Reason commands us far more imperiously than a master; for in disobeying the one we are unfortunate, and in disobeying the other we are fools.

When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world.

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

Twice and thrice over, as they say, good is it to repeat and review what is good.

It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.

Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.

He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.

The fool wonders, the wise man asks.

Live to learn, and you will really learn to live.

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

I am not the first Buddha who came upon Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time, another Buddha will arise in the world – a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals.

There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.

Never pray for justice, because you might get some.

Old age has deformities enough of its own. It should never add to them the deformity of vice.

We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature.

Whatsoever is contrary to nature is contrary to reason, and whatsoever is contrary to reason is absurd.

No one should be ashamed to admit he is wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.

The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and must therefore be treated with great caution.

Knowing that you are going to die is, I suspect, the beginning of wisdom.

Those who do not know how to live must make a merit of dying.

Thomas Jefferson once said, ‚We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.‘ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.

I learned a long time ago that reality was much weirder than anyone’s imagination.

I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.

He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.

Words may show a man’s wit but actions his meaning.

Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?

Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world; Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven. The further one goes The less one knows.

I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.

So confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either cannot, or ought not to be done.

The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

If one accepts the terms of the covenant and obeys God’s law, he or she receives the blessings associated with the covenant.

In South Korea, they believe that when you turn 60, you’ve become a baby again and the rest of your life should be totally about joy and happiness, and people should leave you alone, and I just think that that’s the height of intelligence.

Don’t get older just to get wiser. If you get older, you will be wiser, I believe that – if you dare. But get older because it’s fun!

Nothing is divine but what is agreeable to reason.

The teacher is the one who gets the most out of the lessons, and the true teacher is the learner.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

Next to knowing when to seize an opportunity, the most important thing in life is to know when to forego an advantage.

Having nothing, nothing can he lose.

Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.

Knowledge slowly builds up what Ignorance in an hour pulls down.

I was inspired to spend an entire year – my 65th year – reading, researching, and meditating on Lao-tzu’s messages, practicing them and ultimately writing down these insights as I felt Lao-tzu wanted us to know them.

Nothing is so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it to be expecting evil before it comes.

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.

He who can be, and therefore is, another’s, and he who participates in reason enough to apprehend, but not to have, is a slave by nature.

We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

Great and good are seldom the same man.

Wisdom does not show itself so much in precept as in life – in firmness of mind and a mastery of appetite. It teaches us to do as well as to talk; and to make our words and actions all of a color.

If you will do what God tells you to do, there’s no person on Earth and no devil in Hell that can keep you from having what God wants you to have.

No one ever teaches well who wants to teach, or governs well who wants to govern.

We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows.

It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.

Religion is something left over from the infancy of our intelligence, it will fade away as we adopt reason and science as our guidelines.

Strength was the virtue of paganism; obedience is the virtue of Christianity.

That which is not good for the bee-hive cannot be good for the bees.

Youth is wasted on the young.

The older I get the more wisdom I find in the ancient rule of taking first things first. A process which often reduces the most complex human problem to a manageable proportion.

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.

The reason why men do not obey us, is because they see the mud at the bottom of our eye.

We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect. The judgement of the intellect is only part of the truth.