Alas for those that never sing, But die with all their music in them!
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., "The Voiceless" (1858)
When Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.
- Mencius, Mencius, Book VI, Part II, ch. 15 (James Legge translation)
For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
- Paul, Galatians 5:17 (NIV)
What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.
- Buddha, Dhammapada, verse 1 (Juan Mascaró translation)
The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 4, §3 (Gregory Hays translation)