Catherine de Medici

"The future is made of the same stuff as the present."

"A woman who cannot rule herself cannot rule others."

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will."

"When one's expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have."

"Knowledge is power."

"The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of."

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

"Love is the only thing that grows when shared."

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal."

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

"One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality."

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that."

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."

"What we think, we become."

"The measure of intelligence is the ability to change."

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear."

"Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time,' is like saying, 'I don't want to.'"

"Either you run the day or the day runs you."

"Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart."

"The only impossible journey is the one you never begin."

"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together."

"Family is where life begins and love never ends."

"Peace begins with a smile."

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

"Music is the universal language of mankind."