It is better to meet danger than to wait for it. He that is on a lee shore, and foresees a hurricane, stands out to sea and encounters a storm to avoid a shipwreck. – Charles Caleb Colton
It is better to do thine own duty, however lacking in merit, than to do that of another, even though efficiently. It is better to die doing ones own duty, for to do the duty of another is fraught with danger. – Bhagavad Gita
I believe that any mans life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement, if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day, and as nearly as possible reaching the high water mark of pure and useful living. – Booker T. Washington
You can forgive people who do not follow you through a philosophical disquisition but to find your wife laughing when you had tears in your eyes, or staring when you were in a fit of laughter, would go some way towards a dissolution of the marriage. – Robert Louis Stevenson