Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted.

Solutions are not the answer.

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.

We should take care not to make the intellect our goal; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

Fools admire, but men of sense approve.

All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.

One today is worth two tomorrows.

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

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.

The man who has no imagination has no wings.

As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent.

Youth is wasted on the young.

There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.

Forty to 60 I would say is your prime. That’s when you know the most, you’ve seen the most, you understand the most, and you still have some physical energy.

Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk.

Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.

Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.

I think that a president needs to have a variety of views presented. But also, there has to be a team effort, because otherwise, I think it creates a dissonance and difficulty.

An egg today is better than a hen to-morrow.

Nothing is permanent in this wicked world – not even our troubles.

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

Do not be very upright in your dealings for you would see by going to the forest that straight trees are cut down while crooked ones are left standing.

Leaders are responsible not for running public opinion polls but for the consequences of their actions.

There is more of good nature than of good sense at the bottom of most marriages.

People want to go out and travel around and meet cool people. I could just go live in Vermont, but is that what I really want?

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.

Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator.

Baldwin thought Europe was a bore, and Chamberlain thought it was only a greater Birmingham.

Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.

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

Government does not create wealth. The major role for the government is to create an environment where people take risks to expand the job rate in the United States.

Thought and theory must precede all salutary action; yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory.

Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.

‚Suffering should not make us bitter people,‘ my mother once said, ‚it should make us better comforters.‘ Young people need to hear this from those who have walked before them, because someday they’ll be walking those same steps, but there may not be anyone following behind.

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

Before God we are all equally wise – and equally foolish.

Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.

If I get stuck, I look at a book that tells me how someone else did it. I turn the pages, and then I say, ‚Oh, I forgot that bit,‘ then close the book and carry on. Finally, after you’ve figured out how to do it, you read how they did it and find out how dumb your solution is and how much more clever and efficient theirs is!

The die is cast.

And I love that even in the toughest moments, when we’re all sweating it – when we’re worried that the bill won’t pass, and it seems like all is lost – Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise. Just like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward… with patience and wisdom, and courage and grace.

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.

To see the right and not to do it is cowardice.

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.

When you’re older you want to learn from other people.

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle.

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can’t see from the center.

When befriended, remember it; when you befriend, forget it.

Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.

I was inspired to spend an entire year – my 65th year – reading, researching, and meditating on Lao-tzu’s messages, practicing them and ultimately writing down these insights as I felt Lao-tzu wanted us to know them.

Marriage has no guarantees. If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a car battery.

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.

It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.

Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong – these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.

Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.

If you don’t like what you’re doing, then don’t do it.

I’m substantially concerned about the policy directions of the space agency. We have a situation in the U.S. where the White House and Congress are at odds over what the future direction should be. They’re sort of playing a game and NASA is the shuttlecock that they’re hitting back and forth.

Build a man a fire, and he’ll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.