“Jefferson refused to pin his hopes on the occasional success of honest and unambitious men; on the contrary, the great danger was that philosophers would be lulled into complacence by the accidental rise of a Franklin or a Washington. Any government which made the welfare of men depend on the character of their governors was an illusion.” MenMadeCharacterGovernmentWould BeHonestDangerDependsIllusionPhilosopherContraryWelfareGovernorsPinsOccasionalFranklin Book:The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson Source: The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson
“All happiness depends on courage and work. I have had many periods of wretchedness, but with energy and above all with illusions, I pulled through them all.” EnergyDependsPeriodsIllusionWretchedness Author:Honore de Balzac
“I have never had illusions about the value of my individual contribution! I realized early that what a man or a woman does is built on what those who have gone before have done, that its real value depends on making the matter in hand a little clearer, a little sounder for those who come after. Nobody begins or ends anything. Each person is a link, weak or strong, in an endless chain. One of our gravest mistakes is persuading ourselves that nobody has passed this way before.” MenWayLittlesPersonsDoeRealEndsMatterDoneHandsValuesIndividualStrongMistakeGoneProgressDependsIllusionBuiltWeakActivismI RealizedEndlessChainsContributionLinksReal ValuePersuadingSounder Author:Ida Tarbell
“Any government which made the welfare of men depend on the character of their governors was an illusion.” MenMadeCharacterGovernmentDependsIllusionWelfareGovernors Author:Daniel J. Boorstin
“After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us toward is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven.” NeedsTryingFirstsMayStillsImportantSoulMomentsHelpingHandsAsksProcessTeachVirtueWorstDependsHabitDespairIllusionPicksTrainCuresForgivenAlways TryingTry AgainTruthfulnessChastityAsking For ForgivenessBest MomentsGod FirstPick Yourself Up Author:C. S. Lewis