If we don’t plant the right things, we will reap the wrong things. It goes without saying. And you don’t have to be, you know, a brilliant biochemist and you don’t have to have an IQ of 150. Just common sense tells you to be kind, ninny, fool. Be kind.

I was willing to accept what I couldn’t change.

It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.

Know that any and all thoughts that you have regarding your own skills, interests, and inclinations are valid. To reinforce the validity of your thoughts, keep them private. Tell yourself that they’re between you and God.

Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.

Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.

It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly. And it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life.

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

Many years ago, I concluded that a few hair shirts were part of the mental wardrobe of every man. The president differs from other men in that he has a more extensive wardrobe.

I don’t like looking back. I’m always constantly looking forward. I’m not the one to sort of sit and cry over spilt milk. I’m too busy looking for the next cow.

Have you not learned that strength comes to an ordinary soul when given an extraordinary calling?

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel great to you, you can never lose, because settling is the worst feeling in the world.

I try to be the same person I was yesterday.

Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.

As pessimistic as I am about the nature of human beings and our capacity for atrocity and malevolence and betrayal and laziness and inertia, and all those things, I think we can transcend all that and set things straight.

Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.

The more successful I become, the more I need a man.

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.

I remember, when I was a young guy in the SEAL teams, I was very afraid of making mistakes and looking stupid or doing dumb things and getting a bad reputation.

I can’t keep somebody from being a star, and I can’t make somebody a star, and nobody can.

I found it hard to be young. When I was married in my twenties, I hated being regarded as ‚the little wife.‘ You don’t know what it was like then! I’d never even written a cheque. I had to ask my husband for money for groceries.

There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel no one else has a right to blame us.

Take the complications, rules, shoulds, musts, have tos, and so on out of your life. By uncomplicating your life and removing the trivial pursuits that occupy so much of it, you open a channel for the genius within you to emerge.

The only thing is, people have to develop courage. It is most important of all the virtues. Because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtues consistently.

Either you’re the one erasing or you’re the one being erased.

Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained.

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.

Those thoughts are truth which guide us to beneficial interaction with sensible particulars as they occur, whether they copy these in advance or not.

Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody.

When you are angry or frustrated, what comes out? Whatever it is, it’s a good indication of what you’re made of.

True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

But for me to have the opportunity to stand in front of a bunch of executives and present myself, I had to hustle in my own way. I can’t tell you how frustrating it was that they didn’t get that. No joke – I’d leave meetings crying all the time.

I’ve experienced great things, I’ve experienced great tragedies. I’ve done almost everything I could possibly ever imagine doing, but I just know that there’s more.

To deal with individual human needs at the everyday level can be noble sometimes.

Even when we have physical hardships, we can be very happy.

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.

Hollywood is not suited for me, and I am not suited for it.

Kings are not born: they are made by artificial hallucination.

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.

A career is born in public – talent in privacy.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?

I’m mortified to be on the stage, but then again, it’s the only place where I’m happy.

If you’re not producing as much as you consume, or perhaps a little more, then clearly we cannot use the big organization of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us, and it can’t be of very much use to yourself.

Both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom: the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come.

Remember, always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.

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

What nicer thing can you do for somebody than make them breakfast?

Because I am a mother, I am capable of being shocked: as I never was when I was not one.

Be smarter than other people, just don’t tell them so.

No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.

How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

Love other human beings as you would love yourself.

For me, being raised in a free America made all the difference.

Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t appreciate kindness and compassion.

I’m not a person who defends myself very often. I kind of let my actions speak for me.

Older and wiser voices can help you find the right path, if you are only willing to listen.

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

God enters by a private door into every individual.

It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.