Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble.

We dissect failure a lot more than we dissect success.

I just feel so much more comfortable and confident every game I play.

The man who can centre his thoughts and hopes upon something transcending self can find a certain peace in the ordinary troubles of life, which is impossible to the pure egoist.

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

When we see persons of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see persons of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.

The teacher is the one who gets the most out of the lessons, and the true teacher is the learner.

The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.

How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?

Read a record number of books in a given month. If you’re focused on intellectual growth, train yourself to study harder and longer than ever before.

I’ve made my share of mistakes along the way, but if I have changed even one life for the better, I haven’t lived in vain.

I am not the first Buddha who came upon Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time, another Buddha will arise in the world – a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals.

Maxim for life: You get treated in life the way you teach people to treat you.

When you are learning about a martial art, it is about respect.

The less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudice.

It is the nature of every person to error, but only the fool perseveres in error.

Don’t wait to be successful at some future point. Have a successful relationship with the present moment and be fully present in whatever you are doing. That is success.

I was a housewife, so I learned to write in times off, and I don’t think I ever gave it up, though there were times when I was very discouraged because I began to see that the stories I was writing were not very good, that I had a lot to learn, and that it was a much, much harder job than I had expected.

I was in a terrible mess in my childhood.

To the wicked, everything serves as pretext.

When the dog looks at you, the dog is not thinking what kind of a person you are. The dog is not judging you.

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.

If someone you know makes a bad decision or uses bad judgment, it doesn’t mean you have to allow that to alter your attitude. Why should you allow anyone else’s bad decisions to send you into a tailspin of misery?

For how many things, which for our own sake we should never do, do we perform for the sake of our friends.

Juvenile crime is not naturally born in the boy, but is largely due either to the spirit of adventure that is in him, to his own stupidity, or to his lack of discipline, according to the nature of the individual.

If I am no longer disturbed myself, I will deal less with disturbed people, but I don’t regret having concerned myself with them because I think most of us are disturbed.

What? You seek something? You wish to multiply yourself tenfold, a hundredfold? You seek followers? Seek zeros!

It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.

The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.

If you don’t set the tone for the day, the devil will set it for you.

What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

I give opinions, not advice.

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.

For a long time, I had the idea that I would do a certain amount of work the best I could, and then I would reach a comfort zone, and I wouldn’t be pushed to write more. I would become a different person. It’s a surprise to me that this hasn’t happened. Your body ages, but your mind is the same.

Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind’s eye, and you will be drawn toward it.

On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit.

Everybody, to some extent, manipulates. Even children learn to cry when they want something. There are all kinds of subtle things we do to get others to follow our lead, not bother us, and so on.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

I’ve never responded well to entrenched negative thinking.

You’ve gotta be very careful that grace and politeness do not merge into a banality of behavior, where we’re just nice, sort of ‚death by cupcake.‘

Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.

Life is not accumulation, it is about contribution.

To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.

It’s none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way.

I’m a very strong believer in listening and learning from others.

A man’s true character comes out when he’s drunk.

The idea of personal salvation is intensely repugnant to me when it is not absurd. Imagine Roosevelt, the big brute, preserving his personality in a future state and swaggering about as a celestial Rough Rider!

These are the soul’s changes. I don’t believe in ageing. I believe in forever altering one’s aspect to the sun. Hence my optimism.

We should seek the greatest value of our action.

It is one of the beautiful compensations in this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.

Don’t give in to excuses that can keep you from really living the best life God has for you.

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.

Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life – in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.

If you are against yourself, you will never reach your highest potential. And when you criticize yourself, you’re criticizing God.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

The young are permanently in a state resembling intoxication.

I don’t like freeloaders; I don’t like people who are negative.

You cannot let where you are today cause you to get stuck. I’m going to be my best right now. That’s what faith is all about.

Nobody likes to fail. I want to succeed in everything I do, which isn’t much. But the things that I’m really passionate about, if I fail at those, if I’m not successful, what do I have?