Eleanor Roosevelt

“Probably the happiest period in life most frequently is in middle age, when the eager passions of youth are cooled, and the infirmities of age not yet begun; as we see that the shadows, which are at morning and evening so large, almost entirely disappear at midday.”

“Old age has deformities enough of its own. It should never add to them the deformity of vice.”

“One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes... and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.”

“Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.”

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'”

“We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.”

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”

“If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.”

“I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.”

“When life is too easy for us, we must beware or we may not be ready to meet the blows which sooner or later come to everyone, rich or poor.”

“Campaign behavior for wives: Always be on time. Do as little talking as humanly possible. Lean back in the parade car so everybody can see the president.”

“I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.”

“Anyone who knows history, particularly the history of Europe, will, I think, recognize that the domination of education or of government by any one particular religious faith is never a happy arrangement for the people.”

“I can not believe that war is the best solution. No one won the last war, and no one will win the next war.”

“Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.”

“Friendship with ones self is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.”

“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.”

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

“You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.”

“The giving of love is an education in itself.”

“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.”