John Lubbock Quotes - Page 2

Our own happiness ought not to be our main objective in life.

We often hear of people breaking down from overwork, but in nine out of ten they are really suffering from worry or anxiety.

Endurance is a much better test of character than any single act of heroism, however noble.

There can be no merit in believing something which you can neither explain nor understand.

Exercise of the muscles keeps the body in health, and exercise of the brain brings peace of mind.

A crowd is not necessarily company, but neither need it necessarily prevent thought or disturb peace of mind.

The idle man does not know what it is to enjoy rest, for he has not earned it.

Do what you will, only do something.

We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth.

However vexed you may be overnight, things will often look very different in the morning.

The world would be better and brighter if people were taught the duty of being happy as well as the happiness of doing their duty.

Great battles are really won before they are actually fought. To control our passions we must govern our habits, and keep watch over ourselves in the small details of everyday life.

Though it is a great mistake to make friends of the wicked and foolish, it is unwise to make enemies of them, for they are very numerous.

Don't be afraid of showing affection. Be warm and tender, thoughtful and affectionate. Men are more helped by sympathy than by service. Love is more than money, and a kind word will give more pleasure than a present.

It would be a great thing if people could be brought to realize that they can never add to the sum of their happiness by doing wrong.

Life is a great gift, and as we reach years of discretion, most of us naturally ask ourselves what should be the main object of our existence.

Your character will be what you yourself choose to make it.

The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should have the opportunity of teaching itself. What does it matter if the pupil know a little more or a little less? A boy who leaves school knowing much, but hating his lessons, will soon have forgotten all he ever learned; while another who had acquired a thirst for knowledge, even if he had learned little, would soon teach himself more than the first ever knew.

Many a blessing has been recognized too late.

All those who love Nature she loves in return, and will richly reward, not perhaps with the good things, as they are commonly called, but with the best things of this world-not with money and titles, horses and carriages, but with bright and happy thoughts, contentment and peace of mind.

Happy indeed is the naturalist: to him the seasons come round like old friends; to him the birds sing: as he walks along, the flowers stretch out from the hedges, or look up from the ground, and as each year fades away, he looks back on a fresh store of happy memories.

A wise system of education will at last teach us how little man yet knows, how much he has still to learn.

Here are the three great questions which in life we have over and over again to answer: Is it right or wrong? Is it true or false? Is it beautiful or ugly? Our education ought to help us to answer these questions.

Do not lay things too much to heart. No one is ever really beaten unless he is discouraged.

A Cheerful friend is like a sunny day, which sheds its brightness on all around.