Be so true to thyself, as thou be not false to others.

Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness for the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in.

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.

Those disputing, contradicting, and confuting people are generally unfortunate in their affairs. They get victory, sometimes, but they never get good will, which would be of more use to them.

Oh, I offended you with my opinion? You should hear the the ones I keep to myself.

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear.

The more I traveled the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.

The better you are at communicating negotiating, and handling your fear of rejection, the easier life is.

I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.

You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.

We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.

What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.

The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.

He who does not desire power is fit to hold it.

You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul.

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.

Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished.

Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness.

The first method of estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man’s actions are, such must be his spirit.

The charges we bring against others often come home to ourselves; we inveigh against our faults which are as much ours as theirs; and so our eloquence ends by tellings against ourselves.

I refuse to accept the idea that the “isness” of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the “oughtness” that forever confronts him.

Not in the clamor of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.

And God said love your enemy and I obeyed him and loved myself.

Benevolence is man’s mind, and righteousness is man’s path.

The individual is not accountable to society for his actions, insofar as these concern the interests of no person but himself.

...the individual ceases to be himself; he adopts entirely the kind of personality offered to him by cultural patterns; and he therefore becomes exactly as all others are and as they expect him to be...The person who gives up his individual self and becomes an automaton, identical with millions of other automatons around him, need not feel alone and anxious any more. But the price he pays, however, is high; it is the loss of his self.

He that complies against his will is of his own opinion still.

No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.

The only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself.

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.

Let us affirm what seems to be the truth, that, whether one is or is not, one and the others in relation to themselves and one another, all of them, in every way, are and are not, and appear to be and appear not to be.

It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.

No matter how outrageous a lie may be, it will be accepted if stated loudly enough and often enough.

To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.

I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.

Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.

My way of joking is to tell the truth. It is the funniest joke in the world.