Every time I plant a seed, He say kill it before it grow, he say kill it before they grow.

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.

He ate and drank the precious Words, his Spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, nor that his frame was Dust.

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

Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven’t committed.

I say there is no darkness but ignorance.

To err is human; to forgive, divine.

For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.

Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them.

There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating – people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.

To walk through the ruined cities of Germany is to feel an actual doubt about the continuity of civilization.

My mother told me two things constantly. One was to be a lady and the other was to be independent, and the law was something most unusual for those times because for most girls growing up in the ’40s, the most important degree was not your B.A. but your M.R.S.

Age appears to be best in four things; old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.

Man, unlike anything organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.

Whoever doesn’t know it must learn and find by experience that ‚a quiet conscience makes one strong!‘

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

The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.

Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world.

Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.

The teacher is the one who gets the most out of the lessons, and the true teacher is the learner.

No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern.

When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.

People do not wish to appear foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain actually fools.

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.

Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.

Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.

He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek will be found.

We will move forward, we will move upward, and yes, we will move onward.

Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.

My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.

Why love if losing hurts so much? I have no answers anymore; only the life I have lived. The pain now is part of the happiness then.

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.

The worst men often give the best advice.

Old age is just a record of one’s whole life.

Lord keep us all from sin. Teach us how to walk circumspectly; enable us to guard our minds against error of doctrine, our hearts against wrong feelings, and our lives against evil actions.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.

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.

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.

It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory.

Cunning… is but the low mimic of wisdom.

Every human being is under construction from conception to death.

Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.

If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.

It takes a long time to bring the past up to the present.

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

You don’t have the same mentality as you did five years ago – even one year. People are always changing, and I believe that everyone deserves the space to change and for people to recognize their change.

It is a curious thing: man, the centre and creator of all science, is the only object which our science has not yet succeeded in including in a homogeneous representation of the universe. We know the history of his bones, but no ordered place has yet been found in nature for his reflective intelligence.

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

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.

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.

Man is the most intelligent of the animals – and the most silly.

General consultant to mankind.

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

Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.

However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?

Rashness belongs to youth; prudence to old age.

He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.