Personal journal

Explore 166 quotes from the following medium: Personal journal

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Niebuhr

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More information about this quote

Topic

Acceptance Courage Wisdom

Author

Reinhold Niebuhr

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1932 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Niebuhr, Reinhold. Diary entry. 1932.

Every instant of time is a pinprick of eternity.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Eternity Time

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 6.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 6.

It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals. They seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.

Anne Frank

The Diary of a Young Girl

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Topic

Idealism Optimism Human nature

Author

Anne Frank

Source

The Diary of a Young Girl

Medium

Personal journal

Language

Dutch

Time

1944 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Frank, Anne. Journal entry. 15 July 1944.

Be like a headland of rock on which the waves break incessantly: but it stands fast and around it the seething of the waters sinks to rest.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Steadfastness Dependability Inner strength Courage

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Advice Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 4.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 4.

God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.

Soren Kierkegaard

More information about this quote

Topic

God and man Salvation

Author

Soren Kierkegaard

Source

Journals of Soren Kierkegaard

Medium

Personal journal

Language

Danish

Time

1838 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Kierkegaard, Soren. Journal entry. 7 July 1838.

Current Citation

Kierkegaard, Soren. The Journals of Kierkegaard, translated by Alexander Dru. Harper Torch, 1959.

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.

Anaïs Nin

More information about this quote

Topic

Courage Living life to the fullest Life

Author

Anaïs Nin

Source

Journals of Anaïs Nin

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1941 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Nin, Anaïs. "June, 1941." The Diary of Anaïs Nin, vol. 3, 1939-1944, edited by Gunther Stuhlmann. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1969.

Come out of your warm, angular house, resounding with few voices, into the chill, grand, instantaneous night, with such a Presence as a full moon in the clouds.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

More information about this quote

Topic

Experiencing nature Man and nature Civilization and nature

Author

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Source

Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1838 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Journal entry. 11 May 1838.

On Earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.

Jules Renard

More information about this quote

Topic

Heaven and earth Heaven

Author

Jules Renard

Source

Journals of Jules Renard

Medium

Personal journal

Language

French

Time

1896 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Renard, Jules. Journal entry. Dec. 1896.

Current Citation

Renard, Jules. The Journal of Jules Renard, edited and translated by Louise Bogan and Elizabeth Roget. Tin House Books, 2017.

As always, victory will have a hundred fathers, but defeat will never be acknowledged by anyone at all.

Galeazzo Ciano

More information about this quote

Topic

Taking credit Winning and losing Winning Losing

Author

Galeazzo Ciano

Medium

Personal journal

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

Italian

Time

1942 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ciano, Galeazzo. Diary entry. 9 Sept. 1942.

But perhaps the universe is suspended on the tooth of some monster.

Anton Chekhov

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of the universe The universe

Author

Anton Chekhov

Medium

Personal journal

Language

Russian

Time

1904 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chekhov, Anton. Personal notebook entry. c. 1904.

To be misunderstood even by those whom one loves is the cross and bitterness of life. It is the secret of that sad and melancholy smile on the lips of great men which so few understand; it is the cruelest trial reserved for self-devotion; it is what must have oftenest wrung the heart of the Son of man; and if God could suffer, it would be the wound we should be forever inflicting upon Him. He also-He above all-is the great misunderstood, the least comprehended.

Henri-Frederic Amiel

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More information about this quote

Topic

Alienation

Author

Henri-Frederic Amiel

Source

Journals of Henri Frederic Amiel

Medium

Personal journal

Language

French

Time

1849 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Amiel, Henri-Frederic. Journal entry. 27 May 1849.

Pessimism (or rather what is called such) is, in brief, playing the sure game. You cannot lose at it; you may gain. It is the only view of life in which you can never be disappointed.

Thomas Hardy

More information about this quote

Topic

Pessimism Low expectations

Author

Thomas Hardy

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1902 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Notebook entry. 1 Jan. 1902.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Quoted in The Poetry of Thomas Hardy: A Handbook and Commentary, written by J. O. Bailey. UNC Press Books, 2018.

Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations

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Topic

Words vs. actions Taking action Self-improvement Personal growth

Author

Marcus Aurelius

Source

Meditations

Medium

Personal journal

Genre

Philosophical literature

Statement Type

Advice

Language

Greek

Time

180 180s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations. c. 180, bk. 10.

Current Citation

Aurelius, Marcus. Meditations, edited and translated by Martin Hammond. Penguin Classics, 2015, bk. 10.

If all men were just, there still would be some, though not so much, need of government.

Abraham Lincoln

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More information about this quote

Topic

Government Human nature Political theory Politics

Author

Abraham Lincoln

Source

Journals of Abraham Lincoln

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Fragment: On Government." 1 July 1854?

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Fragment on Government, 1854?" Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832-1858, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 1989.

Everyone has something to hide.

Anton Chekhov

More information about this quote

Topic

Secrets

Author

Anton Chekhov

Medium

Personal journal

Language

Russian

Time

1904 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Chekhov, Anton. Personal notebook entry. c. 1904.

I desire the things which will destroy me in the end.

Sylvia Plath

More information about this quote

Topic

Self-destruction Destructive impulses

Author

Sylvia Plath

Medium

Personal journal

Statement Type

Paradox

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Plath, Sylvia. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962, edited by Karen V Kukil. Anchor Books, 2000. Originally a journal entry, 29 Mar. 1951.

Eventually it comes to you: the thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely.

Lorraine Hansberry

More information about this quote

Topic

Uniqueness of each person

Author

Lorraine Hansberry

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1962 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hansberry, Lorraine. Diary entry. 1 May 1962.

When one subtracts from life infancy (which is vegetation),—sleep, eating, and swilling—buttoning and unbuttoning—how much remains of downright existence? The summer of a dormouse.

Lord Byron

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of life

Author

Lord Byron

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1813 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Lord Byron. Journal entry. 7 Dec. 1813.

Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.

Thomas Hardy

More information about this quote

Topic

The improbable

Author

Thomas Hardy

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1871 1870s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Hardy, Thomas. Notebook entry. 12 Feb. 1871.

Current Citation

Hardy, Thomas. The Personal Notebooks of Thomas Hardy: with an Appendix Including the Unpublished Passages in the Original Typescripts of the Life of Thomas Hardy. Columbia University Press, 1979.

Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.

William Bradford

Of Plymouth Plantation

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Topic

Early America

Author

William Bradford

Source

Of Plymouth Plantation

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1620 1620s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Bradford, William. Journal entry. 6 Sept. 1620.

Current Citation

Bradford, William. Of Plymouth Plantation: 1620-1647. Random House, 1981, ch. 9.