The great question of our time is, ‚Will we be motivated by materialistic philosophy or by spiritual power?‘

Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now – always.

There is little success where there is little laughter.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.

Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.

All human actions are equivalent and all are on principle doomed to failure.

I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.

He who waits to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything.

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.

As I approached my 95th birthday, I was burdened to write a book that addressed the epidemic of ‚easy believism.‘ There is a mindset today that if people believe in God and do good works, they are going to Heaven.

Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.

Where the mind goes, the man follows.

It’s really easy to have a nice philosophy about openness, but moving the world in that direction is a different thing. It requires both understanding where you want to go and being pragmatic about getting there.

Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.

God does not play dice.

When you cease to exist, then who will you blame?

It always remains true that if we had been greater, circumstance would have been less strong against us.

Most people already know what they’re doing wrong. When I get them to church I want to tell them that you can change.

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

In the Bible, we first encounter God when he sides with a bunch of slaves against a powerful Pharaoh, an act of grace freely given.

It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide on what to do.

There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart.

To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger.

Why do you want to get a good workout early in the morning? Well, because it sends more oxygen to your brain; it releases endorphins. It puts you in a state of mind where you can crush things, which is where you want to be.

I never cut class. I loved getting A’s, I liked being smart. I liked being on time. I thought being smart is cooler than anything in the world.

Man the individual consoles himself for his passing with the thought of the offspring or the works which he leaves behind.

Next to excellence is the appreciation of it.

I am a little too absorbed by science to be able to philosophise much; but the more I look into myself, the more I find myself possessed by the conviction that it is only the science of Christ running through all things, that is to say true mystical science, that really matters. I let myself get caught up in the game when I geologise.

Even when you’re 50, you can make the effort to improve your standards.

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.

In times of need, God can come to you in a myriad of disguises.

Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere.

If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.

Toleration is the greatest gift of the mind; it requires the same effort of the brain that it takes to balance oneself on a bicycle.

Everybody has goals, aspirations or whatever, and everybody has been at a point in their life where nobody believed in them.

The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That’s what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they’ll go through the pain no matter what happens.

Energy, like the biblical grain of the mustard-seed, will remove mountains.

The presence of passion within you is the greatest gift you can receive. Treat it as a miracle.

I always say that people should not rush to change religions. There is real value in finding the spiritual resources you need in your home religion.

One of the greatest lessons of my own life was learning to turn the inner rampage of hatred and anger toward my own father for his reprehensible behavior and abandonment of his family into an inner reaction more closely aligned with God and God-realized love.

Though ambition in itself is a vice, it often is also the parent of virtue.

If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults.

The most effective way to do it, is to do it.

If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.

I just really believe people have to get hungry. I think maybe what we need to do, instead of trying to stuff our beliefs down people’s throats, is just pray for them to really be hungry and to see their neediness.

Freedom is what everyone wants – to be able to act and live with freedom. But the only way to get to a place of freedom is through discipline.

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.

Never regret what you don’t write.

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.

When you focus on how wonderful God is and all the great things He’s done… is doing… and even will do in your life, your natural response will be praise, adoration and awe. Don’t let yourself ever get used to it… stay amazed!

The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me.

I’m an idealist without illusions.

The spirit of an age may be best expressed in the abstract ideal arts, for the spirit itself is abstract and ideal.

I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.

What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.

Coincidences are spiritual puns.