Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.

It is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of my early life.

Whenever I’m around some who is modest, I think, ‚Run like hell and all of fire.‘ You don’t want modesty, you want humility.

When you’re in hell, you forget how great you really are because you’re suffering and you forget the great things you’ve done.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

As a vulnerability researcher, the greatest barrier I see is our low tolerance for vulnerability. We’re almost afraid to be happy. We feel like it’s inviting disaster.

One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

What is a fear of living? It’s being preeminently afraid of dying. It is not doing what you came here to do, out of timidity and spinelessness. The antidote is to take full responsibility for yourself – for the time you take up and the space you occupy. If you don’t know what you’re here to do, then just do some good.

Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.

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

I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

I never say I am a guru.

I never thought I would be such a family-oriented guy; I didn’t think that was part of my makeup. But somebody said that as you get older, you become the person you always should have been, and I feel that’s happening to me.

I gather from motivation around me – from a lot of personalities who have done well in their respective fields.

Boys do cry, but I don’t think I shed a tear for a good chunk of my teenage years.

Upon the subjects of which I have treated, I have spoken as I have thought. I may be wrong in regard to any or all of them; but, holding it a sound maxim that it is better only sometimes to be right than at all times to be wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce them.

There is a fine balance between honoring the past and losing yourself in it. For example, you can acknowledge and learn from mistakes you made, and then move on and refocus on the now. It is called forgiving yourself.

Don’t be humble… you’re not that great.

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

Some people have a hard time getting rid of stuff. If that’s you, pray for God to give you the courage to get rid of things you don’t really need or things He wants you to give away. This will help keep your surroundings organized and clutter-free.

I’m not intimidated by how people perceive me.

Nature gives you the face you have at twenty; it is up to you to merit the face you have at fifty.

I think, for years, people have been pushed down by religion, and I don’t say that disrespectfully, but they’ve been shown a God that you can’t measure up to.

A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man’s life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.

I am, as a character, at times, a little overbearing. I recognize that.

You simply have to accept that your demons are a part of you.

The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.

If anything is good for pounding humility into you permanently, it’s the restaurant business.

No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.

It’s always a struggle growing up in Akron.

I don’t really know that much about love, it turns out.

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.

I no have education. I have inspiration. If I was educated, I would be a damn fool.

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

The proper study of mankind is books.

I’ve never been a jealous person, and I’ve never felt built up by someone else’s failure – that’s a cheap thrill.

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.

First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.

Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.

I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.

I’ve realized that being happy is a choice. You never want to rub anybody the wrong way or not be fun to be around, but you have to be happy. When I get logical and I don’t trust my instincts – Thats when I get in trouble.

To observations which ourselves we make, we grow more partial for th‘ observer’s sake.

Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.

Power is competence.

Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?

I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.

I don’t dislike any of my exes. If I took time to form a relationship, it’s gonna hurt when we move on, but are you puttin‘ White-Out over all that beautiful time together? That was real time in your life. It’s connected to where you are today.

Character isn’t something you were born with and can’t change, like your fingerprints. It’s something you weren’t born with and must take responsibility for forming.

Watch out for the joy-stealers: gossip, criticism, complaining, faultfinding, and a negative, judgmental attitude.

I realized the other day that I’ve lived in New York longer than I’ve lived anywhere else. It’s amazing: I am a New Yorker. It’s strange; I never thought I would be.

Men are born to succeed, not to fail.

These words dropped into my childish mind as if you should accidentally drop a ring into a deep well. I did not think of them much at the time, but there came a day in my life when the ring was fished up out of the well, good as new.

Those of us who submitted or surrendered our ideas and dreams and identities to the ‚leaders‘ must take back our rights, our identities, our responsibilities.

I wish everyone well, but you need to focus on yourself. You need to stop putting your hand out. Everyone wants hand outs. Everyone wants things for free. You’ve got to put in the work. You’ve got to grind. You’ve got go through the struggle, and you’ve got to get it.

Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

Experience is the teacher of all things.

Give a man health and a course to steer, and he’ll never stop to trouble about whether he’s happy or not.

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