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

As the soft yield of water cleaves obstinate stone, So to yield with life solves the insolvable: To yield, I have learned, is to come back again.

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of the intelligence.

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.

No man has any natural authority over his fellow men.

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

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.

Man is not the creature of circumstances, Circumstances are the creatures of men.

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid

It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.

Only idiots refuse to change their minds.

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

Learned we may be with another man's learning: we can only be wise with wisdom of our own.

Where you stand depends on where you sit.

Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence.

There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths.

Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world.

The impossible could not have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.