Don’t swap horses in crossing a stream.

The more a person seeks security, the more that person gives up control over their life.

We never fail when we try to do our duty, we always fail when we neglect to do it.

If you young fellows were wise, the devil couldn’t do anything to you, but since you aren’t wise, you need us who are old.

With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs. I’m going to press on for equality. I’m going to press on for the sake of our children. I’m going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I am going to press on.

He had read much, if one considers his long life; but his contemplation was much more than his reading. He was wont to say that if he had read as much as other men he should have known no more than other men.

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 am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.

I shall never be a heretic; I may err in dispute, but I do not wish to decide anything finally; on the other hand, I am not bound by the opinions of men.

When you’re 40, you can’t ride the fence anymore. You gotta make definite decisions about your life.

What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.

You and I are stuck with the necessity of taking the worst of two evils or none at all. So-I’m taking the immature Democrat as the best of the two. Nixon is impossible.

Failed plans should not be interpreted as a failed vision. Visions don’t change, they are only refined. Plans rarely stay the same, and are scrapped or adjusted as needed. Be stubborn about the vision, but flexible with your plan.

I firmly believe that unless one has tasted the bitter pill of failure, one cannot aspire enough for success.

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

It always seems to me so odd that when a man dies, he takes out with him all the knowledge that he has got in his lifetime whilst sowing his wild oats or winning successes. And he leaves his sons or younger brothers to go through all the work of learning it over again from their own experience.

The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.

To prefer evil to good is not in human nature; and when a man is compelled to choose one of two evils, no one will choose the greater when he might have the less.

How do you know what it’s like to be stupid if you’ve never been smart?

All my life affection has been showered upon me, and every forward step I have made has been taken in spite of it.

When I’m in management meetings when we’re deciding my future, those decisions are left up to me. I’m the one who has to go out and fulfill all these obligations, so I should be able to choose which ones I do or not. That’s the part of my life where I feel most in control.

The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.

Of all the things which wisdom provides to make us entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship.

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

You can’t have a value structure without a hierarchy. They’re the same thing because a value structure means one thing takes precedence over another.

The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.

Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.

The die is cast.

Then not only an old man, but also a drunkard, becomes a second time a child.

Some people plant in the spring and leave in the summer. If you’re signed up for a season, see it through. You don’t have to stay forever, but at least stay until you see it through.

You know, when I have a bad game, it continues to humble me and know that, you know, you still have work to do and you still have a lot of people to impress.

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

I am growing handsome very fast indeed! I expect I shall be the belle of Amherst when I reach my 17th year. I don’t doubt that I shall have perfect crowds of admirers at that age. Then how I shall delight to make them await my bidding, and with what delight shall I witness their suspense while I make my final decision.

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

Hey, I think it’s easy for guys to hit .300 and stay in the big leagues. Hit .200 and try to stick around as long as I did; I think it’s a much greater accomplishment. That’s hard.

A man lives by believing something: not by debating and arguing about many things.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

Error is acceptable as long as we are young; but one must not drag it along into old age.

As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself.

We do need women in civic life. We do need women to run for office, to be in political office. We need a feminist to be at the table when decisions are being made so that the right decisions will be made.

I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.

We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting.

It’s my old girl that advises. She has the head. But I never own to it before her. Discipline must be maintained.

Engage your brain before you engage your weapon.

It’s so clear that you have to cherish everyone. I think that’s what I get from these older black women, that every soul is to be cherished, that every flower Is to bloom.

All great truths begin as blasphemies.

You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That’s how you know you’re still alive.

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

The risk for me would be in not taking one – that’s the only thing that’s really risky for me.

Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.

Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.

I attribute my success to this – I never gave or took any excuse.

A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.

I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.

Diligence is the mother of good fortune.

Do all you can to make your dreams come true.

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