I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

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

The very key to our success has been our ability, foremost among nations, to preserve our lasting values by making change work for us rather than against us.

You can’t change how people treat you or what they say about you. All you can do is change how you react to it.

Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good.

Things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state.

God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

You write in order to change the world…the world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even but a millimetre the way people look at reality, then you change it.

Change how you see and see how you change.

Charity degrades those who receive it and hardens those who dispense it. All that is not a true change will disappear in the future society.

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. This may well be mankind's last chance between chaos and community.

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

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.

The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back.

He whose honor depends on the opinion of the mob must day by day strive with the greatest anxiety, act and scheme in order to retain his reputation. For the mob is varied and inconsistent, and therefore if a reputation is not carefully preserved it dies quickly.

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.

I usually make up my mind about a man in ten seconds; and I very rarely change it.

Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.

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 have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.

It wasn't until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say "I don't know."

You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.

Nobody likes the man who brings bad news.

Critics are men who watch a battle from a high place the come down and shoot the survivors.

To live is in itself a value judgment. To breathe is to judge.

Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.

Do not peer too far.

Films, football, beer, and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult.

If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.

The greatest kindness one can render to any man is leading him to truth.

We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do. We should set them an example that we wish them to imitate.

In all negotiations of difficulty, a man may not look to sow and reap at once; but must prepare business, and so ripen it by degrees.

There has never been a shortage of people eager to draw up blueprints for running other people’s lives.

A leader's greatness is found in bringing out greatness in others.

Rest satisfied with doing well, and leave others to talk of you as they will.

No one returns with good will to the place which has done him a mischief.

An undutiful daughter will prove an unmanageable wife.

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.

You can tell more about a person by what he says about others, than you can by what others say about him!