V (formerly Eve Ensler): Stop fixing your bodies and start fixing the world! (V (formerly Eve Ensler): U.S. playwright, author, performer, feminist, and activist, Born 1953) Categories: ACTIVISM, FEMINISM

Vail, Theodore N.: Real difficulties can be overcome, it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable. (Theodore N. Vail: U.S. leader of the American Telephone and Telegraph who viewed telephone service as a public utility and moved to consolidate telephone networks under the Bell system, 1845-1920) Categories: DIFFICULTIES, PERCEPTION

Valdez, Paola S.: They wanted to bury us, but they didn't know we were seeds. (Paola S. Valdez: U.S. postgraduate researcher with the Brené Brown Education and Research Group promoting racial justice) Categories: IMMIGRANTS, SOCIETY

Valery, Paul: A businessman is a hybrid of a dancer and a calculator. (Paul Valery: French poet, essayist, and philosopher, 1871-1945) Categories: BUSINESS

Valery, Paul: If some great catastrophe is not announced every morning, we feel a certain void. 'Nothing in the paper today,' we sigh. (Paul Valery: French poet, essayist, and philosopher, 1871-1945) Categories: NEWSPAPERS

Valery, Paul: One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. (Paul Valery: French poet, essayist, and philosopher, 1871-1945) Categories: GENIUS, SCIENCE

Valery, Paul: The future, like everything else, is not what it used to be. (Paul Valery: French poet, essayist, and philosopher, 1871-1945) Categories: FUTURE, PAST

Valery, Paul: What others think of us would be of little moment had it not, when known, so deeply tinge what we think of ourselves. (Paul Valery: French poet, essayist, and philosopher, 1871-1945) Categories: SELF-IDENTITY

Van Buren, Abigail: Accept every blind date you can get, even with a girl who wears jeans. Maybe you can talk her out of them. (Abigail Van Buren: U.S. advice columnist and radio show host who began the 'Dear Abby' column in 1956, which became the most widely syndicated newspaper column in the world, 1918-2013) Categories: SEX, DATING

Van Buren, Abigail: If you want a place in the sun, you've got to put up with a few blisters. (Abigail Van Buren: U.S. advice columnist and radio show host who began the 'Dear Abby' column in 1956, which became the most widely syndicated newspaper column in the world, 1918-2013) Categories: CHALLENGES, GOALS

Van Buren, Abigail: If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders. (Abigail Van Buren: U.S. advice columnist and radio show host who began the 'Dear Abby' column in 1956, which became the most widely syndicated newspaper column in the world, 1918-2013) Categories: PARENTHOOD

Van Buren, Abigail: If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money. (Abigail Van Buren: U.S. advice columnist and radio show host who began the 'Dear Abby' column in 1956, which became the most widely syndicated newspaper column in the world, 1918-2013) Categories: PARENTING

Van Buren, Abigail: Loneliness is the ultimate poverty. (Abigail Van Buren: U.S. advice columnist and radio show host who began the 'Dear Abby' column in 1956, which became the most widely syndicated newspaper column in the world, 1918-2013) Categories: LONELINESS, POVERTY

Van Buren, Abigail: People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes. (Abigail Van Buren: U.S. advice columnist and radio show host who began the 'Dear Abby' column in 1956, which became the most widely syndicated newspaper column in the world, 1918-2013) Categories: FIGHTING, COMBAT

Van Doren, Mark: I pity those who . . . despise others because they’re not the same as themselves. (Mark Van Doren: U.S. poet, writer, critic, scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, 1894-1972) Categories: CLOSE-MINDEDNESS, PREJUDICE-BIGOTRY

Van Dyke, Henry: A peace that depends on fear is nothing but a suppressed war. (Henry Van Dyke: U.S. poet, 1852-1933) Categories: FEAR, NEGOTIATION, PEACE

Van Dyke, Henry: Look around for a place to sow a few seeds. (Henry Van Dyke: U.S. poet, 1852-1933) Categories: INITIATIVE

Van Dyke, Henry: Self is the only prison that can ever bind the soul. (Henry Van Dyke: U.S. poet, 1852-1933) Categories: SELF-AWARENESS

Van Dyke, Henry: Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live. (Henry Van Dyke: U.S. poet, 1852-1933) Categories: DEATH, FEAR

Van Dyke, Henry: Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best. (Henry Van Dyke: U.S. poet, 1852-1933) Categories: TALENT, INITIATIVE

Van Gogh, Vincent: Conscience is a man's compass, and though the needle sometimes deviates . . . one must still try to follow its direction. (Vincent Van Gogh: Dutch painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of modern Western art, 1853-1890) Categories: CONSCIENCE

Van Gogh, Vincent: I dream of painting and then I paint my dream. (Vincent Van Gogh: Dutch painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of modern Western art, 1853-1890) Categories: ART, DREAMS, PAINTING

Van Gogh, Vincent: I would rather die of passion than of boredom. (Vincent Van Gogh: Dutch painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of modern Western art, 1853-1890) Categories: COMMITMENT, LIFE, PASSION

Van Gogh, Vincent: It's as interesting and as difficult to say a thing well as to paint it. There is the art of lines and colors, but the art of words exists too, and will never be less important. (Vincent Van Gogh: Dutch painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of modern Western art, 1853-1890) Categories: COMMUNICATION, PAINTING, WORDS

Van Gogh, Vincent: Normality is a paved road: It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow. (Vincent Van Gogh: Dutch painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of modern Western art, 1853-1890) Categories: NATURE, SIDEWALKS

Van Gogh, Vincent: Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion. (Vincent Van Gogh: Dutch painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of modern Western art, 1853-1890) Categories: ART, PAINTING

Van Gogh, Vincent: The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. (Vincent Van Gogh: Dutch painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of modern Western art, 1853-1890) Categories: DANGER, SEA, SEASHORE

Van Slyke, Helen: If arrogance is the heady wine of youth, then humility must be its eternal hangover. (Helen Van Slyke: U.S. best-selling author, newspaper and magazine editor, and business executive, 1919-1979) Categories: ARROGANCE, HUMILITY

Varda, Agnes: If we opened up people, we would find a landscape. (Agnes Varda: Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter, photographer, and artist, 1928-2019)) Categories: COMMUNICATION, HUMANKIND, SELF-IDENTITY

Vasukupta: I use memories but I do not allow memories to use me. (Vasukupta: Indian sage who authored the "Shiva Sutras," a text of the Kashmir Shaivism tradition, 860-925) Categories: MEMORY

Vaughan, Bill: A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote in a national election. (Bill Vaughan: U.S. columnist and author, 1915-1977) Categories: VOTING (U.S.A.), ELECTIONS (U.S.A.)

Vaughan, Bill: Occasionally we sigh for an earlier day when we could just look at the stars without worrying whether they were theirs or ours. (Bill Vaughan: U.S. columnist and author, 1915-1977) Categories: MEMORY, PAST, WORRY

Vauvenargues: Action makes more fortunes than caution.- (Vauvenargues: French writer of essays and aphorisms, 1715-1747) Categories: ACTION, CAUTION, FORTUNES

Vauvenargues: The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success. (Vauvenargues: French writer of essays and aphorisms, 1715-1747) Categories: ASPIRATIONS, SUCCESS

Vauvenargues: There are those who are so scrupulously afraid of doing wrong that they seldom venture to do anything. (Vauvenargues: French writer of essays and aphorisms, 1715-1747) Categories: FEAR

Vauvenargues: Vice stirs up war; virtue fights. (Vauvenargues: French writer of essays and aphorisms, 1715-1747) Categories: VICE, VIRTUE

Veblen, Thorstein: Born in iniquity and conceived in sin, the spirit of nationalism has never ceased to bend human institutions to the service of dissension and distress. (Thorstein Veblen: Norwegian-American economist and sociologist who emerged as a well-known critic of capitalism and coined the concept of 'Conspicuous consumption,' 1857-1929) Categories: NATIONALISM, INIQUITY

Vidal, Gore: A talent for drama is not a talent for writing, but is an ability to articulate human relationships. (Gore Vidal: U.S. writer and political pundit, 1925-2012) Categories: ACTING, DRAMA, WRITING

Vidal, Gore: Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half. (Gore Vidal: U.S. writer and political pundit, 1925-2012) Categories: VOTING (U.S.A.), NEWSPAPERS (U.S.A.)

