We cannot always oblige; but we can always speak obligingly.

Be generous with kindly words, especially about those who are absent.

Where there is love there is life.

What you guys want, I’m for.

People always say that you can’t please everybody. I think that’s a cop-out. Why not attempt it? ‚Cause think of all the people you will please if you try.

God wants you to be a winner, not a whiner.

Words may show a man’s wit but actions his meaning.

Silence is safer than speech.

Words can be said in bitterness and anger, and often there seems to be an element of truth in the nastiness. And words don’t go away, they just echo around.

Instead of being critical of people in authority over you and envious of their position, be happy you’re not responsible for everything they have to do. Instead of piling on complaints, thank them for what they do. Overwhelm them with encouragement and appreciation!

When people are around us, they should leave better off than they were previously. Rather than feeling discouraged or defeated, people should feel challenged and inspired after spending any time with you and me.

I still think I am the greatest.

Getting money is not all a man’s business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.

Stay hungry, stay foolish.

I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.

It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.

For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

The funny thing is people won’t let me pay for things. I’ll be in a restaurant and the manager will say, ‚Oh no, it’s on the house.‘

I speak a number of languages, but none are more beautiful to me than English.

I don’t think people are going to talk in the future. They’re going to communicate through eye contact, body language, emojis, signs.

Those who write clearly have readers, those who write obscurely have commentators.

If you want to get each individual’s honest opinion, you don’t want that opinion to be influenced by others who are present, much less allow a group to coordinate what they are going to say.

I always think if you are asking somebody for something it is a good idea to give them something first.

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.

Girls talk to each other like men talk to each other. But girls have an eye for detail.

There is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope.

Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.

I haven’t gone out of my way to seek advice from people I don’t know.

I don’t do Shakespeare. I don’t talk in that kind of broken English.

Whatever is well said by another, is mine.

Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.

You make yourself broad. You make yourself appealing. ‚Hey, y’all, I’m cool with everybody.‘ That’s my message.

No one can lie, no one can hide anything, when he looks directly into someone’s eyes.

If only the people who worry about their liabilities would think about the riches they do possess, they would stop worrying.

I can easily imagine Obama sitting down and talking to any leader – or any person – in the world, with no baggage of past servitude or race supremacy to mar their talks.

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.

When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.

If it’s going to come out eventually, better have it come out immediately.

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

I am not going to be a mouthpiece for language that I detest.

The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.

Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.

I like the way the stories of my relationships sound to music more than the way they look in print, in gossip columns or in me talking about them in interviews. I think it’s a better way of telling the stories.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

I used to stutter really badly. Everybody thinks it’s funny. And it’s not funny. It’s not.

All of our problems start in our minds.

I meet people overseas that know five languages – that the only language I’m comfortable in is English.

We should learn to accept that change is truly the only thing that’s going on always, and learn to ride with it and enjoy it.

I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.

The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.

The best morale exist when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear a lot of talk about it, it’s usually lousy.

If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.

Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.

Of Manners gentle, of Affections mild; In Wit a man; Simplicity, a child.

Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.

I make friends faster and easier than journalists.

If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.

Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire.

I don’t write letters anymore.

When it comes to gossip, I have to readily admit men are as guilty as women.

The blessed of us must save the less of us. I’m blessed, and yeah, I’m planning to go to Heaven.