I know longer listen to what people say, I just watch what they do. Behavior does not lie.

There is no failure except in no longer trying.

Actions are right in proportion as they promote happiness, wrong as the produce the reverse.

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have.

The thought of only being a creature of the present and the past was troubling. I longed for a future, too, with hope in it. The desire to be free, awakened my determination to act, to think, and to speak.

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.

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

One can acquire everything in solitude—except character.

Surely what a man does when he is in an uncomfortable situation is the best evidence for the sort of man he is.

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

Man's tongue is soft, and bone doth lack; yet a stroke therewith may break a man's back.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarters, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.

Speak not, but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

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.

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.

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.

I had made the religion of service my own, as I felt that God could be realized only through service.

Let no guilty man escape, if it can be avoided. No personal considerations should stand in the way of performing a public duty.

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

Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery.

Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.

You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it is better to listen to what it has to say.

Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.

Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.

It takes two years to learn to speak and sixty to learn to keep quiet.