Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between patient and psychoanalyst. His seminal works, including The Interpretation of Dreams, Civilization and its Discontents, and Beyond the Pleasure Principle, revolutionized the understanding of the human mind, introducing concepts like the unconscious, the Oedipus complex, and defense mechanisms. Freud’s theories on sexuality, dreams, and the psyche profoundly influenced psychology, literature, and culture.

Carl Gustav Jung, a contemporary and former collaborator, noted, “Freud’s work has opened a window into the depths of the human soul, revealing truths that challenge and enlighten.”

Below, we list some words of wisdom from Freud, drawn from his writings and lectures.

“Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious.”

“The unconscious of one human being can react upon that of another without passing through the conscious.”

“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”

“We are what we are because we have been what we have been.”

“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.”

“The mind is like an iceberg; it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.”

“We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love.”

“Where id was, there ego shall be.”

“The first requisite of civilization is that of justice.”

“Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.”

“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”

“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.”

“The ego is not master in its own house.”

“Men are more moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine.”

“Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity.”

“The madman is a dreamer awake.”

“Everywhere I go, I find a poet has been there before me.”

“Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.”

“The liberty of the individual is no gift of civilization. It was greatest before there was any civilization.”

“No one who, like me, conjures up the most evil of those half-tamed demons that inhabit the human breast, and seeks to wrestle with them, can expect to come through the struggle unscathed.”

“A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them: they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world.”

“Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock.”

“Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires.”

“What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.”

“The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is ‘What does a woman want?’”

“Time spent with cats is never wasted.”

“Flowers are restful to look at. They have neither emotions nor conflicts.”

“He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.”

“The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing.”

“Every normal person, in fact, is only normal on the average. His ego approximates to that of the psychotic in some part or other and to a greater or lesser extent.”

“From error to error, one discovers the entire truth.”

“Words have a magical power. They can bring either the greatest happiness or deepest despair.”

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Copyright © 2025 Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo 

Franz Kafka (July 3rd, 1883 – June 3rd, 1924) was a Jewish Czech writer and novelist born in Prague. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His best-known works include the novella The Metamorphosis (1915) and the novels The Trial (1924) and The Castle (1926).

He trained as a lawyer but he felt that his true vocation was writing. Only a minority of his works were published and received little attention during his life. He died relatively unknown in 1924 of tuberculosis, aged 40.

Kafka’s work has influenced many people including film-makers, historians, religious scholars, artists, and philosophers.

Below we include some words of wisdom by Franz Kafka.

“Isolation is a way to know ourselves.”

“As far as I have seen, at school…they aimed at blotting out one’s individuality.”

“There are times when I am convinced I am unfit for any human relationship.”

“No matter how much you keep encouraging someone who is blindfolded to stare through the cloth, he still won’t see a thing.”

“What if I slept a little more and forgot about all this nonsense.”

“Every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.”

“If you find someone who makes you smile, who checks up on you often to see if you’re okay. Who watches out or you and wants the best for you. Who loves and respects you. Don’t let them go. People like that are hard to find.”

“Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.”

“It’s only because of their stupidity that they’re able to be so sure of themselves.”

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”

“Do not waste your time looking for an obstacle – maybe there is none.”

“You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”

“People label themselves with all sorts of adjectives. I can only pronounce myself as ‘nauseatingly miserable beyond repair’.”

“Paths are made by walking”

“We live in an age which is so possessed by demons, that soon we shall only be able to do goodness and justice in the deepest secrecy, as if it were a crime.”

“I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.”

“Anybody who preserves the ability to recognize beauty will never get old.”

“You are at once both the quiet and the confusion of my heart.”

“Just because your doctor has a name for your condition, doesn’t mean he knows what it is.”

“I never wish to be easily defined. I’d rather float over other people’s minds as something strictly fluid and non-perceivable; more like a transparent, paradoxically iridescent creature rather than an actual person.”

