Life quotes — Page 5

Meno, around Stephanus 97e–98a, Socrates addressing Meno after the Daedalus-statue comparison. The quoted standalone sentence immediately follows Socrates’s argument that right opinions can guide action but need to be tied down by an account of their cause. Benjamin Jowett English translation, Project Gutenberg #1643. The text and translational phrasing are Jowett’s; the dialogue does not treat every true opinion as worthless.

Plato, Phaedo, approximately 107c, Socrates addressing his companions after the arguments concerning the soul; Benjamin Jowett English, Gutenberg #1658. This sentence is in the dialogue proper, not the translator introduction. Preserve the surrounding conditional argument about the soul and historical belief in immortality.

Symposium, Socrates recounting Diotima’s teaching, Benjamin Jowett translation, Project Gutenberg #1600. The represented wording belongs to Diotima’s account of Love as intermediate between the wise and the ignorant.

The Republic, Book VII, Jowett translation; Socrates argues that education should draw the mind rather than rely only on compulsion.

The Republic, Book IV in Benjamin Jowett’s translation; the line appears during discussion of education and civic character.

Plato, The Republic, Book I, around 344e, Socrates in dialogue with Thrasymachus. Wording verified in Benjamin Jowett, third edition (1888), transcribed in Gutenberg #55201. This is dialogue speech following Thrasymachus’s defence of injustice, not the translator’s prefatory analysis. Edition-specific wording must be preserved.

Proverbs 12:1, King James Version.

Proverbs 13:20, King James Version.

Proverbs 15:15 in the King James Version; concluding clause of the verse.

Proverbs 16:18 in the King James Version; the proverb warns that pride and haughtiness can precede destruction or a fall.

Proverbs 18:13 in the King James Version.

Proverbs 19:20, King James Version.

Proverbs 22:24 in the King James Version; the next verse warns that a person can learn the ways of the habitually angry.

Proverbs 27:17 in the King James Version; the proverb uses sharpening as an image for the way one person can strengthen or refine another.

Proverbs 6:6 in the King James Version; the following verses describe the ant preparing food without an overseer.

Psalm 119:165 in the King James Version.

The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, maxim 1, in Darius Lyman’s 1856 English rendering; maxim order can vary across editions.

The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, maxim 2, in Darius Lyman’s 1856 English rendering; maxim order can vary across editions.

The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, saying 35, D. Lyman Jr. translation (1856).

Gitanjali, poem 13; Project Gutenberg #7164. The “him” is the poem’s spiritual addressee, so the record preserves devotional context instead of converting the sentence into a secular promise.

Gitanjali, poem 4, in Tagore’s own prose translations from Bengali; Project Gutenberg #7164. The omitted continuation explicitly attributes the strength to act to the divine addressee, so the line remains religious rather than generic productivity advice.

Stray Birds, aphorism 25, translated by Tagore from Bengali; Project Gutenberg #6524. The compact line is poetic-philosophical and is not presented as a modern developmental-psychology claim.

Essay “Experience,” Essays: Second Series.

Self-Reliance, in Emerson’s discussion of genuine action rather than virtue performed as spectacle.

“The American Scholar” (1837), represented in Emerson’s Essays, Project Gutenberg #16643. Emerson contrasts thought as a partial function with the fuller act of living one’s truth; the line elevates character without dismissing intellectual life.

The Conduct of Life, essay II, “Power,” Project Gutenberg #39827. “Life is a search after power” appears at the opening of Emerson’s prose discussion after the verse epigraph and introduces his account of capacity, agency and human influence. It remains nineteenth-century Transcendentalist conduct-of-life philosophy rather than an empirical law of motivation or success.

The Higher Powers of Mind and Spirit; Project Gutenberg #28163. The surrounding text describes evolution from “lower” to “higher” in spiritual terms; this is Trine’s philosophical-religious position, not a scientific law of human development.

The Higher Powers of Mind and Spirit, Chapter I, “The Silent, Subtle Building Forces of Mind and Spirit,” Project Gutenberg #28163. Trine opens with moments when people glimpse a life beyond their present one, then develops New Thought and metaphysical claims about latent powers, spirit and “mental and spiritual science.” It is historical religious-metaphysical self-development rhetoric, not modern psychology or neuroscience.

