"All that is necessary for evil to succeed...

is for good men to do nothing..."

Sir Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797) - Irish Statesman & Philosopher

"No great genius is without a mixture of insanity."

Aristoteles (384 BC - 322 BC) - Greek Critic, Philosopher, Physicist & Zoologist

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool...
than to speak out and remove all doubt..."

Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865) - 16th US President

"Every man has his own destiny:
the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it,
no matter where it leads him."

Henry Miller (1891 - 1980) - Author - 'The Wisdom Of The Heart'

"Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy,
and it isn't original sin...
He's born with the tragedy that he has to grow up.
That he has to leave the nest, the security,
and go out to do battle.
He has to lose everything that is lovely
and fight for a new loveliness of his own making,
and it's a tragedy.
A lot of people don't have the courage to do it."

Helen Hayes (1900 - 1993) - US Actress - in Roy Newquist, Showcase (1966)

"Reveal not every secret you have to a friend,
for how can you tell but that friend
may hereafter become an enemy...
And bring not all mischief you are able to upon an enemy,
for he may one day become your friend..."

Saadi (1184 - 1291) - Persian Poet

"People who ask our advice almost never take it...
Yet we should never refuse to give it, upon request,
for it often helps us to see our own way more clearly."

Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (1923 - 1964) - Irish Poet & Author

"Train yourself to let go of the things you fear to lose."

George Lucas (1944 - ) US Movie Director & Screenwriter - 'Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith'

"If one speaks or acts with a cruel mind, misery follows,
as the cart follows the horse...

If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows,
as a shadow follows its source..."

The Dhammapada - The Essential Teachings of Buddha - 'Classics Of Indian Spirituality'

"Do or do not. There is no try."

George Lucas (1944 - ) US Movie Director & Screenwriter - 'Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back'

"The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life,
acknowledge the great powers around us and in us.
If you can do that, and live that way,
you are really a wise man."

Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC) - Greek Tragic Dramatist

"When you feel in your gut what you are
and then dynamically pursue it
- don't back down and don't give up -
then you're going to mystify a lot of folks."

Bob Dylan (1941 - ) - US Singer & Songwriter

"Storms make oaks take deeper root."

George Herbert (1593 - 1633) - English Clergyman & Metaphysical Poet

"The best mirror is an old friend."

George Herbert (1593 - 1633) - English Clergyman & Metaphysical Poet

"The most potent Muse of all is our own inner child."

Stephen Nachmanovitch (1950 - ) - US Musician, Author, Computer Artist & Educator

"The only real prison is fear,
and the only real freedom is freedom from fear."

Aung San Suu Kyi (1945 - ) - Burmese Dissident & Politician

"Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian,
wine and tarragon make it French.
Sour cream makes it Russian,
lemon and cinnamon make it Greek.
Soy sauce makes it Chinese,
garlic makes it good."

Alice May Brock (1941 - ) - US Author of Cook Books

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world,
the unreasonable one persists in trying
to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950) - Man and Superman (1903) 'Maxims For Revolutionists'

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully
as when they do it from a religious conviction."

Blaise Pascal (1632 - 1662) - French Mathematician & Physicist

"Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do."

Voltaire (1694 - 1778) - French Author, Humanist, Rationalist & Satirist

"Givers have to set limits because takers rarely do."

Irma Kurtz (1935 - ) - US Journalist and Author - Cosmopolitan Magazine (September 2003)

"Have regard for your name...
since it will remain for you longer...
than a great store of gold."

Jesua ben Elazar ben Sira ( ca.170 BC - ??) - Ecclesiasticus, Aprocrypha (Ec. 41:12)

"Real love...
is a permanently self-enlarging experience."

M. Scott Peck (1936 - 2005), US Medical Doctor and Author - O Magazine (February 2004)

"You must dare to disassociate yourself...
from those who would delay your journey...
Leave, depart, if not physically, then mentally.
Go your own way, quietly, undramatically,
and venture toward trueness at last."

Vernon Howard (1918 - 1992) - US Spiritual Teacher, Author & Philosopher

"As a well-spent day brings happy sleep,
so life well used brings happy death."

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 - 1519), Italian Engineer, Painter & Sculptor

"It is better to suffer wrong than to do it,
and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust."

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English Author, Critic & Lexicographer

"When you find yourself in a hole,
stop digging."

