This is the truth: as from a fire aflame thousands of sparks come forth, even so from the Creator an infinity of beings have life and to him return again.

I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name.

It is folly for an eminent man to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected with it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age in the world, have passed through this fiery persecution.

All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.

All the goodness I have within me is totally from the Lord alone. When I sin, it is from me and is done on my own, but when I act righteously, it is wholly and completely of God.

Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.

Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see it beyond both existence and non-existence to something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way.

Let us all remember this: one cannot proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the tangible witness of one’s life.

I am sorry to say that there is too much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours.

The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent.

Everything that happens happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.

Thus so wretched is man that he would weary even without any cause for weariness… and so frivolous is he that, though full of a thousand reasons for weariness, the least thing, such as playing billiards or hitting a ball, is sufficient enough to amuse him.

Mysterious love, uncertain treasure, hast thou more of pain or pleasure! Endless torments dwell about thee: Yet who would live, and live without thee!

Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?

God is patient with us to become the God’s children he wants us to be but you really can see him weeping.

There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome; to be got over.

There was something undifferentiated and yet complete, which existed before Heaven and Earth. Soundless and formless, it depends on nothing and does not change. It operates everywhere and is free from danger. It may be considered the mother of the universe. I do not know its name; I call it Tao.

I think music is one of the hero/sheroes of the African-American existence.

Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.

To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.

I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end.

It is one of the beautiful compensations in this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

We should never let material things get ahead of God or become so important in our lives that we can’t walk away from them if He tells us to. Anything you own that has a hold on you is a problem.

This has been my life for many years; one role feeds the other.

Ageing’s alright, better than the alternative, which is not being here.

Even sleepers are workers and collaborators in what goes on in the Universe.

Thought is the wind and knowledge the sail.

The theoretical understanding of the world, which is the aim of philosophy, is not a matter of great practical importance to animals, or to savages, or even to most civilised men.

God’s love is too great to be confined to any one side of a conflict or to any one religion.

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.

Our object in the construction of the state is the greatest happiness of the whole, and not that of any one class.

We must accept what science tells us, that man was born from the earth. But, more logical than the scientists who lecture us, we must carry this lesson to its conclusion: that is to say, accept that man was born entirely from the world – not only his flesh and bones but his incredible power of thought.

I fear that too many have sadly surrendered their agency to the adversary and are saying by their conduct, ‚I care more about satisfying my own desires than I do about bearing the Savior’s power to bless others.‘

To be more childlike, you don’t have to give up being an adult. The fully integrated person is capable of being both an adult and a child simultaneously. Recapture the childlike feelings of wide-eyed excitement, spontaneous appreciation, cutting loose, and being full of awe and wonder at this magnificent universe.

To destroy is always the first step in any creation.

Our God is a forgiving God.

Accept the terrible responsibility of life with eyes wide open.

Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, ‚But how can it be like that?‘ because you will get ‚down the drain,‘ into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.

To appreciate the noble is a gain which can never be torn from us.

Forgiveness is not a feeling – it’s a decision we make because we want to do what’s right before God. It’s a quality decision that won’t be easy and it may take time to get through the process, depending on the severity of the offense.

God is not upset that Gandhi was not a Christian, because God is not a Christian! All of God’s children and their different faiths help us to realize the immensity of God.

Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

He who can be, and therefore is, another’s, and he who participates in reason enough to apprehend, but not to have, is a slave by nature.

I want to be just a pure spiritual leader.

If I make music and people hate it, you know, whatever. I’ll die someday, and one day, they will too.

Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.

Surely our job while we’re here on Earth is to learn about the world, not to create parallel universes.

It doesn’t matter who likes you or doesn’t like you, all that matters is that God likes you. He accepts you, he approves of you.

Basically, when you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you.

The word ‚God‘ usually signifies ‚Lord‘, but every lord is not a God. It is the dominion of a spiritual being which constitutes a God: a true, supreme, or imaginary dominion makes a true, supreme, or imaginary God.

Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.

Who shall decide when doctors disagree, And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?

It’s impossible to live a life totally free of feelings. God created all of us to be emotional creatures, and feelings are a big part of our lives.

God doesn’t dwell in the wooden, stony or earthen idols. His abode is in our feelings, our thoughts.

Man can believe the impossible, but man can never believe the improbable.

The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?

There is not a more unhappy being than a superannuated idol.

Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.

I pray while driving. I pray while working, and while relaxing.

Disease generally begins that equality which death completes.