“He is terribly afraid of dying because he hasn’t yet lived.”

“There are some things one can only achieve by a deliberate leap in the opposite direction.”

“Life is merely terrible; I feel it as few others do. Often — and in my inmost self perhaps all the time — I doubt whether I am a human being.”

“If the literature we are reading does not wake us, why then do we read it? A literary work must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us.”

“Better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have.”

“I write differently from what I speak, I speak differently from what I think, I think differently from the way I ought to think, and so it all proceeds into deepest darkness.”

“I am constantly trying to communicate something incommunicable, to explain something inexplicable, to tell about something I only feel in my bones and which can only be experienced in those bones. Basically it is nothing other than this fear we have so often talked about, but fear spread to everything, fear of the greatest as of the smallest, fear, paralyzing fear of pronouncing a word, although this fear may not only be fear but also a longing for something greater than all that is fearful.”

“Nothing is as deceptive as a photograph.”

“We need the books that affect us like a disaster”

“I no longer know If I wish to drown myself in love, vodka or the sea.”

“I wanted to escape the unrest, to shut out the voices around me and within me, so I write.”

“There are only two things. Truth and lies. Truth is indivisible, hence it cannot recognize itself; anyone who wants to recognize it has to be a lie.”

“Being alone has a power over me that never fails. My interior dissolves (for the time being only superficially) and is ready to release what lies deeper. When I am willfully alone, a slight ordering of my interior begins to take place and I need nothing more.”

Copyright © 2025 Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo 

Martial (c. 38 – c. 104 AD), known as Marcus Valerius Martialis, was a Roman poet from Hispania best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103. In these short, witty poems, he satirizes city life, the scandalous activities of his acquaintances, and romanticizes his youth. Considered the creator of the modern epigram, Martial’s work provides a vivid portrayal of Roman society, blending humor, criticism, and insight into human nature.

Pliny the Younger remarked after Martial’s death, “He was a man of an ingenious, sharp-tempered disposition, who had in his writings as much good nature as wit and pungency.”

Below, we list some words of wisdom from Martial.

“Tomorrow’s life is too late. Live today.”

“Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.”

“Why do strong arms fatigue themselves with frivolous dumbbells? To dig a vineyard is worthier exercise for men.”

“Glory paid to our ashes comes too late.”

“There is no glory in outstripping donkeys.”

“Conceal a flaw, and the world will imagine the worst.”

“If fame is to come only after death, I am in no hurry for it.”

“Rarity gives a charm; so early fruits and winter roses are the most prized; and profusion debases the value of pearls no less than diamonds.”

“Life’s not just being alive, but being well.”

“You give me nothing during your life, but you promise to provide for me at your death. If you are not a fool, you know what I wish for!”

“Some good, some so-so, and lots plain bad: that’s how a book of poems is made, my Friend.”

“Whoever makes great presents, expects great presents in return.”

“He who refuses praise the first time that it is offered does so because he would hear it a second time.”

“The flaw which is hidden is deemed greater than it is.”

“Fortune gives too much to many, but to no one enough.”

“I do not hate the man, but his vices.”

“To the ashes of the dead glory comes too late.”

“Virtue extends our days: he lives beyond the allotted span who dies in his own lifetime.”

“Too late is tomorrow’s life; live thine today.”

“You complain, friend Swift, of the length of my epigrams — but you yourself write nothing. Yours are shorter.”

“If you want him to mourn, you had best leave him nothing.”

“Gifts are like hooks.”

“While you cannot resolve what you believe in, you will never learn to live well. And if you do not learn to live well, you will waste an entire lifetime.”

“He writes nothing whose writings are read by none.”

“Our days pass quickly on, each one flying after the next: Today we’ve seen nothing of, and yesterday’s already gone.”

“You puff the poets of other days, the living you deplore. Spare me the accolade: your praise is not worth dying for.”

“Joys do not stay, but take wing and fly away.”

“No man is born without faults.”

