Thinking to get at once all the gold the goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find—nothing.

Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.

A leader who does not take advice is not a leader.

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

A patient man will eat ripe fruit.

Be patient where you sit in the dark. The dawn is coming.

If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owning more to patient attention, than to any other talent.

With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.

Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.

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

Remember that you ought to behave in life as you would at a banquet. As something is being passed around it comes to you; stretch out your hand, take a portion of it politely. It passes on; do not detain it. Or it has not come to you yet; do not project your desire to meet it, but wait until it comes in front of you. So act toward children, so act toward a wife, so toward office, so toward wealth.

Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.

Men who reject the responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others.

One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right when the head is totally wrong.

Only when we realize that there is no eternal, unchanging truth or absolute truth can we arouse in ourselves a sense of intellectual responsibility.

He who has so little knowledge of human natures as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

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

You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

I was wise enough to never grow up while fooling most people into believing I had.

There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic. A man’s own observation, what he finds good of and what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve health.

First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.

The wise man accepts his pain, endures it, but does not add to it.