Silence is the virtue of fools.

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.

Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.

When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.

We cannot learn men from books.

Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.

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

Early on, when I was quite young and going from job to job, I was foolish enough to sometimes speak to my fellow workers: ‚Hey, the boss can come in here at any moment and lay all of us off, just like that, don’t you realize that?‘ They would just look at me. I was posing something that they didn’t want to enter their minds.

A just and reasonable modesty does not only recommend eloquence, but sets off every great talent which a man can be possessed of.

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.

Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.

It is one of the superstitions of the human mind to have imagined that virginity could be a virtue.

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.

Virtue is insufficient temptation.

One who does not know when to die, does not know how to live.

Nature is not human hearted.

We should all start to live before we get too old.

Is the babe young? When I behold it, it seems more venerable than the oldest man.

He that would live in peace and at ease must not speak all he knows or all he sees.

The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom.

He who would pass his declining years with honor and comfort, should, when young, consider that he may one day become old, and remember when he is old, that he has once been young.

Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.

Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough to be honest.

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

Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, ‚This is a misfortune‘ but ‚To bear this worthily is good fortune.‘

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

Some animals utter a loud cry. Some are silent, and others have a voice, which in some cases may be expressed by a word; in others, it cannot. There are also noisy animals and silent animals, musical and unmusical kinds, but they are mostly noisy about the breeding season.

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us.

Experience teaches only the teachable.

Older and wiser voices can help you find the right path, if you are only willing to listen.

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.

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

All the learnin‘ my father paid for was a bit o‘ birch at one end and an alphabet at the other.

No one can pass through life, any more than he can pass through a bit of country, without leaving tracks behind, and those tracks may often be helpful to those coming after him in finding their way.

Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.

The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little.

Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

It is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness and I pronounce it as certain that there was never a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.

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

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

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

The person who doesn’t scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs.

It is dangerous for mortal beauty, or terrestrial virtue, to be examined by too strong a light. The torch of Truth shows much that we cannot, and all that we would not, see.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Youth is wasted on the young.

I have lived long enough both in years and in accomplishments.

Knowledge is true opinion.

Virtue is relative to the actions and ages of each of us in all that we do.

The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.

If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men’s cottage princes‘ palaces.

Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast.

Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.

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

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

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.

The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.