If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles.

Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.

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.

Start with God – the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.

A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient.

Love is a trap. When it appears, we see only its light, not its shadows.

On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done as easily lying down .

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.

I’m married. My wife, Stella – a beautiful woman. She’s brought a lot of peace to my life, a lot of wisdom.

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.

I’d rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

Money can’t buy life.

Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.

Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.

It is the nature of every person to error, but only the fool perseveres in error.

I’m not somebody that thinks about destiny and fate, but I don’t walk away from it when something unfolds.

The sum of wisdom is that time is never lost that is devoted to work.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.

The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences.

The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days.

No man ever prayed heartily without learning something.

See how many are better off than you are, but consider how many are worse.

In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.

I don’t have people following me around, like bodyguards. I don’t know how people live like that. Maybe the young movie stars have to live like that, I don’t know. But it seems a little crazy to me. I don’t think you need all that stuff.

There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.

That’s what a man wants in a wife, mostly; he wants to make sure one fool tells him he’s wise.

Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.

A fool is wise in his eyes.

Life’s like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters.

We have communion with Christ in His thoughts, views, and purposes; for His thoughts are our thoughts according to our capacity and sanctity. Believers take the same view of matters as Jesus does; that which pleases Him pleases them, and that which grieves His grieves them also.

I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.

When all is said and done, more is said than done.

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed.

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; the Named is the mother of all things.

A room without books is like a body without a soul.

There are folks who now know black families – like the Johnsons on ‚Black-ish‘ or the folks on ‚Modern Family.‘ They become part of who you are. You share their pains. You understand their fears. They make you laugh, and they change how you see the world.

Words are only painted fire; a look is the fire itself.

The ideas associated with the problems of the development of science, as far as I can see by looking around me, are not of the kind that everyone appreciates.

There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.

You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.

Applause is a receipt, not a bill.

I was always very curious as a young man about why older writers who I met seemed so indifferent to what was going on, whereas I, in my 20s, was reading everything. Everything seemed important. But they were only interested in the writers they admired when they were young, and I didn’t understand it then, but now, now I understand it.

What people call impartiality may simply mean indifference, and what people call partiality may simply mean mental activity.

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.

I’ve made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I’m convinced of the opposite.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so.

When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world.

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

There can be no better grounding for a lifetime as an author than to see humanity in all its various guises through the lens of the reporter for the town.

One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be.

A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.

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

Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.

Sin is geographical.

He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled.

Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past the centre of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the other; and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true point at which it can remain at rest.