No man ever prayed heartily without learning something.

The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.

As a vulnerability researcher, the greatest barrier I see is our low tolerance for vulnerability. We’re almost afraid to be happy. We feel like it’s inviting disaster.

How great is the mystery of the first cells which were one day animated by the breath of our souls! How impossible to decipher the welding of successive influences in which we are forever incorporated! In each one of us, through matter, the whole history of the world is in part reflected.

There is no education like adversity.

Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable.

Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.

Thought and theory must precede all salutary action; yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory.

If you’re not ready for everything, you’re not ready for anything.

The wisest have the most authority.

The older you get, the better you get.

It is amazing how a new child can refocus one’s direction seconds after its birth.

Wise men make more opportunities than they find.

The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.

Little by little, not by making big promises, I need to be calmer, read more, spend more time with my loved ones, and be more mindful about nature and environment.

Philosophy is common sense with big words.

I never want to change so much that people can’t recognize me.

Resist the need to be ‚right‘ all the time or to always have the last word.

Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.

I would have a workshop attached to every school, and one hour a day given up to the teaching of simple decorative arts. It would be a golden hour to the children.

As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task.

Childhood is the sleep of reason.

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

I think beating myself up sometimes and knowing I am not happy when I do it makes me work harder to do a good job.

He that speaks much, is much mistaken.

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

My goal is to entertain myself and others.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day.

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are – that is the fact.

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.

The concept of loneliness and exile and self-sufficiency continually bucks me up.

I don’t write so much now. I’m getting on 33, pot belly and creeping dementia.

God knows what we are going through when we grieve, and He wants to assure us of His love and concern. He also wants us to turn to Him and bring our heartaches and burdens to Him.

About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.

I like criticism. It makes you strong.

On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit.

Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries.

That’s the shock: All cliches are true. The years really do speed by. Life really is as short as they tell you it is. And there really is a God – so do I buy that one? If all the other cliches are true… Hell, don’t pose me that one.

Have you ever thought how humiliating and distressing it was to be placed upon a sphere? For friendship it is a boon never to be able to be further apart than the antipodes. But suppose that you are leaving together to go on and on; it is impossible. To go beyond a certain point is to return to where you began.

I used to have a real problem with self-pity. Every time the devil would throw a pity party, I would attend.

Dissents speak to a future age.

It’s true that I’ve never had a burning desire to rebel against my parents.

If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

I got teased my entire school life. What they were picking on I don’t even understand.

Enemies are so stimulating.

If a woman possesses manly virtues one should run away from her; and if she does not possess them she runs away from herself.

I still learn, but I think it’s the best thing in life to have a kid.

I vividly remember a conversation I had many years ago in 1974, which marked a turning point in my leadership journey. I was sitting at a Holiday Inn with my friend, Kurt Campmeyer, when he asked me if I had a personal growth plan. I didn’t. In fact, I didn’t even know you were supposed to have one.

Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

When I’m really interested in something, I get superfocused on that. And I can spend hours upon hours not getting tired of reading about it and still be interested to learn more about it.

That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.

I don’t know if I particularly want to be remembered for anything. I personally do not think I’m a great gift to the world. I’ve been very fortunate.

It seems the older you get, the more life comes into focus.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Thank God, I never was cheerful. I come from the happy stock of the Mathers, who, as you remember, passed sweet mornings reflecting on the goodness of God and the damnation of infants.

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.

The mind of a 19-year-old is very different from the mind of a 26-year-old. You grow. You get into better relationships. You experience more, meet more people, better people. But when you’re in a dark hole at an earlier point in your life – you write about the mindset you’re in at that moment.

I knew ‚Crenshaw‘ had elevated me and distinguished me.

It takes a long time to bring the past up to the present.