Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?

My drive is other people’s success.

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.

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

Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms.

The job of art is to chase ugliness away.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

Find a beautiful piece of art. If you fall in love with Van Gogh or Matisse or John Oliver Killens, or if you fall love with the music of Coltrane, the music of Aretha Franklin, or the music of Chopin – find some beautiful art and admire it, and realize that that was created by human beings just like you, no more human, no less.

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.

Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.

That was always the difference between Muhammad Ali and the rest of us. He came, he saw, and if he didn’t entirely conquer – he came as close as anybody we are likely to see in the lifetime of this doomed generation.

A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.

It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.

Satan is wiser now than before, and tempts by making rich instead of poor.

I’m inspired by people who keep on rolling, no matter their age.

The art of being a slave is to rule one’s master.

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

Neil Young is my hero, and such a great example. You know what that guy has been doing for the past 40 years? Making music. That’s what that guy does. Sometimes you pay attention, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes he hands it to you, sometimes he keeps it to himself. He’s a good man with a beautiful family and wonderful life.

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.

Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.

There is nothing that makes its way more directly into the soul than beauty.

If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results.

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know.

Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge.

I don’t know that much about who directs what movies, but I’m definitely inspired by the look of old movies; I find them to be really beautiful.

He that sows thorns should never go barefoot.

Knowledge and human power are synonymous.

Fires can’t be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks.

Art’s everything we hope life would be, a lot of times.

I consider wisdom supernatural because it isn’t taught by men – it’s a gift from God.

Every bit of me is devoted to love and art. And I aspire to try to be a teacher to my young fans who feel just like I felt when I was younger. I just felt like a freak. I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m trying to liberate them, I want to free them of their fears and make them feel that they can make their own space in the world.

It’s lack that gives us inspiration. It’s not fullness.

I used to consider the listener. But now I’m in a space where, if I’m not inspired, I can’t really do the music. I can’t feel it.

The sage does not hoard. The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself, The more he gives to others, the more he gets himself. The Way of Heaven does one good but never does one harm. The Way of the sage is to act but not to compete.

In every walk of life, you must have leaders. An education in the spiritual world, in the labor field, in the agricultural field, we must have leaders.

God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say: ‚This is my country.‘

Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.

Hope is not a resting place but a starting point – a cactus, not a cushion.

Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.

The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.

A subject for a great poet would be God’s boredom after the seventh day of creation.

Many readers fail to realize this, but ‚The Color Purple‘ is a theological text. It is about the reclamation of one’s original God: the earth and nature.

To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution.

I grow daily to honour facts more and more, and theory less and less. A fact, it seems to me, is a great thing; a sentence printed, if not by God, then at least by the Devil.

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance.

The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?

The Paralympic Games is about transforming our perception of the world.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth.

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

Adversity is the diamond dust Heaven polishes its jewels with.

It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

The fool wonders, the wise man asks.