Vidal, Gore: In public services, we lag behind all the industrialized nations of the West, preferring that the public money go not to the people but to big business. The result is a unique society in which we have free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich. (Gore Vidal: U.S. writer and political pundit, 1925-2012) Categories: CAPITALISM, SOCIALISM, U.S.A.

Vidal, Gore: It is of no consequence what others think of you. What matters is what you think of them. (Gore Vidal: U.S. writer and political pundit, 1925-2012) Categories: ATTITUDES, OPINIONS

Vidal, Gore: Once a country is habituated to liars, it takes generations to bring the truth back. (Gore Vidal: U.S. writer and political pundit, 1925-2012) Categories: HISTORY, POLITICS

Vidal, Gore: The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity—much less dissent. (Gore Vidal: U.S. writer and political pundit, 1925-2012) Categories: CORPORATIONS (U.S.A.)

Vie, Natalia: We don't need to see where the staircase leads to take the first step. (Natalia Vie: U.S. Latina fencing champion who competed in the 2012 Olympics, Born 1986) Categories: INITIATIVE

Vietnamese proverb: Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet. (Vietnamese proverb: ) Categories: SIBLINGS

Vigny, Alfred de: History is a novel whose author is the people. (Alfred de Vigny: French poet, playwright, and novelist, 1797-1863) Categories: HISTORY

Vincent, J. H.: There can be no rainbow without a cloud and a storm. (J. H. Vincent: U.S. bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1832-1920) Categories: CONNECTEDNESS, NATURE

Virgil: Fortune sides with him who dares. (Virgil: Ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period, 70 - 19 B.C.E.) Categories: RISK-TAKING

Virgil: They can because they think they can. (Virgil: Ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period, 70 - 19 B.C.E.) Categories: SELF-CONFIDENCE, SELF-UNDERSTANDING

Viscott, David: There is simply no way you can grow without taking chances. (David Viscott: U.S. psychiatrist, author, businessman, and media personality, 1938-1996) Categories: RISK, SELF-IMPROVEMENT

Viscott, David: To love and feel loved is to feel the sun from both sides. (David Viscott: U.S. psychiatrist, author, businessman, and media personality, 1938-1996) Categories: LOVE

Vivekananda, Swamiji: Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man. (Swamiji Vivekananda: Indian Hindu monk, 1863-1902) Categories: EDUCATION

Voltaire: Better is the enemy of good. (Voltaire: ) Categories: IMPROVEMENT, MODERATION, STRIVING

Voltaire: Common sense is quite rare. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: COMMON SENSE

Voltaire: Doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: CERTAINTY, DOUBT

Voltaire: Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: GOODNESS, GUILT

Voltaire: Fear succeeds crime - it is its punishment. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: CRIME, FEAR, PUNISHMENT

Voltaire: He is a hard man who is only just, and a sad one who is only wise. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: JUSTICE, WISDOM

Voltaire: I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: CIVIL RIGHTS, SPEECH

Voltaire: If there had been a censorship of the press in Rome we should have had today neither Horace nor Juvenal, nor the philosophical writings of Cicero. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: CENSORSHIP

Voltaire: If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: GOD, RELIGION

Voltaire: It is better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: GUILT, INNOCENCE, LAW

Voltaire: It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere. (Voltaire: ) Categories: BELIEFS, OPEN-MINDEDNESS

Voltaire: It is lamentable that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: HUMANKIND, PATRIOTISM, SOCIETY

Voltaire: judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. (Voltaire: ) Categories: CRITICAL THINKING

Voltaire: Love truth, but pardon error. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: ERRORS, TRUTH

