A ‘No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in few words

We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still.

On his tongue they pour sweet dew, and from his mouth flow gentle words.

People don’t get along because they fear each other. People fear each other because they don’t know each other. They don’t know each other because they have not properly communicated with each other.

The free flow of conflicting ideas and feelings is critical for creative thinking, for discovering new solutions no one individual would have come to on his own.

Never cross a man, not afraid to die.

The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.

One of the most pathetic—and dangerous—signs of our times is the growing number of individuals and groups who believe that no one can possibly disagree with them for any honest reason.

The period is now arrived, in which either they or we must change our sentiments, or one or both must fall.

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

The progression of emancipation of any class usually, if not always, takes place through the efforts of individuals of that class.

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what they are going to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.

I have brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being with settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment.

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.

The compensation of a very early success is a conviction that life is a romantic matter. In the best sense one stays young.

A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.

An irresistible passion that would induce me to believe in innate ideas and the truth of prophecy has decided my career. I have always loved liberty with the enthusiasm which actuates the religious man with the passion of a lover and with the conviction of a geometrician.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.

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

The deepest thing in any one is the conviction of the bad luck that follows boasting.

The secret of success is conviction and persistence.

In the age-old contest between popularity and principle, only those willing to lose for their convictions are deserving of posterity’s approval.

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it—but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

In this age, the man who dares to think for himself and to act independently does a service to his race.

Opportunities don’t often come along. So, when they do, you have to grab them.

Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the induction of a new order of things.