Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.--Clare Boothe Luce (in Reader's Digest, 1979)

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.--Maya Angelou

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.--Raymond Lindquist

Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.
The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things;
Knows not the livid loneliness of fear;
Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear
The sound of wings.--Amelia Earhart

 Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are stiffened.--Billy Graham

Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.--Eddie Rickenbacker

Courage is not a virtue or value among other personal values like love or fidelity. It is the foundations that underlies and gives reality to all other virtue and personal values.--Rollo May (The Courage to Create)

Courage is not simply another virtue, it is the true form each and every virtue takes when put into practice.--Michael Rawls (from Friday's Inspiration: The Foundation of Integrity - 6/1/2001)

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.--Ambrose Redmoon

 Courage can't see around corners, but goes around them anyway.--Mignon McLaughlin (The Neurotic's Notebook)

Courage, contrary to popular belief, is not the absence of fear. Courage is the wisdom to act in spite of fear.--John-Roger and Peter McWilliams (Do It! Let's Get Off our Buts)

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow.--Mary Anne Radmacher

Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought no to be feared.--David Ben-Gurion

 I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.--Joseph Campbell

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.--Patrick Henry

I have learned by some experience, by many examples, and by the writings of countless others before me, also occupied in the search, that certain environments, certain modes of life, certain rules of conduct are more conducive to inner and outer harmony than others. There are, in fact, certain roads that one may follow. Simplification of life is one of them.--Ann Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea)

If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we would all be millionaires.--Abigail Van Buren

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.--Anne Bradstreet (Meditations Divine and Moral)

 Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.--Dan Stanford

Experience isn't interesting until it begins to repeat itself--in fact, till it does that, it hardly is experience.--Elizabeth Bowen (The Death of the Heart)

Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.--Immanuel Kant

Experiences are the seeds out of which wisdom grows.--Konrad Adenauer 

Good judgment is usually the result of experience. And experience is frequently the result of bad judgment. But to learn from the experience of others requires those who have the experience to share the knowledge with those who follow.--Barry LePatner (To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design)

 Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing.--Oscar Wilde

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.--Oscar Wilde

Experience is that marvelous thing that enable you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.--Franklin P. Jones

Experience is the name everyone gives to his mistakes.--Elbert Hubbard

Experience is what really happens to you in the long run; the truth that finally overtakes you.--Katherine Anne Porter ("St. Augustine and the Bullfight" The Collected Essays and Occasional Writings of Katherine Anne Porter)

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.--Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture)

 Fill your life with experiences, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show.' – Anonymous

A new experience can be extremely pleasurable, or extremely irritating, or somewhere in between, and you never know until you try it out.' – Lemony Snicket

Two things control men's nature: instinct and experience.' – Blaise Pascal

Change is our chance to experience the new, to identify additional options and generate different opportunities.' – Barbara Lucas

Men are wise in proportion, not to their experience, but to their capacity for experience.' – George Bernard Shaw

Experience never errs; it is only your judgements that err by expecting from her what is not in her power.' – Leonardo da Vinci

Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness.' – Eckhart Tolle

 There are many arts among men, the knowledge of which is acquired bit by bit by experience. For it is experience that causes our life to move forward by the skill we acquire, while want of experience subjects us to the effects of chance.' – Plato

Experience is the comb that Nature gives us after we are bald.' – Belgian Proverb

If men could learn from history, what lessons it might teach us! But passion and party blind our eyes, and the light which experience gives us is a lantern on the stern, which shines only on the waves behind us.' – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The value of experience is not in seeing much, but in seeing wisely.' – William Osler

Not the fruit of experience, but the experience itself, is the end.' – Walter Pater

Be thankful for everything that happens in your life; it's all an experience.' – Roy T. Bennett

Life is a journey with problems to solve, lessons to learn, but most of all, experiences to enjoy.' – Anonymous

Experience is a lesson of the past to lessen the burden of the future.' – Michael Sage

 Learn from every mistake, because every experience, encounter and particularly your mistakes are there to teach you.' – Oprah Winfrey

Nothing which has entered into our experience is ever lost.' – William Ellery Channing

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that lamp is my experience.' – Patrick Henry

Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.' – Aldous Huxley

Growing up is, after all, only the understanding that one's unique and incredible experience is what everyone shares.' – Doris Lessing

Experience is a private, very largely speechless affair.' – James Baldwin

 You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.' – Albert Camus

Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action.' – Benjamin Disraeli

Working with great people makes you great; you learn a lot, and it also gives you the experience and confidence to move on with your own career.' – 

The more you do, the more experience you have, and the next time it will be easier to choose the right thing.' – Andy Lay

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.' – Auguste Rodin

Experience is making mistakes and learning from them.' – Bill Ackman

 Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Martin Luther King Jr.

Some things cannot be taught; they must be experienced. You never learn the most valuable lessons in life until you go through your own journey.' – Roy T. Bennett

If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself.' – Mao Zedong

Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.' – Rita Mae Brown

 If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.”

It is not my ability, but my response to God’s ability that counts.”

This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person he puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only he can see."

Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees"

The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.”

There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.”

If God sends us on stony paths, he provides strong shoes."

 Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.”

Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.”

Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings…it’s something we make inside ourselves.”

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”

In darkness God’s truth shines most clear.” 

What wings are to a bird and sails to a ship, so is prayer to the soul.”

With Jesus, even in our darkest moments the best remains and the very best is yet to be…”

  Sin is the second most powerful force in the universe, for it sent Jesus to the cross. Only one force is greater—the love of God.”

 Knowing we will be with Christ forever far outweighs our burdens today! Keep your eyes on eternity!”

If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy.”

You will find it is necessary to let things go, simply for the reason that they are too heavy.”

Some knowledge is too heavy...you cannot bear it...your Father will carry it until you are able.”

Don’t bother to give God instructions, just report for duty.”

You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.”

God takes our sins – the past, present, and future, and dumps them in the sea and puts up a sign that says NO FISHING ALLOWED.”

 A real Christian is the one who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.”

 I have never known anyone to accept Christ’s redemption and later regret it.”

 When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.”

 Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.”

 Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.”

 Christ not only died for all: he died for each.”

 Heaven is full of answers for which nobody ever bothered to ask.”

 Take one day at a time. Today, after all, is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”

 We say to our children, 'Act like grown-ups,' but Jesus said to the grown-ups, 'Be like children.'

 It is the Holy Spirit's job to convict, God's job to judge and my job to love.”

 My home is in Heaven. I'm just traveling through this world.”

 God proved his love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’”

Suppose you could gain everything in the whole world, and lost your soul. Was it worth it?”

 There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.”

If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.”

 The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.”

 We are the Bibles the world is reading; we are the creeds the world is needing; we are the sermons the world is heeding.”

 Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye." —Helen Keller

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." —Henry David Thoreau

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving." —Albert Einstein

The most wasted of days is one without laughter." —E.E. Cummings

You don't always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go and see what happens." —Mandy Hale

 ope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.” — Laini Taylor

They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” — Tom Bodett

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” — Albert Einstein

Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.” — Roy T. Bennett

Hope is a waking dream.” — Aristotle

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — C.S. Lewis

There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about.” — Winston Churchill

If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way." —Martin Luther King, Jr.

 Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles.” – Samuel Smiles

“A dream is the bearer of a new possibility, the enlarged horizon, the great hope.” – Howard Thurman

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” – Desmond Tutu

“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.” – Bernard Williams

“Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.” – Robert H. Schuller

“I think it’s a mistake to ever look for hope outside of one’s self.” – Arthur Miller

Once you choose hope, anything’s possible. Christopher Reeve

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. Martin Luther King Jr

Hope is a good thing, maybe even the best of things, and good things never die. Andy Dufresne (Shawshank Redemption)

What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise. Oscar Wilde

H

 Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller

“You are not here merely to make a living, you are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” – Woodrow Wilson

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.” – Magic Johnson

”It’s always something, to know you’ve done the most you could. But, don’t leave off hoping, or it’s of no use doing anything. Hope, hope to the last.” – Charles Dickens

“We must vote for hope, vote for life, vote for a brighter future for all of our loved ones.” – Ed Markey

 If you go looking for a friend, you’re going to find they’re very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.” —Zig Ziglar

“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” —Woodrow Wilson

“The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.” —Elisabeth Foley

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” —Oprah Winfrey

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” —Anais Nin

“A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.” —Donna Roberts

“If you make friends with yourself you will never be alone.” —Maxwell Maltz

 Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.” —Oscar Wilde

“A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.” —Arnold H. Glasgow

“I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.” —Plutarch

“The real test of friendship is can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple?” —Eugene Kennedy

“A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when they’re not so good, and sympathizes with your problems when they’re not so bad.” —Arnold H. Glasgow

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” —Marcel Proust

“Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected.” —Charles Lamb

 Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” —Benjamin Franklin

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” —Abraham Lincoln

“Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” —Babe Ruth

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” —Robert Frost

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” —C.S. Lewis

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” —Walter Winchell

“True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable.” —David Tyson

“Don’t make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up.” —Thomas J. Watson

“A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.” —Unknown

 I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” —Maya Angelou

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” —Oscar Wilde

“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” —Abraham Lincoln

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” —Wayne Gretzky

“You only pass through this life once, you don’t come back for an encore.” —Elvis Presley

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” —Nelson Mandela

 Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who ind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” —Dr. Suess

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” —Helen Keller

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” —Mark Twain

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” —Dr. Seuss

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

 Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.” —Maya Angelou

“Inspiration comes from within yourself. One has to be positive. When you’re positive, good things happen.” —Deep Roy

“The most wasted of days is one without laughter.”  —E. E. Cummings

You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.” —Mandy Hale

“You are enough just as you are.” —Meghan Markle

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” —Michael Altshuler

“Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” —Gloria Steinem

 Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” —William James

“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” —Theodore Roosevelt

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” —Martin Luther King Jr.

“When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let go.” —Carol Burnett

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” —C.S. Lewis

 The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.” —Kobe Bryant

“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” —Helen Keller

“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more.” —Oprah Winfrey

“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.” —John Wooden

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” —Lyndon B. Johnson