Voltaire: Man is free the instant he wants to be. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: FREEDOM, SELF-DETERMINATION

Voltaire: Tears are the silent language of grief. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: TEARS, GRIEF

Voltaire: The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: MISFORTUNES, NEGATIVITY

Voltaire: There are truths that are not for all men, nor for all times. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: TRUTH

Voltaire: Think for yourself and let others enjoy the right to do the same. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: INDIVIDUALISM, OPINIONS, SELF-EXPRESSION

Voltaire: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: ABSURDITY, ATROCITY, POLITICS, PROPAGANDA

Voltaire: What a heavy burden is a name that has become too famous. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: EXPECTATIONS, FAME, SCRUTINY

Voltaire: Whoever serves his country well has no need of ancestors. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: ANCESTORS

Voltaire: Work keeps us from three great evils, boredom, vice, and poverty. (Voltaire: French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, and an advocate for separation of church and state, 1694-1778) Categories: BOREDOM, POVERTY, VICE, WORK

Von Braun, Werner: Basic research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. (Werner Von Braun: German-American aerospace engineer and space architect, 1912-1977) Categories: RESEARCH

Von Braun, Werner: I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution. (Werner Von Braun: German-American aerospace engineer and space architect, 1912-1977) Categories: IMPOSSIBILITY, RESEARCH

Von Braun, Werner: We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming. (Werner Von Braun: German-American aerospace engineer and space architect, 1912-1977) Categories: PAPERWORK, OVERLOAD

Vonnegut, Kurt: I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center. (Kurt Vonnegut: U.S. writer, 1922-2007) Categories: PERCEPTION, OPEN-MINDEDNESS

Vonnegut, Kurt: Participating in the arts—drawing, dancing, and all that—makes the soul grow. That's why you engage in it. That's how you grow a soul. (Kurt Vonnegut: U.S. writer, 1922-2007) Categories: ARTS

von Neumann Whitman, Marina: I've learned only that you never say never. (Marina von Neumann Whitman: U.S. economist, writer, automobile executive, and a professor of business administration and public policy at the University of Michigan, 1935-2025) Categories: NEVER

Von Schiller, J.C.F: An axe at home saves hiring a carpenter. (J.C.F Von Schiller: German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright, 1864-1937) Categories: SELF-RELIANCE

Von Schiller, J.C.F: Every true genius is bound to be naive. (J.C.F Von Schiller: German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright, 1864-1937) Categories: NAIVETE, GENIUS

Von Schiller, J.C.F: Fear of death is worse than dying. (J.C.F Von Schiller: German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright, 1864-1937) Categories: DYING, FEAR

Von Schiller, J.C.F: Happy is he who learns to bear what he cannot change. (J.C.F Von Schiller: German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright, 1864-1937) Categories: ACCEPTANCE

Von Schiller, J.C.F: He that is overcautious will accomplish little. (J.C.F Von Schiller: German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright, 1864-1937) Categories: OVERCAUTIOUSNESS

Von Schiller, J.C.F: It is criminal to steal . . . but the blame diminishes as the guilt increases. (J.C.F Von Schiller: German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright, 1864-1937) Categories: BLAME, CRIME, GUILT

Von Schiller, J.C.F: No night but hath its morn. (J.C.F Von Schiller: German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright, 1864-1937) Categories: HOPE

Von Schiller, J.C.F: Opposition inflames the enthusiast, never converts him. (J.C.F Von Schiller: German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright, 1864-1937) Categories: ANGER, OPPOSITION

Von Schiller, J.C.F: Our safety is not in blindness, but in facing our danger. (J.C.F Von Schiller: German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright, 1864-1937) Categories: DANGER, RISK

Von Schiller, J.C.F: Who dares nothing, need hope for nothing. (J.C.F Von Schiller: German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright, 1864-1937) Categories: RISK, DARINGNESS

Vygotsky, Lev: Through others, we become ourselves. (Lev Vygotsky: Russian social psychologist, 1896-1934) Categories: RELATIONSHIPS, SELF-UNDERSTANDING