is truth,
To the end of reckoning. ‘Tis a cruelty to load a falling man. Oh it is excellent to have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant. Give me the man that is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him in my heart’s core. If I must die, I will encounter darkness as a bride and hug it in my arms. To be, or not to be—that is the question; Man, proud man, Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends. Perseverance, dear m’lord, keeps honor bright. Thus, to persist in doing wrong extenuates not wrong, but it makes it much more heavy. Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind. Life is but a walking shadow. The poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. ‘Tis a tale told by an idiot; full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Patch grief with proverbs. How sour sweet music is when time is broke and no proportion kept. So is it in the music of men’s lives. Give me that man
That is not passion’s slave
Wear him in my heart’s core, ay, in my
Heart of hearts. As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport. You may my glories and my state depose, but not my griefs — still I am king of those. Such as we are made of, such we be. If you were born to honor, show it now;
If put upon you, make the judgment good
That thought you worthy of it. Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. They do not love that do not show their love. To be, or not to be, that is the question. If it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul. Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting. And thus I clothe my naked villainy
With odd old ends stolen forth of Holy Writ,
And seem a saint when most I play the devil. Conscience does make cowards of us all. I will be a bridegroom in my death, and run into it as to a lover’s bed. No legacy is so rich as honesty. What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world. Adversity’s sweet milk, philosophy. There is a tide in the affairs of men. Pray you now, forget and forgive. Crowns have their compass – length of days their date –
Triumphs their tomb – felicity, her fate –
Of nought but earth can earth make us partaker,
But knowledge makes a king most like his Maker. And gentlemen in England now-a-bed He is not great who is not greatly good. Mine honor is my life; both grow in one; Take honor from me, and my life is done. Hang there like fruit, my soul, ‘til the tree die.
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them?
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day!
Note that copyright for motivational quotes, stanzas, lyrics, etc. in many cases is held by those who wrote the words, and permission to copy or reprint those words is not being granted by me. I urge you to look up “fair use of copyrighted material” and make your own decision about how, when, and where to use the words of others. If you feel I have infringed on your copyright by placing one of your inspirational quotes in the database, please contact me and I will quickly give it due consideration.
Today's Quote
…when we try to define [values and virtues], they get slippery; when we talk about their meaning, nothing stays put anymore, everything begins to move.
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