There Are Cracks In Everything: An Essay In Quotes

“Before you speak, ask yourself: Is it necessary? Is it true? Does it improve upon the silence?”
     - Shirdi Sai Baba

“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.”
     - Theodore Roosevelt

“If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery and isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.”
     - Charles Bukowski

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? … Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine. … It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
     ― Marianne Williamson

“Behind every wish is a fear that the wish will come true.”
     - Sigmund Freud

“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”
     - Lao Tzu

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
     - Gandhi

“Above all else, try something.”
     - Franklin Roosevelt

“If you’re doing your best, you won’t have any time to worry about failure.”
     - Jackson Brown

“I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
     - Michael Jordan

“One who makes no mistakes makes nothing at all.”
     - Giacomo Casanova

“If you are going through hell, keep going.”
     - Winston Churchill

“Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people do that, but great people make you believe that you too can become great.”
     - Mark Twain

“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That’s the message he is sending.”
     ― Thich Nhat Hanh

“Your goal is not to find love, but to remove all barriers which are preventing you from receiving it.”
     - Rumi

“If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.”
     - Goethe

“The only thing that is Capital-T True is that you get to decide how you see things.”
     - David Foster Wallace

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”
     - Albert Einstein

“The highest forms of human understanding we can achieve are laughter and compassion.”
     - Richard Feynmann

“Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it.”
     - Gilda Radner

“There are cracks in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
     - Leonard Cohen