“Civility costs nothing, but is priceless.” Leon Bobrow

“. . . a man in his life may have many teachers, some most unexpected. The question lies with the man himself: Will he learn from them?” Louis L’Amour in The First Fast Draw

“. . . for a man with an education the world is a wide place and the opportunities are many, . . .” Louis L’Amour in The First Fast Draw

"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 is morally treasonable to the American Public."  Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do. Henry Ford

"The deeper we look into nature the more we recognize that it is full of life, and the more profoundly we know that all life is a secret, and we are all united to all this life." Albert Schweitzer

Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of experience.  Albert Einstein

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

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind. Albert Einstein

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties. Sir Francis Bacon

When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it - this is knowledge. Confucius, The Confucian Analects

May this continent, the last explored by humankind, be the first one to be spared by humankind. Jacques-Yves Cousteau , 1973, on Antarctica

The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man it is to know that and to wonder at it. Jacques-Yves Cousteau 

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harms we do, we do to ourselves. Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven

"It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small." Neil Armstrong

"There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere." Isaac Asimov

It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. Isaac Asimov

Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it. Marian Anderson

I have witnessed how education opens doors, and I know that when sound instruction takes place, students experience the joys of new-found knowledge and the ability to excel. Daniel Akaka

Every life is a profession of faith, and exercises an inevitable and silent influence. Henri Frederic Amiel

It is by teaching that we teach ourselves, by relating that we observe, by affirming that we examine, by showing that we look, by writing that we think, by pumping that we draw water into the well. Henri Frederic Amiel

Man should not consider his material possession his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need. Saint Thomas Aquinas

The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions. A thing which is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing. Saint Thomas Aquinas

Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds. Saint Teresa of Avila

Even though the college man raises no more wheat than his neighbor, he will have more satisfaction raising it. He will know why he turns the clod; he will challenge the worm that burrows in the furrow; his eyes will follow the field mouse that scuds under the grass; he will see the wild fowl winging its way across the heaven. All these things will add to the meaning of life and they are his. Liberty Hyde Bailey

It is a marvelous planet on which we ride. It is a great privilege to live thereon, to partake in the journey, and to experience its goodness. We may cooperate rather than rebel. We should try to find the meanings rather than to be satisfied only with the spectacles. My life has been a continuous fulfillment of dreams.  It appears that everything I saw and did has a new, and perhaps, more significant meaning, every time I see it. The earth is good. Liberty Hyde Bailey

In many respects, I think a lot of businessmen have become highly insensitive to the world, the environment, to everything around them. What are they doing with the millions and millions of dollars they're making? Why don't they give anything back? That, to me, is the height of insensitivity. Scott Bakula

In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years. Jacques Barzun

If you have anything really valuable to contribute to the world it will come through the expression of your own personality, that single spark of divinity that sets you off and makes you different from every other living creature. Bruce Barton

The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Man masters nature not by force but by understanding. This is why science has succeeded where magic failed: because it has looked for no spell to cast over nature. Jacob Bronowski

No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power. Jacob Bronowski

"We have reached a crossroads in human evolution where the only road which leads forward is towards a common passion. . . To continue to place our hopes in a social order achieved by external violence would simply amount to our giving up all hope of carrying the Spirit of the Earth to its limits." Teilhard de Chardin

"The phrase 'Sense of the Earth' should be understood to mean the passionate concern for our common destiny which draws the thinking part of life ever further onward. The only truly natural and real human unity is the spirit of the Earth. . . .The sense of Earth is the irresistable pressure which will come at the right moment to unite them (humankind) in a common passion.The Age of Nations is past. The task before us now, if we would not perish, is to build the Earth.” Teilhard de Chardin

"It is not our heads or our bodies which we must bring together, but our hearts. . . . Humanity. . . is building its composite brain beneath our eyes. May it not be that tomorrow, through the logical and biological deepening of the movement drawing it together, it will find its heart, without which the ultimate wholeness of its power of unification can never be achieved?“ Teilhard de Chardin

