The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.

Oh the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make...

A man don’t always have to eat what he’s standing life. If he wants, a man can fix a meal of his own choosing.

We all have vices, visible and invisible. Some we deliberately keep secret. Others we don’t even realize or we refuse to admit we have…Vices can be lots of fun, or they can turn your life...

If [God] send me no husband, for the which blessing I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening …

In fact, there is perhaps only one human being in a thousand who is passionately interested in his job for the job’s sake. The difference is that if that one person in a thousand is...

What! Would I be turned back from doing a thing that I had determined to do, and that I knew to be right, by the airs and interference of such a person, or any person...

You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.

Now look at me! Take a good look! I was born and I knew I was alive and I knew what I wanted. What do you think is alive in me? Why do you think...

I am not an angel,” I asserted; “and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.

The greatest fulfillment, personal development.

My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable...

You cannot change what you are, only what you do.

There’s a rebel lying deep in my soul. Anytime anybody tells me the trend is such and such, I go the opposite direction. I hate the idea of trends. I hate imitation; I have a...

What’s right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity – intellect and resources – to do some thing about them.

Daring life, optimistic living.

We are against ignorance. We feel that you have to educate yourself, no matter what the situation is. People who refuse to educate themselves – people who refuse to find out what something is about,...

You are not stuck where you are unless you decide to be.

If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you...

I’m worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel – let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at...

I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.(Popular misquote of “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not...

The joy in life is his who has the heart to demand it.

[In 16th century European society] Marriage was the triumphal arch through which women, almost without exception, had to pass in order to reach the public eye. And after marriage followed, in theory, the total self-abnegation...

There are certain phrases potent to make my blood boil — improper influence! What old woman’s cackle is that?””Are you a young lady?””I am a thousand times better: I am an honest woman, and as...

Anything is possible. Dream! Reach out! Achieve!

Don’t wish to be normal. Wish to be yourself. To the hilt. Find out what you’re best at, and develop it, and hopscotch your weaknesses. Wish to be great at whatever you are.

We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.

It’s probably not just by chance that I’m alone. It would be very hard for a man to live with me, unless he’s terribly strong. And if he’s stronger than I, I’m the one who...

I don’t entirely approve of some of the things I have done, or am, or have been. But I’m me. God knows, I’m me.

Bottom line is, even if you see ’em coming, you’re not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So what are we, helpless? Puppets?...

No one decides where I go, least of all myself, though each step is where it must be.

It may take little time to get where you want to be, but if you pause and think for a moment, you will notice that you are no longer where you were. Do not stop—keep...

In reaction against the age-old slogan, “woman is the weaker vessel,” or the still more offensive, “woman is a divine creature,” we have, I think, allowed ourselves to drift into asserting that “a woman is...

Control Your Own Destiny or Someone Else Will

Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman.

The best lightning rod for your protection is your own spine.

Is it better to work out consciously and critically one’s own conception of the world and thus, in connection with the labours of one’s own brain, choose one’s sphere of activity, take an active part...

No: I shall not marry Samuel Fawthrop Wynne.””I ask why? I must have a reason. In all respects he is more than worthy of you.”She stood on the hearth; she was pale as the white...

You don’t have to compete with any one. Seek to outdo your own performance. You will always be happy.

Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are.

As long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking.

The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.

Some say that to believe in destiny is to dismiss the role of free will. That self-determination cannot prevail in the presence of fate. When the truth is, the only part of destiny we can...

You can do anything you want. You don’t believe me. You think, she’s out of her head. Yeah, I’m out of my head- on being me. What are you on? On being them. You don’t...

I told you in the course of this paper that Shakespeare had a sister; but do not look for her in Sir Sidney Lee’s life of the poet. She died young–alas, she never wrote a...

Let every man be master of his time.

[I]t’s difficult to make people see that what you have been taught counts for nothing, and that the only things worth having are the things you find out for yourself. Also, that when so many...

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.

The whole value of solitude depends upon oneself; it may be a sanctuary or a prison, a haven of repose or a place of punishment, a heaven or a hell, as we ourselves make it.