"Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best."

Henry Van Dyke Politics See all quotes by Henry Van Dyke →

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“The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.”

“The simple life which blandly ignores all care and conflict, soon becomes flabby and invertebrate, sentimental and gelatinous.”

“Every mountain is, rightly considered, an invitation to climb.”

“The mountain is voiceless and imperturbable; and its very loftiness and serenity sometimes make us the more lonely.”

“For real company and friendship, there is nothing outside of the animal kingdom that is comparable to a river.”

“Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul.”

Resonant Thoughts

"When a man paints a naked woman he gives her less than poor Nature did. I can conceive of few circumstances wherein I would have to paint a woman naked, but if I did I would not mutilate her for doubl…"

— Thomas Eakins

Art1844–1916

#money

"I knew that I could never win a referendum in Germany. We would have lost a referendum on the introduction of the Euro. That's quite clear. I would have lost and by seven to three…. If a Chancellor is…"

— Helmut Kohl

Politics1930–2017

#knowledge

"We must promote the idea of secession. Or more specifically, we must promote the idea of a world composed of tens of thousands of distinct districts, regions, and cantons, and hundred of thousands of …"

— Hans-Hermann Hoppe

Economics1949

#time

"I consider that the building materials are exactly the same as what anybody else makes the thing out of. It's just the way they look at those materials is perhaps a narrower perspective. Time and thos…"

— Frank Zappa

Music1940–1993

#justice