To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.

How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure.

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

Knowledge about life is one thing; effective occupation of a place in life, with its dynamic currents passing through your being, is another.

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal.

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.

It’s still scary every time I go back to the past. Each morning, my heart catches. When I get there, I remember how the light was, where the draft was coming from, what odors were in the air. When I write, I get all the weeping out.

I’ve experienced great things, I’ve experienced great tragedies. I’ve done almost everything I could possibly ever imagine doing, but I just know that there’s more.

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

Every particular in nature, a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole.

All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.

It is not God’s will merely that we should be happy, but that we should make ourselves happy.

I’ve had the good fortune and blessing to run for the offices for which I really wanted to do the work.

For one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one day; and so too one day, or a short time, does not make a man blessed and happy.

You’ve got to invest in the world, you’ve got to read, you’ve got to go to art galleries, you’ve got to find out the names of plants. You’ve got to start to love the world and know about the whole genius of the human race. We’re amazing people.

Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains.

But although all our knowledge begins with experience, it does not follow that it arises from experience.

I’m afraid that people who know me as I usually am will discover I have another side, a better and finer side. I’m afraid they’ll mock me, think I’m ridiculous and sentimental and not take me seriously. I’m used to not being taken seriously, but only the ‚light-hearted‘ Anne is used to it and can put up with it; the ‚deeper‘ Anne is too weak.

If the people are happy, united, wealthy, and powerful, we presume the rest. We conclude that to be good from whence good is derived.

You have to be smart. The easy days are over.

No work or love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.

It is easier to be critical than correct.

Some Christians feel guilty when they are doing something that isn’t ‚spiritual.‘ Somehow or another, they feel the need to hurry through the grocery store, dash through the house cleaning, and rush through all the daily aspects of life that seem irrelevant to their faith.

It’s much worse to read criticism about your son than yourself.

You don’t have to give way to careless speech or complaining. You don’t have to let your feelings get in the way of what God wants to do in your life.

In the beginning, I was very insecure. I hated how I looked in pictures.

I just want to be just as everyone else. I want to educate myself and be just like a normal teenager.

One thing I want to make clear, as far as my own rebirth is concerned, the final authority is myself and no one else, and obviously not China’s Communists.

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?

Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world’s phenomena intersect, only once in this way, and never again.

How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?

For me, being raised in a free America made all the difference.

The ultimate tendency of civilization is towards barbarism.

Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it’s from Neptune.

Couples are wholes and not wholes, what agrees disagrees, the concordant is discordant. From all things one and from one all things.

The thing about Jiu Jitsu is it is also not for everybody. It can be very humiliating and humbling. If you have a hard time dealing with the fact that someone smaller than you may be able to tap you out, it is going to be difficult.

I look at myself like a show dog. I’ve got to keep her clipped and trimmed and in good shape.

Our Creator expects His children everywhere to educate themselves.

It didn’t even occur to me that I’m the last person in the world who should play salsa or Brazilian music.

Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.

You can retire from a job, but don’t ever retire from making extremely meaningful contributions in life.

We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don’t want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.

Before the effect one believes in different causes than one does after the effect.

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.

The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.

Justice is a temporary thing that must at last come to an end; but the conscience is eternal and will never die.

Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.

Absolute liberty is absence of restraint; responsibility is restraint; therefore, the ideally free individual is responsible to himself.

Sometimes in the past when I played something might make me lose focus, or I would go home after a game where I thought I could have played better and I would let it hang over my head for a long time when it shouldn’t.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all.

Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

When I was 50 years old, I actually decided to draw up a list of half a dozen things that I really hadn’t done very well, and I was going to make efforts to improve. One of them was skiing, and I really did become a very much better skier.

There is but an inch of difference between a cushioned chamber and a padded cell.

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

As I got older, I guess I became more mellow and more forgiving and more loving.

Simplicity is the most deceitful mistress that ever betrayed man.

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.

All men by nature desire knowledge.