What All The World’s A-Seeking, Part III, “The Unfoldment,” printed page 75 in the represented 1896 page-text witness, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #14312. Trine says “the true joy of existence comes from living to one’s highest” immediately after urging the reader to “live to your highest.” It remains historical New Thought / conduct-of-life counsel rather than a claim that striving automatically removes hardship or produces happiness in every circumstance.

Two Years Before the Mast, Chapter I, “Departure,” Project Gutenberg #2055. Dana describes his own bewilderment on first going to sea and calls a landsman beginning a sailor’s life uniquely helpless and pitiable. It is first-person maritime memoir shaped by rhetorical exaggeration, not a literal universal ranking of helplessness.

Field and Hedgerow, in the essay “Hours of Spring”; Project Gutenberg #7030. The book was collected posthumously by Jefferies’s widow, so individual essays may predate the 1889 volume.

Field and Hedgerow; Project Gutenberg #7030. The sentence occurs in a recollection of John Brown after his death and is kept in that personal-memory context rather than generalized into abstract grief advice.

The Story of My Heart (1883), Chapter III, Project Gutenberg #2317. The inherited Chapter I note is corrected: ‘It is eternity now’ occurs in Jefferies’s tumulus meditation after he writes that, recognising his inner consciousness / psyche, he cannot understand time. It is speculative spiritual autobiography and metaphysical-poetic reflection, not a scientific theory of time, physics or consciousness.

The Tatler No. 147; the comparison presents reading as a form of regular exercise for the mind.

Pippa Passes (1841), represented in the Project Gutenberg Robert Browning works edition #59123. The lyric is sung by Pippa inside a verse drama; its Christian optimism is a character-song within the play, not a factual guarantee that every event is good.

“Rabbi Ben Ezra” (1864), represented in Project Gutenberg #59123, The Works of Robert Browning. The poem speaks through Browning’s imagined Rabbi Ben Ezra and is explicitly theistic; its confidence about age and providence is poetic-religious argument rather than a factual guarantee about later life.

“To a Mountain Daisy,” written 1786, represented in Project Gutenberg #18388. This is the opening excerpt; Burns later extends the flower’s fate into reflections on human fragility and uncertainty.

“To a Mouse,” written in November 1785 and represented in Project Gutenberg #1279. The Scots wording appears in a poem that moves from sympathy with an animal to reflection on human foresight, regret and fear of the future.

“To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” published in Hesperides in 1648. The poem’s later marriage exhortation reflects its seventeenth-century social setting; the opening image is retained as literary carpe-diem rhetoric, not universal relationship advice.

Essay “El Dorado.”

Familiar Studies of Men and Books, essay ‘Henry David Thoreau: His Character and Opinions,’ section V, Project Gutenberg #425, transcribed from the 1896 Chatto & Windus edition. The surrounding paragraph quotes several Thoreau statements, but ‘To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming...’ is Stevenson's own connective judgment before he returns to quoted Thoreau language. It therefore remains Stevenson literary-biographical criticism rather than a Thoreau quotation or a clinical rule about self-development.

Memories and Portraits; Project Gutenberg #381. The surrounding passage describes friendship, mortality and memory; the architectural metaphor is kept as grief writing rather than literal psychology.

“If—,” in Rewards and Fairies, Project Gutenberg #556. The poem presents a period ideal of masculine self-command through a sequence of conditional tests; the stored lines are literary and moral rhetoric, not a requirement to suppress normal emotion.

Every Man His Own University, Chapter I, “Every Man’s University,” Project Gutenberg #36955, copyright 1917 witness. Conwell opens the chapter with “A distinct university walks about under each man’s hat” and develops the metaphor through observation, reading and independent thought. It is historical motivational/educational rhetoric, not evidence that formal education is unnecessary.

Rasselas, Chapter XXI; spoken by Imlac while challenging the assumption that apparently wise people deliberately chose the condition they inhabit.

Rasselas, Chapter XXX; spoken by Imlac during a discussion of history, art and the practical use of studying what earlier people accomplished.

Rasselas, Chapter XXX; Imlac argues that studying history helps people understand the sources of present benefits and harms.

Rasselas, Chapter XVI; spoken by Imlac while comparing European life with the travelers’ expectations of happiness.

