Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than a basement.

If you’re not producing as much as you consume, or perhaps a little more, then clearly we cannot use the big organization of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us, and it can’t be of very much use to yourself.

Each life is made up of mistakes and learning, waiting and growing, practicing patience and being persistent.

We need enlightenment, not just individually but collectively, to save the planet. We need to awaken ourselves. We need to practice mindfulness if we want to have a future, if we want to save ourselves and the planet.

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

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

I just think it’s so important not to take yourself too seriously.

Never confuse motion with action.

Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg.

All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.

You cannot let where you are today cause you to get stuck. I’m going to be my best right now. That’s what faith is all about.

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

Being humble matters.

If every day you practice walking and sitting meditation and generate the energy of mindfulness and concentration and peace, you are a cell in the body of the new Buddha. This is not a dream but is possible today and tomorrow.

Weak character will neutralize all of the other possible good qualities a person might possess.

I made my fair share of mistakes.

There are two things a person should never be angry at, what they can help, and what they cannot.

While you’re saving your face, you’re losing your ass.

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.

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

One’s only rival is one’s own potentialities. One’s only failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must therefore be treated like a king.

Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.

In order for me to be successful… In order to be a great artist – musician, actor, painter, whatever – you must be able to be private in public at all times. That is what we do.

Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.

They know enough who know how to learn.

Be careless in your dress if you must, but keep a tidy soul.

To be great is to be misunderstood.

Men blaspheme what they do not know.

Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

Forgiveness is not a feeling – it’s a decision we make because we want to do what’s right before God. It’s a quality decision that won’t be easy and it may take time to get through the process, depending on the severity of the offense.

I don’t know how to live good. I only know how to suffer.

None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.

We dissect failure a lot more than we dissect success.

Man is fully responsible for his nature and his choices.

Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues.

There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.

Be not simply good – be good for something.

Anything you’re good at contributes to happiness.

I don’t believe in ‚thinking‘ old. Although I’ve transitioned through many bodies – a baby, toddler, child, teen, young adult, mid-life and older adult – my spirit is unchanged. I support my body with exercise, my mind with reading and writing, and my spirit with the knowing that I am part of the Divine source of all life.

Men have become the tools of their tools.

Face your fears and doubts, and new worlds will open to you.

If you’re not very clever you should be conciliatory.

Sometimes if you got a problem deep rooted in your life, it takes a little bit of time to overcome it in that area.

The more you seek the uncomfortable, the more you will become comfortable.

I liked school, but I used to dread those moments when the teacher would call me up to give an oral report. I forced myself to deal with it and not dwell on the class in front of me – to keep a straight face, give the report and concentrate on getting it right. That’s normally how I perform. That’s how I am.

What’s dangerous is not to evolve.

The Soviet government is the most realistic regime in the world – no ideals.

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.

All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning.

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

I never expected to be anybody important.

I’m just looking to learn, grow, stay focused, and become a better fighter and a better athlete.

When you’re coming up with new material, it’s not always gonna be good. The only way to learn is for it not to get a laugh, so you can adjust it and come back the next day to see if it’s working right. Next time, you might get a different laugh. You’re constantly rebuilding.

Those who have a true understanding of America know that we have no desire for territorial expansion, for economic or other domination of other peoples. Such purposes are repugnant to our ideals of human freedom.

Tomorrow, every Fault is to be amended; but that Tomorrow never comes.

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.

Somewhere it is written that parents who are critical of other people’s children and publicly admit they can do better are asking for it.

Men cannot not live by exchanging articles, but producing them. They live by work not trade.

People disparage knowing and the intellectual life, and urge doing. I am content with knowing, if only I could know.