The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.

Cunning… is but the low mimic of wisdom.

Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.

The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.

Man the individual consoles himself for his passing with the thought of the offspring or the works which he leaves behind.

Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.

A remark generally hurts in proportion to its truth.

Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

No country can act wisely simultaneously in every part of the globe at every moment of time.

It is in life as it is in ways, the shortest way is commonly the foulest, and surely the fairer way is not much about.

By the time you’ve reached your sixties, you do know that one day you will die, and knowing that is at least the beginning of wisdom.

If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults.

We must accept what science tells us, that man was born from the earth. But, more logical than the scientists who lecture us, we must carry this lesson to its conclusion: that is to say, accept that man was born entirely from the world – not only his flesh and bones but his incredible power of thought.

Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see how impossible it is to organize a belief.

Indignation is a submission of our thoughts, but not of our desires.

If I get stuck, I look at a book that tells me how someone else did it. I turn the pages, and then I say, ‚Oh, I forgot that bit,‘ then close the book and carry on. Finally, after you’ve figured out how to do it, you read how they did it and find out how dumb your solution is and how much more clever and efficient theirs is!

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there.

God is a concept by which we measure our pain.

My music definitely comes from a place of experience. Everything connects to a truth.

Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.

No such thing as a man willing to be honest – that would be like a blind man willing to see.

You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.

All things in the world come from being. And being comes from non-being.

What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.

So while I will never minimize the costs involved in military action, I am convinced that a failure to act in Libya would have carried a far greater price for America.

A radical generally meant a man who thought he could somehow pull up the root without affecting the flower. A conservative generally meant a man who wanted to conserve everything except his own reason for conserving anything.

I think carrying moral baggage is very dangerous for an artist. If you have a duty, it’s to be true and not cover up the cracks.

Why are our days numbered and not, say, lettered?

True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.

Paradise was made for tender hearts; hell, for loveless hearts.

An unexciting truth may be eclipsed by a thrilling lie.

We’re in the last days, man – I truly, in my heart, believe that. It’s written. I could go on with biblical situations and things my grandma told me. But it’s about being at peace with myself and making good with the people around me.

Woman, or more precisely put, perhaps, marriage, is the representative of life with which you are meant to come to terms.

I don’t see myself as a philosopher. That’s awfully boring.

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.

The wise man does not expose himself needlessly to danger, since there are few things for which he cares sufficiently; but he is willing, in great crises, to give even his life – knowing that under certain conditions it is not worthwhile to live.

The theoretical understanding of the world, which is the aim of philosophy, is not a matter of great practical importance to animals, or to savages, or even to most civilised men.

Nothing that was worthy in the past departs; no truth or goodness realized by man ever dies, or can die.

The misfortune of the wise is better than the prosperity of the fool.

An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.

A man is the whole encyclopedia of facts.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

One Buddha is not enough; we need to have many Buddhas.

Our life is made by the death of others.

Man can believe the impossible, but man can never believe the improbable.

People need good lies. There are too many bad ones.

It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It’s called living.

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.

Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.

We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.

There is, so I believe, in the essence of everything, something that we cannot call learning. There is, my friend, only a knowledge – that is everywhere.

All the learnin‘ my father paid for was a bit o‘ birch at one end and an alphabet at the other.

The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop.

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.

Our philosophy is that we care about people first.

Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it to be expecting evil before it comes.

When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world.

The action we take and the decisions we make in this decade will have consequences far into this century. If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch.