Jean de La Fontaine Quotes

All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.

The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much.

Faith gives you an inner strength and a sense of balance and perspective in life.

The art of avoiding extremes is an art that is drawn on the canvas of maturity and painted with the abstract strokes of many experiences.

To seek understanding before taking action, yet to trust my instincts when action is called for. Never to avoid danger from fear, never to seek out danger for its own sake. Never to conform to fashion from fear of eccentricity, never to be eccentric from fear of conformity.

The principles of living greatly include the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and trial with humility.

Everything in moderation, and there's a perfect balance in this life if we can find it.

Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.

In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.

Maturity is achieved when a person accepts life as full of tension.

If knowledge and foresight are too penetrating and deep, unify them with ease and sincerity.

My faith helped me stay grounded in defeat and victory, to not get too excited about the successes and too low about the failures.

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life.

I think optimism springs from nature. I'm a gardener. Nature has taught me about rhythm, the essence of every art. With so much that is terrible, nature gives me pleasure.

I think it's important not to get carried away when you are successful - and not to let yourself feel gloomy when times are bad.

I think the strength of the man is to have the right balance. Not to be so high when you win; not to be so down when you lose.

I learnt not to be desperate in bad times and am learning not to be bullish when times are good.

The wise man should keep the balance between love and power; he should keep the love in his nature ever increasing and expanding, and at the same time strengthen the will so that the heart may not easily be broken.

Everything too fast is not good but everything too slow is also not good. You need balance. That's why I like martial arts: it always tells you how to control your body, your mind, your heart. Balance. Balance can keep the world's peace. I think that's a very good thing.

Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. We should live for the future, and yet should find our life in the fidelities of the present; the last is only the method of the first.

People make mistakes in life through believing too much, but they have a damned dull time if they believe too little.

Your life is a work of art, and in the end, the underlying theme of great art is bravery and hope and love.

True courage lies in the middle, between cowardice and recklessness.

All the masterpieces of art contain both light and shadow. A happy life is not one filled with only sunshine, but one which uses both light and shadow to produce beauty.