Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld

There is a great deal of pain in life and perhaps the only pain that can be avoided is the pain that comes from trying to avoid pain. – R. D. Laing