"The contemplative life is often miserable. You should do more, think less and not watch yourself living."
Nicholas-Sebastien Chamfort, quoted as "Thought du jour" in Globe & Mail Oct. 22, 2002
"After the first silence the small man said to the other: 'Where does a wise man hide a pebble?' And the tall man answered in a low voice: 'On the beach.' The small man nodded, and after a short silence said: 'Where does a wise man hide a leaf?' And the other answered: 'In the forest.'"
G.K. Chesterton, Favorite Father Brown Stories
"Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up for work."
"U.S. artist Chuck Close" quoted as "Thought du jour" in "Social Studies" in Globe & Mail August 19, 2008
"It grieves them more to own a bad house than a bad life…"
St. Augustine The City of God (speaking of "evil men")
“the words itched more than they tickled.”
Larry Hill in Maclean’s August 27, 2001
"The past is hopeless. There’s too much of it."
Detective Nero Wolfe in Home to Roost, quoted in “Gilbert’s Top Dozen Pearls of Detective Wisdom” in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 5 # 3 (December 2001)
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."
Source unclear but not Albert Einstein (a false quotation magnet on a par with Abraham Lincoln). Various diligent efforts have been made to determine its origin online (for instance here) but regardless of where it came from it has caught on because we humans make such diligent efforts to demonstrate its validity in real life.