No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye.

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

All theory is against freedom of the will; all experience for it.

An ignorant person is one who doesn’t know what you have just found out.

Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.

Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.

It was morning; through the high window I saw the pure, bright blue of the sky as it hovered cheerfully over the long roofs of the neighboring houses. It too seemed full of joy, as if it had special plans, and had put on its finest clothes for the occasion.

If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.

I have nothing to ask but that you would remove to the other side, that you may not, by intercepting the sunshine, take from me what you cannot give.

I can well conceive a man without hands, feet, head. But I cannot conceive man without thought; he would be a stone or a brute.

I don’t think there is any philosophy that suggests having polio is a good thing.

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.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.

I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfil our destiny, but our fate is sealed.

For among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you contemptible; which is one of those disgraceful things which a prince must guard against.

Some animals are cunning and evil-disposed, as the fox; others, as the dog, are fierce, friendly, and fawning. Some are gentle and easily tamed, as the elephant; some are susceptible of shame, and watchful, as the goose. Some are jealous and fond of ornament, as the peacock.

For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.

To the dumb question, ‚Why me?‘ the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply, ‚Why not?‘

Perhaps if you are in support functions waiting on the warfighters to spell out the specifics of what you are to do, you can avoid the consequences of not reading. Those who must adapt to overcoming an independent enemy’s will are not allowed that luxury.

The way up and the way down are one and the same.

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

God is a thought who makes crooked all that is straight.

Let us be moral. Let us contemplate existence.

Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good… Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place.

The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor.

It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved.

Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons, a possession for all eternity.

I’m fascinated by the fact that we can’t grasp anything about time.

You’ve got to reach a hand of friendship across the aisle and across philosophies in this country.

As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport.

I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise, you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.

Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable.

If God dropped acid, would he see people?

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.

Doubt is the incentive to truth and inquiry leads the way.

By stopping flying, you don’t only reduce your own carbon footprint but also that sends a signal to other people around you that the climate crisis is a real thing and that helps push a political movement.

When you cease to exist, then who will you blame?

Nothing can be divided into more parts than it can possibly be constituted of. But matter (i.e. finite) cannot be constituted of infinite parts.

The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.

In any decision for action, when you have to make up your mind what to do, there is always a ‚should‘ involved, and this cannot be worked out from, ‚If I do this, what will happen?‘ alone.

I believe that every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.

I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.

To abandon oneself to principles is really to die – and to die for an impossible love which is the contrary of love.

There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

No one knows who is listening, say nothing you would not wish put in the newspapers.

If we do discover a complete theory, it should be in time understandable in broad principle by everyone. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people be able to take part in the discussion of why we and the universe exist.

There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.

No school of philosophy has ever solved this question of whether being determines consciousness or the other way around. It may be a false antithesis.

So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?

Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.

To attain any assured knowledge about the soul is one of the most difficult things in the world.

What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest than truth.

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

Culture of the mind must be subservient to the heart.

I will govern my life and thoughts as if the whole world were to see the one and read the other, for what does it signify to make anything a secret to my neighbor, when to God, who is the searcher of our hearts, all our privacies are open?

In each action we must look beyond the action at our past, present, and future state, and at others whom it affects, and see the relations of all those things. And then we shall be very cautious.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

Chavez, who came out of the ranks of the Venezuelan Army, is methodical and tireless. I have observed him over the course of 17 years, since his first visit to Cuba. He is an extremely humanitarian and law-abiding person; he has never taken revenge on anybody.

You can turn your back on a person, but never turn your back on a drug, especially when its waving a razor sharp hunting knife in your eye.

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.