"My starting point is the fundamental initial fact that each one of us is perforce linked by all the material organic and psychic strands of his being to all that surrounds him. . . . If we look far enough back in the depths of time, the disordered anthill of living beings suddenly, for an informed observer, arranges itself in long files that make their way by various paths towards greater consciousness."  Teilhard de Chardin

"Is evolution a theory, a system or a hypothesis? It is much more: it is a general condition to which all theories, all hypotheses, as systems must bow and which they must satisfy henceforth if they are to be thinkable and true. Evolution is a light illuminating all facts, a curve that all lines must follow." Teilhard de Chardin

 “Nothing ever goes away.” Barry Commoner

"Sooner or later, wittingly or unwittingly, we must pay for every intrusion on the natural environment.“  Barry Commoner

"Objectivity cannot be equated with mental blankness; rather, objectivity resides in recognizing your preferences and then subjecting them to especially harsh scrutiny—and also in a willingness to revise or abandon your theories when the tests fail (as they usually do)." Stephen Jay Gould

If you violate Nature's laws you are your own prosecuting attorney, judge, jury, and hangman. Luther Burbank

When a man wantonly destroys one of the works of man we call him a vandal. When he destroys one of the works of god we call him a sportsman. Joseph Wood Krutch

A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. Aldo Leopold

We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect. Aldo Leopold

We shall never achieve harmony with land, any more than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations, the important thing is not to achieve but to strive. Aldo Leopold

God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools. John Muir

The gross heathenism of civilization has generally destroyed nature, and poetry, and all that is spiritual. John Muir

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. John Muir

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.  John Muir

Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble. Roger Tory Peterson

Not all is doom and gloom. We are beginning to understand the natural world and are gaining a reverence for life - all life.  Roger Tory Peterson

True charity is the desire to be useful to others with no thought of recompense. Emanuel Swedenborg

Since we humans have the better brain, isn't it our responsibility to protect our fellow creatures from, oddly enough, ourselves? Joy Adamson

Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don't believe is right. Jane Goodall

We can't leave people in abject poverty, so we need to raise the standard of living for 80% of the world's people, while bringing it down considerably for the 20% who are destroying our natural resources. Jane Goodall

I'm an idealist without illusions. John F. Kennedy

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. John F. Kennedy

If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.  John F. Kennedy

Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal. John F. Kennedy

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be a s big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. John F. Kennedy

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

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource. John F. Kennedy

Globalization, as defined by rich people like us, is a very nice thing... you are talking about the Internet, you are talking about cell phones, you are talking about computers. This doesn't affect two-thirds of the people of the world. Jimmy Carter

A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. Theodore Roosevelt

A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues. Theodore Roosevelt

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education. Theodore Roosevelt

To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase it's usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very property which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed. Theodore Roosevelt

True progress quietly and persistently moves along without notice. Saint Francis de Sales

We must never undervalue any person. The workman loves not that his work should be despised in his presence. Now God is present everywhere, and every person is His work. Saint Francis de Sales

When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time. Saint Francis de Sales

Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation. Saint Augustine

Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance. Saint Augustine

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

“To run away from danger, instead of facing it, is to deny one's faith in man and God, even one's own self. It were better for one to drown oneself than live to declare such bankruptcy of faith.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi

“My non-violence bids me dedicate myself to the service of the minorities.” Mahatma Gandhi

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.“ Martin Luther King, Jr.

"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.“ Martin Luther King, Jr.

