Cunning… is but the low mimic of wisdom.

It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly. And it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.

The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.

Regarding life, the wisest men of all ages have judged alike: it is worthless.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.

All that mankind has done, thought or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books.

Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.

There is only a finger’s difference between a wise man and a fool.

Who sows virtue reaps honor.

Education is the best provision for old age.

The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.

Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold.

It is in the treatment of trifles that a person shows what they are.

Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion.

For all right judgment of any man or things it is useful, nay, essential, to see his good qualities before pronouncing on his bad.

Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.

Peace if possible, truth at all costs.

Atoms are very special: they like certain particular partners, certain particular directions, and so on. It is the job of physics to analyze why each one wants what it wants.

I’m married. My wife, Stella – a beautiful woman. She’s brought a lot of peace to my life, a lot of wisdom.

That is never too often repeated, which is never sufficiently learned.

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.

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

Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones.

Nature is not human hearted.

When the solution is simple, God is answering.

My company survives because I’ve learned to respect the ideas of people younger than me and recognize when my wisdom is obsolete.

No man can reveal to you nothing but that which already lies half-asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.

There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.

For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.

My old drama coach used to say, ‚Don’t just do something, stand there.‘ Gary Cooper wasn’t afraid to do nothing.

Good men by nature, wish to know. I know that many will call this useless work… men who desire nothing but material riches and are absolutely devoid of that of wisdom, which is the food and only true riches of the mind.

Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of the man himself cannot be written.

Many sophisticated, intelligent people lack wisdom and common sense.

There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest.

Old age: the crown of life, our play’s last act.

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.

In politics stupidity is not a handicap.

I had therefore to remove knowledge, in order to make room for belief.

Happy is the hearing man; unhappy the speaking man.

All the learnin‘ my father paid for was a bit o‘ birch at one end and an alphabet at the other.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

It would be a terrific innovation if you could get your mind to stretch a little further than the next wisecrack.

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.

I thought Star Wars was too wacky for the general public.

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.

Bad news isn’t wine. It doesn’t improve with age.

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.

Earnestness is enthusiasm tempered by reason.

Nothing is more terrible than activity without insight.

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

The U.S. increasingly has taken on the characteristics of what we describe as ‚failed states.‘

Great indebtedness does not make men grateful, but vengeful; and if a little charity is not forgotten, it turns into a gnawing worm.

I look forward to a great future for America – a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.

A man can’t be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

Pop is totally results-oriented and there is a very strong feedback loop.

I think I’ve got wiser.