Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed that is the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.

Edmund Burke

The brave may not live forever, but the scared never live at all.

Author Unknown

I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of their way, and let them have it.

Dwight David Eisenhower, US President

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but it is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or anyone else, but it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.

Theodore Roosevelt, US President

Those who failed to oppose me, who readily agreed with me, accepted all my views, and yielded easily to my opinions, were those who did me the most injury, and were my worst enemies, because, by surrendering to me so easily, they encouraged me to go too far... I was then too powerful for any man, except myself, to injure me.

Napoleon Bonaparte

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

Albert Einstein

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction..

Blaise Pascal

They are not all saints who use holy water.

English proverb

I don’t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.

 Henry James

Until the pain of remaining the same hurts more than the pain of change, most people prefer to remain the same.

 Dr. Richard D. Dobbins

If there is an enemy, it is the ego. If there is a devil, it is the ego. Every obstacle is created by the ego, for the ego. Every obstacle. The ego can be overcome, and in so doing are you made free. That is the way.

Stefan Nadzo

No amount of security is worth the suffering of a life lived chained to a routine that has killed your dreams. 

 Kent  Nerburn

One day Mara, who is the ancient Buddhist god of ignorance and evil, was travelling through the villages of India with his attendants. Along the way, he noticed a man doing a walking meditation. The man's face was lit up in wonder. Apparently, the man had just discovered something on the ground in front of him.

Mara's attendants, noticing the glow emanating from the man, asked Mara what is was the man had discovered. Mara replied, "He has discovered a piece of the truth."

"But evil one!" exclaimed one of his entourage, "Doesn't this bother you when someone finds a piece of the truth?"

"No," said Mara, "I am not troubled in the least."

"But why not?" insisted his attendants.

"Because," replied Mara, chuckling, "right after they discover some truth, they usually make a belief out of it."

Buddhist tale

Just by being ourselves we are borne toward a destiny far beyond anything we could imagine. It is enough to know that the being I nourish inside me is the same as the Being that suffuses every atom of the cosmos. When the two see each other as equals they will be equal, because then the same force that controls the galaxies will be upholding my individual existence.

Deepak Chopra

I do not want to make my stomach a graveyard of dead animals.

George Bernard Shaw

The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.

Leonardo da Vinci

Various philosophers and religious leaders tried to convince their disciples and followers that animals are nothing more than machines without a soul, without feelings. However, anyone who has ever lived with an animal--be it a dog, a bird, or even a mouse--knows that this theory is a brazen lie, invented to justify cruelty.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

We consume the carcasses of creatures of like appetites, passions and organs with our own, and fill the slaughterhouses daily with screams of pain and fear.

 Robert Louis Stevenson

In fact, if one person is unkind to an animal it is considered to be cruelty, but where a lot of people are unkind to animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended to the last by otherwise intelligent people.

 Ruth Harrison

Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we learned here.

Marianne Williamson

I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me. I have accepted fear as a part of life–specifically the fear of change, the fear of the unknown, and I have gone ahead despite the pounding in my heart that says: turn back, turn back, you’ll die if you venture too far.

 Erica Jong

A “No” uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a “Yes” merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

 Mohandas Gandhi

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.

 Soren Kierkegaard

He who fears something gives it power over him.

Moorish Proverb

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear–not absence of fear.

Mark Twain

If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.

James Earl “Jimmy” Carter, Jr.,  US President

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Anais Nin

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

 Mark Twain

Where fear is, happiness is not.

 Seneca

People have been predicting the end of the world since the beginning of the world, and so far, exactly zero of them have been correct.

Author Unknown

The more he spoke of honor, the faster we counted our spoons.

Ralph Waldo Emerson