I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.
Eleanor Roosevelt

I used to tell my husband that, if he could make me 'understand' something, it would be clear to all the other people in the country.
Eleanor Roosevelt

I'm so glad I never feel important, it does complicate life!
Eleanor Roosevelt

If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.
Eleanor Roosevelt

In all our contacts it is probably the sense of being really needed and wanted which gives us the greatest satisfaction and creates the most lasting bond.
Eleanor Roosevelt

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.
Eleanor Roosevelt

It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
Eleanor Roosevelt

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.
Eleanor Roosevelt

It is not more vacation we need - it is more vocation.
Eleanor Roosevelt

It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.
Eleanor Roosevelt

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.
Eleanor Roosevelt

It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
Eleanor Roosevelt

My experience has been that work is almost the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn't have the power to say yes.
Eleanor Roosevelt

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Old age has deformities enough of its own. It should never add to them the deformity of vice.
Eleanor Roosevelt

One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes... and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth.
Eleanor Roosevelt