Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.

To know oneself, one should assert oneself.

But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That’s what I strive to do, that’s what I pray to do every day.

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.

I’m only going to stand before God and give an account for my life, not for somebody else’s life. If I have a bad attitude, then I need to say there’s no point in me blaming you for what’s wrong in my life.

Keep in mind that no matter how perfectly you get your life in order, you will never be rid of all your problems. Problems are a way of life, always have been, always will be. But how you elect to view those problems is all up to you.

I’m sure most parents read to their children to explain what certain things mean. So books are a good way to convey a message to anybody. Everybody reads.

I break ground. I trailblaze.

The problem with writing a book in verse is, to be successful, it has to sound like you knocked it off on a rainy Friday afternoon. It has to sound easy. When you can do it, it helps tremendously because it’s a thing that forces kids to read on. You have this unconsummated feeling if you stop.

Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.

It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.

When people are around us, they should leave better off than they were previously. Rather than feeling discouraged or defeated, people should feel challenged and inspired after spending any time with you and me.

Accept the terrible responsibility of life with eyes wide open.

Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought.

All books are divisible into two classes, the books of the hour, and the books of all time.

We rarely confide in those who are better than we are.

For a person who grew up in the ’30s and ’40s in the segregated South, with so many doors closed without explanation to me, libraries and books said, ‚Here I am, read me.‘ Over time I have learned I am at my best around books.

It is not living that matters, but living rightly.

Someone told me something that stuck with me: ‚You have to envision your life, and then go backwards.‘ I’ve been living by that motto for a while, so I see where I need to be. Now I’m just backtracking and trying to get back up there.

We have to abandon the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth. How can it be, in a world where half the things a man knows at 20 are no longer true at 40 – and half the things he knows at 40 hadn’t been discovered when he was 20?

You don’t want to pigeonhole yourself.

We have to wake up. We have to refuse to be a clone.

No man is hurt but by himself.

I’m always afraid of failing. I have to quiet that fear if I’m going to get up in the morning.

A great man is always willing to be little.

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

I think your values are always influenced by your family and your community.

I’ve always been really, really aware of my insecurities – really, really aware. I never developed that thick skin that keeps you from letting things get to you.

If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.

What you have outside you counts less than what you have inside you.

Whenever things go a bit sour in a job I’m doing, I always tell myself, ‚You can do better than this.‘

It’s certainly not wrong to want to be a better person. God gave us that desire.

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.

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

To those whose talents are above mediocrity, the highest subjects may be announced. To those who are below mediocrity, the highest subjects may not be announced.

From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.

He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

On the field, aggression can sometimes be a positive emotion. It boosts performance and can lift your game. But over the years, I have learnt that restrained aggression is a better animal. That way, you will conserve your energy and won’t spend yourself quickly.

He who praises everybody, praises nobody.

A lot of people cry and complain and put their hand out and beg. It never goes well.

If selfishness is the key to being miserable, then selflessness must be the key to being happy!

Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.

Getting organized in the normal routines of life and finishing little projects you’ve started is an important first step toward realizing larger goals. If you can’t get a handle on the small things, how will you ever get it together to focus on the big things?

Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.

The formation of one’s character ought to be everyone’s chief aim.

I read all the time, and I’m often struck by something I’m reading.

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow-men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed.

One must verify or expel his doubts, and convert them into the certainty of Yes or NO.

For me, I don’t want to cheat the game by saying, or kind of doing lip service by saying, I want to be the greatest ever. I want to be able to show it.

You cannot find peace by avoiding life.

Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

Men must know their limitations.

I’m not the most patient of people.

Never contract friendship with a man that is not better than thyself.

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

People who read the tabloids deserve to be lied to.

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.

When you can whip any man in the world, you never know peace.

Any reading not of a vicious species must be a good substitute for the amusements too apt to fill up the leisure of the labouring classes.

The book that convinced me I wanted to be a writer was ‚Crime and Punishment‘. I put the thing down after reading it in a fever over two or three days… I said, ‚If this is what a book can be, then that is what I want to do.‘