I have always loves quotes. In part because I was raised on them. My mother was constantly using quotes to teach us about everyday life. My mother did not teach us the origins of the quotes. She was probably simply repeating what she had been taught as a young girl.

But that fostered my love for quotes and as I grew older and began to learn about life, I saw the wisdom in what she had taught. I also began to dig deeper and find where the quotes came from. One thing that surprised me was the fact that so many of the quotes were quite ancient. It seems that the knowledge about life has been there for ages, but it also seems that we cannot learn some things simply by reading - we have to learn by experience.

So much of our everyday language can be traced back to the stories from Aesop. Aesop was born a slave around 550 B.C. But because of his teachings he was set free. Aesop is one of the most famous story tellers to ever live and his method of teaching is still widely used today - tell a story and wrap a lesson in the story.

Today, we do not need to hear the entire story, just the lesson and we remember the entire story. Here are a few of his more famous stories:

Do not count your chickes before they are hatched.

I am sure the grapes are sour. (The fox and the grapes.)

Slow and steady wins the race. (The tortoise and the hare.)

Look before you leap.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Those who seek to please everybody please nobody.

It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow. (The ant and the grasshopper.)

A man is known by the company he keeps.

Thinking to get at once all the gold the goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find - nothing. (The goose that laid the golden eggs.)

Proverbs is a collection of quotations attributed to John Heywood. It is doubtful that he wrote them all himself, it is more likely that he collected and published them . They were written in 1546 and are part of our everyday speech.

Haste makes waste.

Two heads are better than one.

To rob Peter to pay Paul.

Rome was not build in a day.

A penny for your thoughts.

Would you both eat your cake and have your cake?

This hitteth the nail on the head.

Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.

No collection of quotations would be complete with some from Ben Franklin. These are all from Poor RIchard's Almanac.

Buy what thou hast no need of; and e're long thou shall sell thy necessaries.

He that cannot obey, cannot command.

Necessity never made a good bargin.

After crosses and losses, men grow humbler and wiser.

Well done is better than well said.

It's the easiest thing in the world for a man to deceive himself.

Success has ruin'd many a man.

There is such a wealth of quotations, that it is extremely difficult to complie a very short list. My experience is that quotations can stick with a person for life. The lessons learned will serve a person well over their entire life.

These are only a select few of my favorites:

It is no profit to have learned well if you neglect to do well. Publilus Syrus

The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves that we are underlings. William Shakespeare.

As the twig is bent, the tree inclines. Virgil

They can conquer who believe they can. Virgil

Fear is sharp sighted, and can see things underground, and much more in the skies. Miguel de Carvantes

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Lao-tzu

Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend. Theophrastus

As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve. Napoleon Hill

A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with - A man is what he makes of himself.

And my very favorite quote which is so true and contains so much wisdom is actually from the comic strip Pogo - We have met the enemy and it is us. - Walt Kelly.