All quotes

The brain can be trained, as the hand and eye can be trained; it can be made as obedient as a sporting dog, and by similar methods.

There is no royal road to the control of the brain.

It is the monotony of his own nature that makes a man find solitude intolerable.

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.

Ordinary people are sociable and complaisant just from the very opposite feeling;--to bear others' company is easier for them than to bear their own.

The truth is, that our nature is essentially restless in its character: we very soon get tired of having nothing to do; it is intolerable boredom.

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

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh.

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.

Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you.

Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established.

By space the Universe encompasses and swallows me as an atom, by thought I encompass it.

Without diversion no joy, with diversion no sadness.

all the misfortunes of men arise from one thing only, that they are unable to stay quietly in their own chamber

From the time that I can remember anything, almost every day of my life had been occupied in some kind of labour; though I think I would now be a more useful man if I had had time for sports.

I would permit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.

My experience has been that the time to test a true gentleman is to observe him when he is in contact with individuals of a race that is less fortunate than his own.

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.

Resolution is an act of courage in single instances, and if it becomes a characteristic trait, it is a habit of the mind.

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.

Every man hath two birth-days: two days, at least, in every year, which set him upon revolving the lapse of time, as it affects his mortal duration.

Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will