A quote by Herman Melville

A quote by award-winning actor Tom Hanks

"We are still in the position of waking up and having a choice. Do I make the world better today somehow, or do I not bother?"

A quote by Lucille Ball

"Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world."

A quote by Howard Hughes

"Do the impossible, because almost everyone has told me my ideas are merely fantasies."

A quote by Ralph Bunche

"The well-being and the hopes of the peoples of the world can never be served until peace - as well as freedom, honor and self-respect - is secure."

A quote from Robin Williams

"There’s no shame in failing. The only shame is not giving things your best shot."

'Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a persons own mind—than on the externals in the world.'

- George Washington (1732-1799)

A quote by Alex Haley

"Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you."

A quote by Magic Johnson

"Celebrate the life you had, not the life you could've had."

Sartre believed those who deny their own freedom are operating in 'bad faith'

In "Existentialism is a Humanism," Sartre argues that humans are "condemned to be free"—they are not confined to a divine fate, which means they must take the responsibility of creating their own destinies. Those who reject this freedom, by his estimation, are living in "bad faith."

A Quote by Sandra Day O'Connor

"Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time."

A quote by Lauren Bacall

"Imagination is the highest kite one can fly."

A quote by Roger Federer

"There is no way around hard work. Embrace it."

'I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.'

- Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)

'No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.'

-Charles Dickens (1812-1870), in "Our Mutual Friend"

'I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot ... The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.'

- Author Jack London (1876 - 1916)

'And I knew that it was better to live out one's absurdity than to die for that of others.'

-Ralph Ellison, from "Invisible Man" (1913-1994)

Understanding Thoreau's critique of American work

John Kaag, a coauthor of "Henry at Work: Thoreau on Making a Living," explains how the writer is often mischaracterized as a layabout who avoided responsibilities. Kaag, though, notes that Thoreau was a jack-of-all-trades—working as a schoolteacher and a handyman, and even for his father's pencil-manufacturing company—who came to believe that relentless striving was getting in the way of authentic living.

Why Henry David Thoreau was not a hermit

When many people think of "Walden," they think of a man who intentionally exiled himself from society. But that's inaccurate. Thoreau regularly welcomed guests and explained that he kept three chairs in his modest cabin: "one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society."

'Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions.'

- Legendary author Jane Austen (1775 -1817)

'I am a writer who came from a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.'

- American novelist Eudora Welty (1909-2001)

'Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.'

- Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) in "Elenora"

A quote from Mark Cuban

"Talent without effort is wasted talent. And while effort is the one thing you can control in your life, applying that effort intelligently is next on the list."

A quote from Van Gogh

"Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful."

'I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.'

- Martha Washington (1731-1802)

The political theory of Henry David Thoreau

The two years, two months, and two days that Thoreau spent living in a modest cabin at Walden Pond informed his beliefs that people should live simply, deliberately, and become self-reliant. Those beliefs were later articulated, in a political sense, in his landmark essay, "Civil Disobedience."

A prominent writer analyzes Thoreau's apparent contradictions

Some call Thoreau a monkish hermit living in the woods, while others say he's a privileged layabout who was playacting a simple life. In this essay, Rebecca Solnit argues that both of those assessments are caricatures that reduce a complex man who reckoned with complex ideas.

A quote by gymnast Nadia Comăneci

"Do not pray for an easy life, pray to be a strong person."

'It's those who lie outside ordinary experience who have the most to teach us.'

- Author Malcolm Gladwell (1963 - present)

Philosopher Bertrand Russell's 1932 case for laziness: with modern machinery, society could work four hours a day and still produce just as much.

The long-tail influence of Thoreau's 'Civil Disobedience'

His essay "Civil Disobedience" laid out both a practical and a moral plan for resisting unjust governments, inspiring civil rights leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as anti-war anarchists like Emma Goldman and literary figures like Leo Tolstoy.

'If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.'

- Billionaire John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)

'When you're climbing Mount Everest, nothing is easy. You just take one step at a time, never look back and always keep your eyes glued to the top.'

- Author Jacqueline Susann (1918-1974)

Existentialism inspired Franklin Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr.

The Danish philosopher, sometimes called “the father of existentialism,” believed that individuals needed to resist the temptation of conformity and instead discover their authentic selves. His work became remarkably influential in the 20th century. In 1944, Roosevelt said that reading Kierkegaard made him understand how the Nazis could’ve enacted so much violence. In 1959, King wrote that existentialism was “especially meaningful for our time.”

'Why am I trying to become what I don't want to be … when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am.'

-Author Arthur Miller (1915-2005) in "Death of a Salesman"

One teacher's lesson on existentialism and social media use

During a unit on existentialist literature and philosophy, one teacher at Massachusetts’ Phillips Academy asked students to surrender their cell phones to test Kierkegaard’s thoughts on the danger of conformity and Sartre’s belief that humans are “condemned to be free.” Many of them were surprised to find how liberated they felt once they left behind social media.

A quote by Florence Nightingale

"Poetry and imagination begin life."

'Vacation' wasn't common for Americans until the mid-1800s, when it became a luxury for the wealthy.

'Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.'

- Muhammad Ali (1942-2016)

1928: A quote from Amelia Earhart

"Ours is the commencement of a flying age, and I am happy to have popped into existence at a period so interesting."

'Men and nature must work hand in hand. The throwing out of balance of the resources of nature throws out of balance also the lives of men.'

- President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)

'Don't gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold.'

-Reggae pioneer Bob Marley (1945-1981)

'One man can make a difference and every man should try.'

- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994)

'Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.'

- Bobby Kennedy

'I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse.'

- Modern nursing innovator Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)

'Knowledge will forever govern ignorance.'

- US President James Madison (1751-1836)

A quote by scientist Nikola Tesla

"The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result ... His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way."

'Everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt and control them. The best readers come to fiction to be free of all that noise.'

- Author Philip Roth (1933-2018)

The 1819 novel 'Ivanhoe' popularized the word 'freelancing'

In the novel, the author wrote about “free-lances:” mercenary soldiers who were “free” to use their weapons (called, yes, “lances”) in service of whoever paid them the most. A video details that story and other gig economy basics.

'The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy a liquid.'

-Writer J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)

'No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come.'

-Author Victor Hugo (1802-1885)