“Wine and women bring misery to men.”

“Neither fear your death’s day nor long for it.”

“One man has friends in proportion to his wealth, another because of his kindly affability.”

“Believe me, wise men don’t say ‘I shall live to do that’, tomorrow’s life is too late; live today.”

“Servitude and freedom are ever in opposition.”


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Copyright © 2025 Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo 

Banana Yoshimoto (born July 24th 1964) is the pen name of Japanese writer Mahoko Yoshimoto. She began her writing career while working as a waitress in 1987. Her debut work, Kitchen had over 60 printings in Japan alone. Two film adaptations were produced from the book. Her works include twelve novels and seven collections of essays, all of which have sold over six million copies worldwide. She writes about love and friendship, home and family, and the influence of loss on the human spirit.

Below we include some words of wisdom by Banana Yoshimoto.

“Sometimes people put up walls, not to keep others out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.” 

“As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rock bottom again and again. Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won’t let my spirit be destroyed.” 

“I love feeling the rhythm of other people’s lives. It’s like traveling.”

“Once you’ve recognized your own limits, you’ve raised yourself to a higher level of being, since you’re closer to the real you.” 

“Truly happy memories always live on, shining. Over time, one by one, they come back to life.” 

“If you don’t say what you’re thinking, you end up lying when you really need to speak up.” 

“When things get really bad, you take comfort in the placeness of a place.” 

“It’s a marvelous thing, the ocean. For some reason when two people sit together looking out at it, they stop caring whether they talk or stay silent. You never get tired of watching it. And no matter how rough the waves get, you’re never bothered by the noise the water makes by the commotion of the surface – it never seems too loud, or too wild.” 

“No matter where you are, you’re always a bit on your own, always an outsider.” 

“When was it I realized that, on this truly dark and solitary path we all walk, the only way we can light is our own? Although I was raised with love, I was always lonely. Someday, without fail, everyone will disappear, scattered into the blackness of time.” 

“But I have my life, I’m living it. It’s twisted, exhausting, uncertain, and full of guilt, but nonetheless, there’s something there.” 

“What was important wasn’t the fireworks, it was that we were together this evening, together in this place, looking up into the sky at the same time.” 

“The ritual of our daily lives permeate our very bodies.” 

“I really believe that no matter how old people get, they tend to change in certain ways depending on how people treat them – they change their colors.” 

“Love is the kind of thing that’s already happening by the time you notice it, that’s how it works, and no matter how old you get, that doesn’t change. Except that you can break it up into two entirely distinct types — love where there’s an end in sight and love where there isn’t.” 

“It was so gorgeous it almost felt like sadness.” 

“People who are going to get along really well know it almost as soon as they meet. You spend a little while talking and everyone starts to feel this conviction, you’re all equally sure that you’re at the beginning of something good. That’s how it is when you meet people you’re going to be with for a long time.” 

“The place I like best in this world is the kitchen. No matter where it is, no matter what kind, if it’s a kitchen, if it’s a place where they make food, it’s fine with me. Ideally it should be well broken in. Lots of tea towels, dry and immaculate. Where tile catching the light (ting! Ting!)”

“No one can survive childhood without being wounded. Everyone remembers at least one time when their parents rejected them, pushed them away, even though they may have still been in the womb, blind, and unable to speak. That’s why, as adults, we all look for someone to become our parents again, and for someone to look after us in times of need. And we search for a person to live with who can provide the companionship we so desperately want.” 

“Truly great people emit a light that warms the hearts of those around them. When that light has been put out, a heavy shadow of despair descends.” 

“She was still there inside me now, just as she always was: a life put on hold, a memory I didn’t know how to handle.” 

“People aren’t overcome by situations or outside forces. Defeat comes from within.” 

“Her eyes were those of someone who’s just fallen in love, someone who sees nothing but her lover, someone who has no fear of anything. The eyes of someone who believes that every dream will come true, that reality will move if you just give it a push.” 

“Recognizing how totally ignorant you are is the only honest way to deal with people who’ve been through something traumatic.”

“That’s the advantage of insomnia. People who go to be early always complain that the night is too short, but for those of us who stay up all night, it can feel as long as a lifetime. You get a lot done” 

“The sky was incredibly far away, and beautiful enough to make a person wonder why our hearts are never so free.” 

“Over and over, we begin again.” 

Our FREE Spiritual Detox Script can help you get rid of toxic energy and help you make the most of your life. http://spiritualgrowthnow.com/script/ 

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Copyright © 2025 Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo 

Tacitus (c. 56 – c. 118 AD), was a Roman historian and politician, known for his critical and insightful accounts of the Roman Empire. His major works, The Histories and The Annals, provide a detailed history of the Roman Empire from the reign of Tiberius to that of Domitian. Tacitus also wrote Agricola, a biography of his father-in-law Gnaeus Julius Agricola, and Germania, an ethnographic study of the Germanic tribes. His writings are valued for their depth, style, and historical accuracy, offering a critical perspective on the Roman Empire’s politics and society. Tacitus held various public offices, including quaestor, praetor, and consul, and was known for his sharp critique of imperial excesses while remaining loyal to Rome.

The historian Edward Gibbon praised Tacitus, saying, “The writings of Tacitus have been justly esteemed as the first of historical compositions, both for elegance of style and fidelity of narration.”

Below, we list some words of wisdom from Tacitus, drawn from his historical works.

“Fear is not in the habit of speaking truth.”

“Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay; falsehood by haste and uncertainty.”

“To show resentment at a reproach is to acknowledge that one may have deserved it.”

“Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful.”

“Fortune assists the bold.”

“The first thing which disappears in times of general corruption is a sense of shame.”

“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.”

“Men are more ready to repay an injury than a benefit, because gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure.”

“If you would know who controls you, see who you may not criticize.”

“They make a desolation and call it peace.”

“Crime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity.”

“The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.”

“A bad peace is even worse than war.”

“The worst crimes were dared by a few, willed by more, and tolerated by all.”

“He could bear the loss of his money, but not of his good name.”

“The love of fame is the last thing even the wise give up.”

“Rumor is not always wrong.”

“It is human nature to hate the man whom you have hurt.”

“The lust for power is the most flagrant of all passions.”

“The worst disease of the mind leaves no feeling of hunger at all.”

“To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace.”

“The gods are on the side of the stronger.”

“It is a law of nature that men should be slaves to those who are stronger than themselves.”

“The most detestable wickedness is to use a feigned piety as a cloak of mischief.”

“The hatred of those left behind is engraved upon the earth.”

“It is the rare fortune of some men to be, when they want it, as eloquent as they will.”

“A good man would prefer to be defeated than to defeat injustice by evil means.”

“The face of the world has changed; it no longer knows the Romans.”

“Things forbidden have a secret charm.”

“This I regard as history’s highest function, to let no worthy action be uncommemorated, and to hold out the reprobation of posterity as a terror to evil words and deeds.”

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Copyright © 2025 Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo 

Haruki Murakami 村上 春樹 (January 12th, 1949) is a Japanese international best-selling author who has sold millions of copies. He’s received many awards for his work, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Tanizaki Prize, Yomiuri Prize for Literature, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, the Noma Literary Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Kiriyama Prize for Fiction, the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize, and the Princess of Asturias Awards.

He published his first novel Hear the Wind Sing in 1979 after working as the owner of a small jazz bar. Before that he hadn’t written anything. He published Norwegian Wood in 1987, a nostalgic story of loss and sexuality. It sold millions of copies and he became so famous he had to leave Japan temporarily. 

Below we list some words of wisdom by Haruki Murakami.

“Sometimes it’s not the people who change, it’s the mask that falls off.”

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” 

“Say it before you run out of time. Say it before it’s too late. Say what you’re feeling. Waiting is a mistake.” 

