Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny. – Carl Schurz, address, Faneuil Hall, Boston, 1859

One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent. – Epictetus

Fix your eyes on perfection and you make almost everything speed towards it. – William Ellery Channing