Writing Prompts

“To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” — Theodore Roosevelt, 19th/20th-century American adventurer and politician, Nobel Prize-winning U.S. president “Don’t worry that children never listen to you. Worry that they are always watching you.” — Robert Fulghum, 20th-century American author “Train up a child in the […]

“A regard for reputation and the judgment of the world may sometimes be felt where conscience is dormant.” — Thomas Jefferson, 18th-century American Founding Father, early 19th- century U.S. president (letter to Edward Livingston, 1825) “There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” — Albert Camus, Nobel Prize-winning, 20th-century French “existentialist” novelist “A […]

“Never underestimate the effectiveness of a straight cash bribe.” — Claude Cockburn “The intention makes the crime.” — Aristotle, ancient Greek philosopher “My, my, my! Such a lot of guns around town and so few brains … put it down, Joe.” — Humphrey Bogart, 20th-century American actor (from “The Big Sleep”) “He that’s cheated twice […]

“Worrying is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.” — Unknown “Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.” — Benjamin Disraeli, 19th-century British statesman and novelist “Courage is the price life exacts for peace.” — Amelia Earhart, 20th-century […]

“Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.” — William Inge “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” — Albert Einstein, 20th-century Swiss mathematician, physicist and public philosopher “Analysis kills spontaneity. The grain once ground into flour germinates no more.” — Henri Amiel “It […]

“A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.” — Steven Wright, 20th-century comedian “Conscience is God’s presence in man.” — Emmanuel Swedenborg, 19th-century Swedish- American spiritualist “Prudence reproaches; conscience accuses.” — Immanuel Kant, 18th-century Prussian geographer and philosopher “Trust that man in nothing who has not a conscience in everything.” — Laurence […]

“What do I owe to my times, to my country, to my neighbors, to my friends? Such are the questions which a virtuous man ought often to ask himself.” — Lavater “What the people want is very simple. They want an America as good as its promise.” — Barbara Jordan, 20th-century congresswoman and professor “A […]

“When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.” — Max Lerner “He who has a choice has trouble.” — Dutch proverb There is a point at which everything becomes simple and there is no longer any question of choice, because all you have staked will be lost […]

“But rules cannot substitute for character.” — Alan Greenspan, 20th/21st-century chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board “Character is what you are in the dark.” — Unknown “Another man’s soul is darkness.” — Russian proverb “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” — Ralph […]

“I expect to pass through the world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again.” — Stephen Grellet, 18th/19th-century French/American religious leader “Men are only great as […]