Booth Tarkington

"Adventure is the antidote to ordinary existence."

"Imagination constructs the future before reality builds it."

"History is humanity's laboratory for learning."

"Philosophy teaches us to think beyond convention."

"Literature preserves the human spirit across ages."

"Politics at its best serves the common good."

"War scarifies the soul in ways peace cannot heal."

"Motivation is the spark; persistence is the fire."

"Inspiration strikes those prepared to receive it."

"Relationships flourish in the soil of mutual respect."

"The world is not interested in the storms you encountered, but whether you brought in the ship."

"If you smile at people, they will almost always smile back."

"Practical observation commonly shows that the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."

"The gentleman is made, not born."

"Youth is the best time to be rich, and the best time to be poor."

"We are not sent into this world to do anything into which we cannot put our hearts."

"The most imminent danger to American institutions is the danger of limiting the bounds of sympathy."

"Art is the response to the demand for entertainment, for the stimulation of our senses and imagination."

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American."

"Nothing so much relieves a person's feelings as making a fool of himself."

"The rewards of virtue are in the attainment of virtue, and not in a table of rules."

"Beauty is not a quality in things themselves: it exists merely in the mind."

"All changes are more or less tinged with melancholy."

"In every heart there is a room; a room nobody else on earth is allowed in."

"The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms."

"Poverty is not a shame, but being ashamed of it is."

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious."

"A boy is naturally attracted to anything forbidden."

"The love of beauty is an essential part of all healthy human nature."

"Success is only a judgment of society, and its value is therefore a matter of opinion."