Having a great intellect is no path to being happy.
Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.
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.
To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.
Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
Destiny is not a passive agent that lies in the lap of the Gods, but is an active instrument that lies in your own hands to shape as you will.
It was a melancholy secret that reality can arouse desires but never satisfy them.
Don't criticize what you don't understand, son. You never walked in that man's shoes.
The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.
Your reputation is in the hands of others. That's what the reputation is. You can't control that. The only thing you can control is your character.
The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.
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.
Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more
Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.
To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid
To live is not merely to breathe; it is to act; it is to make use of our organs, senses, faculties - of all those parts of ourselves which give us the feeling of existence
True knowledge lies in knowing how to live.
When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are
As our case is new, we must think and act anew.
No man has any natural authority over his fellow men.
