There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both, but, by too much prudence, may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either.

Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.

The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are. The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.

The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.

Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle.

There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.

Hiding places there are innumerable, escape is only one, but possibilities of escape, again, are as many as hiding places.

If you don’t like what you’re doing, then don’t do it.

Don’t wait for the last judgment – it takes place every day.

Do not ask for what you will wish you had not got.

I’ve never gone wrong trusting my gut.

My friends ask me if I want more kids, and I always say yes, I want more; it’s the best thing you can have in your life.

Those who cry out that the government should ‚do something‘ never even ask for data on what has actually happened when the government did something, compared to what actually happened when the government did nothing.

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

To see the right and not to do it is cowardice.

‚A living dog is better than a dead lion.‘ Judge Douglas, if not a dead lion for this work, is at least a caged and toothless one. How can he oppose the advances of slavery? He don’t care anything about it.

I’m working on my life story. I’m not decided if it’s going to be a musical or a movie with music in it.

It’s easier to aim to please and say what others want to hear than to form an opinion and fight for it, even if it means taking a risk or losing your job.

I thank God I’m in a position where I can pick and choose – there are some roles I don’t play.

We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain.

We should work with the principle that a work that can be done at a lower level should never be escalated to a higher level.

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.

We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or to make it the last.

Couples are wholes and not wholes, what agrees disagrees, the concordant is discordant. From all things one and from one all things.

I don’t want to express my opinion about actual politics, because if I do, I have to be responsible for my decision.

People have been fed this diet of pabulum, rights, and impulsive freedom. There’s just an absolute starvation for the other side of the story.

Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.

People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come in to the mind of others.

If you’re a quarterback, you want everything on your shoulders. You want to be the one to make the decisions.

Your philosophy determines whether you will go for the disciplines or continue the errors.

Every man prefers belief to the exercise of judgment.

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

Control and surrender have to be kept in balance. That’s what surfers do – take control of the situation, then be carried, then take control. In the last few thousand years, we’ve become incredibly adept technically. We’ve treasured the controlling part of ourselves and neglected the surrendering part.

It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain.

In my line of work, the enemy gets a vote.

Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.

Liberty must be limited in order to be possessed.

Of my mental cycles, I devote maybe ten percent to business thinking. Business isn’t that complicated. I wouldn’t want to put it on my business card.

I guess you could say I devoted myself so strongly to my music that for awhile I forgot about my family. But I only get one set of parents, and I think I forgot about that for a little while.

Forgiveness is not a feeling – it’s a decision we make because we want to do what’s right before God. It’s a quality decision that won’t be easy and it may take time to get through the process, depending on the severity of the offense.

If I don’t run for president, we’ll all be OK.

If every choice you make comes from an honest place, you’re solid, and nothing anybody can say about you can rock you or change your opinion.

To have in general but little feeling, seems to be the only security against feeling too much on any particular occasion.

The making of the far-famed New York Central Park was opposed by even good men, with misguided pluck, perseverance, and ingenuity, but straight right won its way, and now that park is appreciated. So we confidently believe it will be with our great national parks and forest reservations.

I’ll be glad to reply to or dodge your questions, depending on what I think will help our election most.

I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.

No one person controls Microsoft. The board and the shareholders decide whether they want to have me as CEO.

The way to develop decisiveness is to start right where you are, with the very next question you face.

Not only do I not know what’s going on, I wouldn’t know what to do about it if I did.

Really I feel less keen about the Army every day. I think the Church would suit me better.

While discipline and freedom seem like they sit on opposite sides of the spectrum, they are actually very connected.

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

I just hate meetings. Though it’s true that once you’ve made a lot of money, people around you might be full of ideas about ways to make lots more money and might be disappointed that you don’t want to seize every opportunity to do so.

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.

Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them.

Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction.

Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.