The wit knows that his place is at the tail of a procession.

Cunning… is but the low mimic of wisdom.

Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

We should take care not to make the intellect our goal; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

I think there is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of head.

If I feel anxious every time someone is staring at me, well, I can’t control what they stare at, but my reaction is, I’m just not going to go outside the house. I’m going to stay in and chill. And when I do go out, I understand what comes along with that.

He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.

Everyone knows nowadays that people ‚have complexes‘. What is not so well known, though far more important theoretically, is that complexes can have us.

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

‚Suffering should not make us bitter people,‘ my mother once said, ‚it should make us better comforters.‘ Young people need to hear this from those who have walked before them, because someday they’ll be walking those same steps, but there may not be anyone following behind.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

I never knew a more presumptuous person than myself. The fact that I say that shows that what I say is true.

Don’t swap horses in crossing a stream.

Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge. We are perpetually on the way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind.

The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences.

I’m not intelligent. I’m not arrogant. I’m just like the people who read my books. I used to have a jazz club, and I made the cocktails and I made the sandwiches. I didn’t want to become a writer – it just happened.

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.

To see and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of wickedness.

The words of truth are always paradoxical.

There are few things more dreadful than dealing with a man who knows he is going under, in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others. Nothing can help that man. What is left of that man flees from what is left of human attention.

Whoever despises himself nonetheless respects himself as one who despises.

The truth doesn’t hurt unless it ought to.

Men who have reached and passed forty-five, have a look as if waiting for the secret of the other world, and as if they were perfectly sure of having found out the secret of this.

As an athlete, you’d better laugh at yourself when you slip in the mud.

I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the center of your being.

Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.

Vanity can create a very cruel space for you if you don’t know how to manage it.

Most of one’s life is one prolonged effort to prevent oneself thinking.

Let’s just be smart this time. I’m looking for smart.

I’m one of them guys that tries to make everything the best of the best, so sometimes I’m out of control with it.

I don’t pretend to understand the Universe – it’s a great deal bigger than I am.

The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.

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

At fifty everyone has the face he deserves.

In retrospect, I can see I couldn’t talk to people face to face, so I got on stage and started screaming and squealing and twitching about. Ha! Like, that sure made sense!

The higher the sun ariseth, the less shadow doth he cast; even so the greater is the goodness, the less doth it covet praise; yet cannot avoid its rewards in honours.

Everything in the universe has a purpose. Indeed, the invisible intelligence that flows through everything in a purposeful fashion is also flowing through you.

There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest.

I periodically realize every few years that the only person whose taste I really trust is me.

Concentrate your energies, your thoughts and your capital. The wise man puts all his eggs in one basket and watches the basket.

The ‚soul‘ is one of the words you can use to talk about your innermost being, the essence of who you are.

Humility may well be one of the most difficult of the fruit of the Spirit to be cultivated in us – and to maintain. That’s because without humility, it’s not likely that you will put your complete trust in God.

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.

I’m not convinced that women have the education or the sense of their own history enough or that they understand the cruelty of which men are capable and the delight that many men will take in seeing you choose to chain yourself – then they get to say ‚See, you did it yourself.‘

I’ve watched a lot of people who became famous who completely change and I think it’s because they tend to believe all the hype that’s out there. I don’t think there’s that much hype about me.

It is only imperfection that complains of what is imperfect. The more perfect we are the more gentle and quiet we become towards the defects of others.

What you are comes to you.

Sure, I can get a little bit jealous. The good part about jealousy is that it comes from passion. It’s also the dangerous part and it’s an ugly emotion that hurts.

In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.

Now I am older, I understand we have to accept who we are.

We think too much and feel too little.

Perhaps it is better to be irresponsible and right, than to be responsible and wrong.

At some point, you grow out of being attracted to that flame that burns you over and over and over again.

The best part about being in your thirties is you know what works for you.

Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.

Many sophisticated, intelligent people lack wisdom and common sense.

I can never say ‚why‘ about anything I do. I suppose I can say ‚how‘ and ‚when‘ and ‚what.‘ But ‚why‘ is impenetrable to me.

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

If I get stuck, I look at a book that tells me how someone else did it. I turn the pages, and then I say, ‚Oh, I forgot that bit,‘ then close the book and carry on. Finally, after you’ve figured out how to do it, you read how they did it and find out how dumb your solution is and how much more clever and efficient theirs is!