Blaise Pascal

Pascal said a lot of amazing things... but here are a few illustrative quotes.    

Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.      


Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed.     


Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.     


Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth.      


A trifle consoles us, for a trifle distresses us.   

Jack Kerouac

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’” -- Jack Kerouac, On The Road

Other Kerouac quotes that I like:

“Maybe that's what life is...a wink of the eye and winking stars.”

“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.”

“My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.”

“Mankind is like dogs, not gods - as long as you don't get mad they'll bite you - but stay mad and you'll never be bitten. Dogs don't respect humility and sorrow.”

Anais Nin

Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death. - Anais Nin.

Nin certainly led a full life, as outlined by her in her diaries - Vol 1 through Vol 7 - and a recent biography.

Randy Pausch

"Time is all you have, and you might have less than you think!”

"Brick walls are there for a reason. They let us prove how badly we want things."

Those two quotes are by Randy Pausch, the "dying man who taught America how to live". He died on July 25, 2008.

 

Enjoy his "Last Lecture" and more of his musings from the last few years of his life at his blog.

Viktor Frankl

"We needed to stop asking ourselves about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life-daily and hourly. . . . Therefore, it was necessary for us to face up to the full amount of suffering, trying to keep moments of weakness and furtive tears to a minimum. But there was no need to be ashamed of tears, for tears bore witness that a man had the greatest of courage, the courage to suffer." - Viktor Frankl

Maupassant

Words dazzle and deceive because they are mimed by the face. But black words on a white page are the soul laid bare. — Guy de Maupassant

F. Scott Fitzgerald

And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past - The final sentence of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Gertrude Stein

"A writer should write with his eyes and a painter paint with his ears". - Gertrude Stein

Imagination

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” - Albert Einstein

Goethe

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Decisions

"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.” - Anon

Lewis Carroll

Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
`I don't much care where--' said Alice.
`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
                 - Lewis Carroll in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

New beginnings

The great teachings unanimously emphasize that all the peace, wisdom, and joy in the universe are already within us; we don't have to gain, develop, or attain them. We're like a child standing in a beautiful park with his eyes shut tight. We don't need to imagine trees, flowers, deer, birds, and sky; we merely need to open our eyes and realize what is already here, who we really are -Anon