I owe my fame only to myself.

Without properly kept accounts it is impossible to maintain truth in its pristine purity.

The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands.

When an archer misses the mark, he turns and looks for the fault within himself. Failure to hit the bull's--eye is never the fault of the target. To improve your aim, improve yourself.

There are a thousand excuses for failure but never a good reason.

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.

The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.

There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.

To a greater force, and to a better nature, you, free, are subject, and that creates the mind in you, which the heavens have not in their charge. Therefore if the present world go astray, the cause is in you, in you it is to be sought.

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

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself—and be lenient to everybody else.

Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.

If everyone was satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes.

A friend is as it were a second self.

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

He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another.