The Quotable Books Series ...

The Best Things in Life Are Free
(my favorite quotes)

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(sample quotations from the book)

It doesn't matter what size you are. It matters how big your heart is and how smart you are. — Freddy Adu, soccer player

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. — Aesop

Children are the reward of life. Where there are no children, there is no wealth. — African proverb

When you pray, move your feet. — African proverb

A good piece of art should make a revolution inside you. — Shohreh Aghdashloo, actress

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. — James Allen, author, As a Man Thinketh

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. — Maya Angelou, poet

Can you walk on water? You have done no better than a straw. Can you fly in the air? You have done no better than a bluebottle. Conquer your heart; then you may become somebody. — Ansari of Herat, hermit

Art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead. — W. H. Auden, poet

Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't. — Richard Bach, author

You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true. — Richard Bach, author

The reason birds can fly and we cannot is simply that they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings. — James Matthew Barrie, children's author

If it is your time, love will track you down like a cruise missile. — Lynda Barry

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things. — Bruce Barton, advertising executive

A boy can learn a lot from a dog: obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down. — Robert Benchley, humorist

Anyone who doesn't believe in miracles is not a realist. — David Ben-Gurion, Israeli leader

Life begets life. Energy becomes energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich. — Sarah Bernhardt, actress

When you reach the end of all the light there is and you must step out into the darkness, remember that two things may happen: You either will find something to stand on or you will be taught how to fly. — Book of Edges

Kindness is a language the dumb can speak, and the deaf can hear and understand. — Christian Bovee

I believe you are your work. Don't trade the stuff of your life, time, for nothing more than dollars. That's a rotten bargain. — Rita Mae Brown, playwright

When facing a difficult task, act as though it is impossible to fail. If you're going after Moby Dick, take along the tartar sauce. — H. Jackson Brown, Jr., author

If your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life. — Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes comic strip

I shall tell you a great secret, my friend. Do not wait for the final judgment. It takes place every day. — Albert Camus, existentialist

The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution. — Paul Cezanne, painter

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice. — Cherokee proverb

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. — Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction author

There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in. — Leonard Cohen, singer and songwriter

You must speak straight so that your words go as sunlight into our hearts. — Cochise, Indian leader

And though I have all faith, so that I could move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. — 1 Corinthians 13:2

To be nobody but yourself, in a world which is doing its best to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting. — e. e. cummings, poet

If a man throws himself out of the fourth floor window, and you can’t make a sketch of him before he gets to the ground, you will never do anything big. — Eugène Delacroix, painter

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. — Philip K. Dick, novelist

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
— Emily Dickinson, poet

Never, ever doubt in magic. The purest, honest thoughts come from children. Ask any child if they believe in magic, and they will tell you the truth. — Scott Dixon, race car driver

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it? — Dogen

Everything you are against weakens you. Everything you are for empowers you. — Wayne Dyer, psychologist

May you build a ladder to the stars, and climb on every ring, and may you stay forever young. — Bob Dylan, singer and songwriter

The more you notice the love, the miracles and the beauty around you, the more love comes into your life. — Betty Eadie, author

We are bits of stellar matter that got cold by accident, bits of a star gone wrong. — Arthur Eddington, physicist

Not everything that can be counted, counts. And not everything that counts can be counted. — Albert Einstein, physicist

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. — Albert Einstein, physicist

Miracles: You do not have to look for them. They are there, 24/7, beaming like radio waves all around you. Put up the antenna, turn up the volume—snap... crackle... this just in, every person you talk to is a chance to change the world. — Hugh Elliott, blogger, Standing Room Only

All that you are seeking is also seeking you. If you lie still, sit still, it will find you. It has been waiting for you a long time. — Clarissa Pinkola Estes, mythologist

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. — Anne Frank, author, The Diary of Anne Frank

Every positive impulse is a prayer. — Diane Frank, poet

The secrets of the universe are discovered when you break things. — game players blog

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. — Mahatma Gandhi, Indian leader

God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them. — Kahlil Gibran, poet and artist

Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it. — Andre Gidé, novelist and critic

Nothing splendid was ever created in cold blood. Heat is required to forge anything. Every great accomplishment is the story of a flaming heart. — Arnold H. Glasow, author

You can have anything you want if you want it desperately enough. You must want it with an inner exuberance that erupts through the skin and joins the energy that created the world. — Sheila Graham, author

The great moments, when the world cheers, are not the moments that count. The ones that count are when it’s just you, and people have stopped believing in you. Those are the moments that define you. — Bob Greene, columnist

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in. — Graham Greene, novelist, The Power and the Glory

Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion. — George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, philosopher

All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know. — Ernest Hemingway, novelist

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone. — Audrey Hepburn, actress

It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is made up of others. — John Andrew Holmes

A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., U.S. supreme court justice

Success is the most natural thing in the world. The person who does not succeed has placed himself in opposition to the laws of the Universe. — Elbert Hubbard, essayist

Hold fast to dreams.
For if dreams die.
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly. — James Langston Hughes, poet

To love another person is to see the face of God. — Victor Hugo, novelist, Les Miserables

My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life. — Lee Iacocca, automotive executive

Dance as if no one were watching. Sing as if no one were listening. And live every day as if it were your last. — Irish proverb

One man with courage is a majority. — Andrew Jackson, U.S. president

May serenity circle on silent wings and catch the whisper of the wind. — Cheewa James, author

