Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.
– St. Augustine of Hippo
Quoted in Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing edited by Larry Chang, who is currently working on a new book, Wisdom for the Soul of Queer Folk.
I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way.
Letter to Le Ray de Chaumont (16 November 1778), as quoted in The Naval History of the United States (1890) by Willis John Abbot, p. 82
The Winter Olympics have opened in Sochi, Russia, at the edge of the Black Sea, where John Paul Jones fought in the Russian Navy under Catherine The Great. This is the same John Paul Jones who commanded the Bonhomme Richard during the American Revolutionary War.
Don’t try to win over the haters; you are not a jackass whisperer.
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/630701-don-t-try-to-win-over-the-haters-you-are-not
Vulnerability is not weakness. It is our greatest measure of strength.
I never, till now, had a friend who could give me repose; all have disturbed me, and, whether for pleasure or pain, it was still disturbance. But peace overflows from your heart into mine.
– Nathaniel Hawthorne
You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea.It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must have gnats. Do not bother yourself about it; disdain. Keep your mind serene as you keep your life clear.
– Victor Hugo, Villemain
On résiste à l’invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l’invasion des idées.
One translation: No one can stop an idea whose time has come.
Another translation: While it is possible to resist military might, an invasion of ideas cannot be stopped.
– Victor Hugo, History of a Crime
http://www.quotecounterquote.com/2011/02/nothing-is-more-powerful-than-idea.html
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo