A bow which is stretched to the limit breaks.

Do not feel certain of anything.

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.

Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.

I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.

The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn.

The very center of your heart is where life begins. The most beautiful place on earth.

There is no such thing as absolute certainty, but there is assurance sufficient for the purposes of human life.

A scepter snatched with an unruly hand must be as boisterously maintained as gained; and he that stands upon a slippery place makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up.

They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.

At the end of the day, we can endure more than we think we can.

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that setbacks and griefs which endure help us in our march forward.

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the now the primary focus of your life.

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.