Chapter 41; the Astronomer explains why both competence and moral character are needed for trust.

The Idler, No. 88; the surrounding paragraph concerns private hopes, proposed tasks and the gap between imagined achievement and lived action.

The Rambler, No. 103.

The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), first-edition scholar passage, Wikisource scan leaf 28. “And pause awhile from Learning to be wise” turns from the ambitious student’s pursuit of knowledge toward Johnson’s satirical warning that learning does not by itself remove grief, danger or error. This is eighteenth-century moral-satirical poetry after Juvenal, not a modern educational rule.

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. The sentence follows Smiles’s claim that character is formed through minute circumstances and daily discipline, emphasizing that even apparently trivial acts carry consequences.

Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. In the chapter’s discussion of duty in ordinary life, Smiles argues that the virtues most needed in everyday conduct exert the widest and most lasting influence.

Self-Help, Chapter XI, “Self-Culture—Facilities and Difficulties,” Project Gutenberg #935. The passage follows Charles James Fox’s contrast between early success and perseverance after failure, then leads into examples of discoveries and learning produced through mistakes and failed attempts.

Self-Help, Chapter IV, “Application and Perseverance,” Project Gutenberg #935. The sentence opens a paragraph that continues, “Great results cannot be achieved at once,” and compares advancement in life to walking step by step.

Self-Help, Chapter XII, “Example—Models,” Project Gutenberg #935. Smiles argues that character education depends heavily on models because people unconsciously mould themselves after the characters, manners, habits and opinions around them.

Self-Help, Chapter IX, “Men of Business,” Project Gutenberg #935. The sentence appears in Smiles’s discussion of method, punctuality and the economical use of time, contrasting losses that may be repaired with time once spent, which cannot be recovered.

The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson, Chapter IV, “The Stephensons at Killingworth—Education and Self-Education of Father and Son”; represented 1868 revised edition, Project Gutenberg #46229. The excerpt is Smiles’s narration of Stephenson’s patient arithmetic study under John Wigham.

Thrift, Chapter I, “Industry,” Project Gutenberg #14418. The sentence occurs in the same definition of thrift as an acquired principle of conduct: present enjoyment is subordinated to forethought so that action serves today while providing for tomorrow.

Thrift, Chapter II, “Habits of Thrift,” Project Gutenberg #14418. Smiles says thrift requires neither exceptional courage nor intellect but ordinary common sense, resistance to selfish enjoyment and patient self-denial.

Thrift, Chapter II, “Habits of Thrift,” Project Gutenberg #14418. The sentence summarizes Smiles’s preceding argument that social improvement begins with individual conduct, example and self-respect before one attempts to elevate others.

Thrift, Chapter I, “Industry,” Project Gutenberg #14418. The sentence follows Smiles’s description of cooperation with nature and argues that food, clothing and shelter all depend on labour; it is a broad moral-economic claim, not a complete production model.

Moral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 2, section 4, Richard M. Gummere translation.

Letter 30 reflects on death, courage, and the completion of a life.

Letter 76 contrasts wisdom and virtue with external goods that may arrive by chance.

Letter 76, on learning wisdom in old age, cites the proverb while defending continued philosophical study.

Letter 92 contrasts self-sustaining virtue with happiness dependent on external props.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter III; part of Seneca’s inventory of where a lifetime disappears.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter II; opening claim before Seneca lists ways people become engrossed.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter II; Seneca cites the line while arguing that much existence is merely time.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter III; Seneca asks an older person to reckon honestly with how time was spent.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter I; sentence from Seneca’s argument that life is ample when ordered well.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter I; John W. Basore translation, concluding Seneca’s opening comparison between life and wealth under a good guardian.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter III; Seneca challenges plans to begin living only after retirement from public duties.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter III; Seneca criticizes reserving wisdom and leisure for very old age.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter III; Seneca’s imagined reckoning of an older person’s years.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter XIX; Seneca urges a move from borrowed busyness toward study, virtue, and a more deliberate course of life.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter VIII; Seneca warns that even people who know time is precious often give it away without noticing the loss.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter VIII; the sentence follows Seneca’s warning that lost years will not be returned.

