The more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.

It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though the limits of our abilities do not exist.

People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.

The world around me has changed, and I have learned to adapt but not change. But I’m changing into the woman I am meant to be.

Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know – and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance.

Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of men. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter.

Between falsehood and useless truth there is little difference. As gold which he cannot spend will make no man rich, so knowledge which cannot apply will make no man wise.

At least the Pilgrim Fathers used to shoot Indians: the Pilgrim Children merely punch time clocks.

Everything is generated through your own will power.

To wear your heart on your sleeve isn’t a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Born to a tribal Bedouin family of nomadic desert shepherds in the region of Tripoli, Gaddafi was profoundly anti-colonialist. It is affirmed that his paternal grandfather died fighting against the Italian invaders when Libya was invaded by them in 1911.

If you’re serious, you really understand that it’s important that you laugh as much as possible and admit that you’re the funniest person you ever met. You have to laugh. Admit that you’re funny. Otherwise, you die in solemnity.

Silence is a source of great strength.

Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.

I hear my friends and my mom tell me I’m special, but honestly, I still don’t get it.

Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.

Let us be absolutely clear about one thing: we must not confuse humility with false modesty or servility.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

Wisdom alone is the science of other sciences.

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.

In order to arrive at knowledge of the motions of birds in the air, it is first necessary to acquire knowledge of the winds, which we will prove by the motions of water in itself, and this knowledge will be a step enabling us to arrive at the knowledge of beings that fly between the air and the wind.

First, I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll convince myself that I’m an actress.

Where knowledge ends, religion begins.

I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.

Can the mind see the truth of its own incapacity to know the unknown? Surely if I see very clearly that my mind cannot know the unknown, there is absolute quietness.

If I were a Negro, I’d be fighting, as Martin Luther King fought, for human recognition and justice. I’d rather go down with my flag flying. If you’re weak or crippled, or you can’t speak out or fight back in some way, then people don’t hesitate to treat you badly.

Long before history began we men have got together apart from the women and done things. We had time.

At 50, I began to know who I was. It was like waking up to myself.

I’ve got nothing against records – I’ve spent my life making them – but they are a kind of historical blip.

Our personal intelligence is everlasting and divine.

It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

With fame, you know, you can read about yourself, somebody else’s ideas about you, but what’s important is how you feel about yourself – for survival and living day to day with what comes up.

I’m not good at talking about myself.

Don’t make me into this airy-fairy, moralist, idealist because I’m not.

There is, so I believe, in the essence of everything, something that we cannot call learning. There is, my friend, only a knowledge – that is everywhere.

All of our problems start in our minds.

There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.

If we’re really honest with ourselves, most of us will admit that we want to impress people, and this is what’s causing us to do what we do.

Under the Timber and Stone Act of 1878, which might well have been called the ‚Dust and Ashes Act,‘ any citizen of the United States could take up one hundred and sixty acres of timber land and, by paying two dollars and a half an acre for it, obtain title.

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.

He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.

Madam President, speaking here in Dublin Castle it is impossible to ignore the weight of history, as it was yesterday when you and I laid wreaths at the Garden of Remembrance.

On October 15, 1965, an estimated 70,000 people took part in large-scale anti-war demonstrations.

I think a number of the leaders are, whether you like it or not, in the hip-hop generation. And when they understand enough, they’ll do wonders. I count on them.

By the time you’ve reached your sixties, you do know that one day you will die, and knowing that is at least the beginning of wisdom.

I’m aware that, whatever the circumstances, there will always be speculation about me.

I’m a human being. I’ve got opinions, I’m not always right, I’m not always on time, I don’t always say things in the proper way, but my intentions are always extremely pure.

In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.

You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.

History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.

I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist, but I don’t like girls pretending to be stupid because it’s easier.

I’ve learned that usually, the less I know about other people, the better off I am.

I’m not very ambitious at all.

Everybody has a little bit of Watergate in him.

I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.

Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.

How simple a thing it seems to me that to know ourselves as we are, we must know our mothers names.

We’ve persevered because of a belief we share with the Iraqi people – a belief that out of the ashes of war, a new beginning could be born in this cradle of civilization. Through this remarkable chapter in the history of the United States and Iraq, we have met our responsibility. Now, it’s time to turn the page.

A good indignation brings out all one’s powers.