Assorted quotes: Do it yourself gem hunt

Today I have so many good quotations ahead of me that I will take the opportunity to let others speak their minds and you can sort the gems yourself.

The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears to be one of
the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.
- Robert Lynd, writer (1879-1949)


"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
- Anais Nin, modernist writer of short stories and novels (1903-1977)


"Strong feelings do not necessarily make a strong character. The strength of a man is to be measured by the power of the feelings he subdues, not by the power of those which subdue him."
- William Carleton, Irish author (1794-1869)


"Enjoy your own life without comparing it with that of another."
- Marquis de Condorcet, French mathematician and philosopher (1743-1794)


Literature encourages tolerance - bigots and fanatics seldom have any use for the arts, because they're so preoccupied with their beliefs and actions that they can't see them also as possibilities.
- Northrop Frye, Canadian writer (1912-1991)


"Do not pursue what is illusory - property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade and can be confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life - don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn after happiness; it is after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing."
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer (1918- )