Play not with paradoxes. That caustic which you handle in order to scorch others may happen to sear your own fingers and make them dead to the quality of things.

On the outskirts of every agony sits some observant fellow who points.

He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.

I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850.

Use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping?

I can never say ‚why‘ about anything I do. I suppose I can say ‚how‘ and ‚when‘ and ‚what.‘ But ‚why‘ is impenetrable to me.

I don’t make people bend over backwards, and I don’t like that in people. I am definitely no diva.

Many foxes grow gray but few grow good.

A president has an inescapable responsibility to provide direction: What are we trying to achieve? What are we trying to prevent? Why? To do that, he has to both analyze and reflect.

It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing.

It is, generally, in the season of prosperity that men discover their real temper, principles, and designs.

Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.

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.

To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.

My thought is me: that is why I cannot stop thinking. I exist because I think I cannot keep from thinking.

If there is something to pardon in everything, there is also something to condemn.

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.

I think what’s important is for us to decipher what is honest and what is dishonest and be accepting of those things and not operating from fear.

The end is the beginning of all things, Suppressed and hidden, Awaiting to be released through the rhythm Of pain and pleasure.

I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self.

He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.

A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.

A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.

What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.

In the child, consciousness rises out of the depths of unconscious psychic life, at first like separate islands, which gradually unite to form a ‚continent,‘ a continuous landmass of consciousness. Progressive mental development means, in effect, extension of consciousness.

It always seems to me so odd that when a man dies, he takes out with him all the knowledge that he has got in his lifetime whilst sowing his wild oats or winning successes. And he leaves his sons or younger brothers to go through all the work of learning it over again from their own experience.

The proper study of Mankind is Man.

Trust, but verify.

Without deep reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.

Those thoughts are truth which guide us to beneficial interaction with sensible particulars as they occur, whether they copy these in advance or not.

People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can’t fool the neighbors.

To wear your heart on your sleeve isn’t a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best.

Well, the future for me is already a thing of the past.

My father had died, and very swiftly, too, of cancer of the esophagus. He was 79. I am 61. In whatever kind of a ‚race‘ life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist.

The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please: we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations.

Truth is a good dog; but always beware of barking too close to the heels of an error, lest you get your brains kicked out.

I wear a hat on stage so that people won’t be blinded by the reflection from my head. Also, if I don’t wear a hat, there’s no way that the hat can be at that level by itself on the stage.

We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.

When you stop caring what people think, you lose your capacity for connection. When you’re defined by it, you lose our capacity for vulnerability.

Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them.

Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings.

My weaknesses have always been food and men – in that order.

Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice… No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out.

I put a lot of pressure on myself. I think something’s not good enough, and I won’t stop until I feel like I’ve made it. I’m never satisfied.

He who does not trust enough, Will not be trusted.

I like the silent church before the service begins, better than any preaching.

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.

No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.

There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart.

We are braver and wiser because they existed, those strong women and strong men… We are who we are because they were who they were. It’s wise to know where you come from, who called your name.

It’s very hard to live with yourself if you don’t stick with your moral code.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

I look forward to a great future for America – a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.

Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.

The action we take and the decisions we make in this decade will have consequences far into this century. If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch.

If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.

I don’t want to be too critical of what other people do, but when people go back to do the same thing that they did, I’m completely confused. I’m like, ‚Didn’t you make that movie already?‘ I’ve been very fortunate, and I’m well taken care of, so the least I can do is try to go forward.

I have all the emotions that everyone has; it just appears that I don’t.

I am not very good with relationships. With anyone. I can’t be locked up with anyone for too long.