Quotes on Ifs

If one lives in a country where racism is held valid and practiced in all ways of life eventually, no matter whether one is a racist or a victim, one comes to feel the absurdity of life....Racism generated from whites is first of all absurd. Racism creates absurdity among blacks as a defense mechanism.

The first lesson is that you can't lose a war if you have command of the air, and you can't win a war if you haven't.

I never went into a tournament or round of golf thinking I had to beat a certain player. I had to beat the golf course. If I prepared myself for a major, went in focused, and then beat the golf course, the rest took care of itself.

If riches increase, set not your hearts upon them: so if friends increase, set not your hearts upon them, but trust in the living God, let it be the living God that you rest on even for all outward things in this world.

I'm not going to throw my imagination away. I refuse to lie down to expectation. If I can just hold out till I'm thirty, I'll be incredible.

And if you don't live, you have nothing to write about.

If these poems repeat themselves, then so does Spring.

And even if this world burns up hidden harps will still play here.

There's a hidden sweetness in the stomach's emptiness. We are lutes, no more, no less. If the soundbox is stuffed full of anything, no music.... When you're full of food and drink, Satan sits where your spirit should.

Do not worry if all the candles in the world flicker and die. We have the spark that starts the fire.

If you are wholly perplexed and in straits, have patience, for patience is the key to joy.

The most important thing is practice in daily life; then you can _x000D_ know gradually the true value of religion. Doctrine is not meant for _x000D_ mere knowledge, but for the improvement of our minds. In order to do _x000D_ that, it must be part of our life. If you put religious doctrine in _x000D_ a building and when you leave the building depart from the practices, _x000D_ you cannot gain its value.

A just society must strive with all its might to right wrongs even if righting wrongs is a highly perilous undertaking. But if it is to survive, a just society must be strong and resolute enough to deal swiftly and relentlessly with those who would mistake its good will for weakness.

The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won't make a life meaningful either.

Nature is what we know. We do not know the gods of religions. And nature is not kind, or merciful, or loving. If God made me - the fabled God of the three qualities of which I spoke: mercy, kindness, love - He also made the fish I catch and eat. And where do His mercy, kindness, and love for that fish come in? No; nature made us - nature did it all - not the gods of the religions.

A person filled with gumption doesn’t sit about stewing about things. He’s at the front of the train of his own awareness, watching to see what’s up the track and meeting it when it comes. That’s gumption. If you’re going to repair a motorcycle, an adequate supply of gumption is the first and most important tool. If you haven’t got that you might as well gather up all the other tools and put them away, because they won’t do you any good.

If you’re alive, you can’t be bored in San Francisco. If you’re not alive, San Francisco will bring you to life.

A lot of people give up when the world seems to be against them, but that's the point when you should push a little harder. I use the analogy of running a race. It seems as though you can’t carry on, but if you just get through the pain barrier, you'll see the end and be okay. Often, just around the corner is where the solution will happen.

Kings were wont to honour philosophers, but if I had such I would honour them as angels that should have such piety in them that they would not seek where they are the second to be the first, and where the third to be the second and so forth.

Find out what you really like if you can. Find out what is really important to you. Then sing your song. You will have something to sing about and your whole heart will be in the singing.

Painting should never look as if it were done with difficulty, however difficult it may actually have been.