Nowadays the world is becoming increasingly materialistic, and mankind is reaching toward the very zenith of external progress, driven by an insatiable desire for power and vast possessions. Yet by this vain striving for perfection in a world where everything is relative, they wander even further away from inward peace and happiness of the mind.

Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad.

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means—either may do—the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier.

The mind that is anxious about the future is miserable.

There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.

You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.

The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.

True success, true wealth, does not come out of the barrel of a gun.

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find a better man.

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

Madness does not govern a country; discussion does.

You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise.

My strength is made perfect in weakness.

And, more importantly, reach for the stars. And realize that it is never too late—not now, not ever—for you to pursue you passion, your pursuit of perfection. And most importantly, your perseverance for making it happen.

Believing as I do that man in the distant future will be a far more perfect creature than he now is, it is an intolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings are doomed to complete annihilation after such long-continued slow progress. To those who fully admit the immortality of the human soul, the destruction of our world will not appear so dreadful.

Nothing quite new is perfect.

The compass and the square produce perfect circles and squares. By the sages, the human relations are perfectly exhibited.

The indefatigable pursuit of an unattainable perfection, even though it consists in nothing more than in the pounding of an old piano, is what alone gives a meaning to our life on this unavailing star.

Perfect wisdom has four parts; Wisdom, the principle of doing things right. Justice, the principle of doing things equally in public and private. Fortitude, the principle of not fleeing danger, but meeting it. Temperance, the principle of subduing desires and living moderately.

It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

I’m not perfect. And who knows how many times I’ve fallen short. We all fall short. That’s the amazing thing about the grace of God.

Not a having and a resting, but a growing and a becoming is the character of perfection as culture conceives it.

Creativity is often blocked to trying to be perfect. Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.

It is through art, and through art only, that we can realize our perfection; through art and art only that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Those who enjoy responsibility usually get it; those who merely enjoy exercising authority usually lose it.

You are the only person who thinks in your mind. You are the power and authority in your world.

Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak. But experience more than sufficiently teaches that men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues.

The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of everything else to which he is justly entitled.

There is only one time that is important—now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.

The day will soon come when I will show the world that the transmission of power and speech without the aid of any wires is possible.

Conceit spoils the finest genius… and the great charm of all power is modesty.