Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.  Plato quotes
The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while Nature cures the disease Voltaire quotes Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. Thomas Jefferson quotes But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life; and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine. Thomas Jefferson quotes No man who has once heartily and wholly laughed can be altogether irreclaimably bad. Thomas Carlyle quotes To change your life: start immediately; do it flamboyantly; no exceptions. William James quotes Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live. Mark Twain quotes Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. St. Francis of Assisi quotes Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted, but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known. Garrison Keillor quotes I have no particular talent. I am merely inquisitive. Albert Einstein quotes | 
