Thought can be so seductive and hypnotic that it absorbs your attention totally, so you become your thoughts.

The very essence of instinct is that it's followed independently of reason.

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.

If you do not know the laws of right conduct, you cannot form your character.

Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.

Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.

Obsession is the wellspring of genius and madness.

Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him.

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

It is not the strength, but the duration, of great sentiments that makes great men.

He who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty.

Everything excellent is as difficult as it is rare.

Immoderate desire is the mark of a child, not a man.

Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy

In order to change the world, you have to get your head together first

Intelligence is a moral category.

What's real and what's true aren't necessarily the same.

He who is slowest in making a promise is most faithful in its performance.

Be frank and explicit. That is the right line to take when you wish to conceal your own mind and to confuse the minds of others.

What can't be cured must be endured.

All great achievements require time.