Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.

In the West, as well as some other parts of the world, the personal sense of ego tends to predominate, whereas in other areas, there is a more collective sense of ego. This collective ego emphasizes the ‚we‘ rather than the ‚I.‘

You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.

The wisest hustler can suddenly fall for the worst tramp and lose all of his money on her. The hustler is aware of his own weaknesses and openings to con. This awareness is his edge.

The more people I reach, the more people there are that have opinions about me. Not everyone loves me, but I have to be okay no matter what they think about me.

I’d like to believe that the people that have supported me in my work or identified with me in films, the people that feel they know me, they do and they don’t have misconceptions – they understand. I believe that.

I never desired to please the rabble. What pleased them, I did not learn; and what I knew was far removed from their understanding.

The marvel of the Bhagavad-Gita is its truly beautiful revelation of life’s wisdom which enables philosophy to blossom into religion.

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

Your emotions are very unstable and should never be the foundation for direction in your life.

More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us.

All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it.

And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be, if there weren’t any other people living in the world.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

As a single withered tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so does a rascal son destroy a whole family.

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.

I fear that many a man’s good resolutions only need the ordinary fire of daily life to make them melt away. So, too, with fine professions and the boastings of perfection which abound in this age of shams.

The only thing that could spoil a day was people. People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.

I’m stupid, I’m ugly, I’m dumb, I smell. Did I mention I’m stupid?

I write from my soul. This is the reason that critics don’t hurt me, because it is me. If it was not me, if I was pretending to be someone else, then this could unbalance my world, but I know who I am.

It’s a very strange thing being recognized or looked upon as someone special.

There’s a part of you – the born-again part, your spirit – that’s dead to sin. That’s why it bothers you now when you sin. The ‚wilderness‘ part of you – your soul – is your unrenewed mind, out-of-control emotions, and stubborn will.

We are second-hand people. We have lived on what we have been told, either guided by our inclinations, our tendencies, or compelled to accept by circumstances and environment. We are the result of all kinds of influences, and there is nothing new in us, nothing that we have discovered for ourselves: nothing original, pristine, clear.

What a terrible thing to have lost one’s mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true that is.

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.

You could not step twice into the same rivers; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.

Clearly older women and especially older women who have led an active life or elder women who successfully maneuver through their own family life have so much to teach us about sharing, patience, and wisdom.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

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

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

I’ve watched a lot of people who became famous who completely change and I think it’s because they tend to believe all the hype that’s out there. I don’t think there’s that much hype about me.

I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self.

I am not very good with relationships. With anyone. I can’t be locked up with anyone for too long.

That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.

If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.

I’m very aware and very conscious of the path I chose in life, and very aware of the path I didn’t choose.

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.

When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and exclusion.

Either you think, or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.

The truth is that you can only come to know God when you give up the past and the future in your mind and merge totally into the now, because God is always here now.

Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them.

It’s different from being 21 and you think there’s endless amount of opportunities. At 33, the ending is much, much closer.

Meditation is not following any system; it is not constant repetition and imitation. Meditation is not concentration.

Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.

Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!

Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.

Somebody’s boring me. I think it’s me.

The faults of a superior person are like the sun and moon. They have their faults, and everyone sees them; they change and everyone looks up to them.

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

He that would live in peace and at ease must not speak all he knows or all he sees.

Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.

Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.

I get nervous when I don’t get nervous. If I’m nervous I know I’m going to have a good show.

Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket.

If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.

The ego is nothing other than the focus of conscious attention.

You might not have the things you want, but if you check carefully, you got all you need.

The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone.