Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set.

Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.

The wisest hustler can suddenly fall for the worst tramp and lose all of his money on her. The hustler is aware of his own weaknesses and openings to con. This awareness is his edge.

He who looks the higher is the more highly distinguished, and turning over the great book of nature (which is the proper object of philosophy) is the way to elevate one’s gaze.

The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.

Every man’s reputation proceeds from those of his own household.

Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.

Experience which was once claimed by the aged is now claimed exclusively by the young.

I say there is no darkness but ignorance.

Reason commands us far more imperiously than a master; for in disobeying the one we are unfortunate, and in disobeying the other we are fools.

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.

It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.

Being at ease with not knowing is crucial for answers to come to you.

Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety.

Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person.

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

He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade.

One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

The first man gets the oyster, the second man gets the shell.

I am not promising that God will give you everything you want. There are times when we want things that God knows would not be good for us.

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.

This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?

The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?

Knowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom.

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

Access to the Vedas is the greatest privilege this century may claim over all previous centuries.

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

Knowledge is power.

How do you know what it’s like to be stupid if you’ve never been smart?

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

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

Science is the father of knowledge, but opinion breeds ignorance.

No one but a fool is always right.

Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.

Those who know me know I’m passionate about lists, and top of my list of priorities is my family. My wife Joan and I do not consider our legacy to our children to be wealth or fame but the opportunity to pursue happiness by following their own path.

What can I know? What ought I to do? What can I hope?

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.

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

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.

We cannot wish for that we know not.

Better to die ten thousand deaths than wound my honor.

People must have righteous principals in the first, and then they will not fail to perform virtuous actions.

We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment.

My mother would kill me if I posed nude! My mother raised me with certain standards.

I will never say something I don’t agree with or believe in… even if the reward is massive!

All great truths begin as blasphemies.

Reverence for life is the highest court of appeal.

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.

Experience never errs; it is only your judgments that err by promising themselves effects such as are not caused by your experiments.

All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.

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

Everything deep is also simple and can be reproduced simply as long as its reference to the whole truth is maintained. But what matters is not what is witty but what is true.

Misfortune seldom intrudes upon the wise man; his greatest and highest interests are directed by reason throughout the course of life.

To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.

Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind.