And obviously, from our own personal point of view, the principal challenge is a personal challenge.

I never get too high on my stardom or what I can do.

I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.

When people are taken out of their depths they lose their heads, no matter how charming a bluff they may put up.

The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.

There are many things that happen every day that we could murmur about if we let ourselves go there. But they really aren’t worth the effort it takes to get upset and gripe about it.

A scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.

Live out of your imagination, not your history.

I was in a terrible mess in my childhood.

A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.

Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, other, new insights begin.

The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.

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

Every mind must make its choice between truth and repose. It cannot have both.

Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.

If every day you practice walking and sitting meditation and generate the energy of mindfulness and concentration and peace, you are a cell in the body of the new Buddha. This is not a dream but is possible today and tomorrow.

Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour, content to dwell in decencies for ever.

I grew up as this very carefree, happy kid then things turned darker for me. Maybe it was because I saw that the world wasn’t as happy a place as I had hoped it would be for me.

When you tell a recruiter that you’re almost 300 pounds and you want to be a SEAL, it doesn’t go too well. I got hung up on a lot.

I more fear what is within me than what comes from without.

The ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives.

Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.

I have a hard time figuring out what kind of box to put me in, too, because I don’t know exactly what’s going on around me or why. But I need to stay outside of boxes because then I can look at what’s inside of them without being part of them.

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

I want to do a certain thing in the world, and I am going to do it with unwavering concentration. I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all cages, from all fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to establish new theories and new philosophies.

When your dream is bigger than you are, you only have two choices: give up or get help.

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

What I can say is that all my characters are searching for their souls, because they are my mirrors. I’m someone who is constantly trying to understand my place in the world, and literature is the best way that I found in order to see myself.

I learned a long time ago how to be coachable.

The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down.

There was a while when I was feeling like, ‚Damn, if I’d just been born black, I would not have to go through all this‘.

I’d have to be superman to do some of the things I’m supposed to have done, I’ve been at six different places at six different times.

The worst part of success is, to me, adapting to it. It’s scary.

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

Teach me to feel another’s woe, to hide the fault I see, that mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me.

There is one thing that gets you out of bed in the morning, and that is discipline. Because your dreams and your goals are not there waking up for you in the morning.

We’re not going to go 82-0 and blow everybody out. We are going to be challenged.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

You can either be a host to God, or a hostage to your ego. It’s your call.

I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough in me to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.

Every time you think the problem is ‚out there,‘ that very thought is the problem.

Even when you’re 50, you can make the effort to improve your standards.

If you would take, you must first give, this is the beginning of intelligence.

When new turns of behavior cease to appear in the life of the individual, its behavior ceases to be intelligent.

Hundreds of people who’ve never written before send in ‚Dr. Who‘ scripts. They may have good ideas, but what they fail to realise is that writing for TV is incredibly complicated. They have no idea how difficult it is and what the financial commitment is.

Your big opportunity may be right where you are now.

Everyone now knows how to find the meaning of life within himself. But mankind wasn’t always so lucky. Less than a century ago, men and women did not have easy access to the puzzle boxes within them.

Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.

Before all else, be armed.

People don’t usually compliment your character.

Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.

You can never get enough of what you don’t want.

Of course, like anybody I repeat myself endlessly, but I don’t know that I’m doing it, usually.

Whatever talents I possess may suddenly diminish or suddenly increase. I can with ease become an ordinary fool. I may be one now. But it doesn’t do to upset one’s own vanity.

People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.

You’ve got to invest in the world, you’ve got to read, you’ve got to go to art galleries, you’ve got to find out the names of plants. You’ve got to start to love the world and know about the whole genius of the human race. We’re amazing people.

I had a lot of resistance, and not just to fame. I was always conscious of not changing.

It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

Become aware of your own insufficiency.