“Spend your money on the things money can buy. Spend your time on the things money can’t buy.” 

“Whatever it is you’re seeking won’t come in the form you’re expecting.” 

“But if you knew you might not be able to see it again tomorrow, everything would suddenly become special and precious, wouldn’t it?” 

“Unclose your mind. You are not a prisoner. You are a bird in flight, searching the skies for dreams.” 

“Knowledge and ability were tools, not things to show off.”

“Some things in life are too complicated to explain in any language.” 

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” 

“No matter how far you travel, you can never get away from yourself.” 

“If you want to talk about something new, you have to make up a new kind of language.” 

“As long as you have the courage to admit mistakes, things can be turned around.” 

“The best way to think about reality, I had decided, was to get as far away from it as possible.” 

“Life is a lot more fragile than we think. So you should treat others in a way that leaves no regrets. Fairly, and if possible, sincerely.” 

“As time goes on, you’ll understand. What lasts, lasts; what doesn’t, doesn’t. Time solves most things. And what time can’t solve, you have to solve yourself.” 

“Deep rivers run quiet.” 

“Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves.” 

“If you remember me, then I don’t care if everyone else forgets.” 

“You have to wait until tomorrow to find out what tomorrow will bring.” 

“One heart is not connected to another through harmony alone. They are, instead, linked deeply through their wounds” 

“Even if we could turn back, we’d probably never end up where we started.” 

“This is one more piece of advice I have for you: don’t get impatient. Even if things are so tangled up you can’t do anything, don’t get desperate or blow a fuse and start yanking on one particular thread before it’s ready to come undone. You have to realize it’s going to be a long process and that you’ll work on things slowly, one at a time.” 

“I don’t know, there’s something about you. Say there’s an hourglass: the sand’s about to run out. Someone like you can always be counted on to turn the thing over.” 

“Here, too, a brand-new day is beginning. It could be a day like all the others, or it could be a day remarkable enough in many ways to remain in the memory. In either case, for now, for most people, it is a blank sheet of paper.”

“To keep on going, you have to keep up the rhythm.” 

“There are lots of things we never understand, no matter how many years we put on, no matter how much experience we accumulate.” 

“Please remember: things are not what they seem.” 

“One foot in front of the other. Repeat as often as necessary to finish.” 

“Never let the darkness or negativity outside affect your inner self. Just wait until morning comes and the bright light will drown out the darkness.” 

“I can bear any pain as long as it has meaning.” 

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” 

“There are many things we only see clearly in retrospect.” 

“There is nothing so cruel in this world as the desolation of having nothing to hope for.”


“Everything passes. Nobody gets anything for keeps. And that’s how we’ve got to live.”

“In long-distance running the only opponent you have to beat is yourself, the way you used to be.” 

“Whenever I look at the ocean, I always want to talk to people, but when I’m talking to people, I always want to look at the ocean.” 


“If you can’t understand it without an explanation, you can’t understand it with an explanation.” 

“As we go through life we gradually discover who we are, but the more we discover, the more we lose ourselves.” 

“If you think of someone enough, you’re sure to meet them again.”

“Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.” 

“It’s easy to forget things you don’t need anymore.” 

“Find me now. Before someone else does.”

“Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.” 


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Copyright © 2025 Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo 

Seneca The Younger (c. 4 BC – AD 65), was a Roman philosopher, statesman, and dramatist, known for his influential writings and tragedies. His works offer profound reflections on ethics, resilience, and the art of living well. As a tutor to Emperor Nero, Seneca navigated the complexities of Roman politics while advocating for virtue and reason.

The philosopher Michel de Montaigne later remarked, “Seneca’s wisdom is a guide to life’s storms, teaching us to stand firm through reason and courage.”

Below, we list some timeless words of wisdom from Seneca, drawn from his philosophical works.

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”

“You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”

“As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”

“There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.”

