Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.

Admiration is the daughter of ignorance.

If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge? We shouldn’t marginalise people for this. They must be integrated into society.

Don’t throw stones at your neighbors if your own windows are glass.

Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success.

Proverbs are always platitudes until you have personally experienced the truth of them.

God has already done everything He’s going to do. The ball is now in your court. If you want success, if you want wisdom, if you want to be prosperous and healthy, you’re going to have to do more than meditate and believe; you must boldly declare words of faith and victory over yourself and your family.

To know anything well involves a profound sensation of ignorance.

Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.

The foolish man conceives the idea of ‚self.‘ The wise man sees there is no ground on which to build the idea of ‚self;‘ thus, he has a right conception of the world and well concludes that all compounds amassed by sorrow will be dissolved again, but the truth will remain.

I’m not frightened of appearing vulnerable.

If we had more hell in the pulpit, we would have less hell in the pew.

Bravery never goes out of fashion.

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

Success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life. Failure comes when we shrink from them.

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.

I don’t see the wisdom in modern politicians that I once saw in men like Dean Acheson, David Bruce, or George Marshall. In my day, the northeastern establishment dominated foreign policy formulation, but the composition and distribution of our population is very different today.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

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

The art of being a slave is to rule one’s master.

When people need love and understanding and support the most is when they deserve it the least.

Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.

No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious.

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.

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

How can any man be weak who dares to be at all?

The more you know the less you need to say.

I have no faith in human perfectability. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active – not more happy – nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago.

Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know.

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.

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

When I look upon seamen, men of science and philosophers, man is the wisest of all beings; when I look upon priests and prophets nothing is as contemptible as man.

Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.

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.

He who does not understand your silence will probably not understand your words.

The wretched have no compassion, they can do good only from strong principles of duty.

While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered animals, how can we expect any ideal living conditions on this earth?

In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.

Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.

Science is what you know, philosophy is what you don’t know.

I tell you in truth: all men are Prophets or else God does not exist.

There are techniques of Buddhism, such as meditation, that anyone can adopt. And, of course, there are Christian monks and nuns who already use Buddhist methods in order to develop their devotion, compassion, and ability to forgive.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Real nobility is based on scorn, courage, and profound indifference.

Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.

A man who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than is necessary.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this.

Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastard.

From caring comes courage.

All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment.

He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.

Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God.

Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.

We’re going to be OK because of the American people. They have more grit, determination and courage than you can imagine.

You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.

Silence is the virtue of fools.

Heroes may not be braver than anyone else. They’re just braver five minutes longer.

Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast.

The sensitivity of men to small matters, and their indifference to great ones, indicates a strange inversion.