Words of wisdom comes easily for those who have lived and learned their meanings

1. I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition of slavery as a means of warding off the struggle of the two races in the Southern states. The Negroes may long remain slaves without complaining; but if they are once raised to the level of freemen, they will soon revolt at being deprived of almost all their civil rights; and as they cannot become the equals of the whites, they will speedily show themselves as enemies.    
      
      Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and political scientist. 1805-1859

1.  My mother, Southern to the bone, once told me, "All Southern literature can be summed up in these words: 'On the night the hogs ate Willie, Mama died when she heard what Daddy did to sister.  
      
      Pat Conroy,  American Novelist, b.1945
 

1. Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish.”   
     
       John Jakes
 

1. Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.  
       Epicurus, Greek philosopher, BC 341-270
 

1. Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it. 
      
      Comedian Bill Cosby

1. All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.   
      
      Dalai Lama
 
1. Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure. 
 

2. America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

3. Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

4. How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.    
       
      President Abraham Lincoln

1. A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

2. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

3. Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.   
      
      Civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

1. A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.

2. A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read.

3. Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.   
        
      Author and humorist Mark Twain

1. In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of. 

2.It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get. 
3. Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. 
      
      Confucius

1. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

2. All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.

3. Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. 
       
      Genius Albert Einstein 

1. And we love to dance, especially that new one called the Civil War Twist. The Northern part of you stands still, while the Southern part tries to secede.  
     
      Comedian and activist Dick Gregory