These are the best ever simply because they are -- in my judgment -- based on having collected more than 100,000 quotations in my lifetime. Below are a few of my favorite quotes:

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. — James Allen, author, As a Man Thinketh

Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't. — Richard Bach, author

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think there are no little things. — Bruce Barton, advertising executive

Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible. — cadet maxim, U.S. Military Academy, West Point

The universe is a big dream machine, churning out dreams and transforming them into reality, and our own dreams are inextricably woven into the overall scheme of things. — Deepak Chopra, bestselling author

I believe man will not merely endure, he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he, alone among creatures, has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit, capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man; it can be one of the props to help him endure and prevail. — William Faulkner, Nobel prize-winning novelist

Facts and figures are forgotten. Stories are retold. — Jeffrey Gitomer, business author

You can have anything you want if you want it desperately enough. You must want it with an inner exuberance that erupts through the skin and joins the energy that created the world. — Sheila Graham, author

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens. — Carl Jung, psychologist

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. — Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader

There is nothing more outstanding, more unusual than life. That makes life, any life, a miracle. So abundantly rare, it has got to be beautiful. — John Kremer, author

The fundamental job of a toddler is to rule the universe. — Lawrence Kutner, author

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. — Ann Landers, advice columnist

This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love; the more they give, the more they possess. — Rainer Maria Rilke, poet

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral. — Antoine de Saint-Exupery, poet and aviator

All things are connected like the blood that unites one family. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit on the ground, they spit on themselves. — Chief Seattle, Indian leader

I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation. — George Bernard Shaw, playwright

They say that every snowflake is different. If that were true, how could the world go on? How could we ever get up off our knees? How could we ever recover from the wonder of it? — Jeanette Winterson

The only real possession you'll ever have is your character. — Tom Wolfe, journalist