Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are.

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.

Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.

Man is the most intelligent of the animals – and the most silly.

I once did a three-hour interview with Radio Oxford only to be told the microphone hadn’t picked me up.

Regarding life, the wisest men of all ages have judged alike: it is worthless.

Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.

Sometimes the majority just means all the fools are on the same side.

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

If you have the insight of non-self, if you have the insight of impermanence, you should make that insight into a concentration that you keep alive throughout the day. Then what you say, what you think, and what you do will then be in the light of that wisdom and you will avoid making mistakes and creating suffering.

He that won’t be counseled can’t be helped.

The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.

To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution.

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; the Named is the mother of all things.

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

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.

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control.

Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful. Good words are not persuasive; persuasive words are not good.

The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I’m just not close enough to get the job done.

Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.

I never dared to be radical when young for fear it would make me conservative when old.

At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom.

I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better that book or orator.

Keep silence for the most part, and speak only when you must, and then briefly.

If a man does his best, what else is there?

The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.

The price of greatness is responsibility.

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.

You might be the funniest guy in the world, but if you don’t have anything to talk about, people are eventually going to gravitate towards the guy that’s actually saying something.

Money has a language of its own.

Those who govern, having much business on their hands, do not generally like to take the trouble of considering and carrying into execution new projects. The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.

Style is that which indicates how the writer takes himself and what he is saying. It is the mind skating circles around itself as it moves forward.

My readers – and I get 400 emails for a day, my readers normally they say, well, you understand me, and I answer, you do understand me also. We are in the same level.

Clearly older women and especially older women who have led an active life or elder women who successfully maneuver through their own family life have so much to teach us about sharing, patience, and wisdom.

To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.

There is always another way to say the same thing that doesn’t look at all like the way you said it before. I don’t know what the reason for this is. I think it is somehow a representation of the simplicity of nature.

Before God we are all equally wise – and equally foolish.

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

He who hath many friends hath none.

There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.

I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.

I hold the door for the ladies – I’m a gent.

Each day we understand better what the Indians say, and they us, so that very often we are intelligible to each other.

He who talks more is sooner exhausted.

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

I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn’t know.

I like the way the stories of my relationships sound to music more than the way they look in print, in gossip columns or in me talking about them in interviews. I think it’s a better way of telling the stories.

If you deny people their own voice, you’ll have no idea of who they were.

These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I’m not downplaying that.

When a man says money can do anything, that settles it: he hasn’t got any.

If Jesus were here today, he wouldn’t be riding around on a donkey. He’d be taking a plane, he’d be using the media.

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.

Words are cheap. The biggest thing you can say is ‚elephant‘.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

It may be the part of a friend to rebuke a friend’s folly.

The life so short, the craft so long to learn.

To be social is to be forgiving.