Parents can tell but never teach, unless they practice what they preach.

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.

I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived.

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

Don’t be ‘a writer’. Be writing.

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.

There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take for better, for worse, as his portion; that, though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.

Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.

Do the difficult things while they are easy, and do the great things while they are small.

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.

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

One can acquire everything in solitude—except character.

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.

Plans will get you into things, but you have got to work your way out.

Keep in mind that the true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good.

Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things.

Much reading is an oppression of the mind, and extinguishes the natural candle, which is the reason of so many senseless scholars in the world.

A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.

Talk of mysteries! Think of our life in nature—daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it—rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! The solid earth! The actual world! The common sense! Contact! Contact! Who are we? Where are we?

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

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.

Madness does not govern a country; discussion does.

Understanding a question is half an answer.

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.

The right man is the one who seizes the moment.

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute.

The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.

When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, butt in favors - When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you - When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - You may know that your society is doomed.

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really man it.

I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice; and have received a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it.

He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.

Are you one of the flock that follows, or Are you one that shall lead the way?

Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice; and yet everybody is content to hear.

To be able to practice five things everywhere under the heaven constitutes perfect virtue. . . gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.

Real excellence does not come cheaply. A certain price must be paid in terms of practice, patience, and persistence—natural ability notwithstanding.