On the Shortness of Life, Chapter XIX; Seneca closes by asking the engrossed to measure how much of their lifetime was actually their own.

The Art of War, Chapter III “Attack by Stratagem,” section 17, Lionel Giles translation (1910), printed page 24 / scan leaf 80 in the original Giles edition on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #17405. “He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight” is the first of five listed military essentials for victory; it remains battlefield-strategy judgment rather than a context-free maxim about every disagreement.

The Art of War, Chapter IV 'Tactical Dispositions,' section 1, Lionel Giles translation (1910), original scan leaf 82. The sentence about good fighters first making themselves secure against defeat opens the chapter's tactical argument; it remains ancient military-strategy reasoning rather than a universal self-help rule.

House Committee on the Judiciary woman-suffrage hearing, January 18, 1892. The Library of Congress preserves the official eight-page hearing pamphlet and confirms Anthony among its speakers; the exact interjection is reported in History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV, edited by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper and represented by Project Gutenberg #29870. Anthony makes the remark at the close of Lucy Stone’s argument while introducing Isabella Beecher Hooker. It is Anthony’s live speaker voice within a multi-speaker hearing.

Dhammapada 63, Chapter V, “The Fool,” F. Max Müller translation, Project Gutenberg #2017. The verse belongs to a Buddhist canonical collection and remains a textual source voice rather than a modern individual-author quotation.

Speech at Syracuse, New York, September 7, 1903.

The Imitation of Christ, Book II, Chapter X, “Of gratitude for the Grace of God,” William Benham translation, Project Gutenberg #1653. The sentence appears in the chapter’s fifth paragraph and treats gratitude for even the least divine benefit as part of humility; this remains explicitly Christian devotional teaching rather than a general promise of material reward.

Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial, Chapter V, Project Gutenberg #586. The represented 1869 J. W. Willis Bund collection states that its Hydriotaphia text is taken from the 1686 folio edition. “Life is a pure flame” occurs inside Browne’s Christian meditation on burial, resurrection, mortality and posthumous memory; the “invisible sun” is metaphysical-religious imagery, not scientific evidence.

The Pleasures of Hope, Part I, represented in The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, Project Gutenberg #59788. ‘’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view’ appears in the poem's opening mountain image and immediately leads into a comparison with imagined future joys appearing more pleasing from afar. It remains Romantic poetic analogy and philosophical observation rather than an empirical law of visual perception, memory or decision-making.

On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History, the lecture on the Hero as Man of Letters.

On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History; Carlyle describes books as durable containers of human memory and achievement.

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, from the autobiographical narrative first published in the London Magazine in 1821 and represented by Project Gutenberg #2040. The passage belongs to De Quincey’s historical life-writing around opium use and suffering; it is not medical guidance about addiction or trauma.

The English Mail-Coach, represented by Project Gutenberg #6359 in the volume The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc. The sentence follows the near-collision / dream-fugue sequence and is highly literary first-person prose, not an objective report of measured time.

An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard (1751 first edition), represented by Project Gutenberg #15409. The capitalization follows the represented edition; the line is poetic reflection on mortality and social distinction.

Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, first edition 1747, represented by the Thomas Gray Archive. The famous line concludes a poem cataloguing the future troubles awaiting schoolboys; it is ironic poetic reflection, not a general recommendation against knowledge.

“Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes,” represented in Project Gutenberg #11254. The poem is comic mock-moral verse about Horace Walpole’s cat Selima; the gendered eighteenth-century joke remains historical literary language rather than a modern claim about women.

“Neutral Tones,” Wessex Poems and Other Verses; Project Gutenberg #3167. The statement belongs to the poem's speaker and should not be treated as Hardy's universal doctrine that love deceives.

“The Self-Unseeing,” Project Gutenberg #3168. The exclamation closes a poem of retrospective domestic memory and should not be detached from that remembered household scene.

Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson Smith, February 21, 1825, Founders Online / National Archives. The sentence is item 10 in a short list of “canons of conduct” sent to his namesake relative; the archive currently labels the transcription an Early Access document rather than a final authoritative edition.

Common Sense (1776), Introduction. The represented opening sentence is verified in Project Gutenberg #147 and the validated scan-backed Wikisource transcription; Paine argues that familiarity can make a wrong practice appear right before public argument unsettles the custom.