It is easy to dismiss the world as ‚irrelevant,‘ or consumed by ‚paranoid anti-Americanism,‘ but perhaps not wise.

A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man’s life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.

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.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.

The greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.

The union of the Word and the Mind produces that mystery which is called Life… Learn deeply of the Mind and its mystery, for therein lies the secret of immortality.

The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.

Exposure from a young age to the realities of the world is a super-big thing.

Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now – always.

You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.

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

If you were to destroy the belief in immortality in mankind, not only love but every living force on which the continuation of all life in the world depended, would dry up at once.

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.

Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last.

It is justice and respect that I want the world to dust off and put – without delay, and with tenderness – back on the head of the Palestinian child. It will be imperfect justice and respect because the injustice and disrespect have been so severe. But I believe we are right to try.

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.

Science is the father of knowledge, but opinion breeds ignorance.

Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.

Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge. We are perpetually on the way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind.

Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance.

In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.

The career of a sage is of two kinds: He is either honored by all in the world, Like a flower waving its head, Or else he disappears into the silent forest.

There should be a point to movies. Sure, you’re giving people a diversion from the cold world for a bit, but at the same time, you pass on some facts and rules and maybe a little bit of wisdom.

The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That’s the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!

The companies that work are the ones that people really care about and have a vision for the world so do something you like.

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.

The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.

Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.

Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

A loving heart is the truest wisdom.

It is not materialism that is the chief curse of the world, as pastors teach, but idealism. Men get into trouble by taking their visions and hallucinations too seriously.

Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.

Men do not learn much from the lessons of history and that is the most important of all the lessons of history.

God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools.

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

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

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

The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.

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.

It always seems to me so odd that when a man dies, he takes out with him all the knowledge that he has got in his lifetime whilst sowing his wild oats or winning successes. And he leaves his sons or younger brothers to go through all the work of learning it over again from their own experience.

Let’s just be smart this time. I’m looking for smart.

The age of a woman doesn’t mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles.

Those whom the gods love grow young.

The progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error.

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.

There are only two things. Truth and lies. Truth is indivisible, hence it cannot recognize itself; anyone who wants to recognize it has to be a lie.

Who sows virtue reaps honor.

I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.

It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.

Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge.

Society therefore is as ancient as the world.

Humor must not professedly teach and it must not professedly preach, but it must do both if it would live forever.

Having nothing, nothing can he lose.

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

If you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away but the good remains; if you pursue evil with pleasure, the pleasure passes away and the evil remains.

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