“While we are postponing, life speeds by.”

“No man was ever wise by chance.”

“What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.”

“If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.”

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

“It is the quality rather than the quantity that matters.”

“Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms—you will be able to use them better when you are older.”

“The life we receive is not short, but we make it so, nor do we have any lack of it, but are wasteful of it.”

“Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.”

“You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.”

“He who is brave is free.”

“Associate with people who are likely to improve you.”

“Ignorance is the cause of fear.”

“To wish to be well is a part of becoming well.”

“Life is like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.”

“No one is laughable who laughs at himself.”

“The greatest remedy for anger is delay.”

“It is better to conquer our grief than to deceive it.”

“You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire.”

“Leisure without study is death—a tomb for the living man.”

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.”

“Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.”

“We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.”

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.”

“It does not matter how many books you have, but how good the books are which you have.”

“Every guilty person is his own hangman.”

“Life, if well lived, is long enough.”

“He suffers more than necessary, who suffers before it is necessary.”

“There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes.”

“What is harder than rock? What is softer than water? Yet hard rocks are hollowed out by soft water.”

Our FREE Spiritual Detox Script can help you get rid of toxic energy and help you make the most of your life. http://spiritualgrowthnow.com/script/ 

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Copyright © 2025 Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo 

Kimitake Hiraoka (平岡 公威 January 14th, 1925 – November 25th, 1970), known by his pen name Yukio Mishima (三島 由紀夫), was a Japanese author, playwright, actor, poet, model, Shintoist, and the leader of an attempted coup d’état that culminated in his ritual suicide.

Below we list some words of wisdom from Kimitake Hiraoka.

“Perfect purity is possible if you turn your life into a line of poetry written with a splash of blood.” 

“As long as you know I am waiting, take your time flowers of the spring.” 

“True beauty is something that attacks, overpowers, robs, and finally destroys.”

“Nobody even imagines how well one can lie about the state of one’s own heart.” 

“Young people get the foolish idea that what is new for them must be new for everybody else too. No matter how unconventional they get, they’re just repeating what others before them have done.” 

“Anything can become excusable when seen from the standpoint of the result”

“The highest point at which human life and art meet is in the ordinary. To look down on the ordinary is to despise what you can’t have. Show me a man who fears being ordinary, and I’ll show you a man who is not yet a man.” 

“What transforms this world is – knowledge. Do you see what I mean? Nothing else can change anything in this world. Knowledge alone is capable of transforming the world, while at the same time leaving it exactly as it is. When you look at the world with knowledge, you realize that things are unchangeable and at the same time are constantly being transformed.”

“The special quality of hell is to see everything clearly down to the last detail.” 

“The past does not only draw us back to the past. There are certain memories of the past that have strong steel springs and, when we who live in the present touch them, they are suddenly stretched taut and then they propel us into the future.” 

“If we value so highly the dignity of life, how can we not also value the dignity of death No death may be called futile.” 

“To see human beings in agony, to see them covered in blood and to hear their death groans, makes people humble. It makes their spirits delicate, bright, peaceful. It’s never at such times that we become cruel or bloodthirsty. No, it’s on a beautiful spring afternoon like this that people suddenly become cruel. It’s at a moment like this, don’t you think, while one’s vaguely watching the sun as it peeps through the leaves of the trees above a well-mown lawn? Every possible nightmare in the world, every possible nightmare in history, has come into being like this.” 

“Better to be caught in sudden, complete catastrophe than to be gnawed by the cancer of imagination.” 

“There’s a huge seal called ‘impossibility’ pasted all over this world. And don’t ever forget that we’re the only ones who can tear it off once and for all.”

“Dreams, memories, the sacred–they are all alike in that they are beyond our grasp. Once we are even marginally separated from what we can touch, the object is sanctified; it acquires the beauty of the unattainable, the quality of the miraculous. Everything, really, has this quality of sacredness, but we can desecrate it at a touch. How strange man is! His touch defiles and yet he contains the source of miracles.”

“If we look on idly, heaven and earth will never be joined. To join heaven and earth, some decisive deed of purity is necessary. To accomplish so resolute an action, you have to stake your life, giving no thought to personal gain or loss.” 

“An ugliness unfurled in the moonlight and soft shadow and suffused the whole world. If I were an amoeba, he thought, with an infinitesimal body, I could defeat ugliness. A man isn’t tiny or giant enough to defeat anything.” 

“Pain, I came to feel, might well prove to be the sole proof of the persistence of consciousness within the flesh, the sole physical expression of consciousness. As my body acquired muscle, and in turn strength, there was gradually born within me a tendency towards the positive acceptance of pain, and my interest in physical suffering deepened.” 

“For an artist to do creative work, he needs at once physical health and some physiomental ill health. He needs both serenity and gloom.” 

“if the world changed, i could not exist, and if i changed, the world could not exist” 

“There is no virtue in curiosity. In fact, it might be the most immoral desire a man can possess.” 

“We tend to suffer from the illusion that we are capable of dying for a belief or theory. What Hagakure is insisting is that even in merciless death, a futile death that knows neither flower nor fruit has dignity as the death of a human being. If we value so highly the dignity of life, how can we not also value the dignity of death? No death may be called futile.” 

“When silence is prolonged over a certain period of time, it takes on new meaning.”

“Beauty is something that burns the hand when you touch it.”


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Copyright © 2025 Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo 

Horace (December 8, 65 BC – November 27, 8 BC), was an ancient Roman poet renowned for his lyric poetry and satires. His works, including blend wit, wisdom, and reflections on human nature, offering timeless insights into living a balanced and virtuous life. A leading poet under Emperor Augustus, Horace’s influence endured through the ages, shaping Roman literature and beyond.

The English poet Alexander Pope praised Horace, noting, “He is the great master of good sense and good taste, whose works teach us how to think and how to live.”

Below, we list some words of wisdom from Horace, drawn from his enduring works.

“Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.”

“Wisdom is not wisdom when it is derived from books alone.”

“He who is greedy is always in want.”

“Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans; it is lovely to be silly at the right moment.”

“Begin, be bold, and venture to be wise.”

“He who postpones the hour of living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run dry before he crosses.”

“Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.”

“You have played enough; you have eaten and drunk enough. It is time for you to leave.”

“Avoid great things; under a humble roof one may outstrip kings and the chariots of kings.”

“We are but dust and shadow.”

“Anger is a short madness.”

“It is sweet and honorable to die for one’s country.”

“He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!”

“Adversity reveals the genius of a general; good fortune conceals it.”

“Pale Death knocks with impartial foot at the cottages of the poor and the palaces of kings.”

“Why do you hasten to remove things that hurt your eyes, but leave those that harm your mind?”

“Whatever advice you give, be brief.”

“He will always be a slave who does not know how to live upon a little.”

“Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings.”

“Force without wisdom falls of its own weight.”

“A heart well prepared for adversity in bad times hopes, and in good times fears, for a change.”

“It is not the rich man you should properly call happy, but him who knows how to use with wisdom the blessings of the gods.”

“In peace, as a wise man, he prepares for war.”

“Leave off asking what tomorrow will bring, and whatever days fortune will give, count them as profit.”

“The man who is tenacious of purpose in a rightful cause is not shaken from his firm resolve by the frenzy of his fellow citizens.”

“A jest often decides matters of importance more effectively than seriousness.”

“You must avoid flattery; it is a kind of slavery.”

“Riches either serve or govern the possessor.”

“The one who saves a man against his will does the same as if he killed him.”

“It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor.”

“What we learn only through the ears makes less impression upon our minds than what is presented to the trustworthy eye.”

“He gains everyone’s approval who mixes the pleasant with the useful.”

“Drop the question what tomorrow may bring, and count as profit every day that Fate allows you.”

