All quotes

When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground.

If I felt that there is to be sole responsibility in the Executive for the America of tomorrow I should shrink from the burden.

But the true competition is the competition of the individual with himself,--his present seeking to excel his past.

If we seek ever to surpass ourselves, we are moving on a uniform line of progress, that gives a harmonious unifying to our growth in all its parts.

Life is but a succession of opportunities. They are for good or evil,--as we make them.

Man can develop his self-reliance by seeking constantly to surpass himself.

Self-confidence sees the possibilities of the individual; self-reliance realizes them.

To him, defeat is no more than passing through a tunnel is to a traveller,--he knows he must emerge again into the sunlight.

If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.

Friendships are frequently taken up on some sudden sympathy, and we see only as much as we please of one another's characters afterwards.

Surely it is hardly fitting that the ruler should be baser than the ruled.

Great distance in either time or space has wonderful power to lull and render quiescent the human mind.

It is because it is so much easier to shirk in civilization that it is difficult to get a standard of what your average man can do.

Hence the necessity that he should have been well trained in habits, who is to study, with any tolerable chance of profit, the principles of nobleness and justice and moral philosophy generally.

No man is so formed that he can be left entirely to himself, to go his own ways; everyone needs to be guided by a preconceived plan, and to follow certain general rules.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that a man cannot forget,--but not himself, his own character.

Although our intellect always feels itself urged towards clearness and certainty, still our mind often feels itself attracted by uncertainty.

Mere intelligence is still not courage, for we often see the cleverest people devoid of resolution.

There are persons who possess the keenest perception for the most difficult problems, who are also not fearful of responsibility, and yet in cases of difficulty cannot come to a resolution.

It’s also about knowing what you know and what you don’t know. It’s about being open to people and ideas.

So I ask you today: How many ghosts are going to be around your bed when your time comes?

See that you do nothing like a sheep; but if you do, in this case also the man is lost.

To state the problem is to recall the truth that no single principle can answer all of life's complexities.

As long as you have mystery you have health; when you destroy mystery you create morbidity.

Man must have just enough faith in himself to have adventures, and just enough doubt of himself to enjoy them.