It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.

We have to live today by what truth we can get today and be ready tomorrow to call it falsehood.

I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity.

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

I believe that Jesus realized his oneness with God and he showed, what he attempted to do was show the way to all of us, how to realize our own onenes with God also, so he’s a precursor.

Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing.

At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest.

Misfortune seldom intrudes upon the wise man; his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life.

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.

Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession.

Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.

A man can’t be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

The biggest guru-mantra is: never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you.

Information is not knowledge.

Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise.

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.

Thought is the wind and knowledge the sail.

In this business, by the time you realize you’re in trouble, it’s too late to save yourself. Unless you’re running scared all the time, you’re gone.

Our best thoughts come from others.

It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.

The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head.

The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.

A man watches his pear tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap.

I’m too busy acting like I’m not Naive. I’ve seen it all, I was here first.

The trouble ain’t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain’t distributed right.

I am not the first Buddha who came upon Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time, another Buddha will arise in the world – a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals.

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

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

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

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

Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person.

And I love that even in the toughest moments, when we’re all sweating it – when we’re worried that the bill won’t pass, and it seems like all is lost – Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise. Just like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward… with patience and wisdom, and courage and grace.

Their mothers had finally caught up to them and been proven right. There were consequences after all but they were the consequences to things you didn’t even know you’d done.

The fox has many tricks. The hedgehog has but one. But that is the best of all.

Experience never errs; it is only your judgments that err by promising themselves effects such as are not caused by your experiments.

To suffer the penalty of too much haste, which is too little speed.

He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

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

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

Having nothing, nothing can he lose.

All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.

Never pray for justice, because you might get some.

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

There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.

I grow daily to honour facts more and more, and theory less and less. A fact, it seems to me, is a great thing; a sentence printed, if not by God, then at least by the Devil.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

The only source of knowledge is experience.

You’re dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.

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.

I don’t think the relationship between novels and realities are one to one. Of course novels play different roles. It’s essentially just a long narrative form. What you use that long narrative form for can be very different.

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.

I would fain grow old learning many things.

The last suit that you wear, you don’t need any pockets.

Education is the best provision for old age.

‚Tis not enough your counsel still be true; Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do.

Ignorance and bungling with love are better than wisdom and skill without.

You know, my Grandpop Finnegan used to have an expression: he used to say, ‚Joey, the guy in Olyphant’s out of work, it’s an economic slowdown. When your brother-in-law’s out of work, it’s a recession. When you’re out of work, it’s a depression.‘

I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace.

Knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be.

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood. All is riddle, and the key to a riddle is another riddle.