Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheeplike passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving.
- Dewey, John

The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly.
- Roosevelt, Theodore

Behold a worthy sight, to which the God, turning his attention to his own work, may direct his gaze. Behold an equal thing, worthy of a God, a brave man matched in conflict with evil fortune.
- Seneca