"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.“ Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law ... That would lead to anarchy. An individual who breaks a law that his conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special. Nelson Mandela

"I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for..." Thornton Wilder

"The intellectual is constantly betrayed by his vanity. Godlike he blandly assumes that he can express everything in words; whereas the things one loves, lives, and dies for are not, in the last analysis completely expressible in words." Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday." Abraham Lincoln

"People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be." Abraham Lincoln

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." Abraham Lincoln

"It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well." Rene Descartes

"Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems." Rene Descartes

"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." Emile Zola

The art of creation lies in the gift of perceiving the particular and generalizing it, thus creating the particular again. It is therefore a powerful transforming force and a generator of creative solutions in relation to a given problem. It is the currency of human exchanges, which enables the sharing of states of the soul and conscience, and the discovery of new fields of experience. Yehudi Menuhin

"The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone." Orison Swett Marden

All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible. Orison Swett Marden

"The greatest thing a man can do in this world is to make the most possible out of the stuff that has been given him. This is success, and there is no other."  Orison Swett Marden

"We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end." Benjamin Disraeli

"Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action." Benjamin Disraeli

"Nurture your mind with great thoughts." Benjamin Disraeli

"Do all things with love." Og Mandino

"Treasure the love you receive above all. It will survive long after your good health has vanished.“ Og Mandino

If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation. Chuang Tzu

"Not all who wander are lost."  J. R. R. Tolkien

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say. -- J. R. R. Tolkien

It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start. Mother Teresa

 It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters. Mother Teresa

Nobel Peace Prize Winner

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. Bishop Desmond Tutu

I don't preach a social gospel; I preach the Gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person.  Bishop Desmond Tutu

A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new; when an age ends; and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance. Jawaharlal Nehru

Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.   Jawaharlal Nehru

Anger is never without an argument, but seldom with a good one. Indira Gandhi

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave. Indira Gandhi

People tend to forget their duties but remember their right. Indira Gandhi

The power to question is the basis of all human progress. Indira Gandhi

Experience has shown how deeply the seeds of war are planted by economic rivalry and social injustice. Harry S. Truman

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first. Harry S. Truman

Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better. Harry S. Truman

Anyone who knows history, particularly the history of Europe, will, I think, recognize that the domination of education or of government by any one particular religious faith is never a happy arrangement for the people. Eleanor Roosevelt 

For it isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it. Eleanor Roosevelt 

Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect. Eleanor Roosevelt 

I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiousity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life. Eleanor Roosevelt

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility. Eleanor Roosevelt 

Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little. Eleanor Roosevelt 

The battle for the individual rights of women is one of long standing and none of us should countenance anything which undermines it. Eleanor Roosevelt 

Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things. Alexander Hamilton

In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself. Alexander Hamilton

The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. Patrick Henry

We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power... the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Patrick Henry

Give me love, give me peace on earth, give me light, give me life, keep me free from birth, give me hope, help me cope, with this heavy load, trying to, touch and reach you with, heart and soul. When you've seen beyond yourself, then you may find, peace of mind is waiting there. George Harrison

With our love, we could save the world.  George Harrison

Compassion is not weakness, and concern for the unfortunate is not socialism. Hubert Humphrey

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate. Hubert Humphrey

It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.  Hubert Humphrey

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content. Helen Keller

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. Helen Keller

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved. Robert Kennedy

Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. Robert Kennedy

A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad. Albert Camus

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world. Albert Camus

But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads? Albert Camus

A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. Jimmy Carter

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. People have the right to expect that these wants will be provided for by this wisdom. Jimmy Carter

It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever. Jimmy Carter

The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself-always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity. Jimmy Carter

The challenges of change are always hard. It is important that we begin to unpack those challenges that confront this nation and realize that we each have a role that requires us to change and become more responsible for shaping our own future. Senator Hillary Clinton

What we have to do... is to find a way to celebrate our diversity and debate our differences without fracturing our communities.  Senator Hillary Clinton

Let us all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families but for our communities and our country. President William Clinton

In the new economy, information, education, and motivation are everything. President William Clinton

Part of our essential humanity is paying respect to what God gave us and what will be here a long time after we're gone. President William Clinton

