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

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.

Those who enjoy responsibility usually get it; those who merely enjoy exercising authority usually lose it.

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

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.

The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence.

I am a true laborer: I earn that I eat, get that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man’s happiness, glad of other men’s good, content with my harm.

It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.

Blame it or praise it, there is no denying the wild horse in us.

Most people are on the world, not in it—have no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them—undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate.

Being at ease with not knowing is crucial for answers to come to you.

Benevolence is man’s mind, and righteousness is man’s path.

Know yourself. Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.

My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

If you are ever tempted to look for outside approval, realize that you have compromised your integrity.

When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.