Anh Dao

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“Đêm nay tôi bước vội khỏi nhà.
Đến ga, xếp hàng mua vé:
Lần đầu tiên trong nghìn năm.
Có lẽ.
Cho tôi xin một vé đi Tuổi thơ.
Vé hạng trung
– Người bán vé hững hờ
Khe khẽ đáp:
Hôm nay vé hết!
– Biết làm sao!
Vé hết, biết làm sao!
Đường tới Tuổi Thơ còn biết hỏi nơi nào?”
― Nguyễn Nhật Ánh, Cho tôi xin một vé đi tuổi thơ

“It would have been better to come back at the same hour,” said the fox. “If, for example, you came at four o’clock in the afternoon, then at three o’clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o’clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you . . . One must observe the proper rites . . .”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince