The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.

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.

Serious illness doesn’t bother me for long because I am too inhospitable a host.

It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.

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

I am not young enough to know everything.

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.

The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.

The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success only comes later.

It says nothing against the ripeness of a spirit that it has a few worms.

The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.

It seems to never occur to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united.

If there’s one thing that’s certain in business, it’s uncertainty.

There’s no point in saying anything but the truth.

It’s hard to tell with these Internet startups if they’re really interested in building companies or if they’re just interested in the money. I can tell you, though: If they don’t really want to build a company, they won’t luck into it. That’s because it’s so hard that if you don’t have a passion, you’ll give up.

Regarding life, the wisest men of all ages have judged alike: it is worthless.

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end… I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.

A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.

I’ve written some great things. That’s a gift, but there’s consequences. Yeah, you get this great work, but you suffer. You really, really suffer.

On the way back from Mumbai to go meet with President Xi in China, I stopped in Singapore to meet with a guy named Lee Kuan Yew, who most foreign policy experts around the world say is the wisest man in the Orient.

In my entire life, any time I’ve ever lost something, I’ve gotten something even better going around the next corner. It’s like one door closes and another door opens. As long as I can walk through the produce section in every grocery store in this country and eat the grapes that they’re going to throw away, I know I can be fine.

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.

You have to stay faithful to what you’re working on.

One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

I think that a man should not live beyond the age when he begins to deteriorate, when the flame that lighted the brightest moment of his life has weakened.

I have lived long enough both in years and in accomplishments.

Critics only make you stronger. You have to look at what they are saying as feedback. Sometimes the feedback helps, and other times, it’s just noise that can be a distraction.

The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head – chemo-brain they call it. It’s awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.

I wonder how many times people give up just before a breakthrough – when they are on the very brink of success.

The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it, he knows too little.

Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.

Peace if possible, truth at all costs.

Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.

I don’t focus on the critics. Everyone who is making any difference in any field has critics. As long as I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, then I don’t worry about it.

I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God’s help I shall succeed.

If you’re lying, you’re lying.

When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it – this is knowledge.

Sometimes God will deliver you from the fire, and other times God will make you fireproof.

Not to go back is somewhat to advance, and men must walk, at least, before they dance.

Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spent the rest of the day putting the pieces together.

Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

The experience of pain or loss can be a formidably motivating force.

There is nothing impossible to him who will try.

At the end of the day, I understand that life has road blocks, and life is like school – you’ll be tested; we gotta pass it.

I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul… we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.

The devil ain’t got no power over me. The devil come, and me shake hands with the devil. Devil have his part to play. Devil’s a good friend, too… because when you don’t know him, that’s the time he can mosh you down.

Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I get up again.

To reach a port, we must sail – sail, not tie at anchor – sail, not drift.

Many foxes grow gray but few grow good.

Speak the truth, and all things alive or brute are vouchers, and the very roots of the grass underground there, do seem to stir and move to bear you witness.

The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

You can’t hold a man down without staying down with him.

There are certain things that bother me and certain things that don’t. Personal attacks on me? I think I’m just so used to it.

There are only two ways of telling the complete truth – anonymously and posthumously.

My mother never gave up one me. I messed up in school so much they were sending me home, but my mother sent me right back.

The false is nothing but an imitation of the true.

He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!

Whenever things go a bit sour in a job I’m doing, I always tell myself, ‚You can do better than this.‘

Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.