The best fame is a writer's fame: it's enough to get a table in a good restaurant, but not enough that you get interrupted when you eat.

Fran Lebowitz

The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Oft times nothing profits more Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right Well manag'd.

John Milton (1608-1674)

Self-trust is the first secret of success, the belief that if you are here the authorities of the universe put you here, and for cause, or with some task
strictly appointed you in your constitution, and so long as you work at that you are well and successful.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to remove the wrongs of the injured.

Koran