“Who then is free? The wise man who can govern himself.”

“Gold loves to make its way through guards, and breaks through walls more effectively than the thunderbolt.”

“Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled.”

“There is a measure in all things.”

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Copyright © 2025 Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo

Yamamoto Tsunetomo (山本 常朝) (June 11th, 1659 – November 30th, 1719), was a samurai of the Saga Domain, in Hizen Province, under his lord Nabeshima Mitsushige. He became a Zen Buddhist priest and told his experiences, wisdom, memories, and theories to the samurai Tashiro Tsuramoto, who put them together in the book Hagakure.

Below we list words of wisdom from Yamamoto Tsunetomo.

“Human life is truly a short affair. It is better to live doing the things that you like.”

“A warrior is worthless unless he rises above others and stands strong in the midst of a storm.”

“Light matters should be dealt with seriously. Serious matters should be dealt with lightly.”

“It is a wretched thing that the young men of today are so contriving and so proud of their material possessions. Men with contriving hearts are lacking in duty. Lacking in duty, they will have no self-respect.”

“By being impatient, matters are damaged and great works cannot be done”

“As everything in this world is but a sham, Death is the only sincerity.”

“It is said that one should not hesitate to correct himself when he has made a mistake. If he corrects himself without the least bit of delay, his mistakes will disappear.”

“The Four Oaths: Never be late with respect to the way of the warrior; be useful to the lord; be respectful to your parents; get beyond love and grief: exist for the good of man.”

“The heart of a virtuous person has settled down and he does not rush about at things. A person of little merit is not at peace but walks about making trouble and is in conflict with all.”

“Go ahead and gamble a lie. A person who will not tell you seven lies within a hundred yards is useless as a man.”

“It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this.”

“In the eyes of mercy, no one should have hateful thoughts. Feel pity for the man who is even more at fault. The area and size of mercy is limitless.”

“There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man’s whole life is a succession of moment after moment. There will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.”

“To give a person an opinion one must first judge well whether that person is of the disposition to receive it or not.”

“Everyone lets the present moment slip by, then looks for it as though he thought it were somewhere else.”

“It is not good to settle into a set of opinions. It is a mistake to put forth effort and obtain some understanding and then stop at that. At first putting forth great effort to be sure that you have grasped the basics, then practicing so that they may come to fruition is something that will never stop for your whole lifetime. Do not rely on following the degree of understanding that you have discovered, but simply think, “This is not enough.””

“One should make his decisions within the space of seven breaths.”

“There is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never thinks of himself as having finished.”

“There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you will still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything.”

“Nothing is impossible in this world. Firm determination, it is said, can move heaven and earth. Things appear far beyond one’s power, because one cannot set his heart on any arduous project due to want of strong will.”

“Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate. Neither wisdom nor technique has a place in this. A real man does not think of victory or defeat. He plunges recklessly towards an irrational death. By doing this, you will awaken from your dreams.”

“This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai: if by setting one’s heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. his whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling.”

“In China there was once a man who liked pictures of dragons, and his clothing and furnishings were all designed accordingly. His deep affection for dragons was brought to the attention of the dragon god, and one day a real dragon appeared before his window. It is said that he died of fright. He was probably a man who always spoke big words but acted differently when facing the real thing.”

“Be true to the thought of the moment and avoid distraction. Other than continuing to exert yourself, enter into nothing else, but go to the extent of living single thought by single thought.”

“It is said that what is called “the spirit of an age” is something to which one cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world’s coming to an end. For this reason, although one would like to change today’s world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation.”

“Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead”

Our FREE Spiritual Detox Script can help you get rid of toxic energy and help you make the most of your life. http://spiritualgrowthnow.com/script/ Learn more about spiritual myths, meditation and how to use it to your advantage, and much more with our Direct Your Destiny e-Package: http://spiritualgrowthnow.com/directyourdestiny/

Copyright © 2025 Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo