Ayn Rand: "The question isn't who..."

"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me."

—Ayn Rand

Jordan Roth: "She sees all of us..."

"She sees all of us as our best selves. And then helps us become it. That is what it is to produce. To make. To create. To build something because you see it as what it can be, not just what it is now. To do that for a show is a talent. To do it for a person is a blessing."

-Jordan Roth (speaking of his mother, Daryl Roth)

Ben Franklin: "If we don't hang together..."

"If we don't hang together, we shall surely hang separately."

-Ben Franklin

Natasha Lyonne: "...just hang in there..."

"... just hang in there. The world can be a much bigger place."

-Natasha Lyonne

Christopher Robin: "You're braver than you believe..."

"You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

—Christopher Robin to Pooh (A. A. Milne)

Fred Rogers: "When we treat children's...

Geraldine Brooks: "With rest you might..."

"With rest you might find the world a small bit brighter."

—Geraldine Brooks, Year of Wonders

Rudolf Dreikurs: "There is no pat..."

"There is no pat answer nor any definitive rule for encouraging children. It all depends upon the child's response."

—Rudolf Dreikurs, Children: The Challenge (p46)

Rudolf Dreikurs: "Contrary to popular opinion..."

"Contrary to popular opinion, stimulating competition between two children does not encourage. Instead, it emphasizes the hopelessness of the situation to the discouraged child and creates apprehension in the successful one that she may not be able to stay ahead. She is overambitious and sets up impossible goals for herself. Unless she is always ahead, she may consider herself a failure, too."

—Rudolf Dreikurs, Children: The Challenge (p44)

Rudolf Dreikurs: "Half the job of..."

"Half the job of encouraging a child lies in avoiding discouragement either by humiliation or by overprotection. Anything we do that supports a child's lack of faith in herself is discouraging."

—Rudolf Dreikurs, Children: The Challenge (p38-39)

Laura Munson: "It's fascinating to me..."

"It's fascinating to me how this pattern tends to repeat itself: just when you get strong, happy, and choose to powerfully fulfill yourself, that's when the shit hits the fan. (Be careful when you change the game. The world might not want to see you so happy.)"

—Laura Munson, This Is Not The Story You Think It Is

Julia Cameron: "I realized that I..."

"I realized that I was probably in the best position of my life.  I may not yet have all that I want but I have far more than I've ever had previously."

—Julia Cameron, The Creative Life

Julia Cameron: "All it takes is..."

"All it takes is the humility to try again."

—Julia Cameron, The Creative Life

Julia Cameron: "It's so full of..."

"It's so full of promise.  As it stands, it's halfway terrific and halfway flawed."

—Julia Cameron, The Creative Life

Julia Cameron: "What we can't master..."

"What we can't master today, we might well master tomorrow.  Our skills may catch up to our vision after all."

—Julia Cameron, The Creative Life

Rudolf Dreikurs: "A misbehaving child is..."

"A misbehaving child is a discouraged child."

—Rudolf Dreikurs, Children: The Challenge (p36)

Voltaire: "Don't let the perfect..."

"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

—Voltaire

Marianne Williamson: "Our deepest fear is..."

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others."

—Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

Bill Withers: "You can't get to..."

"You can't get to wonderful without passing through alright."

—Bill Withers in Wisdom

Alan W. Watts: "You do not play..."

"You do not play a sonata to reach the final chord...
And if the meanings of things were simply in the ends,
composers would write nothing but finales."

—Alan W. Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity