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

It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that the lover of knowledge is reluctant to step into its waters.

It is wrong to assume that men of immense wealth are always happy.

If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there.

He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.

To state the facts frankly is not to despair the future nor indict the past. The prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust.

One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation.

He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek will be found.

Half a truth is often a great lie.

Give thy thoughts no tongue.

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

Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true.

We cannot wish for that we know not.

The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment.

Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.

Let me smile with the wise, and feed with the rich.

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.

He who is not just is severe, he who is not wise is sad.

A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.

Words may show a man’s wit but actions his meaning.

The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.

Genius always gives its best at first; prudence, at last.

To see and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of wickedness.

That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.

Expecting is the greatest impediment to living. In anticipation of tomorrow, it loses today.

A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.

Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

Nobody can ever make enough money for as many poor relatives as I’ve got. Somebody’s got a sick kid, or somebody needs an operation, somebody ain’t got this, somebody ain’t got that. Or to give the kids all a car when they graduate.

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

Men shut their doors against a setting sun.

A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if he is married.

Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.

I think I’ve got wiser.

The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold; Alike fantastic, if too new, or old: Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

I bet taxpayers remember providing more than $812 billion to Citigroup and Bank of America, two Wall Street banks, in 2009 to bail them out during the 2008 financial crisis. Taxpayers remember that generosity; big banks evidently don’t.

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

If God treats you well by teaching you a disastrous lesson, you never forget it.

When you’re older you want to learn from other people.

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

The wisest have the most authority.

Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than a basement.

I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.

Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?

He who hath many friends hath none.

A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.

But what is liberty without wisdom, and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.

The art of being a slave is to rule one’s master.

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.

The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful and then only for a short while.

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.

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

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

Thomas Jefferson once said, ‚We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.‘ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.

Science is what you know, philosophy is what you don’t know.

The only way to get love is to be lovable. It’s very irritating if you have a lot of money. You’d like to think you could write a check: ‚I’ll buy a million dollars‘ worth of love.‘ But it doesn’t work that way. The more you give love away, the more you get.

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.

He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.