"To do nothing is the way to be nothing."
-Nathaniel Hawthorne
Mindfulness
"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
-Henry David Thoreau
Responsibility
"If your world isn't right, the cause is in you."
-Dante Alighieri
Self-Worth
"Stop comparing yourself to other people. You're only on this planet to be you… Your life journey is about learning to become more of who you are and fulfilling the highest, truest expression of yourself as a human being."
-Oprah Winfrey
Gratitude
"The gratitude ... should be commensurate with the boundless blessings which we enjoy."
-James K. Polk
Reputation
"A strong reputation is like a good bonfire. When you have one kindled it's easy to keep the flame burning... But if you fall asleep and neglect it...You'll wake up with ashes."
-Zachary Taylor
Change
"It is not strange ... to mistake change for progress."
-Millard Fillmore
Frivolity
"Frequently the more trifling the subject, the more animated and protracted the discussion."
-Franklin Pierce
Leadership
"The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there."
-James Buchanan
Character
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
-Abraham Lincoln
Prosperity
"The goal to strive for is a poor government but a rich people."
-Andrew Johnson
Criticism
"The most confident critics are generally those who know the least about the matter criticized."
-Ulysses S. Grant
Patience
"Every expert was once a beginner."
-Rutherford B. Hayes
Spirit
"If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should not grow old."
-James A. Garfield
Perception
"Where you stand depends on where you sit."
-Chester A. Arthur
Truth
"Above all, tell the truth."
-Grover Cleveland
Greed
"I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process."
-Benjamin Harrison
Adversity
"In calm water every ship has a good captain."
-Grover Cleveland
Perseverance
"In the time of darkest defeat, victory may be nearest."
-William McKinley
Heroism
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
