First say to yourself what you would be; Then do what you have to do.
-Epictetus, Discourses, bk. III, ch. 23
Who was Epictetus? (b. c. AD 55, probably at Hierapolis, Phrygia [now Pamukkale, Turkey]--d. c. 135, Nicopolis, Epirus [Greece]), Greek philosopher associated with the Stoics, remembered for the religious tone of his teachings, which commended him to numerous early Christian thinkers.

His original name is not known; epiktetos is the Greek word meaning "acquired." As a boy he was a slave but managed to attend lectures by the Stoic Musonius Rufus. He later became a freedman and lived his life lame and in ill health. In AD 90 he was expelled from Rome with other philosophers by the emperor Domitian, who was irritated by the favourable reception given by Stoics to opponents of his tyranny. The rest of his life Epictetus spent at Nicopolis.

Mere precedent is a dangerous source of authority.
-Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), “Old Hickory”; 7th President of the United States
Born in the backwoods of the Carolinas, he received a sporadic education but eventually read well enough to become an outstanding lawyer in Tennessee. A man fiercely jealous of his honor, frequently got into brawls and once killed a man in duel who had slurred his wife Rachel. He did well, served as the first man from Tennessee in the House and he served briefly in the Senate. A major general in the war of 1812, he became a national hero when he defeated the British at New Orleans.

Start by doing what’s necessary, then do what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
-Saint Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
-John F. Kennedy (1917-1963); 35th President of the United States
Born in Massachusetts and raised a Roman Catholic, he graduated Harvard in 1940 and entered the Navy. In 1943, his PT boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer and he heroically led his surviving men to safety. After the war, he was elected a Democratic congressman from the Boston area, and in 1953, transferred wings to the Senate. In 1956, he nearly grabbed the Democratic nomination, and in 1960, secured it. He won the presidency by a narrow margin in the popular vote. He is remembered as a friend of civil rights and a brave stance during the Cuban missile crisis.

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.
-Moliere [Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as Molière] (1622-1675)
Who was Molière? Possibly one of the greatest French writers ever. His comic genius, and whole style, were cutting edge. He was a philosopher, a free thinker despised by sacred and secular authorities of 17th-century France, and social critic that enjoyed the success and scandal.

Successful people in this world are those who get up and look for circumstances they want. If they can’t find them, they make them.
-George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Only by great risks can great results be achieved.
-Xerxes (519 BCE – 465 BCE)
Xerxes I ruled from 485 - 465 B.C.E., presiding over ancient Persia's decline from mighty power to fading empire. His father Darius was defeated by the Greeks at the battle of Marathon (490 B.C.E.), and 10 years later Xerxes assembled a vast army to invade Greece and avenge his father's defeat (the best-known reports on the invasion come from the historian Herodotus). Xerxes crossed the Hellespont (now called the Dardanelles) and methodically overran Greece. He won a costly victory at Thermopylae -- the famous battle which ended with 300 Spartan warriors defying the entire Persian army in a last battle to the death -- and finally reached Athens and sacked the deserted city. But the invasion ended in disaster when the Persian navy was routed by the Greek fleet at Salamis (480 B.C.E.). Xerxes retreated to his palace in Persepolis, leaving behind an occupying army which was defeated by the Greeks shortly thereafter. Persia remained a formidable nation but Xerxes withdrew from active life, devoting himself to what Herodotus called "the intrigues of the harem." 15 years later Xerxes was stabbed to death, probably by his subordinate Artabanus, and was succeeded by his son Artaxerxes.

Do as you would be done by.
-The Golden Rule (common form).
This sage bit of advice has been around for ages. Confucius (551-479 BCE) said it, Aristotle (384-322 BCE) said it, Christ said it (0-33 [roughly]); though each said it in a slightly different form – about the same amount of difference if you compare the King James against the New International Version. I’d go as far as to say that it’s a behavioral version of Newton’s Third Law of Motion: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” If there was ever a bit of inalienable “natural law,” this is it.

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life.
-Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Who was Stevenson? Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1850, and had the misfortune to suffer tuberculosis. He spent much of his childhood bedridden, and in a way, that contributed to his imagination as he struggled to break free of his confines. Not much for realism, he catered to the “nameless longings of the reader” – basically a desire for experience. Not surprising considering the limits of his ill health. He grew up to be an essayist, poet and author of fiction, traveling the continent, America, and settling in the South Seas (Samoa). He died in 1894 – a brief life – but he’d written prolifically, and perhaps most notably with “Treasure Island” and “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (a famous study into the abysmal depths of personality).

I prefer to do it right and get no thanks than to do it wrong and receive no punishment.
-Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BCE)