Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.

My predecessors ruled but I know nothing about them, and so I do what I do that people may remember me.

-- Mansa Musa

Nothing is more impossible than what Napoleon faced.

-- Ōkuma Shigenobu

Gentlemen, life is short. Never waste your mind on trivial matters. Study much, work much, think much, laugh much.

-- Ōkuma Shigenobu

A nation's hundred-year plan rests on education.

-- Itō Hirobumi

There can be no diplomacy without the power to defend oneself.

-- Shigeru Yoshida

If you want new ideas, read old books.

-- Ivan Pavlov