Inspiration

What inspires you: people, places, things? For myself, among other things, it’s quotations that other people have said over the centuries that inspire me. So, lacking inspiration for a topic this week, I’ve decided to list some of my favorite ones here. They are in no particular order, mostly just as I find them from where they are stashed – my bulletin board, stuck to the side of the fridge, taped to the filing cabinet, or filed in my PalmPilot.

This one might seem wrong at first, but you need to think about it:
"Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right." - Isaac Asimov

Now here is one that you might have seen, it certainly fits the United States now [unfortunately]:
"Those who would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin

Here’s a couple I wish the entire planet would follow:
"Treat the Earth well: is was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children" - Indian proverb
"Fear less, hope more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours." - Swedish proverb

The source of this one may surprise you:
"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest-- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein

Here are some very timely ones:
"Unfortunately, prejudice comes from education and family life and all the things that are praised by religious orthodoxy." - Sir Peter Ustinov
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B Anthony
"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself." - Richard Francis Burton
"The biggest cause of trouble in the world today is that the stupid people are so sure about things and the intelligent folks are so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Here’s one that I try hard to follow:
"I have made peace with myself somewhere between my ambitions and my limitations." - from the movie, Tea House of the August Moon

I’d like to think that this one is a good description of me:
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." - Theodore Roosevelt

Lastly, since I just quit my job, I guess this one is really me:
"I'd rather be a failure at something I enjoy than a success at something I hate." - George Burns

Do you have any favorite quotations or sayings?