Fortune Cookie - Thai Restaurant "Chef Khem" - Mortsel - Belgium (June 06, 2008)

"Almost everything...
all external expectations, all pride...
all fear of embarrassment or failure...
these things just fall away in the face of death,
leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die
is the best way I know to avoid the trap
of thinking you have something to lose.
You are already naked.
There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Steve Jobs (1955 - ), US Computer Engineer, Industrialist, co-founder & chairman of Apple Computer Inc.

"If I had to live my life again...
I would make the same mistakes...
only sooner..."

Tallulah Bankhead (1903 - 1968) - US Movie Actress

"The cloning of humans...
is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science,
along with behaviour control...
genetic engineering...
transplanted heads...
computer poetry...
and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers."

Lewis Thomas (1913 - 1993) - US Author, Biologist & Physician

"No one can earn a million dollars honestly."

William Jennings Bryan (1860 - 1925) - US Lawyer, Orator & Politician

"There is no wisdom without love."

Nilakanta Sri Ram (1889 - 1973) - Indian Freemanson, Theosophist & Teacher

"There are two ways of spreading light:
to be the candle...
or the mirror that reflects it."

Edith Wharton (1862 - 1937) - US Novelist - 'Vesalius In Zante (1564)' North American Review 175 (1902)

"After silence...
that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible...
...is music."

Aldous Huxley (1849 - 1963) - English Critic & Novelist - 'Music At Night' (1931)

"Men acquire a particular quality
by constantly acting a particular way...
You become just by performing just actions,
temperate by performing temperate actions,
brave by performing brave actions."

Aristoteles (384 BC - 322 BC) - Greek Critic, Philosopher, Physicist & Zoologist

"...the only people for me are the mad ones,
the ones who are mad to live,
mad to talk, mad to be saved,
desirous of everything at the same time,
the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing,
but burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles
exploding like spiders across the stars
and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop
and everybody goes 'Awww!"

Jack Kerouac (1922 - 1969) - US Author - 'On The Road' (1957)

"Flowers never emit so sweet and strong a fragrance...
as before a storm.
When a storm approaches thee,
be as fragrant as a sweet-smelling flower."

Jean Paul Richter (1763 - 1825) - German Author

"Living apart and at peace with myself,
I came to realize more vividly
the meaning of the doctrine of acceptance.
To refrain from giving advice...
to refrain from meddling in the affairs of others...
to refrain, even though the motives be the highest,
from tampering with another's way of life...
So simple, yet so difficult for an active spirit...
Hands off!"

Henry Miller (1891 - 1980) - US Author

"A conclusion is the place...,
where you get tired of thinking."

Fortune Cookie - Thai Restaurant "Chef Khem" - Mortsel - Belgium (September 15, 2008)

"When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves,
it is useless to seek it elsewhere."

Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680) - French Author & Moralist

"There is no remedy for love but to love more."

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862) - US Transcendentalist Author

"What shall it profit a man,
if he should gain the whole world
and lose his own soul."

Mark 8:36 (King James Bible) - prologue of the movie 'Caligula' (1979)

"One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life:
that word is love."

Sophocles (496 BC - 406 BC) - Greek Tragic Dramatist

"You cannot do a kindness too soon,
for you never know how soon it will be too late."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) - US Essayist, Philospher, Poet & Transcendentalist Author

"The greatest distance in the existence of man...
is not from here to there or from there to here.
The greatest distance in the existence of man...
is from his mind to his heart."

Angaangaq Lyberth ( ?? - ) - Kalaallit (Greenlandish) Inuk Shaman

"Nothing can be more useful to you
than a determination not to be hurried."

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862) - US Transcendentalist Author

"Never lose sight of this important truth,
that no one can be truly great
until he has gained a knowledge of himself,
a knowledge which can only be acquired
by occasional retirement."

Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1782 - 1795) - Swiss Philosophical Author and Physician

"Love cannot survive...
if you just give it scraps of yourself,
scraps of your time,
scraps of your thoughts."

Mary O'Hara (1935 - ) - Irish Singer and Harpist with a pure soprano voice

"Without tenderness, a man is uninteresting."

Marlene Dietrich (1901 - 1992) - German Movie Actress and Singer

"If you treat people right they will treat you right...
ninety percent of the time."

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 - 1945) - 32nd US President

"I sent the club a wire stating:
PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION.
I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB
THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER."

Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977) - US comedian with the Marx Brothers

"The purpose of life is to fight maturity."

