The great end of life is not knowledge but action.
- Thomas Henry Huxley
Related topics: Life Human-Nature Psychology Action
The Four Stages of Public Opinion
I (Just after publication): The novelty is absurd
and subversive of Religion and Morality.
The propounder both fool and knave.
II (Twenty years later): The Novelty is absolute Truth
and will yield a full and satisfactory
explanation of things in general -
The propounder a man of sublime genius and perfect virtue.
III (Forty years later): The Novelty won't explain
things in general after all, and therefore is a wretched failure.
The propounder a very ordinary person advertised by a clique.
IV (A century later): The Novelty a mixture of truth and error.
Explains as much as could reasonably be expected.
The propounder worthy of all honor
in spite of his share of human frailties,
as one who has added to the permanent possessions of science.
- Thomas Henry [T. H.] Huxley
Silence is a source of great strength.
- Lao Tzu 
Where there is great love,
there are always miracles.
- Willa Cather 
Please sign-up for my Free Daily Inspirational Quotes and Insights Email on the form below.
Thank you for joining me on this journey we call life,
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
If a man is called to be a street sweeper,
he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted,
or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.
He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts
of heaven and earth will pause to say,
here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. 
The essence of life is not in
the great victories and grand failures,
but in the simple joys.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie 
To the young child, all life is a great adventure -
when did we grow so dull and brittle.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie 
After climbing a great hill,
one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
- Nelson Mandela
Character is higher than intellect.
A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Confidence is that feeling by which the mind embarks
in great and honorable courses
with a sure hope and trust in itself.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie,
deliberate, contrived and dishonest,
but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.
- John F. Kennedy
Great men or men of great gifts
you shall easily find,
but symmetrical men never.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak.
Strong convictions precede great actions.
- Louisa May Alcott
Little strokes,
Fell great oaks.
- Benjamin Franklin
A great secret of success is to go through life
as a man who never gets used up.
- Albert Schweitzer
Great acts are made up of small deeds.
- Lao Tzu
These are not dark days -
these are great days.
- Winston Churchill
The magic words for a great relationship are,
"I love you just the way you are."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie 
To be conscious that you are ignorant
is a great step to knowledge.
- Benjamin Disraeli
One of the surest ways to cause
yourself great suffering
is to insist upon being right -
to demand that all others view life
exactly as you view it.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
My great concern is not whether you have failed,
but whether you are content with your failure.
- Abraham Lincoln
To the philosopher,
death is but the next great adventure.
- J. K. Rowling
Keep courage. Whatever you do,
do not feel sorry for yourself.
You will win in a great age of opportunity.
- Richard L. Evans
Dare to dream of your great success.
Become intimate with those things
which deeply motivate you
and regularly work toward
the realization of that mission.
- Mary Anne Radmacher
The choice is to work alone to be a little
more successful than the next person,
or to work together for the great betterment of humanity.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
In this life we cannot do great things.
We can only do small things with great love.
- Mother Teresa
To be oneself is a rare thing, and a great one.
- Ursula K. Le Guin
In times of great stress or adversity,
it's always best to keep busy,
to plow your anger and your energy
into something positive.
- Lee Iacocca
Great minds have purposes others have wishes.
- Washington Irving
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. -
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do the difficult things while they are easy
and do the great things while they are small.
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
- Lao Tzu
From small beginnings come great things.
- Anonymous
It is an act of great Courage to forsake all Blame.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Man becomes great exactly in the degree
in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi
If the misery of the poor be caused
not by the laws of nature,
but by our institutions,
great is our sin.
- Charles Darwin
You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!
- Dr. Seuss
No great thing is created suddenly.
- Epictetus
We can do no great things,
only small things with great love.
- Mother Teresa
You will become as small as your controlling desire;
as great as your dominant aspiration.
- James Allen
It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies,
but even more to stand up to your friends.
- J.K. Rowling
The wise man looks into space,
and does not regard the small as too little,
nor the great as too much;
for he knows that there is no limit to dimensions.
- Lao Tzu
Until you'll willing to look foolish,
you'll never have the possibility of being great.
- Cher
I have decided to stick with love.
Hate is too great a burden to bear.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
The great pleasure in life is doing
what people say you cannot do.
- Walter Bagehot
Small opportunities are often
the beginning of great enterprises.
- Demosthenes
Dare to dream of your great success.
- Mary Anne Radmacher
That some achieve great success,
is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.
- Abraham Lincoln
The Universe is one great kindergarten for man.
Everything that exists has brought
with it its own peculiar lesson.
- Orison Swett Marden
Great leadership is not the visit of an unexpected fate
but rather a flame which is kept burning
in spite of the winds of risk and opposition.
- Mary Anne Radmacher
Great works are performed not by strength,
but by perseverance.
- Samuel Johnson
Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones,
as the wind blows out the candle and blows up the bonfire.
- Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Nurture your mind with great thoughts,
for you will never go any higher than you think.
- Benjamin Disraeli
Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative,
to which all beings owe their beginning
and which permeates all heaven.
- Lao Tzu
Great oaks from little acorns grow.
- Proverb
Trust men and they will be true to you;
treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
To be great is to be misunderstood.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life is a great big canvas,
and you should throw all the paint you can on it.
- Danny Kaye
If a warrior is to succeed at anything,
the success must come gently,
with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession.
- Carlos Castaneda
Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.
- Samuel Johnson
Wealth consists not in having great possessions,
but in having few wants.
- Epictetus
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Confidence is the most important single factor in this game,
and no matter how great your natural talent,
there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work.
- Jack Nicklaus
Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.
- John D. Rockefeller
Half a truth is often a great lie.
- Benjamin Franklin
Being is the great explainer.
- Henry David Thoreau
Before we acquire great power
we must acquire wisdom to use it well.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those
who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thinking is necessary, but not sufficient, for living a great life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
All difficult things have
their origin in that which is easy,
and great things in that which is small.
- Lao Tzu
A great man is always willing to be little.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Please sign up on the form below to receive my Free Daily Inspiration - Daily Quotes email.
May the world be kind to you, and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie
All materials & writings are copyright © Jonathan Lockwood Huie, except for quotes and other specifically identified material which belong to their respective copyright holders if applicable.
Jonathan Huie jlh(at)jlhuie(dot)com - About & Disclosure