That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.

Between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four, I must have read a whole library.

I have an expression I use as I’ve gone around the world through my career: ‚You never tell another man or woman what’s in their interest. They know their interest better than you know their interest.‘

To realize that you do not understand is a virtue; Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.

The more extensive a man’s knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do.

Find what’s hot, find what’s just opened and then look for the worst review of the week. There is so much to learn from watching a restaurant getting absolutely panned and having a bad experience. Go and see it for yourself.

The highest result of education is tolerance.

Patience is a virtue, and I’m learning patience. It’s a tough lesson.

Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle, Old Age a regret.

After many years of great mercy, after tasting of the powers of the world to come, we still are so weak, so foolish; but, oh! when we get away from self to God, there all is truth and purity and holiness, and our heart finds peace, wisdom, completeness, delight, joy, victory.

I’ve found men are less likely to let petty things annoy them.

If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.

In remembering the appalling suffering of war on both sides, we recognise how precious is the peace we have built in Europe since 1945.

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

It is best to love wisely, no doubt; but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all.

We are proud of the history of our country; we learned it in school and have grown up hearing of freedom, justice and human rights.

John Dalton’s records, carefully preserved for a century, were destroyed during the World War II bombing of Manchester. It is not only the living who are killed in war.

Not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, does the enlightened man dislike to wade into its waters.

Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.

Doubt grows with knowledge.

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies, and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive.

Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.

The chief reason for going to school is to get the impression fixed for life that there is a book side for everything.

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

No man ever prayed heartily without learning something.

Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them.

We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches.

If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk.

There is a specter haunting Europe, the specter of Communism.

When you revolutionize education, you’re taking the very mechanism of how people be smarter and do new things, and you’re priming the pump for so many incredible things.

Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.

Fable is more historical than fact, because fact tells us about one man and fable tells us about a million men.

He who knows best knows how little he knows.

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.

Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.

The history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice; their choice!

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.

All men are prepared to accomplish the incredible if their ideals are threatened.

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.

My mother used to tell me man gives the award, God gives the reward. I don’t need another plaque.

We’ve got to dumb America up again.

Time is something that interests me a whole lot – past and present, and how the past appears as people change.

He had read much, if one considers his long life; but his contemplation was much more than his reading. He was wont to say that if he had read as much as other men he should have known no more than other men.

Study hard so that you can master technology, which allows us to master nature.

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.

A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.

The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history.

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

Fools admire, but men of sense approve.

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

No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.

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

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

Getting old is a fascination thing. The older you get, the older you want to get.

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight… the truly wise person is colorblind.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.