I don’t suffer of anything that I’ve lost.

I’m not resigned, but I’m realistic too. The statistics in my case are very poor. Not many people come through esophageal cancer and live to talk about it, or not for long. And the other wager is, the part of the wager, it’s a certainty you’ll have a terrible time and you may wish you were dying because it’s an awful process.

Any of us can be happy and have a good attitude when everything is going our way. But I believe it’s the real test of your character and of your faith to say, ‚Things are not going our way, but I’m still being good to people; I’m still attending church; I still have a good attitude.‘

Nothing cannot exist forever.

The supreme function of reason is to show man that some things are beyond reason.

I still think like a Marxist in many ways.

The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity.

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

One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

Man is not the sum of what he has already, but rather the sum of what he does not yet have, of what he could have.

Religion is the frozen thought of man out of which they build temples.

You cannot step into the same river twice.

Death, like birth, is a secret of Nature.

The end is the beginning of all things, Suppressed and hidden, Awaiting to be released through the rhythm Of pain and pleasure.

If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see.

No man can reveal to you nothing but that which already lies half-asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

But at any rate, the point is that God is what nobody admits to being, and everybody really is.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane.

To be is to do.

I think that a man should not live beyond the age when he begins to deteriorate, when the flame that lighted the brightest moment of his life has weakened.

Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality.

Man is an exception, whatever else he is. If he is not the image of God, then he is a disease of the dust. If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head.

But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.

One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation.

The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.

Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature. Everything is made of one hidden stuff.

It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore.

Are creeds such simple things like the clothes which a man can change at will and put on at will? Creeds are such for which people live for ages and ages.

I have finally decided to write my book on the spiritual life. I mean to put down as simply as possible the sort of ascetical or mystical teaching that I have been living and preaching so long. I call it ‚Le Milieu Divin,‘ but I am being careful to include nothing esoteric and the minimum of explicit philosophy.

Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself.

All time is all time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is.

Forgotten is forgiven.

Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.

The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.

There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness.

Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.

What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life.

And, after all, what is a lie? ‚Tis but the truth in a masquerade.

For centuries, theologians have been explaining the unknowable in terms of the-not-worth-knowing.

What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly – that is the first law of nature.

There’s this lingering philosophy that movie stars shouldn’t do TV.

Reality is a sliding door.

If you get knocked down – setbacks in life, like applying for a job if they don’t hire you – keep trying, keep getting up, keep doing it.

I was born in a very poor family. I used to sell tea in a railway coach as a child. My mother used to wash utensils and do lowly household work in the houses of others to earn a livelihood. I have seen poverty very closely. I have lived in poverty. As a child, my entire childhood was steeped in poverty.

Only a philosophy of eternity, in the world today, could justify non-violence.

Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.

Didn’t get promoted? Good. More time to get better.

Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.

If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence.

I believe everyone should have a good death. You know, with your grandchildren around you, a bit of sobbing. Because after all, tears are appropriate on a death bed. And you say goodbye to your loved ones, making certain that one of them has been left behind to look after the shop.

All men are equal before fish.

Here’s the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don’t find it anywhere else.

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‚Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.

When your soul is resting, your emotions are okay, your mind is okay, and your will is at peace with God, not resisting what He’s doing.

Whenever you give up something, you must replace it with something.