The noblest search is the search for excellence.

Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will – his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.

Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.

I suppose my best attribute, if you want to call it that, is sincerity. I can sell sincerity because that’s the way I am.

Real riches are the riches possessed inside.

We should learn to accept that change is truly the only thing that’s going on always, and learn to ride with it and enjoy it.

‚Happiness‘ is a pointless goal.

Your ability to use the principle of autosuggestion will depend, very largely, upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning obsession.

If virtue promises happiness, prosperity and peace, then progress in virtue is progress in each of these for to whatever point the perfection of anything brings us, progress is always an approach toward it.

To add value to others, one must first value others.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

Every writer has his writing technique – what he can and can’t do to describe something like war or history. I’m not good at writing about those things, but I try because I feel it is necessary to write that kind of thing.

If I see something sagging, bagging or dragging I’ll get it nipped, tucked or sucked.

Once someone has spent enough time cultivating bad habits and biding their time, they are much diminished. Much of what they could have been has dissipated.

Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.

Our will is always for our own good, but we do not always see what that is.

Men take only their needs into consideration – never their abilities.

Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.

Before all else, be armed.

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

Just remember, you can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.

Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

Failure is nature’s plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.

Do not let circumstances control you. You change your circumstances.

People who pity themselves think, ‚Why would I try to do anything? I’ll just fail.‘

I think who you are in school really sticks with you.

A man is what he thinks about all day long.

Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.

It is a most delightful reflection that if I come to the throne of God in prayer, I may feel a thousand defects, but yet there is hope. I usually feel more dissatisfied with my prayers than with anything else I do.

Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have.

If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system.

I think it’s quite great to set yourself a big challenge, and then you’ve got another reason for keeping fit.

Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.

If you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.

The way to develop decisiveness is to start right where you are, with the very next question you face.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

I’ve never managed to keep a journal longer than two weeks.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.

Over the years I’ve learned how to lock myself up in a prison of hope, knowing that God has nothing but His best planned for me. He promised me things concerning my ministry and my life.

No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.

No man who worships education has got the best out of education… Without a gentle contempt for education no man’s education is complete.

Once you begin to fall off the track and believe you breathe different air to everyone else, you’re doomed; you’re finished.

I set records that will never be equaled. In fact, I hope 90% of them don’t even get printed.

I grow daily to honour facts more and more, and theory less and less. A fact, it seems to me, is a great thing; a sentence printed, if not by God, then at least by the Devil.

No driver is perfect.

No matter what your mission is, have some notion in your head. Forget the model, whether it’s government or nonprofit or profit. Ask yourself the more important question: Is my mission improving the world? Are you sure about it? Seek to disconfirm that all the time. And if you can, change your mission.

Dressing up is a bore. At a certain age, you decorate yourself to attract the opposite sex, and at a certain age, I did that. But I’m past that age.

Character develops itself in the stream of life.

Don’t talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.

We acquire the strength we have overcome.

Wow, I get to wake up again? Ok. You have to make good with what you’ve got.

The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.

I always want to listen to people and receive good criticism, but I just don’t have to answer to them; I have to answer to God.

We are often raised as dependents then given over to teachers. It’s experience and exploration that can transform us and lead to mastery.

Good intentions never change anything. They only become a deeper and deeper rut.

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.