#quintessentialmankind

[quintessentialmankind]

With uncertainty on one scale, courage and self-confidence must be thrown into the other to correct the balance.

— Carl Von Clausewitz

[quintessentialmankind]

Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.

— Malcolm X

[quintessentialmankind]

Man cannot control the current of events. He can only float with them and steer.

— Otto von Bismarck

[quintessentialmankind]

Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.

— George Washington

[quintessentialmankind]

We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

— John F. Kennedy

[quintessentialmankind]

I would rather live a short life of glory than a long one of obscurity.

— Alexander the Great

[quintessentialmankind]

Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity. The relationship between the soundness of the body and the activities of the mind is subtle and complex. Much is not yet understood. But we do know what the Greeks knew: that intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong.

[quintessentialmankind]

Aloofness, character, and the personification of greatness, these qualities surround with prestige those who are prepared to carry a burden which is too heavy for lesser mortals. The price they have to pay for leadership is unceasing self-discipline, the constant taking of risks, and a perpetual inner struggle. The degree of suffering involved varies according to the temperament of the individual; but it is bound to be no less tormenting than the hair shirt of the penitent. Contentment and tranquillity and the simple joys which go by the name of happiness are denied to those who fill positions of power. One day somebody said to Napoleon, as they were looking at an old and noble monument: ‘How sad it is!’ ‘Yes,’ came the reply, ‘as sad as greatness.’