The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.
-- Charles Dudley Warner (1829 - 1900), 'Eleventh Study,' Backlog Studies, 1873

Believe that you will succeed, and you will.
-- Dale Carnegie, 1888-1955

It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank and independent.
-- W. Somerset Maugham, 'Of Human Bondage', 1915

Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.
-- John Henry Cardinal Newman

Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
-- Walter Bagehot

Do not throw the arrow which will return against you.
-- Kurdish Proverb