Throughout history writers have put our thoughts, fears and insights into words we can cherish, remember and live by. Below is a collection of thought-provoking quotes by some of the most celebrated and revered writers in history.

History’s greatest writers didn’t just write poems or fiction, they wrote VERY helpful life advice as well!

Dr. Seuss

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss

Maya Angelou

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

Oscar Wilde

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde

Mark Twain

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain

Neil Gaiman

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” – Neil Gaiman

George Bernard Shaw

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw

J.K. Rowling

“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” – J.K. Rowling

Ernest Hemingway

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” – Ernest Hemingway

Aristotle

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle

C.S. Lewis

“Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .’” – C.S. Lewis

Friedrich Nietzsche

“It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

William Shakespeare

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – William Shakespeare

Virginia Woolf

“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” – Virginia Woolf

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

E.E. Cummings

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” – E.E. Cummings

Benjamin Franklin

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” – Benjamin Franklin

Leo Tolstoy

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy

Victor Hugo

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent” – Victor Hugo

Alfred Tennyson

“Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.” – Alfred Tennyson

George Eliot

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

Roald Dahl

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” – Roald Dahl

Bill Watterson

“It’s not denial. I’m just selective about the reality I accept.” – Bill Watterson

J.R.R. Tolkien

“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien