Life and Death

A little rule, a little sway,

A sunbeam in a winter's day,

Is all the proud and mighty have

Between the cradle and the grave. -- John Dyer

A man can have but one life and one death,

One heaven, one hell. --Robert Browning

A mere madness, to live like a wretch and die rich. --Robert Burton

Action

A strictly voluntary act has to be guided by idea, perception, and volition, throughout its entire course. --William James

Activity is the only reality. --Novalis

Ambition

A slave has but one master; an ambitious man has as many masters as there are people who may be useful in bettering his position. --Jean de La Bruyère

Ambition is the grand enemy of all peace. --John Cowper Powys

Ambition, in a private man a vice,

Is in a prince the virtue. -- Philip Massinger

Abraham Lincoln

He said that he was too old to cry, but it hurt too much to laugh.

Lincoln had faith in time, and time has justified his faith.

Lincoln was not a type. He stands alone—no ancestors, no fellows, no successors.

Mr. Lincoln is like a waiter in a large eating house where all the bells are ringing at once; he cannot serve them all at once and so some grumblers are to be expected.

Mr. Lincoln's soul seems made of leather, and incapable of any grand or noble emotion...He lowers, he never elevates you.

My heart burned within me with indignation and grief; we could think of nothing else. All night long we had but little sleep, waking up perpetually to the sense of a great shock and grief. Everyone is feeling the same. I never knew such a universal feeling.

Ability

A genius! For thirty-seven years I've practiced fourteen hours a day, and now they call me a genius! --Attributed to Pablo Sarasate

Ability is nothing without opportunity. --Napoleon I

Away with the cant of "Measures not men"!—the idle supposition that it is the harness and not the horses that draw the chariot along. If the comparison must be made, if the distinction must be taken, men are everything, measures comparatively nothing. --George Canning

Even if strength fail, boldness at least will deserve praise: in great endeavors even to have had the will is enough. --Sextus Propertius

I have but ninepence in ready money, but I can draw for a thousand pounds. --Joseph Addison

If you think you can or think you can't you're probably right. --Henry Ford