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. — Carl Jung, psychologist

We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the paths of life. — Carl Jung, psychologist

Expect everything, I always say, and the unexpected never happens. — Norton Juster, novelist, The Phantom Tollbooth

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen. Simply wait. Do not even wait; be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet. — Franz Kafka, novelist

I always paint my own reality. — Frida Kahlo, artist

The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were. — John F. Kennedy, U.S. president

Express everything you like. No word can hurt you. None. No idea can hurt you. Not being able to express an idea or a word will hurt you much more. As much as a bullet. — Jamaica Kincaid

You can't deny laughter; when it comes, it plops down in your favorite chair and stays as long as it wants. — Stephen King, novelist

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. — Ann Landers, advice columnist

A new baby is like the beginning of all things—wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities. — Eda Le Shan, psychologist

I don't see why I am always asking for private, individual, selfish miracles when every year there are miracles like white dogwood. — Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. — Jack London, novelist

I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. Scratch where it itches. — Alice Roosevelt Longworth, author

It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young. — Konrad Lorenz, ethologist

For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver. — Martin Luther, religious reformer

Work is not always required. There is such a thing as sacred idleness. — George MacDonald, fantasy writer

A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline. — Harvey Mackay, businessman and author

There is no greater power than the power of love. It can melt the rocks. — Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru

Every great masterpiece is a purification of the world. — Andre Malraux

Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. — Matthew 7:7

Life does not accommodate you, it shatters you. It is meant to and couldn't do it better. Every seed destroys its container or else there would be no growth, no fruition. — Florida Scott Maxwell

The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself. — Henry Miller, novelist

Everything you'll ever need to know is within you; the secrets of the universe are imprinted on the cells of your body. — Dan Millman, author

If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it. — Toni Morrison, novelist

You must have chaos within you to be able to give birth to a dancing star. — Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. — Anais Nin, novelist

The only time you’re safe in your life is when your heart is open. — Arnold Patent, author, Living with an Open Heart

How does one become a butterfly? You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar. — Trina Paulus

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. — Thomas J. Peters

Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one's bath like a lump of sugar. — Pablo Picasso, artist

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit and grieve. Find another way. And don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines. — Beatrix Potter, children’s novelist

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself. — Anna Quindlen, novelist

God is an unutterable sigh, planted in the depths of the soul. — Jean Paul Richter

This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love; the more they give, the more they possess. — Rainer Maria Rilke, poet

If we can get to the truth, we can change anything. — Anthony Robbins, peak performance coach and author

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back. — Arthur Rubenstein, pianist

The soul can split the sky in two,
and let the face of God shine through.
— Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet

If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn. People die. But real love lives forever. — Sarah, character in The Crow TV show

All things are connected like the blood that unites one family. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit on the ground, they spit on themselves. — Chief Seattle, Indian leader

What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more. — Lucius Annaeus Seneca, dramatist, philosopher, and politician

Nice guys finish first. If you don’t know that, you don’t know where the finish line is. — Gary Shandling, comedian

Every single one of us can do things that no one else can do—can love things that no one else can love. We are like violins. We can be used for doorstops, or we can make music. You know what to do. — Barbara Sher, author

Making the decision to have a child—it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body. — Elizabeth Stone, author

Joy is prayer. Joy is strength. Joy is love. Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. — Mother Teresa, religious leader

When you are happy, dance around and wag your entire body. — Things We Can Learn From a Dog

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower drives my green soul. — Dylan Thomas, poet

Statistically, the probability of any one of us being here is so small that you'd think the mere fact of existing would keep us all in a contented dazzlement of surprise. — Lewis Thomas, biologist

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. — J. R. R. Tolkien, novelist

This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. — Bob Tupes, author

If you are too busy to purr, you are too busy. — Meow Tzu, Meow Te Ching

When God measures a man, he puts the tape around his heart, not his head. — unknown

God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through. — Paul Valery, poet and critic

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room. — Kurt Vonnegut Jr., novelist

Without free animal life I believe we will lose the spiritual equivalent of oxygen. — Alice Walker, novelist, Living by the Word

The day you really want to end all hunger, there will be no more hunger. — Neale Donald Walsch, author, Conversations with God

For a decision—the freest of my actions just happens like hiccups inside me or like a bird singing outside me. — Alan Watts, author

We are all gods, all forces of nature. We can destroy, we can build. We are like oceans and like fires. — Barry White, singer

And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels. — Walt Whitman, poet, Leaves of Grass

They say that every snowflake is different. If that were true, how could the world go on? How could we ever get up off our knees? How could we ever recover from the wonder of it? — Jeanette Winterson

To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
— William Wordsworth, poet

If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live. — Lin Yutang

The mountains, rivers, earth, grasses, trees, and forests are always emanating a subtle, precious light, day and night, always emanating a subtle, precious sound, demonstrating and expounding to all people the unsurpassed ultimate truth. — Yuan-Sou

Here are the other seven books in the Illustrated Quotable Books section. Click on the titles to see sample quotations:

How to Live Your Dreams

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again

If God Intended Man to Smoke, He’d Have Set Him on Fire … and Other Conclusions of God’s Work

If I Had My Life to Live Over . . .

The Miracle of Life

Playing the Percentages: Lies, Damned Funny Lies, Statistics, and Everything in Between

When in Doubt, Kiss the Fish — And Other Extremely Wise Advice

Open Horizons, P O Box 2887, Taos NM 87571; 575-751-3398

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