Desire is poverty. Desire is the greatest impurity of the mind. Desire is the motive force for action. Desire in the mind is the real impurity. Even a spark of desire is a very great evil.

To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact

Never pick a fight with an ugly person, they've got nothing to lose.

A scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination.

It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.

I have already joined myself in marriage to a husband, namely the kingdom of England.

Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.

So many people have this idea: I want to achieve something great or be somebody great. And they neglect the step that leads to greatness. They don't honor this step at this moment because they have this idea of some future moment where they are going to be great.

Each day is a little life; every waking and rising a little birth; every fresh morning a little youth; every going to rest and sleep a little death.

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

Rational discussion is useful only when there is a significant base of shared assumptions.

I don't know, I don't care, and it doesn't make any difference.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

It is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.

We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the moment of waking from a troubled dream; it may be so the moment after death.

If I speak of myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways.

We learn from our gardens to deal with the most urgent question of the time: How much is enough?