"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness, concerning all acts of initiative (and creation). There is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too, all sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."     
--Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

I realized my friends were not typical about ten years ago. I was faced with some life choices and, rather than quote "Dear Abby" to me, I got Goethe. This is my favorite. The art is a composite of two photos from Dublin, Ireland. The first is of the mountains and beautiful April sky. The second is of the Angel--if you look carefully, there is a bullet hole in her right breast from the 1922 uprising.     1024x768     800x600

"The legitimate object of government is to do for the community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all in their separate and individual capacities."     --Lincoln

Took this photo in Washington DC in August 2001.     1024x768     800x600

"A Life lived in Fear is a Life Half-Lived." --Spanish Proverb

In May, 2003, I took my mother on a hot-air balloon ride. This was the first truly adventurous thing that I could ever remember her asking to do--so it made the perfect birthday gift. I took the photo of the rapidly inflating balloon. Shortly thereafter I overcame my fear of heights and went for a wonderful flight. The quote is an old Spanish proverb made famous in "Strictly Ballroom."     
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"This above all, to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."     --Shakespeare

Not a digital photograph--scanned. I took this after an enormous thunderstorm in Ohio, just SE of Akron in the early 1980s.      
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"For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery."     --Jonathan Swift

Another composite. This one from the tomb of Jonathon Swift at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin and the background is a waterfall at the Guiness Brewery. I hope Mr. Swift would approve.     1024x768     800x600