The more extensive a man’s knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do.

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

Men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve.

One man that has a mind and knows it can always beat ten men who haven’t and don’t.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher.

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.

As I have done in every election since I started voting so many years ago, I always like to take my time and examine the two candidates, see not only the two candidates but the policies they will bring in, the people they will bring in, who they might appoint to the Supreme Court, and look at the whole range of issues before making a decision.

War – An act of violence whose object is to constrain the enemy, to accomplish our will.

Access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries.

Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.

We are all geniuses up to the age of ten.

Live to learn, and you will really learn to live.

It’s not worth doing something unless you were doing something that someone, somewere, would much rather you weren’t doing.

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.

We’ve got to dumb America up again.

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

People want to go out and travel around and meet cool people. I could just go live in Vermont, but is that what I really want?

The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.

Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance.

Use power to help people. For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power and it is to serve people.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf; is better than a whole loaf.

All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it.

Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

To understand the power of the priesthood, we must know its limitations.

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

Peace if possible, truth at all costs.

For my career, I wouldn’t go racing if I didn’t enjoy it. I still need to have my say, and not just get put with a team and get told to deal with it.

Education is the best provision for old age.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.

Whatever position I occupied, it was the result of colleagues – of my comrades in the movement – who had decided in their wisdom to use me for the purpose of focusing the attention of the country and the international community on me.

There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.

A people free to choose will always choose peace.

Grace is not part of consciousness; it is the amount of light in our souls, not knowledge nor reason.

The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.

I’m trying my best to keep up with all this new technology, and I surround myself with all these wonderful people that are in the know and kind of help me out with all that.

Eight, as you know, is not a good number for a multi-member court.

When you get angry, your options narrow.

I did 20 years in the Navy. I joined the Navy right out of high school and went through Navy boot camp, went to SEAL training, got done with that, and then showed up at a SEAL team, where I did 20 years. That was pretty much my whole adult life.

Judges ought to be more leaned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.

A ‚No‘ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‚Yes‘ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

Until I began to learn to draw, I was never much interested in looking at art.

The doors of wisdom are never shut.

Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad.

To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.

I am quite serious when I say that I do not believe there are, on the whole earth besides, so many intensified bores as in these United States. No man can form an adequate idea of the real meaning of the word, without coming here.

A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

Build a man a fire, and he’ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.

I have done one thing that I think is a contribution: I helped Buddhist science and modern science combine. No other Buddhist has done that. Other lamas, I don’t think they ever pay attention to modern science. Since my childhood, I have a keen interest.

Patriotism, when it wants to make itself felt in the domain of learning, is a dirty fellow who should be thrown out of doors.

Great minds are related to the brief span of time during which they live as great buildings are to a little square in which they stand: you cannot see them in all their magnitude because you are standing too close to them.

Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it.

It is the sign of a great mind to dislike greatness, and to prefer things in measure to things in excess.