Maya Angelou once said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Truer words have perhaps never been spoken, especially so in the case of writers. From Shakespeare to Ayn Rand, authors have been around for centuries feeding us deliciously enthralling stories, peppered with kooky characters, witty anecdotes, and endless twists and turns.
Many literary marvels from previous eras are still taught in schools today and maintain their popularity, like Arthur Conan Doyle’s 'Sherlock Holmes' and the works of Charles Dickens, to name a few. In addition to these incredible epics, writers from the 20th century like Virginia Woolf, J.R.R. Tolkien (the author of 'Lord of the Rings'), F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), and Rudyard Kipling (The Jungle Book) have also left us words of wisdom and observant musings we can all live by. These are just a few quick examples.
1. On Happiness
“Happiness can exist only in acceptance.”
― George Orwell
2. On Improvement
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
― Anne Frank
3. On Distance
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
― T.S Eliot
4. On Change
“You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
― C. S. Lewis
5. On Going
“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”
― Douglas Adams
6. On Knowledge
“People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”
― Isaac Asimov
7. On Fiction
“The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.”
― Tom Clancy
8. On Time
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien
9. On Love
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
― Harper Lee
10. On Seasons
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
― John Steinbeck
11. On Will
“There's no substitute for will. Sometimes you have to fake will when you don't feel it at all.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald
12. On Cures
“There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them.”
― Sylvia Plath
13. On Dressing
“Know your true measurements and dress your mind accordingly.”
― J. D. Salinger
14. On Gardens
“Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful’, and sitting in the shade.”
― Rudyard Kipling
15. On Peace
“You cannot find peace by avoiding life.”
― Virginia Woolf