Strength and wisdom are not opposing values. President William Clinton

America is not anything if it consists of each of us. It is something only if it consists of all of us. Woodrow Wilson

America was established not to create wealth but to realize a vision, to realize an ideal - to discover and maintain liberty among men. Woodrow Wilson

The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation. Woodrow Wilson

You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk. Rosalynn Carter

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be. Rosalynn Carter

Do what you can to show you care about other people, and you will make our world a better place. Rosalynn Carter

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. Winston Churchill

Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others. Winston Churchill

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. Winston Churchill

A central lesson of science is that to understand complex issues (or even simple ones), we must try to free our minds of dogma and to guarantee the freedom to publish, to contradict, and to experiment. Arguments from authority are unacceptable. Carl Sagan

Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works. Carl Sagan

By cultivating the beautiful we scatter the seeds of heavenly flowers, as by doing good we cultivate those that belong to humanity. Robert A. Heinlein

I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. Robert A. Heinlein

I never learned from a man who agreed with me.
 Robert A. Heinlein

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do. Pope John XXIII

The true and solid peace of nations consists not in equality of arms, but in mutual trust alone. Pope John XXIII

The test and the use of man's education is that he finds pleasure in the exercise of his mind. Jacques Barzun

In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years. Jacques Barzun

Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition. Jacques Barzun

German Mystic

We are celebrating the feast of the Eternal Birth which God the Father has borne and never ceases to bear in all eternity... But if it takes not place in me, what avails it? Everything lies in this, that it should take place in me. Meister Elkhart

What a man takes in by contemplation, that he pours out in love. Meister Elkhart

You may call God love, you may call God goodness. But the best name for God is compassion. Meister Elkhart

A civilization built on dualism and war within and between persons, one that puts its most creative minds and its best engineers to sadistic work building more and more destructive weapons, is no civilization at all. It needs a radical transformation from the heart outwards. It needs to outgrow and outlaw war just as in the last century it outlawed slavery. The human race has outgrown war, but it hardly knows it yet. Matthew Fox

Beauty saves. Beauty heals. Beauty motivates. Beauty unites. Beauty returns us to our origins, and here lies the ultimate act of saving, of healing, of overcoming dualism. Matthew Fox

Creation is all things and us. It is us in relationship with all things. All things, the ones we see and the ones we do not; the whirling galaxies and the wild suns, the black holes and the microorganisms, the trees and the stars, the fish and the whales - the molten lava and the towering snow-capped mountains, the children we give birth to and their children, and theirs, and theirs, and theirs. -- Matthew Fox

Do not confuse beauty with beautiful. Beautiful is a human judgment. Beauty is All. The difference is everything. -- Matthew Fox

We are in the cosmos and the cosmos is in us. -- Matthew Fox

We were made for something cosmic and will not fit peacefully into anything much smaller. And when we try to build our lives around anything much smaller than cosmos we become grotesque, and our institutions, be they religious or familial or educational or governmental are asked to do too much. They become misshapen and malformed and turn into instruments of cosmic and personal destruction. -- Matthew Fox

To recover a spiritual tradition in which creation, and the study of creation, matters would be to inaugurate new possibilities between spirituality and science that would shape the paradigms for culture, its institution, and its people. -- Matthew Fox

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them. Galileo Galilei

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. Galileo Galilei

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. Galileo Galilei

In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration. Ansel Adams 

It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment. Ansel Adams 

Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit. Ansel Adams 

The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it. Wendell Berry

The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope of survival. Wendell Berry

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see. John Burroughs

For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice - no paper currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service. John Burroughs

The groves were God's first temples. William C. Bryant

Weep not that the world changes - did it keep a stable, changeless state, it were a cause indeed to weep. William C. Bryant

There is no glory in star or blossom till looked upon by a loving eye; There is no fragrance in April breezes till breathed with joy as they wander by. William C. Bryant

Scientist

Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses. George Washington Carver

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom. George Washington Carver

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in. George Washington Carver