Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.

Free speech is not just another value. It’s the foundation of Western civilization.

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.

Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.

Between falsehood and useless truth there is little difference. As gold which he cannot spend will make no man rich, so knowledge which cannot apply will make no man wise.

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.

Character is destiny.

We should all start to live before we get too old.

I believe in the Golden Rule – The Man with the Gold… Rules.

The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.

Let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is.

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

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‚Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Great indebtedness does not make men grateful, but vengeful; and if a little charity is not forgotten, it turns into a gnawing worm.

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

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

I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.

Who is the wise man? He who sees what’s going to be born.

Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc.

Regrets are the natural property of grey hairs.

All I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen.

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

He who does not trust enough, Will not be trusted.

As a blind man has no idea of colors, so have we no idea of the manner by which the all-wise God perceives and understands all things.

The skin of my character in ‚The Man Who Fell to Earth‘ was some concoction, a spermatozoon of an alien nature that was obscene and weird-looking.

Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.

The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.

To the wise, life is a problem; to the fool, a solution.

When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world.

The biggest guru-mantra is: never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you.

Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them.

Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them.

He who despairs of the human condition is a coward, but he who has hope for it is a fool.

Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous.

Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them.

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; the Named is the mother of all things.

Fable is more historical than fact, because fact tells us about one man and fable tells us about a million men.

I think big business is a terrible thing for the spirit of the country, as our spirit is the best thing about us.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

Lord keep us all from sin. Teach us how to walk circumspectly; enable us to guard our minds against error of doctrine, our hearts against wrong feelings, and our lives against evil actions.

Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost.

Mediocrity can talk, but it is for genius to observe.

You learn from a conglomeration of the incredible past – whatever experience gotten in any way whatsoever.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

As the eagle was killed by the arrow winged with his own feather, so the hand of the world is wounded by its own skill.

Sometimes the majority just means all the fools are on the same side.

I can tell you, honest friend, what to believe: believe life; it teaches better that book or orator.

If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there.

The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.

Where knowledge ends, religion begins.

Judges ought to be more leaned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.

Youth is wasted on the young.

If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it.

Falsehood is a perennial spring.

You can not divorce religious belief and public service. I’ve never detected any conflict between God’s will and my political duty. If you violate one, you violate the other.

The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth.

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one’s heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.