Dick Werthimer (?? - ??) - ??

"But in the end one needs more courage to live
than to kill himself."

Albert Camus (1913 - 1960) - French Existentialist Author & Philosopher - 'Happy Death'

"I came to realize that life lived to help others
is the only one that matters and that it is my duty...
This is my highest and best use as a human."

Ben Stein (1944 - ) - US TV Personality, Economic & Political Commentator, Author - 'E! Online, December 2003'

"Save the Earth!
It's the only planet with chocolate!"

Read it on a T-Shirt somewhere

"Speak the truth, but leave immediately after."

Slovenian Proverb

"A man may well bring a horse to the water...
but he cannot make him drink."

John Heywood (1497 - 1580) - English dramatist & Epigrammist

"Good things are on their way."

Fortune Cookie - Thai Restaurant "Chef Khem" - Mortsel - Belgium (December 01, 2008)

"It is no profit to have learned well,
if you neglect to do well."

Publilius Syrus (~100 BC) - Latin Writer

"A good reputation is more valuable than money."

Publilius Syrus (~100 BC) - Latin Writer - 'Maxims'

"The game of life is the game of boomerangs.
Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy."

Florence Scovel Shinn (1871 - 1940) - US Artist, Author & Metaphysics Teacher

"The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand...
the angels come to visit us...
and we only know them when they are gone."

George Eliot (1819 - 1880) - English Novelist

"Happiness arises in a state of peace, not of tumult."

Ann Radcliffe (1764 - 1823) - English Author - 'The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)'

"With or without religion...
you would have good people doing good things...
and evil people doing evil things.
But for good people to do evil things...
that takes religion."

Steven Weinberg (1933 - ) - US Physicist - quoted in The New York Times, April 20, 1999

"That best portion of a good man's life...
His little, nameless, unremembered acts
of kindness and of love."

William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850) - English Poet

"Be sure that it is not you that is mortal, but only your body.
For that man whom your outward form reveals is not yourself, the spirit is the true self, not that physical figure
which and be pointed out by your finger."

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC) - Roman Author, Orator, & Politician

"The words that enlighten the soul
are more precious than jewels."

Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882 - 1927) - Indian Sufi Teacher - Founder of the Sufi Order in the West

"Treasure the love you receive above all.
It will survive long after your good health has vanished."

Og Mandino (1923 - 1996) - US Inspirational Author

"Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none."

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) - English Dramatist & Poet
"All's Well That Ends Well", Act 1 Scene 1 (written between 1601 - 1608)

"If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years."

Bertrand Russel (1872 - 1970) - English Author, Mathematician & Philosopher

"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."

Bertrand Russel (1872 - 1970) - English Author, Mathematician & Philosopher

"It is bitter to lose a friend to evil, before one loses him to death."

Mary Renault (1905 - 1983) - English Author - "The Praise Singer" (1978)

"When you have loved as she has loved, you grow old beautifully."

William Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965) - English Dramatist & Novelist

"Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure."

William Saroyan (1908 - 1981) - US Author

"Your kindness will be repaid."

Fortune Cookie - Thai Restaurant "Chef Khem" - Mortsel - Belgium (November 03, 2009)

"When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers."

Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) - Irish Dramatist, Novelist & Poet - 'An Ideal husband, 1893'

"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature."

Frank Lloyd Wright (1869 - 1959) - US Architect - designed the Guggenheim Museum

"In love, one and one are one."

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 - 1980) - French Author & Existentialist Philosopher

"Fortune can, for her pleasure, fools advance,
and toss them on the wheels of Chance."

(in memoriam xx/xy)

Juvenal (55 AD - 127 AD) - Roman Poet & Satirist

"For one human being to love another;
that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks,
the ultimate, the last test and proof,
the work for which all other work is but preparation."

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926) - German Lyric Poet

"Don't fall before you're pushed."

English Proverb

"I have seen flowers come in stony places
And kind things done by men with ugly faces
And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races,
So I trust too."

John Masefield (1878 - 1967) - English Author

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love
and be loved in return."

Eden Ahbez (1908 - 1995) - US songwriter - "Nature Boy" (song recorded by Nat King Cole)

"A wizard is never late. Nor he is early.
He arrives precisely when he means to."

The famous words uttered by Gandalf the Grey in retort to young Frodo's cheeky greeting
as the wizard enters Hobbiton on Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday
(Peter Jackson - Movie 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring')