Young man, the secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered I was not God.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. · Reply to a reporter on his ninetieth birthday (March 8, 1931)

Certitude is not the test of certainty. We have been cocksure of many things that were not so.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. · Natural Law (1918)

As life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. · The source reads: “I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived.” · Memorial Day Address (1884)

Even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. · The Common Law (1881), Lecture I

Participating in the competition of the big brains has always seemed to me an awful type of slavery, no less evil than the passion for money or power.

Albert Einstein · The source reads: “I no longer need to take part in the competition of the big brains. Participating in the process has always seemed to me to be an awful type of slavery no less evil than the passion for money or power.” · To Paul Ehrenfest, 5 May 1927, on the race for academic promotion.

Each man is the smith of his own fortune.

Appius Claudius Caecus · The source reads: “Faber est suae quisque fortunae. Each man is the smith of his own fortune.”

He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

Edmund Burke

“Young man, the secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered I was not God.”

“Certitude is not the test of certainty. We have been cocksure of many things that were not so.”

“As life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived.”

“Even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked.”

“Participating in the competition of the big brains has always seemed to me an awful type of slavery, no less evil than the passion for money or power.”

“Each man is the smith of his own fortune.”

“He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.”

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