Great minds have purposes, little minds have wishes. 
                                                                – Washington Irving

About Washington Irving

Washington Irving, known for such stories as "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," is considered by many the father of the American short story. He was born in New York in 1783. Although he ultimately returned to New York, he lived in Europe for 17 years, working for the US Embassy. His extensive travels through the southern and western United States led to books about his tours. He took many years to recover from the death of his fiancée in 1809 and never married. He died in 1859.

Do you believe this?
"It is better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life."
                              Some People Do.

"It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly."
                                                                 – Isaac Asimov

About Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov, the American author known as one of the top writers of science fiction's golden age, penned nearly 500 fiction and nonfiction books, including the Foundation trilogy and I, Robot. Born in 1920 in Russia, he moved to the US with his parents at age three. As a teen, he would read pulp magazines in his parents' candy store and became inspired to write his own stories. His fiction frames interesting ideas in a bare-bones narrative. He died in 1992.

"We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results."
                                                                        – Herman Melville

About Herman Melville

American author Herman Melville is best known for his epic whaling novel, Moby-Dick, which wasn't recognized as a masterpiece until after his death. He was born in New York in 1819. At age 20, he went to sea on a whaling ship. His seafaring adventures included time with cannibals in the Marquesas Islands, the basis for his successful novel Typee. His later, more philosophical, novels were not as well received as his early adventure yarns, and he died in obscurity in 1891.

"Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt and dance like no one is watching."
                                         -Sachiel Page

(Before this one, the famous quote from this ancient major league baseball pitcher was: "Don't Look Back, Something Might Be Gaining On You.")  Satchel Paige

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."
- Henry Ford

"There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up."
                                                                                  Booker T. Washington

About Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington, the influential American educator, was the first African-American to be invited to the White House; he also had tea with Queen Victoria. He was born in slavery in Virginia in 1856. After emancipation, he worked in the salt mines. When he learned of a school that would accept former slaves, he walked much of the 400 miles to get there. He became an outspoken advocate of education and hard work for African-Americans and founded Tuskegee University. He died in 1915.

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be."
- Abraham Maslow

"The great challenge of adulthood is holding on to your idealism after you lose your innocence."
                                                             Bruce Springsteen

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak,
but their echoes are truly endless."
- Mother Teresa