It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

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.

Be as you wish to seem.

Before we acquire great power we must acquire wisdom to use it well.

Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.

Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it.

He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.

It’s dangerous to read the Internet about yourself when you’re me. Or when you’re anyone in the public eye.

Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.

A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and life is after all a chain.

Everything deep is also simple and can be reproduced simply as long as its reference to the whole truth is maintained. But what matters is not what is witty but what is true.

Experience is the teacher of all things.

There is no coming to consciousness without pain.

In one way, I suppose, I have been ‚in denial‘ for some time, knowingly burning the candle at both ends and finding that it often gives a lovely light.

It was one of those evenings when men feel that truth, goodness and beauty are one. In the morning, when they commit their discovery to paper, when others read it written there, it looks wholly ridiculous.

I’m tough when I have to be, tender when I should be. When you find a really tough guy, he’s not a predator. He doesn’t have to prove himself. Guys who have to pretend to be tough, they ain’t. I’m tough.

My grandfather was smart and had a whole lot of pride. He didn’t speak a terrible amount, but you could tell there was a ton on his mind – like a quiet acceptance of how life had turned out.

If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.

Nature is not human hearted.

A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.

In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.

It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.

Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.

So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they’re gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.

The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don’t mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do.

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.

I have practically no private life. I’m already used to this and ready for it. Yes, sometimes it is hard, but it is the choice I made.

I’m a spokesman for myself. It just so happens that there’s a bunch of people that are concerned with what I have to say. I find that frightening at times because I’m just as confused as most people. I don’t have the answers for anything.

I wish I knew why I am so anguished.

The wise are instructed by reason, average minds by experience, the stupid by necessity and the brute by instinct.

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.

Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.

The chimpanzee study was – well, it’s still going on, and I think it’s taught us perhaps more than anything else to be a little humble; that we are, indeed, unique primates, we humans, but we’re simply not as different from the rest of the animal kingdom as we used to think.

I am not saying I am the best manager in the world. But I’m quite good.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it.

Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.

By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.

Actors know what actors are insecure about – and they’re all insecure.

But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.

We cannot wish for that we know not.

Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.

What you have outside you counts less than what you have inside you.

The best part about being in your thirties is you know what works for you.

Man’s task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious.

To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution.

I’m aware that, whatever the circumstances, there will always be speculation about me.

We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

He knows my limitations and where I’m a good wife and a good mom.

The nobler a man, the harder it is for him to suspect inferiority in others.

No man was ever wise by chance.

You can’t talk your way out of problems you behave yourself into.

I’m concerned that my technical skills have advanced to the point where I can get closer to what I’m aiming for, which is not such a good thing.

We are all at times unconscious prophets.

My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.

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

Leaders who fail to prune their pride will meet demise. That’s not a guess, it’s a guarantee. With pride, it’s not a matter of ‚if‘ we will fall, but ‚when.‘ There are no exceptions.

I think there is a lot made out of age, and what age you feel.